[b] [u]Astrid[/u] [/b]

Astrid was panting hard looking around her at the dead bodies that littered the ground. Green shields, broken spears, arrows, all laying across the ground in pools of blood. Sheathing her sword she walked up to a sword that had been stabbed into the ground near Wren. Yanking it out of the ground angrily, she wondered what stupidity in herself had caused her to think she could or even should form some sort of relationship with Wren. Walking to the nearest body she stabbed it in the throat. Letting a moment go by to see if it was dead, she yanked it out and moved on to the next one. She should have just let Wren fend for herself. Independancy. That was the goal here. No strings attached, no bonds. Crunch. Another neck crushed by the end of the spear. This time with a scream. It didn't last long. She gazed into the eyes of the dying soldier with blank uncaring eyes. 

As soon as Astrid had checked that every body was dead she followed the others to the stables, all the while grumbling to herself. She had killed her horse and somehow still ended up riding back to the castle. She would have much preferred to just walk home. Once again she grabbed the closest one to the door and rode out without waiting for anyone else. Before she had left the town she stopped before Atl. Jumping off the horse before him, she stood there for a second staring at him before reaching out and grabbing the "trophy" around his neck. She looked at it momentarily before stating, "You might want to hide this, the villagers aren't as strong as you and me." Turning away without waiting for a reply she hopped back on her horse and rode off.

---

With the castle in sight she strayed from the rest over to the left. Without a word to the gang she rode right into the woods to a stream that she remembered being nearby. Blood was caked on her face... and arms... and legs... pretty much every part of her had drying blood and it was unlikely the queen would feel the need to have a bath drawn for them. Tying the horse to a tree, she quickly stripped of her light armor and slipped into the water. It was cold, letting her known of the approaching winter, but not cold enough to prevent her from entering. Sighing she drifted to the bottom of the stream and let the water run over her. Slowly, like erosion, the hardened blood flowed off of her. Looking down the stream she could see the water turn slightly red with run off from her body.