Ridahne was lost. Lost in a swimming abyss of mismatched sounds and shapes that flowed outside the passage of time. She was outside the passage of time. Did that make her dead? If she was, she knew someone at least would be there to receive her. Keeper? She wondered, though she could not speak the word, as her lips felt heavy and numb, like things that did not belong to her. Of course they didn't. She was dead. 

Dead.

The gravity of that really hit home. Darin would be alone now. She had done her duty insofar as she had protected the Seed Bearer from the Red Hand...or most of it. She couldn't speak for the lone archer who disappeared after her. But though she had won that small battle, there was so much ahead of Darin that Ridahne should have been there for. Hadn't Ravi told her not to throw her life away? She was not disposable, she had a job to do. Idiot. She should have done that differently but....how? What could she have done differently? She really didn't know. 

[i]Darin, if you're out there...I'm sorry. I tried....please forgive me...[/i]

And then she was aware of new sounds. Muffled, distorted things but they were new. Her awareness sharpened a little. Could that be the Keeper? She felt hands on her very physical, very alive body and realized with a shock she'd been wrong. Not dead. Dreaming. Her mind spun. She knew the four she fought were dead, which meant only one Red Hand was unaccounted for. The archer. A spike of fear rose up within her, and she pictured for a moment that he had captured Darin--or worse--and had now come back for her to finish the job and be free to do whatever wicked things he wanted. Whether Darin was alive or not, Ridahne knew that she would absolutely not stand for that, and no one but Darin would ever touch the Seed of Astra. Not on her watch.

Ridahne, who had been slack as Darin started to hoist her up, suddenly took in a breath, gave a strangled howl of rage that with her swollen throat was terrible to hear. The elf's legs came to life suddenly and she lurched to the side away from Darin, and one empty hand swung hard like it still had a knife in it. Thankfully she neither was holding a weapon, nor did her hand connect with anything but air. Her wounded leg gave out immediately but by sheer force she stayed up and swaying on the one leg like a drunkard, both fists clenched for a fight. 

"NO. Not on my watch you son of a--" Her breath caught. That was not the archer. Ridahne's heart leapt in her chest and tears immediately sprang from her eyes. "Darin!" Whatever rage commanding her body to stand melted away immediately, and so did she. Ridahne dropped again, and her teary eyes went distant and blurry for a moment as she nearly lost consciousness again. And though she held onto consciousness like a drowning rat, her eyes did not sharpen again. "You're alive!" Her voice was a raspy squeak like she'd lost her voice due to illness.  "The town...just south of here. Get help. You'll have to tie me to the saddle. Get my blades." Her eyes had drifted shut, but they snapped open suddenly. "The archer! What happened?"