[color=A0A0A0][h2]Fleuri Jodeau[/h2][/color]

Through the chaos of the fighting, Fleuri could discern the captain's voice barking more orders.

"Do not let a single man escape!  They cannot alert the camp to our presence!"

[i]If there's was one advantage of having a sixteen year old girl in charge, it's that her voice certainly stands out,[/i] he mused.  He looked over the nearest bandits, a scarred woman with a shortsword.  His foe kept her distance, perhaps a bit shocked from seeing her buddy killed.  Fleuri readied his sword and prepared to charge, when his concentration was disrupted by the impact of a crossbow bolt striking his left shoulder.

His pauldron deflected the quarrel, which tumbled and impacted harmlessly against his helmet.  He was unharmed, but was all too aware as to how close the shot came to his neck.  [i]By Reon, that was close.[/i]  Both his instincts and his anger concurred- he needed to take that crossbowman down as quickly as possible.

Before he could even scan the area for whoever shot at him, the sword bandit rush in, her earlier hesitation having evidently been to give her friend a clear shot.  Fleuri raised his sword and brought it down as his assailant closed the distance.  The brigand managed to bring herself to a halt of the tip of the greatsword, narrowly avoiding the downward swing, but kept at a distance by the sword's length.  Before the brigand could regain her balance from the very sudden stop, however, Fleuri stepped forward and thrust his sword with all his might, pushing through his target's shoddy armor and skewering her through the chest.

He pulled his sword back and wrenched it free of the fatally injured bandit.  Free of that distraction, he turned to his left, intent on finding who shot at him.  Sure enough, there was a man frantically trying to reload a crossbow.  Without skipping a beat, Fleuri charged.  Seeing the knight coming at him, the man lose all nerve, dropped his crossbow, and turned to flee into the thicket.  Fleuri was very briefly concerned that this bandit might actually escape to warn the others, lighter on his feet than the knight and no doubt more familiar with the terrain.

Fortunately for the Iron Roses, the man was not as familiar with the terrain as Fleuri thought.  In his panic to escape, the bandit failed to notice an exposed tree root behind him, and tripped on it almost immediately.  He hit the ground face-first, quarrels spilling from his quiver.  It was a bit ironic, that he'd be undone by the same woods that he had relied upon for concealment.

Before the man could regain his senses, Fleuri was already standing over him, sword in hand.  

"Stay down and don't make any moves, if you want to live," Fleuri spoke to the fallen bandit.  "You can consider yourself a prisoner of the Iron Roses."