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It wasn't until after their meeting with the mayor that Ethelred had realized that Od was nowhere to be found.  He hadn't had much concern for her, having assumed that she'd be fine.  After all, with her martial skills and potent powers of healing, Ethelred was confident that Od would be able to handle herself against the Fomorians.  Sadly, he was horribly wrong.  During the battle, as far as Ethelred could piece together, Od must have been abducted by the Fomorians, no doubt to make use of her life-giving blood.

Ethelred wanted to go after her while the trail was still warm, hoping to catch them before her abductor could retreat back to whatever dark place they had crawled out of.  However, their Reinhardt instead insisted on continuing their original mission.  It didn't sit well with Ethelred to let the trail of her abduction go cold, but the queen had ordered him to follow Reinhardt's orders as if they were her own.  Additionally, as much as Ethelred didn't like it, there was a cold logic in Reinhardt's course of action.  It was very unlikely that Od's abductors would kill her, because she was worth far more to them alive.   For now they needed to find Elnith and ensure that the destructive Fomorian that they were pursuing was neutralized before it could destroy another settlement.

As they left, they passed by another grim sight for Ethelred- the ruins of his family's castle.  In the time that had passed since he had been thawed by Sorcha, Ethelred had only visited the site once before, prior to joining up with her.  He had not set foot on the actual castle grounds since before he had been frozen, having at the time not been ready to face the discomfort of seeing the destruction up close.  If it were not for the matters of both Od and Elnith's disappearances, and the urgency at which Reinhardt spurred the group on, Ethelred would have asked to have some time to walk among the ruins.  Perhaps he would have the opportunity after the mission was complete.

The combined shock of losing Od and seeing his family's ruined castle had left Ethelred in a rather poor mood.  Even with his helmet concealing his facial expressions, his mournful demeanor could be seen in the chilled but not frigid air surrounding him, the accompanying condensation almost akin to the shedding of tears.  As they continued onward to their destination, Ethelred pondered on how they would break the news to Sorcha about losing Od.  It was true that the life of a knight was a dangerous one and that they must be prepared to lose friends, but it was evident that Ethelred had not been mentally prepared for this particular possibility.

When they reached the burned village, it was largely what Ethelred had expected that they'd find.  The entire settlement had been burned to the ground.  Ghastly claw marks could be seen carved into the remains of some of the buildings, further evidence of the sheer violence that transpired here.  Ethelred didn't anticipate finding any bodies aside from perhaps charred bones, but lying throughout the ruined town were the rotting, scorched corpses of Fomorians.

[color=6ecff6]"Judging by the burns and state of decay, I'd say these Fomorians fell during the attack.  I doubt that a village militia would have taken down even one of them, however,"[/color] Ethelred spoke to the others, assessing the corpses.  [color=6ecff6]"I'd guess that this was Elnith's work."[/color]

Just then, Ethelred heard a scream coming from inside the ruined village.  The Frozen Knight swiftly rode towards the source of the scream, where he found two human children surrounded by Fomorians.  Most looked like the smaller variants that they had encountered on the road to Redwater Point, but one- possibly the leader- looked like the Fomorians that had attacked the town.  From the look of everything, Ethelred figured that these children were probably from a neighboring village, trying to test their courage by visiting the site of the Fomorian attack.  When he was a child, Ethelred was similarly adventurous.  One of his childhood friends was the daughter of one of the family's housecarls, and had always insisted on playing the role of the young etheling's bodyguard whenever they snuck off to some place they shouldn't be.  Fortunately, they never had the misfortune to find themselves in [i]this[/i] much trouble.

Ethelred needed to act quickly to draw their attention.  He charged towards the group of Fomorians, lance couched.  He was aiming for the big one but would not pass up the opportunity to stab or trample any that were unfortunate enough to not get out of his path.  He was certain that Marduk and Reinhardt would be close behind, ready to cut down any beasts that avoided the incoming lance, hooves, and horns.

[@Cu Chulainn][@Guy0fV4lor][@Rune_Alchemist]