In A Forest, Somewhere Outside The Barony Capital...

[magicaddict]

"When are you actually off?"
"Home on directly after passing out on Wednesday, then the Vale on Thursday morning."

Jessa nods to herself as she and Starke walk through the forest, some twenty yards apart on either side of the path, their eyes slowly covering their surroundings and making sure nothing is flanking the group a little ahead of them.

"Should be in Kradle by Sunday morning, or late Saturday night if I ride late. You?"

She shrugs. "I'm out on Thursday. Mum and dad have been packing at home, and I'm travelling a little further before I get in and report. Should be on the road by Friday, there about a week afterwards."

Starke smiles ruefully. "Everyone's going. The end of Team Bookworm as we know it." He looks behind him to make sure they aren't outpacing Oaken, staff in hand as the rear guard, before turning back to his surroundings. "You going to the Tournament of Arms?"

She looks a little surprised. "Why would I want to do that?"

"Think who you'd get to have your ass kicked by?" he laughs. "Nab McFeegle's a regular, Brend Arturus, Rain, Sergeant G'Mord, I know D's thinking of going just so she can meet Lieutenant Helyanwë...the list is endless."

She chuckles. "Sorry Jester, I've got better things to do than have my head handed to me. I'll be looking after matters with the Hassani. You deal with the celebrities."

"Suit yourself," he replies. "But when I stab everyone up and walk off with the victory, don't you go crying into your pillow at the chance you missed to cheer me on."
"Oh, you are going to get so royally beaten up."
"I bloody hope so."

They both catch sight of Tad and Wyx heading down the path towards the party at a jog, shouldering their bows. Starke gives Oaken a whistle, who moves to catch up, and he and Jessa pull back from the flanks to join Soran, D and Kira in the middle. The three of them arrive just as Tad starts reporting.

"We've got contact ahead, party of six, armed and moving relatively quickly. I assume it's who we're meant to be meeting."
"But..."

Soran looks over at Wyx, who doesn't remotely look like he's just run a quarter of a mile through an uneven forest, but does look slightly uneasy.

"But what?"

Tad appears a little long-suffering, but doesn't try to stop Wyx replying.

"But...I don't know. It probably is them, they just looked...unusual."
"Unusual?"
"...flustered."
"Flustered."
"Yeah."

D raises an eyebrow. "There's no-one else meant to be out here but us and the contacts. We're pretty sure we've dealt with the resistance, so logic dictates who it should be. Unless..."

"...unless something's gone wrong," observes Soran. "Were they wearing insignia?"

Tad nods. "Tabards of the guards, and no obvious blood round the necks. We're probably just being paranoid."

"How long have we got?" asks Kira.

Tad shrugs. "About thirty seconds at the pace they were moving at."

"Right," Soran addresses the group. "As far as we know, and in all likelihood, it's them. That said, standard care, same as usual. D and I'll say hello, and we'll go from there. Yeah?"

The party nods its acknowledgement, and spreads out slightly. Starke, Kira and Jessa take up position behind Soran and D, and Wyx, Tad and Oaken drop in just behind them.
The other party comes into view. Six well-worn looking individuals with the signs of long service all over them, moving along the path with professional ease and swiftness. As they approach, Soran sees what Wyx was talking about. They have their weapons out, and look as thought they are moving with a purpose other than simply meeting up with the cadet party on the way through. As they get within fifty yards, Soran puts his hand up and calls out the standard greeting.

"Hail, in the name of Baron van Heusen."

No reply. The party keep coming along the path. Starke notices that D has her hands on her hilts, Soran is holding his staff in a way that would allow him to parry, while Tad's hand is drifting towards his bow. Soran repeats the greeting as they close down to thirty yards.

"Hail, and stand, in the name Baron van Heusen."

Wyx has been worried from the start, and as the other party close to within ten yards and the cadets start to back off the path, as it's obvious that they aren't stopping, he can't stop his hands going to his swords and beginning to draw them an inch.

Soran goes to repeat himself one more time.

"Hail, and sta..."

Shit.

Starke hates his lack of perception sometimes.

The cloak and tabards of the other party may be genuine and clean, but any Barony patrol with that much fresh, bright red blood on their weapons would be warning all and sundry about what just needed killing.

"SORAN! THEY'RE NOT..."

Too late.

The leader thrusts his sword at Soran's chest, while the one behind him goes for Starke and swings a mace at him, low and rising. Soran's hands move on instinct and his staff collects the sword blow just before it lances into his chest, turning it aside but knocking him from his feet. D's daggers flash from her belt and she moves to jump over Soran and defend him while he gets up.
Starke, having had a split second more to process the information, already has his daggers up and ready to parry for Kira and Jessa while they draw weaponry. The incoming blow looks solid but lazy, and he should be able to...

Shit.

A screaming war cry rings out to Starke's left and Wyx blurs into view, paired swords out and jumping into the way of his assailant. He looks exceptionally angry.

"WYX!!!"

Too late again.

The mace blow intended for Starke impacts firmly with Wyx's left leg. There is a wet crunching noise, Wyx screams in pain and doubles over on the floor. Incredulous over what Wyx has done, Starke quickly shakes himself out of it and moves to parry any further blows as Oaken's staff appears to his left, guarding both Starke's flank and Oaken's chest.

The other party power past, waving weapons but not swinging then, and don't slow down. As soon as there's a way through for them, they're gone as quickly as they came.

Tad has an arrow nocked and is drawing before Starke and D simultaneously scream "NO!" at him, Starke going further and catching his arm. There is a brief moment of tension before Tad relaxes and immediately joins Starke, Jessa and Oaken in quickly spreading out into a perimeter around Wyx, who is almost as pale as his hair and still wailing in agony, and intently scanning the area in all directions at once. Kira finishes diving over to Wyx and starts quickly yet carefully checking the wound, while Soran gets back to his feet. He and D join Kira inside the perimeter.

"How is he?" asks Soran, not really needing to hear an answer. The knee isn't meant to bend like that.

Kira looks angry with herself. "It's broken; probably compound as it was a mace. Going to need to be set and splinted, but it's not like we're going to be able to heal it, or go anywhere fast."

Soran listens intently to what Kira has to say before standing up.

"Point check. North."

"Clear." Oaken.

"South."

"Clear." Jessa.

"East."

"Clear." Starke.

"West?"

"Contact, six, seventy yards and receding at speed, armed and fucking dangerous. Nothing else." Tad, itching for a pot-shot.

"Right, we have a broken limb, so for the moment we're static. Keep your eyes out and do not engage any hostiles without express permission." Soran crouches back down. "Kira, do what you can."

Kira nods. "Okay, Wyx?"

Wyx continues to mewl like a wounded animal. Jessa looks pained at the sound. Kira looks directly into his eyes.

"Wyx...Wyx...WYX!" She slaps him in the face to get his attention, and presents him with a bandage roll from her pouch. "We've got to set this and get it splinted or you're going to be in serious trouble, okay? OKAY?"

He's shaking slightly and doesn't say anything, but nods.

"Right, put this in your mouth. I'll do this as gently as I can, but it's hardly a walk in the park. We're going to count to three together, okay? On three I'll snap it back into position. One movement, then rest. Ready?"

He nods again. She starts.

"One..."

Wyx is about to croak "Two" around the bandage when Kira gives his leg a sharp, twisting jerk. He bites down hard and screams through the bandage. Starke winces.

"Okay, that worked," Kira observes. "Sorry about two. Here, hold this in place while I bandage it." She shows up one of his swords to his leg. He stares daggers in her direction but does as she says. She looks up at Soran. "He's going to be alright, most likely. It's a warm day, he's wearing good clothes and we've got plenty of water, so getting him back shouldn't be a problem as long as nothing else tries to kill us on the way."

She carefully but tightly binds the sword in place as a splint. Soran nods and stands up, and addressing the party again.

"Okay, ladies and gentlemen, you may consider this exercise to be well and truly over."

Tad murmurs "too true," under his breath. Kira can be heard in the background, muttering quiet benedictions and healing Wyx's life force. Soran pauses just long enough to make it obvious that he heard Tad and agrees with his sentiment before continuing.

"Anything you see moving at pace through these woods may well be overtly hostile. Our contacts probably failed to stop those we just met, so we may have injured or casualties up ahead. We are some ten miles from the barracks, through what should be perfectly reasonable country, though cannot at the moment be verified as safe. We are one man down who needs medical attention, so we can't move quickly as a unit. As such, this is what we're going to do."

He takes a deep breath before continuing.

"D, with me." She nods. "We're heading off at best speed back to the barracks to report, hopefully picking up the contacts on the way.
Starke, you're in charge of those remaining. Make what distance you can safely while keeping off the path. Anything comes your way, hide, unless you're absolutely sure they're genuine. If you see anything hostile, don't even think about engaging."

Starke is nodding along to what Soran says. "I got you, I got you. Same goes for you two, I hope?"

"Damn right," replies D, retying her dark hair back. "If those people were what they appeared to be; organised, or worse, professional bandits, we're a bunch of pathfinder cadets. They'd blow through us like..."

"...like they just did," completes Oaken, eyes still on the area to the north. D nods wryly as Soran continues.

"Everyone clear? Any questions, suggestions?"

"Get moving. We'll be behind you." Starke turns away from the east and walks over to Wyx, looking down at him like a disapproving big brother. "Progressively further and further behind you, but behind you."

"Right."
"Good luck, guys."
"Thanks. See you later. We'll come and find you if it's safe; cut down the distance for you."
"Yeah. Go, guys, don't waste time. See you back home."

The rest of the party nod or wave briefly to Soran and D, who turn and move off through along the path at a brisk jog, dropping into the undergrowth at the first opportunity and barely slowing down before vanishing entirely.

Tad looks after them, shaking his head. "I'll never know how they manage that."

"Practice," replies Starke, also losing sight of them. "Lots of practice." He crouches down by Wyx, whose breathing is a little easier and has had some of the colour return to his cheeks. "How're you doing, baby boy?"

He lifts his head, smiling weakly. "Fine, where'd they go?"

"Away, you suicidal bastard," pipes up Tad. "Told you your guts would get you hurt one day."

Starke looks over at Tad. "Calm down, mate. If anyone gets to have a go about him being a stupid gutsy fucker, it's me. Kira, how are you doing for favour?"

"I'm out," she says, looking worried, "but I can do a little more if needs be. You hurt?"

Starke shakes his head. "Not at all. Don't, unless you're saving someone's life, yeah?"
"Yeah."

He stands up. "Okay, everyone, listen up. I want Kira supporting Wyx in the middle, Oaken in the back with staff, Tad out front with bow. Jessa and I'll cover the flanks. Kira, make sure the stupid gutsy fucker doesn't do anything that injures him any more. Oaken, Tad, no more than thirty yards away, please, and pull back immediately anything shows up. Slow and easy, no rush. Every yard we make is one more the rescue crew hasn't got to. All clear? Questions, suggestions?"

"Can I spell with someone if the stupid gutsy fucker gets heavy?" Kira asks, smiling.

Starke nods. "I'll cover that. Anything else?"

The others indicate no, good too go.

Starke crouches down by Wyx. "Okay mate, here we go. Seriously on three this time, alright?" he asks, looking over at Kira. She nods. "One, two, three."

He and Kira haul Wyx to his feet, who winces but doesn't cry out. Oaken appears with a stout looking stick, handing it over to Wyx as a crutch, before moving back to the rear guard position. Starke looks over at Tad.

"Go."

He nods and moves off.

Ah, shit.

The party wait for about ten seconds and follow, moving painfully slowly for a group of scouts.