Last line of defense

JP with Lorem, Lucian, Omni and Bandorchu

Voah had no time to celebrate as she began to hear the sounds of deep laughter and unintelligible whispers from within the mine and the sound of quick movements and footsteps just behind her. It was like being on the run again.

‘Pillars, not now!’ She turned round and round, checking every shadow.

~…you’re all going to die in here…~

There was nothing hiding… but the hallucinations didn’t stop. Now the pain from her wounds and the soreness from riding was joined by a dull throb behind her eyes.

It was a good thing they prepared the mine with supplies first, especially food, water, and torches.

They would need them if the enemy pushed them deeper inside. She needed more water and bread. There was sure to be a little more left at least.

The concern on her face was easy to read.

Tarmen’s condition was getting didn’t get much better as he heard the cries of Alexis, swearing he saw he getting carried away on his periphery. Turning to see cost him his footing, stumbling to the ground and jarring his shoulder.
The pain gave his determined anger a bit of fuel, but with his muscles burning he was slow to get up. This wasn’t made easier by a piercing squeal that ripped through his mind, alerting him to a poorly timed relapse. Nothing better while fighting for his life than to lose his sanity.
He could only assume the rest of the bread was in the mine and he could see it now, but movement from his left had him swing wide at the air. He wasn’t sure if it was real or not, but he knew doubting it could cost him dearly.
Each hoofbeat and holler echoed in his head as he stubbornly continued, striking at real and imaginary foes.

Alexis retrieved her bow from her shoulder and knocked an arrow just as Voah as she saw Tarmen approaching. He was looking worse for wear, like all of them - well, save for Gonyaul - but seeing him swing so unfocused made her worry he might have been poisoned on top of that. But then she saw Voah becoming erratic, too, and she began to suspect what was happening.

“Fuck! Gonyaul, help Voah, keep her grounded!”

She let her arrow fly, hitting another brigand going for Tarmen, then grabbed her spear and limbed closer to the mine entrance in a crouch to try and help Tarmen on the rest of his way.

Gonyaul was pretty much useless at this point in regards to the fight. He shifted gears into support mode. At first helping any others into the mine’s tunnel as necessary and explaining Nicolaus was further in with the stored supplies and triage. At Alexis’s shout he turned to Voah and was likewise concerned with her expression.

He couldn’t physically help her because she was vital to their defense and survival with her skills. He moved near her and began reciting the best he could off of memory.

“Cambean break sea chains. Koopin bring light to no dark. Vasta defeat steel. Hoy return us . Zinyh grow gardens”

Was he? Yep, Gonyaul was trying to remember her prayers. Wiping a tear of frustration from the paranoia from her eye, she accidentally smeared her face with blood from a scratch and gave a hopeful smile to him for trying to help.

He would keep an eye on their backs. Voah would try to ignore any more noises from behind her as she resolved to continue firing the bow. If she was to be attacked by shadowy enemies from behind, it would have just be the way things went.

She aimed a shot in the direction of the riders.

His breath became haggard between feral growls of desperation. He knew his shoulder wound had swelled because it throbbed like his head. Every swing was beginning to throw him off balance and now he heard another voice. Slivhiki.
The boar’s voice seam through his mind just like in his nightmares, taunting him.
~Weak. As if you could lead anyone, you can’t even lead a small band of soldiers.~
He smacked into something hard, realizing he had made it to the mine, stumbling in as the voice continued.
~A child unwilling to become a man. How can you kill the Duke if you can’t even bring these savages to heel?~
Tarmen tried to ground himself. He needed to see reality if they were to survive this and the last thing they needed was the mold taking hold again. He began to hum a song from home, unable to form the words, in an attempt to calm his mind.

Alexis let her spear clatter to the ground in favour of pulling the stumbling K’rull man deeper into the cover of the mine entrance, hissing in pain as that forced her to put more stress on her wounded leg.

She dropped to one knee to take some weight of it and to steady her aim as she knocked yet another arrow.

Gonyaul saw the state of his three friends. They were falling apart. He spoke up.

“Maybe I carry one of you to Nicolaus. Quick fix and bring back. Rotate?”

At this point there were others now in the mine with them. Surely one was a soldier that could fill in at the bottlenecking entrance.