Cherry stood by the entrance to the prisons. All her muscles felt tense, but she didn't move. As stationary as a statue, she remained there, clutching her newly obtained bow, an arrow already nocked in place. Of course, her aim usually sucked, but she didn't bother to mention that to the others standing watch with her. She would just have to hope for the best. And probably expect the worst.
She only hoped the battle wouldn't go into twilight and night. Actually, truth be told, she hoped the battle wouldn't reach this far. Okay, okay, the truth was she hoped the battle wouldn't happen at all, but she didn't think that was likely somehow. Oh, boy was she gonna have a lot of clean up work on her hands.
After days doing nothing but sitting on the bench in his cell it was the last thing he wanted to do when the cell doors were finally opened. But, knowing why they were been opened, he was still hanging around in his original cell, for the most part.
But when he saw Cherry standing completely at attention by the door, he knew he had to say something to break the tension.
That, and a very morbid part of him worried that it wouldn't be long before he'd never see these people again. But he hid that away behind an awkward smile and tapped her on the shoulder.
"Um. Aren't you just going to tire yourself out like that?" he asked, though he didn't really know what he was talking about.
Cherry whirled around in surprise, nearly whacking Bret on the side of the head with her bow. "Whoops!" she gasped, pulling back at the last second and letting the bowstring go slack. "Bret! You startled me!"
Truth be told, she was glad to see him and not some attacking demon. She gave him a wry smile. "Nice to see you, you know, without the bars." Her eyes flicked around the open space. "Where's Maurice?"
Cordelia came walking up behind Bret, holding Maurice.
"He's here."
With some sort of animal intuition, he seemed to be aware that something in the air wasn't right. Instead of his usual hijinks, he was curled up tightly in a ball and pressed up against her chest, remaining perfectly still aside from the occasional, pathetic meow as he burrowed closer.
She smiled slightly at both of them, but the smile didn't come close to reaching her eyes. "It's good to be out of the cell," she said softly as she looked down the tunnel.
She felt guilty, horribly guilty, about being in here as everyone else was fighting out there. The guilt wasn't about the demons, she had come to acknowledge that helping him hadn't been a poor decision with the information she'd been given at the time. That hadn't been their fault, they hadn't known better. But now...she'd had some training in archery, she should have been up there.
If Nazarene had been given to moments of pride, this would have been one of them. Their training was impeccable, and those who were less-trained were following suit without trouble. Widened the hidden entrance to the tunnel, and now they were creeping in, two abreast, and fifty in length.
One hundred, all told.
She motioned to the soldier behind her, and he held up a five, flashed it five times.
Twenty-five paces to city center.
She drew her second sword, and led them on.
And then they were there.
Nazarene signaled the only powderman they had with them up next to her. Gave the eyes and ears signal to everyone. She counted out seventy seconds for the signal to pass all the way down the line, and nodded at the powerman.
He readied the bomb - an explosive, designed to flare and bang as loudly as possible, and leaped out, tossing it in.
"Sweet Mary Christmas!" Barney exclaimed, leaping off of his stool and pressing his back to the wall.
He had known there were people coming, but... Wait, how had he known there were people coming?
Whatever, figure that out later. Like, if he didn't die in the next five minutes. His heart was still pounding, and he didn't know what he was going to do when the people who set off the bomb actually got in the room in like, thirty seconds; but if he concentrated a little bit, he could even tell how many there were.
"Oh, god, there's like, a hundred of them!" he cried, but he wasn't crying, no, not at all; didn't even want to. He was manly and stoic and tightening his hand on the sword he'd picked up just because it was awesome.
She managed to clamber in and heave the door shut and smash herself into a corner by the time the demons marched into the prison. She found a dagger along the way and it was now clenched tightly in her palm as she eyed the door. Her breathing was shallow and quick, her eyes sharp for a sign of movement or danger.
Still, she had not been prepared for a bomb of all things, especially one that expelled an opaque powder. When the air and her lungs cleared, Lottie was startled to find a dark woman staring straight at her. It sent a shiver down her spine and her hand flexed around the dagger as the demon's eyes moved from person to person.
As the smoke from the bomb filled the room, Cordelia shrieked in alarm and her grip on Maurice tightened. With a startled and likely pained yowl, he clawed at her arms and leaped out of her arms
( ... )
Lhoral leaped into action immediately, into the thick of the demons. Her agility was always her strength; she disarmed one, took out another, plunged her knife into the chest of a third. A quick spin and she sent her heel into the throat of a fourth.
The rhythm of the fight was easy to reach. None of them seemed to have projectile weapons; she could hold them off for a long time if she had to.
Lhoral wasn't ready for the attack; she stumbled, for a crucial second, and the sword hilt smashed into her temple. She recovered, admirably, but was a little too slow, a little too clumsy.
Before she knew it, her knife was knocked out of her hand and --
Pain spread like lightning, bone in her shoulder grinding against the blade. The demon woman threw her into the wall and she went down, blood flowing thick and fast from the wound.
For a split second, Lottie considered charging at what appeared to be the main demon. The one that had stared her and everyone else down, the one that was now identifying all the magic in the room. But the female elf she recognized as the guard was quicker on her feet... and quick to fall, er well, be thrown
( ... )
Pursing her lips, Cherry raised her bow. She hated the fact that a battle had begun, but there was nothing to do. She could talk down a handful of soldiers...maybe. On a good day. But if Barney wasn't hyperbolizing about a hundred? No way. No how. Not a chance. The best she could hope for, at this point, was that someone would sound a retreat. How likely that was was anybody's guess.
Still, even in a battle, she had to be true to her nature. She took aim at the nearest demon, aiming not for the delicate internal organs--or at least where they would have been on a humanoid--but rather for a shoulder. She would aim to wound. There were a thousand more uses for a wounded enemy than a dead one. And of course, it did help that she had at least attempted to tip her arrows with a sleep-inducing drug. Or maybe it was just a really smelly soup. She wasn't entirely sure what she had brewed up in such a hurry.
Bret gasped and scrambled backwards away from the door when the smoke clouded his vision. He hadn't been expecting that. As he backed away, he tripped over something on the floor and landed firmly on his backside. What had he
( ... )
"Smart move, Bret," Cherry chirped over the din of battle. She was starting to run low on arrows already. "Kick arrows my way," she added quickly. She was beginning to feel claustrophobic, so many bodies fighting in close proximity. True, she had managed to take out a demon or two (and managed to shove JY into one of the open cells in the process) but it was becoming too overwhelming. And there was a smell. The smell of battle, the bards would have called it, no doubt. To Cherry, it just smelled like death. Destruction. Pointlessness.
Briefly, she looked over at Cordelia. A fierce sense of pride washed over her at the sight of her beloved fighting this uphill battle. As she nocked her last few arrows, firing to the best of her ability, she started to sing. "In a realm beyond sight, the sky shines gold, not blue..."
Bret looked around, searching for arrows. He was glad to finally have something to do. He'd never really thought about it before (and musicians tended to want to rebel anyway) but he was good at following orders- he'd make a good soldier, if he could bring himself to hurt people. He found a pile of arrows near one of the fallen demons. He couldn't tell if he was dead or just unconscious but, either way, he felt a little sick as he took his arrows and tossed them loosely towards Cherry.
Cherry was singing, and even though he didn't know the song, he tried to hum along. Anything to keep a little bit of sanity. Or maybe singing during battle was more insane.
He looked around, searching for someone else to tie up.
Comments 41
She only hoped the battle wouldn't go into twilight and night. Actually, truth be told, she hoped the battle wouldn't reach this far. Okay, okay, the truth was she hoped the battle wouldn't happen at all, but she didn't think that was likely somehow. Oh, boy was she gonna have a lot of clean up work on her hands.
Reply
But when he saw Cherry standing completely at attention by the door, he knew he had to say something to break the tension.
That, and a very morbid part of him worried that it wouldn't be long before he'd never see these people again. But he hid that away behind an awkward smile and tapped her on the shoulder.
"Um. Aren't you just going to tire yourself out like that?" he asked, though he didn't really know what he was talking about.
Reply
Truth be told, she was glad to see him and not some attacking demon. She gave him a wry smile. "Nice to see you, you know, without the bars." Her eyes flicked around the open space. "Where's Maurice?"
Reply
"He's here."
With some sort of animal intuition, he seemed to be aware that something in the air wasn't right. Instead of his usual hijinks, he was curled up tightly in a ball and pressed up against her chest, remaining perfectly still aside from the occasional, pathetic meow as he burrowed closer.
She smiled slightly at both of them, but the smile didn't come close to reaching her eyes. "It's good to be out of the cell," she said softly as she looked down the tunnel.
She felt guilty, horribly guilty, about being in here as everyone else was fighting out there. The guilt wasn't about the demons, she had come to acknowledge that helping him hadn't been a poor decision with the information she'd been given at the time. That hadn't been their fault, they hadn't known better. But now...she'd had some training in archery, she should have been up there.
Reply
If Nazarene had been given to moments of pride, this would have been one of them. Their training was impeccable, and those who were less-trained were following suit without trouble. Widened the hidden entrance to the tunnel, and now they were creeping in, two abreast, and fifty in length.
One hundred, all told.
She motioned to the soldier behind her, and he held up a five, flashed it five times.
Twenty-five paces to city center.
She drew her second sword, and led them on.
And then they were there.
Nazarene signaled the only powderman they had with them up next to her. Gave the eyes and ears signal to everyone. She counted out seventy seconds for the signal to pass all the way down the line, and nodded at the powerman.
He readied the bomb - an explosive, designed to flare and bang as loudly as possible, and leaped out, tossing it in.
Reply
He had known there were people coming, but... Wait, how had he known there were people coming?
Whatever, figure that out later. Like, if he didn't die in the next five minutes. His heart was still pounding, and he didn't know what he was going to do when the people who set off the bomb actually got in the room in like, thirty seconds; but if he concentrated a little bit, he could even tell how many there were.
"Oh, god, there's like, a hundred of them!" he cried, but he wasn't crying, no, not at all; didn't even want to. He was manly and stoic and tightening his hand on the sword he'd picked up just because it was awesome.
Shit, he wished he knew how to use it.
Reply
Still, she had not been prepared for a bomb of all things, especially one that expelled an opaque powder. When the air and her lungs cleared, Lottie was startled to find a dark woman staring straight at her. It sent a shiver down her spine and her hand flexed around the dagger as the demon's eyes moved from person to person.
Reply
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The rhythm of the fight was easy to reach. None of them seemed to have projectile weapons; she could hold them off for a long time if she had to.
Reply
Nazarene hadn't seen this many Majiks in one place since leaving Mage City. And they were all crowded in here, trying to take shelter --
And she was shouting orders, almost before she finished Seeing.
Starting from the left, then:
"Witch, magician, wizard, mage, enchanter!" she called, and she leaped into action, herself, straight towards the Elf in the center of the room.
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Before she knew it, her knife was knocked out of her hand and --
Pain spread like lightning, bone in her shoulder grinding against the blade. The demon woman threw her into the wall and she went down, blood flowing thick and fast from the wound.
Reply
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Still, even in a battle, she had to be true to her nature. She took aim at the nearest demon, aiming not for the delicate internal organs--or at least where they would have been on a humanoid--but rather for a shoulder. She would aim to wound. There were a thousand more uses for a wounded enemy than a dead one. And of course, it did help that she had at least attempted to tip her arrows with a sleep-inducing drug. Or maybe it was just a really smelly soup. She wasn't entirely sure what she had brewed up in such a hurry.
Reply
Reply
Briefly, she looked over at Cordelia. A fierce sense of pride washed over her at the sight of her beloved fighting this uphill battle. As she nocked her last few arrows, firing to the best of her ability, she started to sing. "In a realm beyond sight, the sky shines gold, not blue..."
Reply
Cherry was singing, and even though he didn't know the song, he tried to hum along. Anything to keep a little bit of sanity. Or maybe singing during battle was more insane.
He looked around, searching for someone else to tie up.
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