Camilla's mouth hung open in awe, her mind unable to comprehend the rapid reversal in fortune. She had been just about to dump the fire she had built on the old shield down onto the corpses to create a barrier but now the blaze burned untended. A charge of heavy cavalry was something she had heard of in sagas and poetry but not something she had ever beheld. None of those neatly tuned stanzas did it any justice. The sheer force of it was astonishing, armored warhorses shattering beastmen, steel shod hooves caving in rib cages, lances shattering in ruined chests.

It was so unlikely that for a moment she refused to believe it, thinking it must be some trick or illusion but then she was over the parapet with Cydric slashing halfheartedly at the fleeing beastmen. She looked skeptically up to the heavens and then remembered her earlier prayer.

[b]"Thank you Ranald, I suppose this will do,"[/b] she said with a faint ironic smile. A moment later the commander of the knights, Gilderoy as he called himself was hauling her up into the saddle. He sat her sidesaddle across his horse his own armored arm providing her support as he led his men into a canter back down the hill. Although there were still woods, they were much thinner, perhaps due to the shallower soil clinging to the edge of the escapement and the knights rode swiftly as though sure of their mounts footing. It was clear to Camilla that although the Sigmarites had routed the beastmen and their otherworldly allies, they didn't imagine that the foe was finished, this was a hit and fade.

[b]"May I have the pleasure of your name My Lady?"[/b] Gilderoy inquired politely. The juxtaposition of such formal etiquette while galloping through the forest in fear for ones life made her giggle and Gilderoy seemed to sit straighter as though preening.

[b]"I am Camilla De La Tratio, Marquessa De La Tratio I suppose,"[/b] she told him trying to remember the honorary title that Count Todbringer had been talking about.

[b]"Ah a Tilean by your speech, welcome to the Empire,"[/b] he said jovially. Camilla blinked a little non-plused by the strange knight.

[b]"And a thank you for your timely rescue Sir Knight, I am in your debt,"[/b] she responded, unconsciously mimicking his formal manner. Gilderoy smiled and patted the neck of his armored steed fondly.

[b]"It was my pleasure to be of assistance to her ladyship, your companion did well to keep the brutes so distracted, we might have had a harder time of it otherwise."[/b] There seemed a slight reserve in his voice when he spoke of 'her companion' but she chose to ignore it.

[b]"How did you find us Sir Knight?"[/b] she asked curiously as they slowed to a trot, to her surprise they were entering a lightly wooded valley with signs of recent logging, a strange oasis in the middle of the mighty Drakwald. At the far end of the valley she saw a fortress, not a ruin but a castle. It seemed shabby as though recently repaired, but the twin tailed comet flew from one of its recently repaired towers.

[b]"It was chance my Lady, we heard the shots and though to climb the wall of the valley to see whence they came, and there you were in the old watch tower."[/b] He shook his head as if it were some amazing thing that couldn't be comprehended. Camilla thought Gilderoy was being awfully caviler about the whole business, but then he was a knight and he had just rescued them. The castle loomed larger ahead of them and she saw several dozen outbuildings, occupied by busy looking men in clean smocks. Some were cutting lumber, others were dressing stone with chisels, all looked surprised to see the patrol returning. The castle loomed up ahead of them, brooding over the lightly wooded vale.

[b]"Welcome Lady Trantio, to Savior's Rock."[/b] Gilderoy intoned formally, his voice echoing as the horses hooves boomed on the draw bridge.

 [@POOHEAD189]