Fable - Ask A Trail of Blood

[Ein]

Southern Savannah

Why in the fuck is everything going to shit lately. Ein thought to himself as he let out deep winded breaths, pressing himself against the cliff-face. His hand came up, wiping away some of the blood that still stained his cheek from when Greggor had taken an arrow to the throat.

He could feel himself shaking, every breath that entered his lungs only reaching half its length before he forced himself to breath out. Just on the other side of the boulder he could hear horses trampling the ground, swords piercing through armor, and guttural death throes as the remainder of his squad was butchered by their assailants.

The young Guardsmen had to stop himself from running, his lips thinning as he slowly turned his head and looked at the woman to his side.

A Dreadlord. Ein thought to himself. A fucking Dreadlord.

He couldn't even remember her name. They had been traveling together for a week now, some sort of secret mission for a Great House or another when they had been ambushed. Utter chaos and butchery had broken loose, and even with all the womans power simple numbers had seen them forced into a retreat. Now they hid, Ein shaking in his boots as he tried to force himself to move.

His throat felt dry, half raw. "W-what do we do?"

The Guardsmen whispered quietly, noticing that he was perhaps standing a bit too close to Sloan and eeking a step backward.

 

[Sloan]

Sloan had cut down at least forty and still they kept coming. She'd called for retreat but it didn't seem like any others had got the chance. "Fuck.." she growled in frustration and glanced down at the arrow protruding from just above her right knee and her jaw clenched, her mind trying to push the pain down for now.

Her chest heaved as she listened, pressed back against the stone with her eyes closed, only vaguely aware of the man standing next to her. Sloan never bothered to get to know the men of the small travelling regiment, she wasn't there to make friends. But she'd failed in what she was there to do and her fury was boiling over so much so that her skin was unfathomably hot. Someone had slipped up somewhere, and now she'd be paying the price of it.

A hand lashed out to slam against the man's mouth without opening her eyes, and she pressed him back against the rock.. "Shh". She was trying to think, they were in the middle of a field and the tree line was too far a stretch to run without being seen, especially with this fucking arrow in her leg.

She waited until things started to die down, a frown knit on her brow as she listened to the last of their men dying. This was why she didn't make friends with humans.. She slid a little further along the wall and peeked around, watching as their attackers dismounted to walk among the dead and finishing off the dying with swords and spears.

"When I say run, you run. Toward the tree line. Got it? Find something to hold on to..." she whispered firmly and shot a glance at the man to make sure he understood before looking back. Sloan had a knack for spooking horses, and they needed one if they were going to have any chance of getting out of here alive. They'd be found eventually. She lifted her left heel from the ground, and slammed it back to the ground. A shockwave rippled outward, throwing everything in it's path flying through the air a good few feet. Horses were heavy enough to withstand the pressure, but they reared and bolted in every direction, and one was headed toward the tree line.

"Run." she barked, and half limped, half ran out in the hope of intercepting.

 

[Ein]

Ein didn't have to be told anything twice by a Dreadlord. At Fort Thel he had seen first hand what they were capable of, and without a thought he quickly grasped onto the boulder. His arms practically wrapped around the stone, waiting for whatever magic the woman had in mind.

There was a slight pause, and then suddenly the entire ground began to quake.

"Fuck!" Ein called out in shock as the ground itself ruptured in a slow extending shockwave. Cries of shock and screeching horses echoed out above Ein's curse. Half a second later he heard Sloan's yell.

Without even a second of hesitation the young Guardsmen bolted.

He rushed across the open field so fast that someone might have thought he was the one with magic. His head swiveled back for only a second, watching as Sloan's path moved directly towards the horse bolting to the trees.

Another series of curses passed his lips, and he quickly dashed to the side. Within a few seconds he managed to cut in front of the horse, practically jumping to grasp it's reigns and pull himself atop the mount in one swift motion.

In that brief second a thought crossed his mind. Run. Leave her to die. You'll be better off.

The idea crackled through his mind for a brief second, but as he watched the men on the road he knew it would have been foolish. With a quick snap of the reigns Ein pulled the horse around, galloping towards Sloan and extending an arm to sweep her up into the saddle behind him.

 

[Sloan]

Running with an arrow in her knee had been a ridiculous idea. She was slow, and she growled out in frustration. She lifted a hand to grip around Ein's forearm and she swung up onto the saddle with an involuntary cry in pain as the arrow pushed through her leg another few inches. "Get us to the trees!" she ordered through gritted teeth and curled an arm around his waist to keep hold.

She shook the dizziness from her head and looked behind her. The men were back on their feet, scurrying around and trying to catch hold of the horses that fled the site. Only four of them managed and the horses were already thundering away in their tracks. She could handle four..

"Faster!". Regardless of how fast he was going, he wasn't going fast enough.

 

[Ein]

An arrow shot just over head, landing in the ground just a few feet in front of them as Ein dug in his heels in an attempt to signal the horse to go faster.

To it's credit, the great beast stampeded his way over the grass, carrying the weight of both of them and surging forward towards the tree line. Another arrow landed just ahead, then another, and then another. "Shit shit shit!"

Ein said as he began to weave their mount from side to side, desperately trying to keep them from being struck as four other riders began to give chase.

"The damned thing can't go any faster!" He shouted angrily.

 

[Sloan]

Sloan near fell off as he weaved and she dug a fist into his side "Fuck! Stay straight! You're slowing us down!" she raged at him and twisted to watch for arrows. Two more came flying toward them, their aim much better than the previous, and Sloan tried to keep her concentration on deflecting. The arrows made a small thud as they hit an invisible wall and they fell dead to the grass. Still they continued to let a few more wasteful arrows fly at the pair and Sloan continued to render them useless.

Reaching the trees, Sloan drew a long dagger from both hips, lifted her good leg and turned to slide off of the Horse, a pained groan catching in her throat as she landed with a stagger and turned to await the horsemen. She lifted the blades into the air, taking aim at the two first men to reach the edge of the forest, and let them fly at the two, horrified faces. They fell.

She dodged the swing of the third man's blade, but he continued passed her after Ein, and the last man fell screaming from his horse as Sloan shot an unarmed hand out toward him. He writhed and screamed on the ground, clutching at his head until Sloan limped over, and snapped his neck.

 

[Ein]

The man that chased after Ein was clearly a much better rider than he.

A fluidity held to the way he moved atop his mount, sword drawn and bow stowed away before Ein even had time to turn around. The Horse somehow moved faster too, and Ein's mount seemed to slow among the trees as it senses his own weariness.

"Shi-" Ein's words were suddenly cut off as a sword slashed at his arm. Steel bit into his arm, blood immediately spilling down his coat.

Pain shot through his arm, and he pulled the horse to a sudden jerking right. The beast cried out, and then seemed to jump into it's counterpart. The two beasts crashed together in a great crunching of bone and screams of pain, Ein and the other rider being flung into the trees.

 

[Sloan]

Sloan retrieved her daggers from the two riders and pulled herself gingerly up onto a loose mare, turning her about to see the horses clatter together and she winced. She kicked her heels at the mare's sides and rode toward the man who was trying to pull himself up. She slid off the horse again and brought both daggers down into either side of his neck and twisted before pulling them up, blood spattering on her face.

She turned back to look for Ein and stomped her way to the squealing horses with a growl. "One. You had to deal with one." Sloan barked at the man, and took her blade to both horses' throats one after the other and their squealing slowly died out. "You realise how completely incompetent you are, right?.." she spat and staggered before falling to the grass as her leg gave in. She sat up and curled shaking fingers around the arrow shaft and she snapped it. "Get up!" ... Sloan clearly wasn't in the best of moods.

She tore a long shred of fabric from the bottom of her shirt and reached under her thigh to grip the other end of the arrow, bracing herself for a moment before she pulled it out with a "FUUCK!" and she hissed through her teeth as she wrapped the fabric tightly around it and swore a little more as she flopped herself back into the grass. They had to get moving.

 

[Ein]

Ein slowly pulled himself up, his head spinning as he slowly patted himself all over.

Miraculously he found no trace of wounds, broken bones, or even a single cut. His head tilted up, and he quietly said a prayer to whatever ancestor was watching over his stupid ass at the moment. Of course that prayer was immediately answered by a swearing Dreadlord.

The young guardsmen shirked slightly, half taking a step back from Sloan until she finished her tongue lashing. "I'm a fucking infantrymen!"

He argued almost instantly, the adrenaline in his veins combined with the fact that they were completely and utterly fucked.

"I didn't touch a fucking horse until my first year in the gua-" Ein caught himself, biting his tongue as the Dreadlord swore loud enough for the entire forest to hear.

With two quick steps he moved besides her.

"We should keep moving." He said, pointing out the obvious as he glanced up towards the nearby tree-line. Soldiers could be heard shouting nearby, the band of mauraders collecting themselves. "Come on."

Ein said as fear kicked out anger, his arm reaching down to slide underneath her shoulder and pick her up off the ground.

 

[Sloan]

Sloan ignored the man's excuses, she didn't have time or patience for them. Her breaths hissed through her gritted teeth, and she allowed him to help her back to her feet. She despised relying on people to hold her up in any way shape or form, vulnerability was not easy for her. "Get the horse." she growled impatiently and struggled to bear weight. She'd no choice but to lean heavily.

She could feel the thunder of hooves heading in their direction and she tried to see through the trees. A few men had managed to get hold of the scattered steeds and were heading their way. "Quickly." she snapped.

 

[Ein]

Ein let out a grumble, but his tongue back short of a direct insult towards the Dreadlord.

He could probably get away with some sass at this point, mostly because he doubted even she could get out of here without any help at all. She could barely stand after all. With only the slightest hesitation Ein walked over towards the Horse and once again pulled himself into the saddle.

"Here." The Guardsmen said as he offered Sloan an arm to climb up.

He doubted that she would be able to support her own weight to climb up, even if she was probably too stubborn to admit it.

 

[Sloan]

There wasn't much time to argue about who was taking the reins but she huffed anyway to make her annoyance known and took his hand and let him pull her up. She settled behind him and wrapped her arm tightly around his waist as they kicked off, keeping her head turned to look behind her.

"Keep off the road. There's a stream about a half mile up, it's shallow enough to cross. The forest is thicker there it'll be easier to lose them." she instructed, though her voice was clearly strained with pain and she looked down at the blood soaking through her makeshift bandage already and it glistened in a trail down the mare's side.

 

[Ein]

"No shit." Ein whispered quietly to himself at the first part of her command, gripping the reigns tightly as he quickly lead them through the forest in the direction that she commanded.

Behind them he could hear shouting, though when he looked back he realized the woods were too thick to actually see. He wasn't entirely sure if such a thing was good or bad, but eventually the voices were drowned out by the sound of running water.

Eventually they came to the banks, Ein pulling the reigns just slightly to slow down the mount.

"Hang on." He told the Dreadlord. "This will be tricky."

As soon as the horse delved into the water Ein could feel the great beast struggle against the current. It's hooves dug into the stony bottom of the river, and slowly began to push through. Soon his feet touched the water, an icy chill immediately rushing up his entire body as the near freezing water began to sink into his clothes.

 

[Sloan]

The Dreadlord clenched her jaw at Ein's response, suppressing the urge to grab him by the hair and throw him off of the horse. Holding on was becoming more and more difficult. Her skin was pale and glistening with sweat, wisps of hair stuck to her face and she leaned on him a little more.

Her eyes were closing heavily when he spoke, his voice a faint muffle in her ears and her head pressed against the back of his shoulder. Freezing water awoke her mind with a sudden shock and she pulled in a deep gasp as it climbed up her legs and stung at her skin. Her grip on him tightened again and she shuddered, muttering few choice words muttered under her breath.

"There's some... caves... ten minute ride east.." she stuttered out as water rushed over her wound.. "Stick to the river..". They'd need a fire, and at least a cave would make the smoke more difficult to notice. She couldn't hear anyone following them, but her mind was fully committed to pain and icy water.

 

[Ein]

Ein listened to the Dreadlord carefully, grimacing as he noticed her voice slowly beginning to stutter and soften.

As a child he had always been told that Dreadlords were invincible. They were deadly on the field of battle and immortal in life. Nothing could kill one of the great mages of Vel Anir. They were something to be feared, something that no man could ever match up to.

Yet here they were. One Guardsmen who had barely seen twenty summers and a Dreadlord half dying and falling off a horse.

In any other circumstance he might have laughed. Hell he might even have made fun of the woman, but now...now he was just fearing for his life. There was no way in hell he was making his way out of this without her. "Hang on."

He told her as he removed one hand from the reigns and clutched the arm she had wrapped around him. Ein pinned her in place as they crossed out of the stream and he turned the horse east up the river.

 

[Sloan]

Sloan hadn't got to her age by being sloppy. Sheer numbers alone had rendered her unable to contest the abundance of arrows that flew at her from all directions. She was human, and it only took one in the right place to kill her. This one was doing just that, only slowly. By the amount of blood she'd lost it'd most certainly nicked her artery.

Still, she'd cut down a fair amount of them, they knew what she was, and she doubted they'd give up their search so quickly. They needed shelter, and she had to try to stay awake... She failed.

By the time they'd reached the caves, Sloan had passed out from blood loss, her pulse was slow and her breathing, shallow..

 

[Ein]

As he slipped off the horse and immediately turned around to catch Sloan Ein had to mentally thank Donric for teaching him some basic medical skills.

The Guard had done their best to do so, but he'd never really paid any really attention back then. Donric's lessons though had stuck with him, if only because the man had threatened to beat him with a soup spoon if he didn't listen.

As soon as he got Sloan off the horse he pulled her gently over towards one corner of the cavern.

From his own already marred tunic he tore off a strip of cloth, dressing the wound as quickly and as best he knew how. Within a few minutes he had staunched the bleeding, after that was done, he quickly got to work on a fire.

That task at least came easy.

 

[Sloan]

She was out for an hour before the heat of the fire finally warmed her enough for her to feel slightly more alive. She drew it in and leeched at its energy, feeling it’s warmth seep into her muscles and revive her. The fire slowly dwindled and died out, and Sloan’s eyes opened.

There was still pain, but she could deal with that.. She looked down at the dressing on her wound and frowned briefly before sitting herself up and rubbing at her face. She was still weak, but the fire’s energy coursed through her and refuelled the energy she’d lost along with her blood.

“Thank you..” she muttered after a while. “And sorry about the fire.” She added, now feeling slightly guilty about yelling at him and entirely aware that she now owed the man her life.

 

[Ein]

A chill ran up his spine as he slowly watched the fire die down.

Fingers tensed, and when Sloan began to speak the young Guardsmen nearly jumped a foot and a half in the air. Every muscle in his body tensed and he found himself profoundly skittish.

Then she apologized.

His lips thinned, and he glanced towards the fire as she affirmed what he'd already suspected. Ein wasn't used to magic. She was only the second ever Dreadlord that he'd met. To say he was weary was an understatement. "I...no problem. Just doing my duty Ma'am."

Ein gave her a weary glance, then quietly squatted down to tend to the embers still stirring in the fire pit.

"If I uhh...restart this are you going to eat it again?" He asked, not even realizing that it might be insulting.

 

[Sloan]

She showed the slightest hint of amusement at his skittishness, even if his unease wasn’t entirely visible she felt it, the young man was terrified of her and she wasn’t entirely sure if that was a bad thing or not. She was used to it, of course, but she wasn’t the worst Dreadlord, not by a long shot.

She smirked dryly at his acceptance of her thanks and her tired, golden gaze followed him as he moved, silently surprised he’d managed to survive the attack in the first place let alone unscathed.

“I don’t eat fire, boy.” her eyes rolled “But no. Go ahead...” she nodded assuredly and shuffled to settle herself against a rock.

“What’s your name?” She asked quietly, she wasn’t particularly interested in reality but he had saved her life and she’d try to make a little more effort than calling him ‘boy’.

 

[Ein]

He quickly set about making the fire once more, thanking his own foresight to stash away an extra piece of flint at the very beginning of this journey.

That was one of the tricks he'd learned in the Army of the West. The Rangers had always taught him than one of anything just wasn't enough. Better to carry two of what you might need and have a little extra weight than be without. Tricks like that we're important to surviving the Falwood.

Just so happened it worked out here too.

Silently he wrankled as she called him "boy". She was older than he, obviously, but that didn't mean he liked it. The Guardsmen his his frown as he bent down to strike at his flint. "Reinhardt."

His father, before he'd died, had always claimed that he was named after some distant relative who was once a General. He had never really believed it, though his name was far fancier than he would have liked. The other kids had made fun of him for it.

"Most call me Ein though, Ma'am." He said as the sparks lit into a small flame.

 

[Sloan]

Sloan settled back and closed her eyes, feeling the same way about him calling her ma’am as she knew he did about being called ‘boy’. “Let’s make a deal, Ein. I won’t call you boy if you stop calling me ma’am. I know I’m old enough to be your mother but I’m not ancient or entitled enough to be called ma’am.” she huffed quietly.

“My name is Sloan.” she told him, an eye opening as the kindling caught flame and she smirked at his earlier question about her eating fire.

“We’ll leave at first light. It’s almost three days ride back home. Do you hunt?” She asked with a slight wince, clearly not expecting that he could.

 

[Ein]

"Fair enough ma-Sloan." It was difficult to suddenly go against an entire lifetime of training in regards to Dreadlords.

Most of his life he'd assumed he could never come face to face with one, much less be on a first name basis. For some reason the fact that she requested it of him gave him the creeps. Like he was some sort of thing she could you with. His lips thinned for a second, but he wasn't about to argue.

"Aye." He'd been terrible at it originally, but the boys from the West had taught him. "I can set a few snares, but that might be dangerous."

Especially if their enemy was still looking.

He frowned. "Otherwise I don't have a weapon."

And he had no idea how her magic worked.

 

[Sloan]

Sloan’s eyes opened and she glared at the man. He couldn’t ride a horse and had no weapons.. She glanced up at the roof of the cave as she silently asked the gods why they’d decided to punish her today, and she slipped one of her two long daggers from her hips and tossed it onto the ground beside him.

“I don’t think I have to tell you how I’ll feel if you lose that.” she frowned, she’d lost her spear already, they were the only physical weapons that she had.

She huffed as she watched him and shook her head “We can go without for tonight. It’ll be too risky for you to go alone.” she sighed, clearly not trusting that he wouldn’t get lost or find himself in trouble.

 

[Ein]

"I'm not an utter simpleton." Ein argued with a frown, the anger in his chest rising just a little bit too much for him to really notice.

He wasn't the best horse...driver, nor was he exactly a hunter, but he had his skills. Back at the training grounds it had been rare for someone to beat him with a sword and shield, plus his instructor had always told him he'd been fantastic with a crossbow.

It just so happened that his weapons had all been stowed on the side of his horse when the ambush had come. The beast had been felled before he'd managed to grab his crossbow, and he'd left his sword when it had gotten stuck in a fallen enemies armor. Not his fault.

Picking up the knife he reached to one of the satchels on his belt.

"And if you Dreadlords were nicer maybe I'd share." He said as he wiggled some hard tack at her.

It was then that he remembered who she was. And who he was in relation to her.

Shit.