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Aran saw Sue and Rhys, and decided to make his way to them. He punched away a dog that tried to pin him, and sent many others away with wounds or broken bones, Aran felt it was perfect training for him. He saw Sue take out the Alpha Cerberus, well it looked dead to him, and he said to them, "Sue, do you know what's going on? As he blocked a pair of fangs with his Lance.

(Gotta go, be back on later D: Survive, Survive!)

He could have sworn there was another entrance into the castle, but Soren sighted no such thing. All stray entrances had been blocked up. To top it off, the ice pillar which Nino and their regal guest once used as a stage had collapsed, barricading the gates to the castle. It was best not to ignore the thirteen creatures which paced hungrily before the defenders as well.

The mage winced, recognizing exactly who was under attack at the moment. She was in no condition to fight! The hawk king would surely tear down upon the attackers if he witnessed this. But Soren saw no glimpse of the hawk king's bulk anywhere, and Soren remained unarmed.

He quickly shifted through his mind for any strategies, any tactics he would employ for himself or the others. The landscape was lacking in terrain advantage. They were faced off against creatures driven by instinct and reflex, formidable foes that were painful to deal with. Even if he could act as a distraction, the creatures would outrun him and rip him to shreds in a flash. That was one foolish strategy crossed out.

Soren breathed calmly, feeling his breath emerge warm once more now that their guest had vanished. Yet Nino may well be in danger.

Soren shook his head. Curse my prayers, he repeated in his mind, keeping himself hidden behind a drapery. Soren explored the area with his eyes, wondering if there was anything nearby he could use. The most he recognized were the invaders, the defenders, the snow-smothered streets, and a wooden cart at the head of a slight hill.

That was ridiculous. A wooden cart would do little to scatter these foes, and that hill's incline would not provide nearly enough. The hill would have been useful had the mage been in possession of a tome. He was in no position to attempt magic without tomes either — that required too much effort in itself.

He snapped back to his immediate surroundings, a snowflake landing on his nose and drawing his attention to a Mauthe Doog that had sniffed him out. The creature bounded forward, fangs bare, muscles pumping with adrenaline, throat trembling with a low growl. The beast dashed at him so quickly that Soren himself acted on instinct.

Soren tore the flag from the wall. As the Mauthe Doog launched itself at his throat, Soren gripped the drapery with both hands and slammed the cloth across the creature's head, effectively throwing it into the wall right beside him. He let the cloth fall from his hands. The creature flailed and roared, tangled in the drapery, thrashing and biting at that which blinded the beast. Soren panted from the startle, dropping to his knees and attempting to restrain the beast with the cloth, mostly around its snapping jaw. He winced as its claw managed to scrape his cheek. Its talons caught onto his robes, its paws clumsily but furiously swinging.

Impatient and seeing no other course of action, Soren whacked the blind beast across the snout with his journal. The creature let off a yelp, alerting two Mauthe Doogs that had heard its cry.

He did not notice the creatures as he struck the beast across the jaw again, then stuffed the stunned beast's face into the snow with the drapery. As he did, Soren glimpsed the two Mauthe Doogs with their wicked eyes fixed on him. The creature underneath the cloth ceased its movements, giving him a moment of relief. But when it resumed thrashing the mage sent his journal flying across its skull.

Soren cursed the stars as the two Mauthe Doogs bounded across the snow toward him. He punched the creature beneath the drapery out of anger, his fist landing against its rib with surprising effect. It was then Soren realized these creatures were not hardy at all.

She'd been cornered. It was stupid of her to go back- even if her shirt was still cold and wet from her hawk partner's jesting- and still think she was capable of defending herself. Though her sword was in her hand and she had tried to assume her normal battle stance, the odd sense of alarm that ran through her whenever she tried to think of all of her evasion tactics was distracting. Her mind and instincts kept turning back to the child. Ayra couldn't risk the health of her unborn, and the snarling beasts knew it.

"Curs!" When she saw the first of the maned wolves leap towards her, she swept her sword out from muscle memory alone, but felt her heart skip a beat when she felt a pain move through her abdomen. The sheer exertion of her arm arcing the blade, driving it through the beast's neck- even a movement as simple as that had sent alarms running through her body. Moving her other hand to her belly, she stayed back, keeping her balance as best as she could while eying the nomad and soldier in the distance. They were too far- while an arrow may have been able to make it, the toss of a javelin would fall short.

And yelling would only incite more attacks.

Turning her eyes to where she hoped her laguz lover was, she took a dagger from her belt and threw it into the air. The sheen and luster of the steel caught the cold winter's light, and would serve as a marker, at the very least. And with Tibarn's eyes... well. If he didn't see it, she hoped someone would.

"Away from me!" Though she couldn't risk another all-out strike, even as her foe lay stiffly in the snow, Ayra still retained as much of her intimidation as she could possibly muster, keeping the blade before her and between her body and the hungry beasts that stared at her. At the very least, they stayed back, though they still snarled at her, teeth bared and speckles of drool dripping into the snow.

They didn't stay back far, however- just far enough to stay out of reach of her blade. And with a sense of alarm, she quickly realized that if more than one was to attack at once...

She would not get out unscathed.

"Right!" Amelia shouted. She lifted her spear to ward off the snapping jaws of a Mauthe Doog and braced herself against the attack. His frame was thin and looked like a well-placed steel boot could crush through its spine, but their strength was deceptive. She managed to throw the beast away and huffed out a breath, the exhale shifting into a faint white cloud in the cold air. She stuck near Rhys and his patients, acting as a defense.

Blossom, meanwhile, ran along with Sue, not minding the fact that she wasn't able to fully keep up. She leaped at a creature close by and slashed at his face. A swipe of claws made her leap back and reevaluate her strategy. Gotta take more defensive, she thought as the scrape on her cheek bled just a little.

Ayra's shouts, however, got rid of her ideas of moving defensively. Get them away from her! "Sue! Could you rescue her?" she shouted to the nomad. "Get her on horseback and run her away? Can you move faster than them?"

Tibarn's cry, the unearthly, enraged screech of a bird of prey, cleaved in twain the sounds of snarling wolves. There was no way they could be distracted from their easy prey by Sue, no... they ignored her minor threat, and two instead leaped at Ayra, claws bared, jaws open.

A rush of wind passed over Ayra as her lover, faster in the air than any earthbound creature could match, snatched a beast in each talon mid-jump, and slammed them both to the ground, crushing and snapping their necks as he turned and glared at the others. He spread his wings wide, puffing up his body and screeching again as he hopped toward them on bloodstained talons.

The two remaining decided they could find easier prey back by Sue, and bolted.

A second later, Tibarn resumed his laguz form and ran to Ayra's side to support her. "Baby, oh, goddess, tell me you're alright..." Despite the freshly falling snow, Tibarn immediately removed his heavy, warm coat and wrapped it around Ayra, leaving his muscular upper body exposed to the cold. "Come on, hon," he murmured, glancing back at the three dead dogs. "Let's get you inside somewhere, it's not safe..." Whether or not she chose to protest, he immediately began to usher her toward the nearest house.

(Oh, my bad Nils)