Divide and conquer

Alexis watched as the natives did, indeed, get somewhat confused by the laid tracks, though unfortunately not enough to run off.

So this was going to get sticky.
Looking to Voah, she signed her that she would move a bit along the edge of the incline. That would separate the two women, but hopefully give the Arbiter a solid opportunity for a surprise attack.

Not knowing how this would go, she also signed her companion to try and return to base camp if they lost each other, where she hoped the rest of the party was headed.

The mercenary knocked the arrow again and sneaked back closer to where she had climbed the incline, as that would be where they would turn to.
She crouched down and took aim at the nearest archer, positioning herself next to a tree that could serve as impromptu cover.

And when the first hunter finally turned around and spotted her, she let her arrow fly. Her bow was not made to be rapidly fired. It usually served to get off one or two shots that packed a punch even against foes in armor before entering melee.

As such the arrow embedded itself very, very deep in the chest of her target, pushing him back with the force of impact.

Alexis dived behind the tree, already hearing the tell-tale ‘chunk’ of an arrow hitting the wood, fired by a much faster short bow.

One more. Alexis knocked a second arrow hearing the natives call to each other and already moving to get up at her level.

She feinted to step out to goad the remaining archer to fire another arrow, which worked like a charm as she swiftly moved around the tree to fire from the other side of her cover.
The angle wasn’t perfect, but he found himself with Alexis’ arrow sticking out of his right shoulder, very much no longer going to be able to draw that bow anytime today.

And that were all the shots she could hope to get off. Alexis speedily slung the bow over her shoulder and drew her sword, just in time to face up with the the first native that made it up the ravine, a burly tanned man wearing his hair bound in what looked like deliberately felted braids.

He swung at her with his massive club, and lacking her shield she had to go for agility this time to get out of harms way before retaliating.
The back and forth, especially with one of the spearman joining the fray, swiftly led to her loosing sight of Voah’s position.
But the other three natives were not following, so she had quite the inclination that the Arbiter was having her own ‘conversation’ over there.

Time and space in battle could be strange. Your main focus is your enemy, the world around you merely a backdrop. So it took a while, trying to avoid to be smashed by a club and skewered by a spear, that Alexis noticed they were approaching something akin to a cliff leading down to a fast- moving river. She had no idea if this was the river where Tarmen found their first camp -probably not?- but at the core of the matter she was running out of moving space.
They had traded blows for what felt like an eternity, the natives doing a decent job of teaming up on her, but clearly not used to fight a trained soldier with a sword.
She was sporting some minor wounds where spear guy had managed to scrape through her leather and she suspected there was quite a colorful bruise developing on her left tie where club guy had scored a hit, but she had left her signature on them as well, bleeding from several cut wounds.

They were clearly growing agitated and impatient. That was the best she could hope for.
As spearman circled back around her for another combined attack, the merc shifted her sword from the right hand to the left.
When the bulky man let his club come down to her left, aiming to make her dodge to the right for the spearman to stab in her back, she… just didn’t.
Now having the sword in her left, she had grabbed it in a way that the blade pointed backwards and it’s flat side lay against her arm. With that as an improvised shield she let the club slide along its length redirecting it to the ground instead. That hurt, especially with her arm still in bad shape, but it allowed her to stand her ground. The spearman had expected her to be farther right at this point and thus not only missed her completely but also found himself hitting something very different instead when Alexis grabbed the spear as it went by and with its wielder’s momentum rammed it into the chest of club-man.

The man lost his club in shock and stared down at the spear as his companion with a panicked babble was pulling back. What Alexis had not expected was the burly man roaring in fury and tackling her by her hip, catapulting them both over the edge of the cliff and into to river below.

The shock of submerging in icy waters almost had her loose grip of her sword.
Almost. You do not easily separate a mercenary and their weapon of choice.

It didn’t do her much good however, as the former club-wielder pinned her arm to her side and fought to keep her underwater, clearly trying to drown her as his last hurrah.

Alexis fought to hold her breath, trying not to panic.
And then she remembered that the sword was not her only blade. She scrambled to find her dagger, and once she had it, she grabbed it and rammed it into the man’s throat.

Finally, his grip loosened and she managed to get her head over water for very urgently needed air.
Alexis fought her way through the fast moving water back to land and took stock of her situation.

She was wet. Wounded, though not impedingly so. Her bow definitely would need a new bowstring, which didn’t really matter, since most of her arrows were probably taking a water ride down south.
But she had both her sword and her dagger, and her shield, even if that helped chac right now.
All things considered, could be worse.
But…

With a frown she looked back up the stream. It had carried her a good bit, and even if it hadn’t, she wasn’t going to get up that cliff anytime soon.
In short, she couldn’t get back to Voah.
Taking a breath, Alexis send an uncharacteristic prayer to Vastad that he may be with his chosen in that battle, and that Voah would find her way back to the beach.

Then hesitantly she turned to find her own way there.