The pair rode down path in silence. A simple escort mission was all it was supposed to be, yet her blade and bow had already seen combat. The grey ear of her mount twitched forward. "Saskia, Lle auta yeste'" The dire wolf howled and ran down the path flushing out anything that might spook the horses. Unfortunately, the danger came from behind. A sharp pain stuck her neck. Grabbing at what she thought was an unpleasant wasp, she found something quite different. A dart tipped in poison. "Run!" She eked out to her travelling companion. She fell off her horse as her body writhed with pain from the fast moving poison. 

"One is down!" one of the men called back to his leader. Alya winced, clenching her teeth. "Not without taking at least one of you with me." With the last of her energy she rolled forward drawing her dagger and plunging it into the chest of her assailant. She held it there until she was satisfied he was dead. Her body slid from his. The knife fell from her hand, and her head hit the ground. Her lips whispered. [url=http://www.grey-company.org/Circle/language/phrase.htm#uospells]"Poika.... tuulo'.... 'kshapsae....."[/url] And then the world was black.

[center]~*~[/center]

The elf's white hair danced across her face waking her. "It worked..." she breathed a sigh of relief. She looked around hoping to find her companion gone, but instead she found her with an arrow through her chest in the arms of the highwaymen who had attacked them. Quietly she pulled an arrow and drew her bow. "Put her down. Now." She grazed the tip of her arrow against the back of the barbarian's neck. A move she would have been less fearless about had she known the entire stature of the man. "This woman is with me. I don't get paid unless I get her where she needs to go alive and relatively unharmed." She worked her way to the front of the man as she spoke. "Saskia," she whistled. The wolf came running "Vara tel' amin" The wolf barred her teeth threateningly just waiting for one of them to try to harm her master so she could attack. 

Alya lowered her bow and put her hand on the woman. "Leave the potion. We may need it yet." She put her hands on the shaft of the arrow. "Pilin en' templa 'Kshonna, wanya." The arrow shimmered in the sunlight for several seconds before it finally dissipated. With the arrow out of the way the bleeding increased. Queasily Alya pushed her two index fingers into the wound. The woman jolted with pain. "Tanka tel' taurnin." The bleeding lessened as the deepest part of the wound healed. Over and over she repeated the process until the woman's wounds were healed. She quickly rose to her feet and drew her bow again. "Now what to do with the two" she said with a question in her voice "of you who attacked us in the first place?"