Cadoc clenched his teeth as he looked at the mass of Nightfell before them. There was only 6 of them in front of the dozens of enemies. Seven, if you counted the orc. "Scared?" Cadoc nervously looked at Eliz's cool and composed expression. "Fuckin' madwoman! I don't have a fancy armor to hide under!" No, he had a shield. Ultimately, Eliz removed her helmet, so the Nightfell, an arrow away, could see her face. She raised her fist in the air and screamed her lungs out, the others following suit. Visibly, the Nightfell were hardly impressed to see a few idiots scream at them. Putting her mask back on, Eliz decided to add insult to injury and drew her bow. Her arrow flew straight, guided by Cairis to take out one of the mounted enemies, causing the 6 others around her to roar with more rage, and causing their enemies to realize they were still in battle.

There was a first wave of arrows to answer to them and miraculously, none of the 6 suicidal warriors fell, even if Eliz felt the sting of an arrow in her shoulder. Her men would have been nervous about this if it hadn't been such a miracle that only this arrow had gotten to her, standing in the middle of a field without protection!

They advanced, the 7 slowly backed away toward the tall grass and when they were in position, it was the moment her own archers got up and began to fire on the enemies. Realizing there were only a few archers, the Nightfell rather than fall back, decided to surge forward to cut them down like grass. Only a few arrows had been fired before the Archers brought their horses back on their feet and mounted them, along with the six others on the front line. Only the orc went on to charge on foot, a sign of what was to come as the ground began to thunder, all the war horses of the Clan charging as one wave toward the Nightfell raiders.

The kerns didn't ask for more and the group began to slowly break away but the commander did a good job maintaining order even if the closer the cavalry got, the more people lost their heart. "Now!" Leading the heroic counter charge, Eliz turned her horse to circle around the core of the Nightfell group, their Gallocmen, and threw her jar of poison with her good arm. They circled around, but what broke the nucleus was no doubt the orc, arriving late despite rushing in earlier, who just jumped in the group, slashing anything that moved and sending the brave warriors away.

"We've got them on the run!" Another loud cheer of victory. Eliz looked at them, defenseless, ripe for the picking... but she turned to see the Greenfeather, somehow holding. She bit her lip... a few thralls weren't worth it. She blew in her horn, attracting the attention of not only her men, but of the Greenfeather who saw their allies fleeing the battle... and the enemy cavalry regroup and head toward them.

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"Regroup our forces, the enemy is in disaray, we'll let Nightfell retreat, they're not worth the hassle and I prefer monsterslayers to have some strength, if only to attract the foul beasts of the land to them, we'll go after Greenfeather. Tonight." Bedwyr frowned. "Tonight? The men are tired, they need to rest." Eliz gave him a smile as an answer. "So are they! If you have an advantage, take it Bedwyr." The duo had stayed on the battlefield to scout the retreat of the Greenfeather across the river and supervise the plunder and only now entered the village. What happened then however took Eliz by complete surprise.

Cheers. Many of them and a thunder of clapping for the hero of the hour. Bedwyr looked at his commander with amusement and for a good reason, for a rare time in her life, Eliz was caught completely by surprise and not knowing what to do. She wasn't used to this, oh of course she had gained many victories, some more impressive than that, but this was different. It was a defensive battle. Rather than bringing back things to benefit herself and her men, she had contributed to protecting everyone and their belonging.

Timidly, Eliz raised an arm in the air, closing her fist with a smile. Without sarcasm, without arrogance, with a much more positive outlook on things. Bedwyr scoffed. "Look at how easily you get used to this." This call to reality however made Eliz regain her composure and move away from the crowd. "I could get used to people trusting that I know best..."

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"They saw through it." Eliz frowned as she rode full speed toward the incoming Greenfeathers. No, they couldn't possibly... her ruse was perfect. "They saw through it!" No they didn't! This... this was to buy time for the village to prepare defenses, that or Greenfeather had hired another fresh army of mercenaries, they couldn't possibly had known this would happen, they couldn't be as stupid as to charge in an enemy trice their numbers!

"...Shit. We continue, full speed ahead!" She took her horn and sounded the retreat. It wasn't for the rest of her forces however. Eliz knew most of her forces right now was made of kern with little in term of combat abilities than their enthusiasm, if the Greenfeathers, as bad as they were, made it to the bulk of their forces it'd be a massacre. No, she had to, with what few professionals she had, hold the tide of enemies before retreating. This battle was lost and they hadn't even begun to fight.

And worst of all, Eliz would have to slug it out with the rest of the group.

Her wounded arm didn't allow her to fight at range, all she could do was draw sword. She hopped that armor would protect her as well as it did earlier. "To me! If we find the commander and kill him, maybe we can turn this around!"

But it wasn't destined to be. Eliz slashed left and right. Untrained kerns of all the things they had thrown at her, if she had planned things differently they'd have slaughtered them all. To her horror, she felt her horse give way and was left on the ground, thankfully not pinned under the horse. Still... left and right, enemies still. Was this it? Suddenly a strong grip got her from behind, if she got pinned on the ground! She turned to try and slay the grappler but only saw Cadoc pulling her back, covered in blood, his own and that of the enemies. "The rest of the useless turds are far away enough! Get out!"

She threw Eliz backward, the only thing preventing her to fall being the horse of Bedwyr who moved a hand toward her. "Climb!" She reached for it, knowing there was no use staying here. "Cadoc!" She giant of a man smashed a head with his maul. "Get your unfuckable ass out of here Fryface, its my moment to be a big god damn hero!" No, she wanted for this to be the moment Bedwyr would be a big god damn hero and finally die so she wouldn't have to endure his two faced support, not the big imbecile that always did support her to do so!

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This hadn't gone as planned, everyone knew that, but as Eliz walked up to the council, she did so with the certitude that they still had the advantage. She had seen it, as did the Gallocmen. Despite their defeat, Greenfeather only had kerns to send at them during the last battle, it was a show that their fighters had suffered greatly during their failed raid. Clan Aonghus had lost much, but they still had some force left, unlike the Greenfeather. Now was the time to finish them and deal damages they would never be able to recover from, even if it meant losing even more men.

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Eliz closed her eyes and cursed her bad luck as the Children of Mercy made their offer. She knew that council, she knew the way they would lean. She asked for one of her thrall to come and whispered in his ear as people around the hall spoke. The thrall went to Serhiem and leaned in his ear, whispering so only he may listen.

"Chief Serhiem, sir. Eliz wishes to tell you... It is of the utmost importance the clan does not agree to stop raiding. She's convinced that, no matter how much we lost, Greenfeather are closer to breaking than us and would stake her life on it. She begs you to refuse them to heal our men for free... She's willing to pay for the price they ask, assuming she can get it back if her raid is successful, and would be in your debt... she swears on her honor and faith she'll do as you ask without any question or protest anything you'd order her to do... or not to do, if you give her this favor."

Eliz's words wasn't worth much, then again it was one of the rare time she went out of her way to make a promise, most of the time people had to twist her arm to get her to swear something, and even then she rarely did as asked by spite to be forced. She just hopped with her handing over the crossbow and going to duel the Stormcaller chief, the confidence he had in her would be enough.

She pronounced herself on the matter of the Child of Mercy with categorical refusal. "Out of the question, we cannot possibly consider this. We have lost much, I agree to this, but the loses we caused are beyond anything we could possibly have suffered and we are at a critical junction. Either we press on and make this sacrifice worthwhile, and maybe make sure Greenfeather won't be a problem for the years to come, or we rest and allow them to do the same, allow them to recuperate and train more men, hire more mercenaries to use against us. It's do or die!" She said, slamming her fists on the table.

She hated this democratic concept and in her head swore against these holy women who couldn't have offered their help at a worst moment. Worst was that she knew she couldn't go against them if they decided to go with their offer, it was one thing to defy men, but even she wasn't stupid enough to defy gods, such a thing would surely curse them. She'd whore herself out right now for the vote to swing her way, she knew in her guts this was a critical moment for the clan as a whole.

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Odo's matter was ultimately trivial for the clan as a whole, and Eliz's mind was incredibly focused on the matter of the Dyvellan priests it only annoyed her to see such a thing before the council. But she knew, knew that this had more importance for her own immediate well being than the rest of what was happening here. She eyed Maire and Dunlad on the corner of her eyes... she was willing to bet the two of them were up to this. Eyes were on her, after all, Eliz lead raids while she was his age, she had to be careful or would seem like an hypocrite. She mulled the question, trying to figure out a way to end this in her favor somehow... Slowly, she got up, allowing herself that since this was a matter close to her and her area of expertise. She raised her eyes on Odo, locking hers with his.

"Odo... I cannot refuse your request. After all, I was a year younger than you when my battle master died in combat and I stepped up to take command. At your age, I was already doing what you ask. But... fact is it is not for me as a councilor to accept or refuse this." Eliz placed her fists on the table and leaned toward Odo.

"It is to the men. Leadership is not granted by the council, it is given by the men going to battle. So even if the council choses to make you leader of a raid, I'll tell you Odo, I won't put my life in your hands because a group formed half by craftsmen and farmers with little to no raiding and fighting experience tell me to. But..."

She straightened her back and crossed her arms. "I'll tell you as a Gallocman and leader of multiple raids, and a successful one at that." She made a pause. Her stern and serious look made way to a more relaxed expression, almost friendly and convivial. "You have at least half of what it takes to lead. The will and the ambition to do so. The next thing to prove you have is the intelligence skill to be good at it. Some have the former..." She turned her gaze toward Maire, just long enough for some to notice. "...But lack the later." She turned her eyes away with a faint smirk on her face. "Or, vice versa. Both however..."

"I play fair and anyone can claim leadership if they think they are fit, but as I said, you don't force people to follow you, you inspire them to do so. Go around the village and bring to me by the end of the week all the people who are willing to follow you in a raid. I'll do the same, because I intend to do exactly as you do and shove my feet so deep inside the Greenfeather's chief's ass that I'll have to take his boots back home since mine will never see the light of day again."

"The one with the most people willing to follow them shall lead this raid. If its you, I'll lead my men into battle but I'll follow your battle plan. If its me... you will be my lieutenant. I'll listen to your ideas but I'll have the final word. You'll follow my orders, but you will also have to improvise while in the battle and lead your group to victory."

"If I'm satisfied, I would wish to take you with me back to Stormpeak. I intend to make my moon quarters there to excavate an old tunnel and try to find more hidden Dwarf relics. As I'm sure this will involve a lot of free time while people dig, I would teach you what I know."

"And finally, if I am still satisfied and find that you'd indeed make a good leader... Well. As soon as the snow melt and the sun rises once again, I officially announce that I plan on going on an adventure, to map out the valley, make sure we don't have bad surprises and discover a few interesting things perhaps. Fact remains I will not lead the raiders for that entire year. I do not intend to just hand over the commands to you, but if I think you have potential, I would vouch for you."

She sat back, waiting to maybe meet Odo later... and maybe Dunlad. Truth was, while she did placed some faith in Odo this was more of a political move. If he could motivate people into following him, then fine, his failure would be his own if things should go for the worst and this would be the end of that, maybe people would tell her she was too trusting but ultimately that would be them saying 'You shouldn't entrust command of the men to no one but yourself'. And if Odo proved to be actually good at this, well? He'd have to be grateful to her rather than anyone else, for doing what very little people would be willing to do and extend a hand to a warrior that had practically just had his first battle.

Eliz remembered with some amusement the hand to hand lesson an old warrior had given to her at some point. She hated it, she was weak and would get trashed all the time, which was why she was told that it was easier to use the strength of an enemy against him. And likewise now, if Odo wanted to challenge her leadership? She wouldn't force back, she'd just take his arm and propel him where he wanted to be for him to either fail or succeed. If some people wanted to force Odo in leadership at the head of the gallocmen, because Eliz had great suspicions Odo didn't make that decision alone, then she'd play along and prove herself the greater ally to him.