As beaten, battered, and bloodied her body, flesh, bones and all, was after that last battle with what the knight presumed to be Varros' most fearsome and threatening of warriors, Irina still soldiered on, wincing and gritting her teeth harshly at every searing bout of pain issued from the rough terrain of the forest and Argo's galloping swiftly through the thick of it, easily traversing the tall brush and storming valiantly through the thistles of thorns and dry leaves, though it didn't help much that even the slightest touch to Irina was agony and....she was practically bleeding all over the place, through her chainmail and surcoat soaked with viscous red blood, the once graceful and royal purple of Alegasia's seal now marred violently by gruesome crimson blotches, as if to match her very skin, once a fair shade of pale now riddled horrendously with ghastly cuts, scrapes and bruises of varying severity. And even as she rode forth, every once in a while a harsh coughing of her own blood would rack her entire body with infernal pain, but....no matter the torment, she must continue.

"Hya! Hyaa! Ride Argo!" Irina, hoarse in the throat, she shouted to her mighty steed, urging the massive Clydesdale to hasten his valiant charge into battle, the mere clopping of his hooves a fearsome and intimidating beating of war drums, just the atmosphere to match his master's eyes, her very demeanor at this point symbolized by that fiery and feral glare in the intense ice of her frozen eyes. And it mattered not if she was pushing her wounded self beyond her normal limits, forcing herself onward despite the torment her flesh and bones were suffering at Irina's own expense, every ounce of the woman's blood, damn near left in a macabre trail of crimson down her forehead, down the shattered remnants of her broken arm, and all throughout the forest she scoured hastily and fearlessly in search of her lady, soon to be in the rotten hands of that vicious cad Varros. [i]No! I will not falter to him! I will not let M'lady Crystal be taken by that nefarious bastard! Even if I am to die, I will save her![/i] A promise.....a promise she had made countlessly, and not just to the Princess or to her father the King....but quite possibly....to the very grave she may lie in sooner or later, but death be the road she take for her Princess rather than fealty. 

With a firm grip on the leather reins of her rushing war horse, she goaded the muscular beast to turn left on a whim, and what lied left was yet more thorn thistles, causing the horse to flex the bulging muscles of his back legs and leap high into the air over the ghastly forest brush, and just beyond that very brush....was Irina's lady and the two damned creatures of Varros, having bound Crystal as if she were some poor and defenseless animal being dragged mercilessly to slaughter. Twas one thing to steal her lady, but to treat her in the manner as just a mere animal.....that was the last biting thorn in Irina's side. "M'LADY!!" A cry echoed through the forest, followed by the shrill and vicious neighs of Argo, the two storming towards the men in black armor, a glaring mix of anger and fear cast through their crimson eyes towards the gallant woman and her steed. [i]"How in the bloody Abyss is she still alive?!! Aldo, kill her!!"[/i], one of Varros sinister warriors barked to his fellow knight, the black armored brute now headlong towards Irina, and with a cold punch to the gut, off was Irina from her horse, falling onto her back with a gruff growl of pain shooting through her skin before standing, right as the bastard had his sword drawn.

"C'MON!" She screamed and soon the two knights' blades clashed in a fearsome clang of steel, sending sparks to and fro with bits of the deadly metal chipping away, same with each and every other strike of this Aldo's gargantuan sword of obsidian, Irina blocking and dodging nearly most of his brutal attacks, some able to penetrate her defense and deliver a few cold slashes to her cheeks and the exposed portion of her arm...unfortunately the broken one. The bastard, he was putting up quite the defense with that zweihander he wielded so smug and confident in his own swordsmanship, but finally Irina saw a break in his defense, immediately going for it with a quick jab of her own sword, deep into the crevasse of the man's armor between his chasse and cuirass, a fatal blow to the vitals and down the towering beast went with a heavy thud. One down, but there were two, and that was made quite evident....with the next bitter wound to add to Irina's ever growing collection of pain. "AGH!" Such a hot sensation to overcome her shoulder, and so quick and abrupt did this piercing agony erupt. It had to be only one thing, and Irina knew it...without even having to look at the bloody steel bolt protruding from her freshly impaled flesh. [i]Dammit! A crossbow![/i] Another bolt was soon fired, but Irina was able to dodge it in time, the metal tip only grazing her cheek as she dove behind a thick sycamore's trunk...her only cover from certain quick demise...

[i]"Ha! You think I fear you, Knight of Alegasia?!"[/i], from beyond her cover, Irina could hear the last knight, his vile words and his utterances of disdain spat upon her, the Princess, and their beautiful kingdom, [i]"Alegasia is filth, you hear me! Filth covered in gold! And once Lord Varros has the Princess, that filth will be revealed to all, then our Lord will burn this Goddess-Forsaken kingdom to ashes! Don't think you'll evade me for long, you bloody wench! Surrender now, and I won't turn you into a bloody pincushion!"[/i] Surrender? No.... Even if it meant never seeing her lady again, even if it meant....the end of everything she once desired, to death Irina would go before faltering to a beast such as Varros. Clutching the gilded hilt of her blade tight in her gauntlet, with such intensity to dye her knuckles white, she emerged boldly from the cover of the tree, a wolfen glare upon her face, bloodied and hardened as the very steel of her sword she raised in defiance of the Narsilian warrior, equally shouting, "To Varros the Princess will not go, but to victory or death, I shall for my Kingdom!" But to her defiance, the knight of Narsil bit back, [i]"You fool! You take one step, one step alone, and you will die! I swear it!"[/i] Growled the bastard, raising the crossbow to his face, his aim dead on the knight of Alegasia, a death glare cast through the weapon's measly sights. 

Irina was not deterred however by such a weapon. Range it had as an advantage, but it would take alot more than a few arrows to stop her. From the corner of her eye, she glanced unto the first knight she slain, upon his back a rigid and possibly daunting kite shield. Some would call her foolish, an idiot for what she had done next, trying her damndest to ignore the pain shooting through her shattered left arm she dared to move, causing more damage to the already decimated bone and tissue as she clutched the heavy shield in her left and her sword in her right, raising both in a defensive stance, another defiance aimed towards the remaining knight of Varros. As fast as her burning feet could carry her and the weight of this massive shield, she charged headlong, every thunk of the crossbow's bolts against the shield pushing Irina back slightly, but forward she pressed until she was face to face with the warrior, no longer able to use that damn crossbow of his once he felt the full force of the shield crashing into him and finally....the impalement of Irina's sword through his neck.....

The battle was over...and Irina was the victor.....

"P-princess.....I.....I'm here....." But after that gallant surge of adrenaline had left her veins from the heat of such a daunting confrontation, all that was left was the debilitating crash of her entire body to her knees, shrugging off the weight of the shield from her severely damaged arm and the rest of her battered exterior...as well as her interior. Her bones were splintered, her skin was bruised and coated with wet and dry blood, dirt and mud, and her head, her eyes....damn near everything....was heavy with exhaustion. Irina....with the last bit of her strength waning from her tiresome body, she struggled over to the Princess, but unable to untie her as the woman fell next to her....glancing wearily into those beautiful amethyst eyes....that might be the last time she would see them... "A-are you....a-alright, M-m'lady? I'm sorry I...I didn't get here...earlier....."