Into the Fray

Joint post with Bandorchu, Winteroak, and LucianNepreen
A breath for courage and a nod to Alexis began Tarmen’s attack. Wanting to use their advantage as long as possible however, he continued to hide, knowing a charge now would be foolish.
As they got closer, he tried to size up a potential target, vividly remembering how deadly these simple weapons were in the hands of the Sentinels.
He reasoned the spears were the deadlier adversary and zeroed in on one such warrior, making sure to check if Alexis was still following as they approached.

She was, closely at that.

Her shield - Gonyaul’s shield - would hopefully serve for some decent defense.

She’d prefer to cover Tarmen’s weak side if she could, given he was still slightly hampered by the ordeal in Aquilo, shortly after his ordeal in the Ypogeos.

Probably nothing she’d be able to keep up for the fight, but try she could.

A long piercing howl echoed through the woods. Some sort of dog or wolf, you can't be sure. The men standing suddenly looked up in all directions exchanging looks, trying to scan the forest floor.

Suddenly one of the captives, a young man, got up and barrel past the guards to a chorus of shouts and whistles, running away on the opposite direction that Alexis and Tarmen were approaching from.

He didn't get far though, as an arrow took him on the back of his left leg, sending him crashing down to the floor.

Tarmen took this as their chance. If the beast was theirs, than it had found them and if not, then the warriors were on full alert now.
The boy had given a perfect distraction, only wounded and requiring two of the warriors to gather him. Even still, at the distance he had to cover, his target saw him at the last few feet.
What should have been a clean tackle and kill became a tussle on the ground, though thankfully Tarmen remained on top.

Alexis followed suit a split second later, charging at the closest warrior to the one Tarmen had tackled.

Her goal was to force him back a bit, ideally giving her a chance to cut free one of the prisoners on the way.

Without the spears reach, the warrior beneath Tarmen was forced to use it as a shield, blocking and deflecting the oncoming strikes to diminishing effect.
The third warrior was left to choose which battle to pick, though a thick whack removed one of those choices. He instead hollered to the others who had stepped away, bringing their full attention to the attack.
Tarmen didn’t know if they would really have a chance to cut the bonds themselves and didn’t want to lose the chance he had. Rushing from the newly deceased to the prisoners, he placed his knife in one of their hands before moving to help Alexis.

Her chosen opponent’s club crashed into Alexis’s shield with full force, pushing her back a step.
She took a second step, but only to get the leverage to push him back in turn with her own considerable strength, surprising the Sentinel.

A follow up strike with her sword had him jump back evasively even more and gave her the breathing room to parry the third warrior’s spear thrust as she saw Tarmen approaching to her aid.

With both club and spear being focused on Alexis, the club wielder had little time to react to the thick metal slicing into his side. The blade cut deep, much to Tarmen’s approval, and he would have been ended there if not for a timely arrow that required Tarmen to twist in order to deflect a painfully accurate shot.
Down but not out, the club now required Tarmen to back up further, lest his shins be shattered.

One fighter now occupied with Tarmen, but one archer in the equation, and another fighter fast approaching.

Alexis put in some footwork and manoeuvred her quarry so that he was between her and the archer, denying a clear shot.

Her adversary thrust his spear towards her leg and she directed its angle further down with her shield. As the spearhead hit the ground, she swiftly put her food on the shaft, applying her full body weight to rip it out of his grip.

Her blade flashed upwards, a stream of blood following in its wake.