Sylvia was in a bind, to put it lightly. She was surrounded by three stormvermin. The one to her left held a long halberd in its armored hands, the one to her right wielded a spiked flail, already red with blood, paired with a kite shield, and the one behind her twirled two nasty-looking axes in its hands. 

She was on edge, knowing that at any moment, the stormvermin could strike, and with her unarmored self, a direct hit would most likely prove fatal. At first, she couldn’t see any way out. They had her too backed up, too cornered. If she tried to dodge away from the flail-wielding stormvermin, she’d be skewered by the one with the halberd. If she tried to back away from both of them, the axe-wielding skaven behind would make short work of her. 

She had to decide quickly, however. The skaven on her right exaggerated an attack, and Sylvia knew that it was going for a feint. The real threat came from the halberd-wielding stormvermin on her left side. As it stepped in to thrust its weapon towards Sylvia, it seemed that her choice had already been made for her. Considering all the present factors, she had one foreseeable option. So, instead of dodging away from the rat’s halberd, she instead dodged [i]towards[/i] it. Or more accurately, slightly to the left of it. Considering the pole arm's length, if Sylvia could dodge the head of the halberd, she could get close. 

In a quick movement, Sylvia launched herself towards the attacking rat, and felt a sharp pain below her ribs. She knew she had been cut, but couldn’t risk looking down to see how bad it was. Instead, once she bypassed the dangerous part of the rat’s weapon, her hand shot up, dagger drawn, and then embedded it into the rat’s neck. Sylvia twisted the blade, quickly ending the vermin’s life. 

She spun around and immediately ducked, narrowly avoiding a deadly flail to the skull. The rat raised its shield, and with that barrier blocking her way, she couldn’t get past and attack the skaven. Instead, she turned towards the dual-axe rat, who was preparing to swing both instruments in a powerful attack. The two skaven made the mistake of being too close, however, and Sylvia took advantage of this. She deftly stepped out of the way of the attack, and instead of hitting her, the rat’s axes collided with the other stormvermin’s shield, knocking it out of the way and providing Sylvia an opening which she immediately took advantage of, jamming her dagger into the side of the vermin’s neck, killing it. 

She yanked the dagger out, spurting crimson streams through the air. She could tell the wound below her ribs was bleeding badly. She felt blood run down the right side of her body, damping her clothes. She had to carry on, though.

[i]One more, just one more.[/i]

The rat clanged both axes together, squeaking out a war cry. Sylvia took a deep breath, focusing herself, tuning out the other battles, tuning out the other sounds, tuning out all other distractions. It was truly a sight to behold. In the midst of battle, in the midst of chaos, the two combatants faced each other, preparing to deliver their final strike. And seemingly, at the drop of a hat, they charged.

The stormvermin lunged towards her, both axes swinging wildly, aiming to hit something, anything. Sylvia waited, and saw the perfect moment arise: The rat came into a wide stance, and had both its arms extended out to the sides of its body, like it was going to give a bladed hug. Sylvia dodged to the right, and quickly sliced the rat’s wrist between the joint gap of armor plating. The rat screeched in pain, cancelling its attack and holding its wounded wrist, and at the same time Sylvia grabbed the Skaven’s axe as it fell. She felt the weight pull down her arm, but with strained effort, she raised it over her read, and brought it down upon the skaven’s torso, in the unarmored area between the pauldron and the helmet. It fell to its knees, gravely wounded, and Sylvia finished it off by slitting its throat. 

There was a period of respite, but then she too fell to her knees, gasping and coughing from the effort. Her wound was still bleeding due to her exertions through combat, and her every limb burned and ached with a dredging pain. Her heart sank as she looked around her, realizing that the assassins were still present and wreaking havoc among the dwarves, and many, many skaven and stormvermin were still up and fighting. 

[i]
How… How many will we have to kill? How many until one gets a lucky hit in?[/i]

She wanted to give up, resign to her grisly fate. No matter how many they killed, it seemed like with every one that fell, five more took its place. She knew the guild could bring her back should she die, but the pain of death was not a happy prospect to her. In fact, she wanted to avoid it at all costs. Even so, should she fall in battle, there was a risk that she could be captured and taken away. If anything, she planned to avoid [i]that[/i] fate.

And so, despite her almost unbearable state, Sylvia slowly got up on sore legs, and with shaking hands drew her bloodied dagger, ready to enter the fight once more.