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Edward hiked along the well beaten path. For the past year he had been traveling this new land. Seeing new sights, doing some odd jobs here and there in several cities. The last job had was being a body guard for a very finicky merchant. When he had finished his job, he went to a tavern to have a meal. But it seemed there was talk about war coming or something, frankly ruining the boy's appetite.

"Where are they? I heard hey were in a city around this area..." Edward finally climbed over a hill and saw... fires and people fighting... a lot of people. "Aw.. no, I'm too late?" He ran all the way to the city's gate and sneaked through. Edward looked around and saw a way up to the roofs of the buildings. He climbed up unnoticed.

As Edward jumped from building to building, he jumped over an alleyway... and saw Joshua, that swordmaster... He was trapped and about to get skewered by a couple soldiers. "Oh... that's not good." Edward jumped down behind them and neatly slashed the back of the soldier's necks and then quickly stabbed through openings in their armor.

"Heh, hey if it isn't the gambler?"

A couple of times after taking out soldiers without them knowing, Ziaram heard a beat of wings in the sky. Staying in the forest, Ziaram looked up, and could barely make out the distinction of the Learanian wyvern riders, and so he knew he was safe. A shame they flew right over him without giving him a second glance. They ignored him so something must be going on.

Oh, and things were only a bit worse on Ziaram, since Thelma's cavalry were at the gates. His chances of reuniting with Ayra and the other Learanians were starting to grow slim at this rate, and he cursed his detour...the same detour that seemed to be his blessing, as the cavalry soon turned and went back into Sires. This was the time to act, and rejoin the fight.

The gate was his only option in this case, and so after sneaking quietly, he made his way there, and took a look around the corner. A fire at the pier? It seems that was one reason for the reinforcements to come around. Well, at least that takes care of some Mordachean ships, which could mean less reinforcements coming.

By the looks of it, cavalry were out to look for the other Learanians, just like Ziaram. It was time to make a plan. If he followed some of them, he would have a good chance of catching up with the group. On the other hand...they could also overpower him, and make him a prisoner of war. Well, he wouldn't go down without a fight. So he chose to follow the patrol closest to him when they weren't facing him, and maneuver his way to stay out of sight, and keep an eye out for the other Learanians. This was dangerous, and if it came down to it he would try using magic on them with his Light Brand, and take off with the horse of the fallen rider.

Avery decimated another of the enemy Wyvern Riders with hir spectacular Bolt Lance, lighting up the entire sky as zhe did so. And another! And the Archers among Rosencrantz fired at them, too. But whether they fell any more or not is up to the writer of the targets, since the Archers aren’t nearly as potent or badass as Avery: zhe’s Fierce!

Meanwhile, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and the other dark magic users among them were now firing their magical attacks upon the flames eating the ships of Mordache alive. They started with the much smaller flames strewn upon the deck, extinguishing it very quickly between all their efforts. It worked! Their elder magics successfully suffocated the vile conflagration! There was hope to save their ships (or at least save the majority of them/most parts of the ships). Time being of the essence, Rosencrantz exhorted to his fellow magic-users: “Start from the bottom up of the masts, comrades! And refrain from targeting the same space!” Quickly enough, Rosencrantz and co. developed a formation of a chain of attacks where one attack the lowest point of fire they could with another aiming for the region just above it. Given how large an area they’d have to cover to completely exterminate the flames, they’d be maintaining this pattern of attack on their own ships for quite a while. But at least they were sufficient and worked quickly. Plus, there were just enough of them that a Flux spell was always being executed, one right after another without delay.

Elsewhere…

Biggs was finally closing the little distance between himself and Javert; he would finally be making up for the insult of injuring his horse! And as he was moving in, the Halberdier had finally decided to stand his ground to face the (presently unmounted) Great Knight. Biggs couldn’t have been happier: his target was one with the guts to face him head on! Poleaxe in hand, Biggs was just about to come in close enough to swing the bloodied weapon towards Javert’s head when the Halberdier made the first offensive attempt, lunging his Steel Lance forward directly towards him. The bravado, the danger, the participation in violence!; it was for rare moments like this Biggs had joined the military of his country in the first place.

Not at all an amateur in combat (he’d certainly never rise to the rank that he had if he was), Biggs simultaneously sidestepped the Steel Lance thrust towards him whilst, his weapon being held in an upright position, he lightly released his grip on his Poleaxe for no more than a second or two before clenching it in his fist again, positioning his hand further upwards on its shaft. His grip now closer to the axe of the weapon, itself, Biggs was positioned to swing the Poleaxe at Javert. Basic knowledge of physics dictated that the shorter distance between the axe of the weapon and Biggs’ hand, the less absolute force there would be in his swing (at least I’m pretty sure that’s how it works – correct me if I’m wrong ;/), but it would still be plenty more than necessary to majorly ******** Javert up. And so the Great Knight wasted no time in swinging towards Javert’s neck, uttering a guttural attacking cry as he did so. The attack was by no means impossible to dodge, especially considering the reduced reach of the attack due to Biggs’ grip on it, but it was certainly a case of dodge or die at the moment for everyone’s favorite Halberdier of the Watch.

Meanwhile, right-hand man to Biggs, Wedge was still going about through the streets in search of his superior to provide him with his war-steed. As fortune would have it, he happened upon Biggs just as his personal brawl with Javert was starting. “Biggs! Your steed!” he called. Surely the oaf-in-authority heard him, but he must have been too focused to acknowledge it. It would have provided a distraction to the Great Knight had he responded, anyway. And while that was happening, James kept moving his people forward and Bonnie kept hers in place. They pretty much definitively would not be getting any of the action on this night.

At another location...

The sword users towards the front of the town successfully dealt with the Mordacheans in the near vicinity and there wasn't much else to do in that area, but they were about to have a lot of company for reasons soon to be explained.

And most importantly…

By this point, it was official: the infamous Mordache Cavarly was on the scene of the battle. And their presence, power, variety of weapons, and most importantly, numbers essentially meant the Learanians needed to keep ******** moving and fast (and towards the gates of Sires – hint, hint)! Individual enemies they’d certainly be able to deal with, perhaps even small groups, but this was practically a miniature mounted army spilling through the streets! Whether already on the move or even in the middle of a fight, the Learanians needed to get the ******** out of dodge now. In other words, the fourth wall was being broken yet again to inform the controllers of the fates of the Learanians that they now had a lot of incentive to direct their characters out of Sires as fast as possible.

(tl;dr: You should read the actual post! That aside, Avery is working hir fabulous Bolt Lance, Archers are attacking Wyverns, Dark Magic users are dealing with the fires, Biggs dodged Javert's thrust and situationed himself to get a swing in at Javert. Wedge located Biggs, and the Mordache Cavalry will mow down anyone who doesn't immediately head for the gates to get out of Sires. Joshua/Edward/Ziaram are the only logical exceptions since they're already pretty near the gate, but they should presumably be having a lot of company soon. And I linked the same song two posts in a row because... they're on different pages and because it's Avery's theme~)

Ziaram never got the chance to reunite with the other Learanians. If not for the Mordache Cavalry, Ziaram would have continued. Oh well, his time here was over.

To his luck, no one had noticed him. The particular unit he was behind was not even taking the time to look behind them. This would have been their downfall, if there was more time to steal one of the horses of said unit.

High tailing it for the gate, the main defense Ziaram had was his Light Brand, which he would use on any unit coming at him. He wasn't about to take his chances with dealing with defenses. Most units there had good defenses, but when it came to magic, Ziaram had an edge over them.

Back through the forest, and to where his horse was, he started on his path back to Eyris. This failure would hang with him for a good while. The one thing on his mind was that he should not have taken that detour through the forest. "I failed to serve the country I live in now."

((Yay, time to go home...the cavalry comes, and it is time to retrace his steps back in short terms))

Things were looking bad - really, really bad. It seemed as though no matter where they turned, more and more enemies were spawning through the streets of the city. Unable to defend himself nearly as effectively as the others, Blythe had to constantly, anxiously maneuver Cesario in such a manner that there was someone covering him, lest he be exposed to attacks. The intricacies of human battles were all so foreign to him, and that, compounded with an acute sense of the mortal danger he was in for simply being in this city terrified, and by extension motivated the Troubadour, instilling additional caution and attentiveness to his actions and surroundings. And at least as the group was moving, he didn’t have to worry about falling behind thanks to his mount.

And of course, he was still all too cognizant of the vague injury he’d taken around his ribs, thanks to the perpetual pain it produced. At least he hadn’t been injured again.

Blythe was also aware of the fact that the violent man who had first engaged with the group upon their arrival in the port city was still chasing them, what with him verbally announcing his presence, with his horse-destroying weapon in tow – and the fear of what the Great Knight was capable of truly resonated with him, still atop a horse himself. As Biggs successfully encroached upon them though, Blythe was at least glad the man had his attention on Javert, not himself. Blythe remained a good distance away from the two as they began to duke it out (presumably) positioning himself behind Ayra. His attention glued to Javert and Biggs, Blythe feared for the worst when the Great Knight successfully landed a hit on the Halberdier, knocking him back and off his feet.

And that’s when Blythe heard it: the sound of an enormous wave of hooves drawing nearer and nearer. They all needed to get out of there and fast! But to leave now would certainly guarantee Javert’s demise, if not at the hands of Biggs or his assistant who had announced himself than by the oncoming horde of cavalry! What was he to do? He HAD been hired as healer (despite how foolish Blythe now considered this decision, even in spite of how good the pay was); it was his duty to ensure their well being! But the sound of hooves on the road was growing louder and louder, and Javert wasn’t even on his feet, and they needed to get out of there! And who was to say the cavalry wouldn’t catch up to them all even if they began to run off that very moment?

In a rushed desperation, Blythe brought out his Berserk Staff – one use left – and put every ounce of his effort into utiziling it as quickly and efficiently as he possibly could. The lucid ruby pillar of light it emitted quickly ascended into the air and just as quickly spiraled down, successfully striking not Biggs, but Wedge – who saw his commander directly ahead of him, and closer than anyone else. As Biggs was moving towards Javert, Wedge was rushing towards Biggs, his weapon readied to strike down his own superior. This would hopefully buy them all time not just from Biggs, but from the cavalry that was pursuing them if a berserked Wedge was a good enough distraction.

Still, there wasn’t a moment to lose. As Wedge was rushing towards Biggs, which predictably forced the unmounted Great Knight to move and attempt to deal with this new attacker mounted on his own horse, Blythe had Cesario dash towards Javert before halting the mare. “Quick! Get up!” he implored as Blythe dismounted to assist the Halberdier in getting him onto Cesario before getting back on himself. "We need to go!" And with that, he nudged the steed to get them out of there as fast as he could. Healing injuries could wait.