Onward the reunited packs ran through the collapsing keep. Sabine tried to reach up desperately to heal Meesei some more, but her lack of focus made her stumble over her feet. Lorag wasn't slowing down for her at all. Janius caught up with Sabine and grabbed her arm to keep her from falling over. "Just keep running, Sabine!"

Sabine tried to protest in an upset voice, "But she is-"

"It'll do no good if none of us are out of this keep! Now go!" Janius shouted, not slowing down their pace.

Sabine fear became reinforced in her features as she kept running.

Partway through their escape, Gallus sprinted ahead and beckoned them to a passageway that the enemy soldiers had taken. "This way! The defenders would have a quicker way out!"

The decision to go through the side passage would be a split-second one by Lorag. Gallus would not protest either way.

Lorag did not have much time to think, so his first reaction to Gallus' suggestion was also his final decision. "No, we don't know where it leads, and it might just throw us straight into the middle of the enemy. If we can't join up with Ri'vashi and the others, we're as good as dead."

With no one else giving any argument, the group continued to rush through the halls, and down the stairwells. Since they were facing no resistance, and already knew the way to the exit, they were able to move down to entry chamber in under two minutes. Unfortunately, the keep was crumbling just as quickly. There were more explosions all around them, and they could see stones falling from the ceiling of the chamber. What was worse was that, as they stepped into the entry chamber, Meesei spotted some of the insidious violet gas flowing into the chamber from underneath the doors on the far side of the chamber. It seemed that Vile's forces were releasing everything they could to kill as many of the lycans in the keep as possible. "Hurry, to the exit!" Meesei shouted. "That is the gas; do not breathe it!"

As fast as their feet could carry them, everyone rushed to the exit, and it was not a moment too soon. On the second level, just above the main entrance, there was another, deafening explosion. The alchemy fueled fireball entirely collapsed the floor beneath it, and most of the wall around it, straight onto the entrance. Masses of stone the size of Senche fell into the entryway, but everyone in the group made it outside safely...save for one.

Peiter had been in the back of the group, and thus was the last through the exit into the courtyard. When the wall collapsed onto it, he had not made it entirely through. He let out a blood-curdling scream as he was knocked to the ground, and a massive portion of the stonework landed straight on his right arm. The haft of his halberd was snapped in half beside him, and the intense weight on his arm had likely crushed the limb beyond any recognition. It was, however, still keeping him pinned, and unfortunately, most of the others were in no position to help.

Based on the bodies in the courtyard, while they had been assaulting the keep, Ri'vashi had been fighting a much larger ambushing force, and somehow, had actually been winning. The bodies of Vile's forces significantly outnumbered those of the lycans, and by this point, the lycans actually outnumbered the enemy. Unfortunately, over the course of the battle, Ri'vashi had evidently moved her forces over closer to the western wall to put them in a better defensive position. This meant that there were enemy soldiers close to the main entrance of the keep, and they turned their attention to Meesei and Gallus' pack as soon as they made it outside. Lorag set down Meesei and stood in front of her to guard her as he ordered everyone else to form up around him to hold them off. Meanwhile, Peiter was crying out to Sabine for help, though she would be nowhere near strong enough to lift the stonework on her own, even in lycan form. In fact, it was a task beyond most werewolves.

Peiter's screams gave everyone pause to look back. For most, being torn between helping Peiter and defending Meesei was evidently one that gave them visible anguish, but the threat of the enemy soldiers was too immediate. They formed up as Lorag commanded, except for Gallus, Uthri, and -- of course -- Sabine.

"No!" The most immediate reaction, as with seeing Meesei, was Sabine's terrified scream. She sprinted back for Peiter, throwing her hands against the massive block of stone and scraping her feet through the dirt while trying to push in vain. "No, no, no, no!" She was gritting her teeth and scrunching her tear-streaming eyes shut while she continued to push. She shouted in an increasing intensity until emptying her lungs in one more scream, "NOOOO!"

This marked Sabine finally reaching the threshold of her emotional control. She transformed into the smaller-than-average werewolf form that she had, towering over everyone still. She pushed against the block and growled, occasionally letting out yelping barks of fear and futile defiance.

Meanwhile, Uthri was paralysed with the sight of it, simply staring with a terrified look at Peiter. Perhaps most fortunately, Gallus was still in the mindset of command, too focussed to fall to grief in that moment. He widely stepped to Uthri and swiped the hatchet from her belt before striding sternly over to Peiter.

Uthri seemed to snap out of her frozen state at that moment. She looked with startled glances at Gallus and began to reach out for him. "Wait. Gallus, don't!"

"Go defend the champion!" Gallus whirled around and pointed the hatchet towards the small formation. He then gave no hesitation to resuming his advance towards Peiter.

Uthri turned to face the enemy, knowing immediately that it would not be as bad as what was going to transpire behind her.

When Gallus reached Peiter, he neither said a word nor made eye contact with his stony face. He merely pinned Peiter's upper body against the ground with one foot, raised Uthri's still very sharp hatchet, and brought it down on Peiter's arm with all his strength. This freed Peiter, for an obvious price. To make sure that he didn't bleed to death, Gallus pulled out the strongest healing potion he had on his belt and was about to open it, were it not that he was interrupted.

A flash of a large furred arm ran into Gallus' leaned-over chest. He then felt the impact, sending him flying backwards several feet. He landed with a slide on the dirt, coughing and winded. He lifted his head to see Sabine baring her teeth. She snarled and snorted at the creature that had just attacked her mate, holding her claws threateningly either side of her. It looked like the punch had caused Gallus to drop the healing potion within Peiter's reach, if he had the sense left through his pain to use it.

Though the potion had fallen near to him, Peiter did nothing with it. Due to the immense pain and blood loss he was being subjected to, he had already lost consciousness from shock. He was still alive, for now, but if he was to survive, someone else would have to find a way to help him. It was not silver that wounded him, so his bleeding could be stopped reasonably quickly by potion or spell.

Unfortunately, the pressure from the enemy meant that there was no one who could turn around to help. Seeing the Champion among their group had caused a group of enemy soldiers at least half again larger than their own to set their sights upon her. Ri'vashi had seen the weakness that this shift of focus had opened up in the enemy lines, but it would still take time for her to capitalize upon it; time that Peiter did not have.

Meesei, being unable to fight herself, could at least attempt to do something to help. Unfortunately, she was scarcely in any better shape than Peiter. From where Lorag had placed her on the ground, she started crawling in the direction of Peiter, leaving a trail of blood behind her. "Sabine! You have to...focus. You have to help Peiter...stop his bleeding."

With her ears flat and the hair on the back of her neck bristling, Sabine continued to vocalise anger even as Gallus was slowly getting up with a pained groan. It was Meesei's words that made her stop and look in Meesei's direction. Meesei was Sabine's alpha, her words were compelling in spite of her injuries.

Sabine stepped to one side and turned to look down at Peiter. Her beast spirit panicked while Sabine tried desperately to make sense of the situation. There was so much blood. Peiter was paling. The severed stump was so unnatural. Sabine felt sick for the first time in her beast form.

Stop bleeding.

Stop the bleeding.

She spotted the glass bottle containing an easily recognisable healing potion. She even remembered making that particular one. She recognised the bottle. If she could just open it and pour it properly, she could halt Peiter's bleeding. Sabine stooped and wrapped a large hand around the bottle, before lifting it off the ground. Her other hand fruitlessly slipped on the neck of the bottle as she tried to remove the cork. Her manual dexterity was non-existent between her form and her emotional state. In desperation, she ended up holding the bottle in both hands and biting on the cork. She ended up biting down on the neck and crushing the glass between her teeth. As soon as she felt the crunch and tasted the potion through the grit, she squat down and hastily poured the potion onto the rapidly bleeding area at the new end of Peiter's arm.

The entire bottle bubbled out, wave by wave. Sabine's hopes began to fade as the last drops fell. Then, the wounds began to close.

By this point, Gallus had reached Peiter's feet and observed that his bleeding had been staunched. His next words came out in a commanding bellow to Sabine. "Back from him! Now!" Gallus' voice caused Sabine to turn and bare her teeth, growling lowly again, but she didn't strike. Even out of his own beast form, Gallus knew how to channel his authority to lesser werewolves. "That's my packmate! I protect him!"

Sabine reluctantly stepped back, closing her mouth and licking her lips. Her ears were still flat with fear and anger, but Gallus' authority seemed to make her beast spirit back off enough for Sabine's rational side to be given some room.

Keeping his eyes on Sabine, Gallus took Peiter's ankles and dragged him towards Meesei. His own trail of blood was from a puddle at this point, leaving a larger streak than Meesei was with her crawling. Once Peiter was near enough to Meesei that she could help, Gallus only then averted his attention. "He doesn't die today," Gallus forcefully affirmed to himself as much as Meesei below, "Neither do you, champion." With that, Gallus turned and joined the fight to keep the enemy back, using Uthri's hatchet to spill the blood of the enemy rather than his adoptive son.

Sabine crept up to Peiter and Meesei, clearly reluctant with worry. She felt there wasn't much she could do in her current form, but she did not want to take her eyes off two of the most important people in her lives at that moment. She began to whine, looking to Meesei for more guidance.

It was difficult to tell how long it would be before Peiter would regain consciousness, but for the moment, his bleeding had been minimized. He would not die from blood loss at the moment, but there was still the matter of getting him, Meesei, and the other wounded out of the fortress. Fortunately, Ri'vashi's retaliation was decisive. She personally led the push through the enemy, towards Meesei and Gallus' packs, and when they regrouped, they had the perfect position to flank what was left of the enemy. The enemy commander called for a retreat, but with their lines breaking, it descended into a disorganized rout. While they were able to cut down most of the enemy in the courtyard, that was, unfortunately, not the last obstacle to their escape.

Once the fighting in the courtyard died down, Ri'vashi rushed over to inform the Champion of the current situation, at which point she finally saw Meesei's condition. "C-champion...by Hircine." Ri'vashi began, looking over Meesei with a rare hint of genuine fear in her expression. Meesei had her hand on Peiter, and was imbuing both him and herself with restoration energy. Though, despite Peiter's dismemberment, he was in a far more stable condition than her, due to the silver that had caused her wounds. Nevertheless, she turned her gaze upwards to look at Ri'vashi as she spoke.

It took a few seconds for Ri'vashi to regain her composure enough to continue her explanation. "Well, this...we are currently trapped in the courtyard. We held off against the enemy reinforcements that initially flanked us, as you just saw, but outside the main gates, there are even more. When they rushed in behind us, the enemy managed to close and lock down the main gate. Our archers on the walls tell Ri'vashi there are almost two hundred of them, and many of our soldiers are tired, or wounded. The walls around the fortress are tall, and it might not be safe to jump down. Even if it is, it would break apart our formation and make us easy prey for the enemy. This one would say we could just break down the front gate, but..."

Ri'vashi pointed towards the main gate, which was surrounded by the distinctive blue cloud of the suppression gas. "They have been keeping the gate surrounded by the gas. Our Senche-raht are either dead, or too wounded to break through, so at the moment, Ri'vashi does not know how to get us out of the courtyard. The enemy seem to want us trapped here."

Meanwhile, from the many shattered windows and other openings that had been blasted in the keep, a cloud of violet gas was slowly starting to seep into the courtyard. Since the gas was moving into open air, it was dispersing much more quickly, so it would take a while for it to spread. However, there seemed to be enough of it to threaten the courtyard.

Once the fighting died down, Gallus knelt down by Peiter and leaned his hands on the bottom of Uthri's bloodied hatchet standing on the ground. Be was catching his breath, but Ri'vashi's words made him purse his lips and furrow his brow. He peered up at the crumbling keep and found only worse news.

"If we're trapped here, they can strike at the camp. They'll get our wounded and our camp followers." Gallus spoke quickly to Ri'nakhad, "What's worse..." Gallus pointed to the gas, "everyone needs to get out of the courtyard. That gas kills lycans. We need to move."

After putting his shield away, retrieving his hammer, and giving the hatchet back, Gallus leaned over Peiter. Once he was satisfied that he could move Peiter without killing him, lifted him over his shoulders. "Can't we open the gate normally? How did it get closed?"

Without prompt, Fendros put away his own weapons and scooped up Meesei behind the shoulders and knees to move her. "There's that scaffolding around the expansion, isn't there? Ahnasha got in that way. Maybe we could get out?"

Sabine hovered around Gallus as he carried Peiter, continuing to whine softly.

Ahnasha shook her head to Fendros' suggestion, though she did not have any better ideas of her own. "That's no good. We'd have to jump to the scaffolding, and it could only hold one or two of us at a time. We'd be just as exposed there as anywhere else on the wall, once the enemy spotted us."

Ri'vashi's expression remained rather grim. "Hmm, a gas that just...kills us outright? That is worrying. And even if we can get outside the walls, we will be cut down by their numbers if we cannot stick together. Based on what we have seen, Ri'vashi doesn't think they have found our camp yet, but if they do, we will not be there to protect them. We need to get there, all together, before they do. But, they sabotaged the mechanism that controls the gate much more...thoroughly than Ahnasha had. It could be pulled open, but it would require a great deal of strength to do so, and we do not have any tools to give us leverage on the gates in our normal forms."

While the others were discussing ideas for escaping the fortress, Meesei had her eyes on the front gate. Her mind was muddled with pain, and the constant exertion of her healing magic, but she still had a few coherent thoughts regardless. Namely, she was thinking about the suppression gas surrounding the main gate. While it was different from the gas that had killed Ra'jorr's men, that gas had obviously been derived from the suppression gas. They were related to one another, and since Meesei's ring had granted her immunity from the lethal gas, she had no reason to believe that it would not do the same for the suppression gas. Since no one else had any ideas, she decided to give her own.

"Kaleeth..." Meesei began, beckoning for her to come closer with a pained movement of her arm. "As a werecrocodile, you could get that gate open rather easily, could you not?"

Kaleeth nodded, but seemed more confused than anything. "Um, yes but...not like this. And that gas will keep me from staying transformed; I don't see how I can help."

Meesei looked down, pulled the Ring of Hircine off of her finger, and stared at its details. "Before I fought the General, I breathed in their gas, just like all of Ra'jorr's men. My lungs felt like they were burning, as did my ring finger. I alone survived, because the ring kept hold of my soul. I see no reason to believe the ring would not have the same effect with the suppression gas."

There was something of a stunned silence from those around Meesei. Although lycans were not particularly ceremonious in their practices, the Ring of Hircine was decidedly the champion's possession. It seemed preposterous to hand it off. However, the situation was so desperate that no one dared object. It was the best options so far.

Gallus fidgeted. "If we are going to do anything, we need to do it now. That gas will settle soon."

"Kaleeth," Janius put a hand on Kaleeth's shoulder. He had a determined look, contrary to the regular worry he displayed when Kaleeth was to head into danger, such as being at the front of an assault. "If you can do this, you'll save us all."

Kaleeth took the ring in her hand, but was far too stunned to give any real reaction. For the moment, she was speechless. Meanwhile, Ri'vashi's only reaction was one of concern.

"But, there is still the matter of the enemy outside that gate. They do not expect us to break through quickly, true, but they still far outnumber us. And we will be slowed by our wounded." Ri'vashi pointed out.

With his eyes back on the keep, Lorag answered with a distinct lack of patience. "Yeah, maybe, but we don't got time to argue about it. That gas is gettin' closer, and we've got to move. Right. Now. We just got to get out of that gate, stick together, and push straight into the forest. Once we're out in the forest...we can transform or somethin'. Spread out so they can't gas us as quickly. I don't know, we just got to make it to our camp."

With the gas closing in, there was quite literally no time to argue. Ri'vashi formed up their warriors in front of the main gate, just out of the range of the suppression gas. Since they would be attempting to push straight through the enemy, they kept the wounded towards the center of the formation. Most of Meesei and Gallus' pack was at the front, with Kaleeth in front of them all. Upon seeing the state that the Champion was in, murmurs of surprise and fear started to quickly sweep through their ranks, but Meesei could do nothing to quell them. From Fendros' arms, she simply looked over to Sabine beside them. "Sabine, you should transform back." She advised.

Meanwhile, Kaleeth took a deep breath, then slipped the ring onto her finger. She did not know enough about the ring's magic to expect anything, but even then, the sensation still surprised her. She was not sure how to describe it, even to herself. It was not just complete and utter control of her beast spirit, it was complete synergy with it. Her transformation, while still painful, was almost effortless, like moving a muscle. Once shifted into her werecrocodile form, she felt no hint of the usual urges that dominated her mind. She could move and think as if she were not a lycan at all; yet, her beast spirit was not simply idle. It was still present, providing a sort of passive awareness that would help her to be quicker to react.

"This is...amazing." Kaleeth said, looking down at her hands. She felt more dexterous, and her voice was clearer than usual.

It was audacious for Lorag to speak to Ri'vashi as assertively as he did, but there was no lack of justification. The formations that followed were rushed. Morale was not as high but this was their best shot.

Sabine hesitated when Meesei spoke to her, though she eventually did transform back to her Breton form. She looked tense and exhausted, but her wide-eyes showed that she was just as anxious as her beast spirit was. Even though she stayed with the wounded to help defend from spells and keep her now unarmoured body away from the fighting, she tried not look at either Peiter or Meesei for longer than fleeting glances.

With a surprisingly level voice, even as raspy as it was from her shouting, Uthri spoke to Gallus with her arms out. "Give the boy here. You need to help command, Gallus."

In response, Gallus momentarily ground his teeth in apparent frustration, but then carefully laid Peiter in Uthri's arms anyway. He then took her shoulder and said something quietly into her ear before pulling away and drawing his weapons.

Ahead, Kaleeth's movements while in her beast form were very different than usual. Janius in particular saw a grace in her gait that was more reminiscent of her Argonian form than her beast form. It was as if Kaleeth was not sharing her mind at all. He was going to suggest treating the gate like it had prey on the other side, but she evidently needed no help if she was in such control. Instead, he pat her on the side and gave her a frantic reminder, "Kaleeth, love, the gate! Quickly! Go! Go!"

"Right, of course." Kaleeth answered quickly. Even in her current form, her fear was apparent as she stepped into the suppression gas. She started to cough as she breathed in the gas, since it felt like breathing in tiny shards of glass, but the ring kept her beast spirit perfectly in control. Doing her best to ignore the sensation of the gas, Kaleeth stepped up to the gate, then thrust her massive claws into the wood on the right side. Instead of trying to pry it open from the middle, opening it from one side would allow her to use the door itself for cover as she pulled it open.

In one, forceful motion, Kaleeth pulled open the massive gate, much to the surprise of the enemy on the other side. They had been in formation, but as they had not expected the gate to open so suddenly, they were scarcely able to ready themselves to fight in time. As well, the last sight they expected to see was a werecrocodile charging through the suppression gas as if it were not even there. In a panic, one of the enemy behind their frontline even through another bottle of the gas at her, as if it would somehow stop her attack.

The degree of Kaleeth's control became even more apparent once the fighting started. A fireball flew at her from the midst of the enemy ranks, but she could react more quickly, both physically and mentally, so she was able to duck under the spell in a manner that almost seemed graceful, despite her lumbering form. And, against the shield wall she ran into, there was no contest. She swatted away the spears in front of her precisely enough to avoid injury, then used her mass to barrel through three rows of opponents.

Kaleeth's success inspired some of those in the front to charge on Ri'vashi's order, but for the majority of the lycans, morale was at a crippling low. To them, they were being ordered to charge into certain death ahead of them, and they, for the most part, did not understand the danger of the gas behind them. A sense of hopelessness filled the ranks, and some of them were not following suit in the charge. For Meesei, her expression revealed no thoughts other than pain, so her next request may have came as a surprise. "Fendros, could you please let me down?"

Gallus' charge behind Kaleeth-rei was joined by a few brave souls amongst the warband along with Meesei's pack in Lorag, Janius, and Ahnasha, but none of his pack were beside him. He took as much advantage as he could of the breach that Kaleeth had opened, shouting to push through and break the enemy centre. He was fighting recklessly.

Meanwhile, Janius' approach was less aggressive. He did what he normally did when Kaleeth was in beast form; run interference against attacks that she would have trouble defending against. This time, his job was made much easier with Kaleeth's new-found skill in beast form. Hopefully it would be enough to win the day. Two hundred enemies would not be infeasible to win against if they kept this pressure up.

Futher back, Fendros gave Meesei an unsure look regarding her request. "Meesei, we cannot leave you behind," he insisted, "You're too wounded to fight."

While Fendros seemed adamant for a few moments, he quickly observed the reluctance of those around him. Meesei's intent became clearer then. After looking around some more, he appeared torn. "Alright, just...don't push yourself, okay? You look near enough to falling apart." Fendros carefully bent down and set Meesei's feet upon the ground. He was sure to support her arm around his shoulder rather than risk her falling over.

Once Meesei was on her feet, her whole body took on a violet glow. She was using alteration magic, similar to telekinesis, to give support to her broken leg and allow herself to stand. It was no small expense of magicka to accomplish, but it was only a fraction of what was to come.

Even with her magic to aid her, each step that Meesei took forward felt like a dagger was being stabbed into her leg. Her chest felt like it was burning, and her bleeding had still not entirely stopped, but her demeanor was almost unnaturally confident. She walked with singular determination, until she was at the front of the lycans who had not yet attacked.

“I have been beaten down, maimed, poisoned, and left for dead. The enemy has set their trap, and formed a wall of their bodies to keep us in it. But, as long as my body still draws breath, as long as the blood still flows through its veins, there is nothing that will stop me from snuffing out the life of every single bastard that stands between me, and our way out!” Meesei shouted. All the while, her body had begun to pulse with electrical energy, which she finally released through her uninjured arm into an exceptionally powerful arcing bolt of lightning into the enemy’s left flank. For the one that it hit first, it was immediately lethal, while those behind him suffered a varying degree of burns.

Meesei already looked as if she were half-dead, so seeing her show such courage was all that most of the lycans needed to inspire their charge. Resounding screams and warcries sounded out across the battlefield. Whether it would end in victory or defeat, this final charge would be as one for the lycan forces.

Fendros let Meesei go once it was clear that she could walk on her own, even if it did look like she was still in serious pain. He drew his weapons and stayed near, shouldering to the front of the reluctant soldiers.

While it may not have been the most inspired choice of oratory, Meesei's very presence and confidence in spite of her grievous wounds were all that seemed to be needed. It was the brief push that the soldiers needed to convince them that not only victory was possible, but so was survival. Fendros lead the second wave with his own war cry and clashed with the enemy near his pack again.

If the initial vanguard was a nail into the enemy, the charge of the rest was a mallet striking in behind it. The formations splintered under Kaleeth's brute strength and Meesei's devastating spells kept them on the back foot. All the while, however, Gallus found himself suspicious. He stepped back from the fighting for a quick break, shouting on encouragement and orders to those around him. While he did so, he looked around the battlefield, trying to make sense of it all. Where did this ambushing force come from? They couldn't have expected them to get this far, was this a contingency? Were these enemies made up of the force that was meant to be waiting for them out in the wilderness to wipe them out after a forced march? Were there prisoners underneath the keep that were now trapped? The priority was getting away from the gas for now, but such things plagued his mind as he tried to stay aware of the immediate situation.

With a united force, and a singular effort to push forward, the progress they were making forward was almost surprising. Kaleeth was at the very front of the attack. It was a situation she had been in before, but this time, she was taking far fewer blades and arrows through her scales. Enemy archers could not fire on her without the risk of hitting their own allies, so she was only having to worry about melee opponents. She had easily broken through the shield wall, but was now surrounded on three sides. Those around her carried a mix of silver and steel blades, and at the moment, she was actually able to pay close enough attention to determine which was which. Seeing a flash of a silver blade to her left, Kaleeth grabbed the shield of an opponent to her right, ripped it out of his hand, and threw it at the silver-wielding opponent hard enough to potentially break a bone. Though, she did not relent there. With the swordsman off balance, she snapped at his head and ended up crushing it, along with the helmet protecting it, in her excessively powerful jaws. Meanwhile, a steel-wielding opponent made a thrust for her chest, but her scales were thicker than he was no doubt expecting. Since she was standing at an angle, her scales deflected the blade away and left her mostly unharmed.

For Meesei, she could not afford to stand back behind the others. They needed inspiration, and despite her state, she could give it to them. She simply walked into the breach that Kaleeth and the others had made and waited for the enemy to attack her. Seeing a swing coming from her left, she extended her good arm towards her enemy, grabbed a hold of his blade telekinetically, then pushed it in the same direction of his swing to move it with his momentum, and straight out of his hand. In the confusion afterwards, she gave him a mortal wound in the form of an ice spike. Of course, there were few among the enemy who could resist the chance to kill the wounded Champion, so there were no shortage of opponents with their eyes set on her.

Since they were trying to force their way straight through Vile's soldiers, they were quickly becoming surrounded. From the left flank, some of the enemy, led by a normal Senche, were pushing towards Fendros and the soldiers around him. Ahnasha was naturally nearby, and decided to conjure up something of a bodyguard for Fendros. Directly to Fendros' left, a portal opened, through which appeared a massive frost atronach. It was a large, slow Daedra, but one that could match the power of a Senche. It was unlikely to kill him alone, but Fendros could take advantage of it.

The enemy formation seemed to clear for the hulking Senche and its subordinate force making its way towards Fendros. To receive them, Fendros remained guarded and sprung, ready to thrust out or dodge away from any pounces, though the prospect of facing down a horse-sized khajiit was giving him second thoughts. The loud rupture in space behind Fendros was something he recognised as a conjured creature, but he turned curiously at the sudden chill and the heavy footsteps that followed. A walking humanoid iceberg, taller than even a Cathay-raht, fell into a position to oppose the enemy. It was Ahnasha's doing.

Fendros was far from opposed to the frost atronach leading the counter-charge. Its strikes were slow and easy to dodge away, but for those without room, its strength was readily apparent. Enemy soldiers were knocked to the floor, making for easy targets by Fendros and those around him. When the Senche came to bear, Fendros cautiously waited for the atronach to engage, before skirting around and waiting for an opportunity to thrust his sword into its side. He couldn't commit to a single, lethal blow without the risk of being savaged by tooth and claw.

Gallus' inspection of the situation drew him to Meesei putting herself in direct danger. He hadn't noticed her speech when he got stuck into the fighting beforehand. He quickly realised that the others were suddenly fighting harder, no doubt due to her leading from the front, but she was in more danger than he agreed with. He shouldered his way over to where she was fighting as fast as he could and joined in the fighting beside her, denying enemy soldiers access to her from one side by threat of a broken skull.

"Champion!" Gallus shouted out, interrupting himself to parry a sword and bring his hammer down on an enemy's shoulder with a loud, dull crack. "Don't you dare get surrounded!" He stopped again to fight off another, sidestepping a greatsword and punching through the side of a cuirass with his hammer's spike. "Remember what I said!"

The next clash took longer. Gallus deflected a couple of spears on his shield, stepped past them, and wrapped his shield arm around the shafts. Once trapped, Gallus then brought his arm around to push the spears down. One of the shafts ended up snapping under Gallus' strength. "Ri'vashi!" Gallus shouted out, even if the clan leader was not nearby. He let go of the spears and swung forward fiercely with his hammer, causing the spearmen to let go of their weapons and shy away. "I request your assistance on the other side, clan leader!"

As evidenced by Gallus' style, he was continuing to be reckless and desperate.

Meesei did not seem to be listening to Gallus' words of caution, but she was fighting alongside him. Seeing the Khajiit that Gallus was about to strike, she carefully took a telekinetic hold of Gallus' hammer as he swung and added her own force to it, making the hammer hit with exceptional force.

A mage was the next opponent to find Meesei a tempting target. He unleashed a stream of lightning, which she blocked with a ward from her uninjured arm. It was difficult for her to channel magic through an arm that she could hardly move, so instead of retaliating with her ward up, she simply walked towards him. He held his ground and tried to push harder to break through, but Meesei had much more magical endurance than her current appearance would suggest. Once she was close enough to touch the Khajiit, she suddenly let down her ward and grabbed his face. She did receive a shock in doing so, but the spell he was subjected to was far worse. She ignited her hand and pressed her thumb into his eye socket, both of which caused him to scream in agony. Unfortunately, there were two more soldiers on either side of the mage that were intent on helping him.

Meanwhile, to Gallus' right, Ri'vashi was indeed present, and she was already leading from the front of her soldiers. She was attacking just to the left of Kaleeth, who was firmly holding the attention of many of those in front of her. With her own soldiers following her, she did what she could to take advantage of the opportunity Kaleeth had afforded to her. She weaved between spears, even allowing one to deflect off of her chestplate, before smashing the enemy closest to her with her shield and following through with a precise slash to his throat from her katana. She made a hole in the enemy line, as she had many times before, but this time, it was the enemy that took advantage. A mage fired a bolt of lightning into Ri'vashi, which arced through her allies behind her as well. The burns were painful, but not lethal; however, it was the brief stunning effect the lightning had which gave the enemy an advantage. They cut down a row of Ri'vashi's allies behind her, which left her entirely surrounded in the middle of the enemy.

Though the lycan force had successfully split the enemy in two, that meant they could be attacked from three sides. Fendros, Ahnasha, and the others around them were being threatened from their left flank as well, so Ahnasha moved her frost atronach to help protect them from that angle. Meanwhile, she set the sights of her bow on the Senche. He was just tall enough that she could get a shot on him, the first of which landed in his shoulder, just off the mark from his chest. She was confident she could land a more precise shot, but the Senche had already settled on her as the threat to eliminate. He was already wounded from her arrow, and Fendros' sword, but they did not seem to slow his charge.

Gallus recoiled slightly when his hammer caved in the cuirass of the Khajiit in front of him. He had almost been put off balance, but more importantly, he thought he was being disarmed by an unseen enemy. It was after he reassured his grip that Gallus realised that it was Meesei's influence. The sheer strength of the magic-enhanced blow made the enemy reluctant to engage Gallus, giving him an instant to realise the plight of his allies around him. He reacted immediately.

"Janius! Kaleeth!" Gallus pointed his bloodied hammer in the direction of Ri'vashi. He was in no position to help her himself, but the massive werecrocodile was. "Help the clan leader!"

Janius was distracted from his defence of Kaleeth's flank to observe what Gallus was pointing to. "Let's go!" he shouted to Kaleeth. He moved around to try and reach Ri'vashi, provided Kaleeth helped.

Fendros and Ahnasha were too far removed on the flank for Gallus to help either. That just left Meesei. With an aggressive shout, Gallus ran up to engage one of her adversaries poised to save their now blinded mage.

Fendros left the atronach to hold the line for now. The Senche was going for Ahnasha. He had to catch it before it got up to speed. In lieu of striking with his sword again, Fendros threw off his shield and grabbed at a strap on the Senche's armour, for better or worse.

Overall, progress had slowed, but the lycans had still managed to push safely away from the fortress. The gas would not threaten them; they needed only push through the remaining enemy soldiers to reach the forest. The wounded were moving at the center of the formation, and for the moment, they were advancing slowly enough that carrying them was not slowing the formation down. Though, if it became necessary for the lycans to flee quickly, they would have to choose between leaving behind wounded, or leaving warriors to delay the enemy. Meanwhile, anyone particularly versed in magic would start to sense the ambient presence of magic in the air as they moved deeper into the enemy lines.

Ri'vashi certainly appreciated the assistance she was receiving, though she was still more than capable of defending herself, even in such an unfavorable situation. Before the enemy could land a precise strike to her joints, she bashed one of the opponents on her left with her shield, slices at his sword arm, then used her shield arm to grab him around the neck and pull him close to serve as a living shield. With her katana, she parried away blows from her right while using her prisoner to make the enemy on her left more hesitant to attack. Her armor could make up for glancing blows, but fortunately, she did not have to defend in such desperation for long.

Kaleeth did not hesitate to turn her charge towards Ri'vashi. There was a sword sticking partially out of the werecrocodile's abdomen, but otherwise, she was still in perfectly fine condition. She had allowed herself to be stabbed by the steel blade to protect herself from silver, and had subsequently crushed the entire lower body of the one who attacked her. It only took a quick pull with her claws to remove the blade, which had not penetrated enough through her thick scales to be an issue at the moment. She threw the sword at the enemy ahead of her, then started to deliver wide, sweeping attacks to those between her and Ri'vashi. She had to be careful to avoid injuring herself, but even among the strongest of Cathay, there was no one that could halt the advance of such a vanguard.

Even if she did not have Gallus' fervor attempting to defend her, Meesei would have at least been able to protect herself in the short term. The burned, blinded mage would be incapacitated for the foreseeable future, so she was able to release him, then telekinetically blast back one of her opponents, while Gallus dealt with the other. There was a spearman, and three swordsmen behind Gallus' opponent who were in the perfect position to help their ally, though strangely, all of the swordsmen were oddly reluctant to move forward. In fact, the majority of the enemy's backline had been strangely static for the fight so far.

While Fendros obviously could not overpower the Senche, a werewolf's strength was still enough to at least somewhat displace a normal Senche. It delayed him enough that Ahnasha was able to line up and fire a shot at the Senche's neck, though that did not stop his momentum. In his dying motions, the Senche still ended up trampling over Ahnasha as he fell.