Of all people to come to her aid while the chaurus had locked its mandibles on the rim of her shield, rendering future blocks from any oncoming attacks into a potentially useless state, Sadri Beleth, the Dunmeri man with one arm (although to be fair, she could have sworn that he [i]did[/i] have another arm, it had to some sort of magickal contraption), missing a left ear, and if she recalled faintly, often used a slug or leech of some kind on his right eye, descended on the horrid creature, slashing, jabbing, and hacking. With a tall, wiry posture, Sevine marveled at how fluid his movements were in the confines of the cave. They had exchanged little to no words so far through the duration of their time spent with the company, yet one such memory came to mind as she recalled watching from the ramparts as he waged hellfire on the front lines during the first wave of Kamal attacks. He had just about rendered the chaurus to an invalid state, when a Falmer arrow pierced him, drawing away his attention to target this newfound foe. At least the chaurus remained in a weakened fashion. She had no time to thank him, but she reminded herself in the throes of battle, that [i]if[/i] she survived, she would find the time to thank him later, granted, if he survived as well. The chaurus relinquished its hold on her shield, recoiling backwards in evident pain. Rearing upon its back legs, the mandibles parted to lob a poisonous ball of putrid slime, when a fearsome roar came from her left. It came as a great shock to see Do'Karth wielding a chitlin sword. While her mind struggled to wrap around the idea of him actually slaying another, she pushed the thought away, she had not the time to debate his decisions. Relief washed over her as she lowered her shield cautiously.

"Do'Karth!" She cried in astonishment.

[i]"Khajiit has your back. Together then?[/i]" 

       His words split her face in two as she grinned from ear-to-ear, overjoyed that she had not succumbed to the venomous bite of the chaurus. "Together! Warriors, able-bodied fighters, push on! Drive back these foul creatures! Leave none alive!" Sevine raised her axe and bashed it against the chitlin shield, it had not provided the sound she had hoped, as it made a dull [i]thunking[/i] sound, but she hoped that her words had given some wary fighters courage to carry on. She leapt forward as the falmer, and some chaurus began to withdraw, soon engaging in another encounter with a falmer, discovering that they were far more easier to cut down than that of the chaurus with their hardened shells. A ferocious hiss and the axe wielding falmer leapt towards her. Sevine had the upper hand, being a battle-hardened warrior, for she timed the estimated landing of her foe, and met the sailing falmer with a bash of her shield, sending the hideous creature into the cave wall. That falmer met a grisly end as she cleaved the head-off in one clean swipe. As she worked her way towards the darker recesses of the damp cave, Sevine methodically cut down each opponent she came across, none remained alive in her wake.

[hr]

        All the while, as the battle against the cave inhabitants carried on, Leif found himself cursing at his own ignorance. This is exactly what happened last time at the cave near the shores of Solitude! One of the sailors had insisted on using light to ward off the chaurus and falmer, when in fact, they were blind. Why had he said that? The magelight did little to repel the repulsive creatures, even though it did provide plenty of light for those on the offensive to see who they fought against, yet it was the Altmer, Keegan was it? Yes, Keegan. He had forgotten that the Mer was a mage as well, for whatever spell he used, he flung a burning torch into the belly of the chaurus. Talos be blessed, at least the Altmer had some sense about him in a harrowing situation as this, even though his words, that Leif happened to overhear by chance, struck a painful chord. With the new opportunity at hand, he leapt forward with the hilt of the long sword clenched firmly in his fists. The steel blade cleaved through the body of the over-sized bug at a diagonal angle, spilling putrid organs and green, probably toxic, slime onto the cave floor. While wielding the torch proved impractical, simply because his weapon required two-hands, not one, Leif tossed the torch back at the company, just in time for one of the sailors of the [i]Courtesan[/i], who stepped over their fallen comrade, to catch the torch.

"Not light! Use fire!" Leif shouted as he kicked away the remains of the oozing chaurus corpse. Just then a blur of crimson sprang past him as Sevine drove her axe-blade in the backside of a retreating falmer.

"Hold there, shield-sister!" He called, as he scrambled to join her, the two shared a strained, yet familiar sense of relief, one annoyed to see the other, and the other grateful that the other had survived so far. 

"Watch it Leif!" Sevine barked, putting her shoulder in the hollow portion of the shield, a brazen chaurus dove at them, mandibles clacking together, waiting to tear into their soft exposed flesh. As the chaurus ricocheted backwards off her shield, Leif fell into a defensive stance, longsword held at a protective angle, ready to parry any incoming attacks from the chaurus, as the creature collected its bearings to launch another attack. Just as the vulgar creature of the underdark leapt forwards, this time heading for her fellow Nord's face, her methodism paid off again, for she foresaw that for Leif to attack, he had already missed his chance; her hand darted to the steel dagger kept in its leather thong, and in one swift motion, drove the blade into a softer area right below the mandibles, striking the central nervous system and causing the chaurus to fall limp as it slid slowly to the hilt of the blade, a lucky catch this one. Shaking the bug off her dagger, an overbearing odor poured from the wound, it caused her eyes to water and raised a coughing fit as she stepped backwards, noticing that the blood of the chaurus, a sickly green colour, was the source of the smell. Wiping it on the side of her leather trousers, Sevine heard a cry from Leif.

"[i]Ach![/i] Damn thing!" She turned in time to see him clutching the end of an arrow shaft that had pierced the breastplate of his leather armour, he sank onto one knee and snapped a large portion of the shaft off. It appeared, for the time being, that the wound would not prove fatal, unless the arrow-head held a coating of poison. Searching the cave tunnel for his assailant, Sevine spotted the gleam of a falmer's eyes as it scurried back into the darkness, and what she believed to be the sound of arrows clinking inside a quiver.

"Give me some light up here! We need to kill off these damned archers!" She shouted, moving into a protective stance in front of Leif, her shield raised in such a manner to protect her upper extremities from another arrow attack, yet left her lower half exposed. If they didn't finish off the rest of the Falmer, especially those that knew how to wield bows, those seeking refuge in the cave from the harsh elements howling outside, would suffer the consequences of failing to exterminate these foul creatures. After all, in her eyes, their lives were more valuable than demented Mer called the vast cave systems across Skyrim, home. More importantly, she felt her skin crawl in fear, something she desperately hid from those around her, for she despised caves, feared them even.