[IC] Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

[Muttonhawk]

With the incoming spells, Fendros only had time to loose one more arrow. He brought up his ward again. The fire was perhaps the easiest to weather, not just for his spell absorption, but also his natural resistance to burns. He took the moment to carefully pick up his sword from the ground with his bow hand and slide it back into its scabbard.

The only hesitation Sabine gave was to glance over her shoulder at Do'Rhajul. She otherwise committed both arms to brightening her ward against Arinette. She was not sure how to react to the magic flowing into and out of that staff of hers. One thing was certain; Meesei needed her protection. She made sure no more spells struck her for as long as she could manage.

Fendros peered to the situation the Breton mage was fleeing to. If his opponent would take his fight there, where Meesei and Sabine lay struggling, so be it. Fendros found a tree to use as cover and prepared another sequence of shots. Three at Arinette, two at the Breton.

Janius' situation showed far less control. His breakaway towards Kaleeth was cut short by Yerig, forcing him to defend. His counterattack was as immediate and as ferocious as he could make it. Chops and cuts at the blade of Janius' axe flew in from each direction Yerig's sword was not. While the old man may have been able to defend himself handily, Janius built what momentum he could.

The shout passed over Kaleeth in Janius' view. He did not see how Yerig's shout saved Kaleeth's life. Rather he assume he was trying to finish her off. He used whatever opening or hesitation Yerig showed by swinging up the rim of his shield up at the edge of his peripheral vision to strike a blow at the side of his head.

Whether it would kill Yerig or not was irrelevant. Janius needed to make sure Kaleeth was still alive. Nor would he allow her Orc attackers to confirm her death.

[EliteCommander]

As experienced as Yerig was, his aging body was not perfectly capable. By turning his attention away from Janius for a moment, he gave him an opportunity to strike that Yerig was simply not quick enough to respond to effectively. Finally, Janius was able to land a solid blow that nearly knocked the old Nord off of his feet. Were Janius not focused on saving Kaleeth, it might have been an opportunity to finish him.

Though alive, Kaleeth had still been dazed by the blow, and was not seemingly making an effort to stand even after the ice dissipated. She was quite vulnerable, though Janius soon forced the two Orcs’ attention onto himself. Like with Kaleeth, one of them approached Janius from the front, while the one with the hammer moved to flank. However, this time, they were weakened from their fight with Kaleeth. Namely, one of the Orcs could not even raise his broken shield arm.

By the time the Breton mage reached Arinette, he was drained of magicka, but even if he had not been, Arinette was certainly a more major threat. The fireballs she slammed into Sabine’s ward were intensely hot and carried with them a great deal of explosive force. The first would stress the ward, and the second brought it within a hair’s breadth of shattering. The only reason she did not fire a third was because Fendros’ arrows forced her to put up a defense. Using power from the staff, she put up a barrier that seemed similar to a ward, but was definitely visually distinct. Unlike a normal ward, which would provide some resistance to physical damage as well as magical, this barrier blocked all of his arrows entirely. However, Sabine’s defense and Fendros’ attack together had given Meesei enough time to complete her transformation.

Meesei stepped forward in front of Sabine in her large, imposing werewolf form, though it only produced a somewhat surprised chuckle from Arinette. “Is this your solution to your impending death, Champion? Do you think I cannot handle a beast? I would think you would know you are even weaker to me in that form.”

Meesei spoke with another, low growl. “Is that so?” She said as her claws erupted in a storm of lightning.

For a brief moment, Arinette’s eyes widened. “What in Oblivion-“

Without delay, Meesei made use of another of the esoteric schools of magic she had studied in Apocrypha: shadow magic. Disappearing into a black cloud, she teleported and reappeared behind Arinette, already mid-swing. She successfully raked her long, sharp claws all the way across the Breton’s back, sending a spray of blood onto a nearby tree and leaving behind four deep gashes under her shredded clothes. At the same time, the lightning she charged through Arinette caused her body to convulse and drop down to her knees. On reaction, Arinette attempted another powerful telekinetic blast to force her attacker away as she turned to face her. However, Meesei had been learning through their fight, and was ready to adapt quickly. As Arinette was making the motion, Meesei teleported again, this time just a foot or two in front of her to place herself directly in front of the Breton. In doing so, she timed her spell perfectly so that she would teleport across the telekinetic wave, and therefore be unaffected by it.

An instant after she reappeared, Meesei essentially impaled Arinette through the stomach with her claws, lifting her fully off of the ground with one hand. While blood was pouring from the wounds, she again sent a sustained charge of lightning through her. Although, it lasted only a second before Arinette was able to manage releasing the magicka that the staff was absorbing into a lightning-infused wave of force that finally pushed Meesei back away from her, and causing a few more lightning burns in the process.

Unfortunately for Arinette, the act of blasting Meesei away from her caused Meesei’s claws to essentially rip open her abdomen. She fell to the ground in a rather gruesome puddle of blood, with her organs visibly spilling out of her. It was the kind of injury that would leave one with only a few moments of life before finally bleeding to death. However, in those few, long seconds,
Arinette was able to weakly grip the staff and use it for one last, desperate spell. As opposed to the offensive magic she had been using, she soon demonstrated that the power contained in the staff could be used for seemingly any form of magic. In this case, her body started to glow like the sun as she was enveloped in the single most powerful healing spell that Meesei had ever witnessed. It was hard to see through the intensity of the light, but her body started to quickly put itself back together before their very eyes. There was no technique to the healing, just the raw, overwhelming power of enough restoration energy to heal a battalion of soldiers. It was perhaps even more energy than would be necessary to keep her alive. Regardless, even with completely limitless magicka, there were inherent limitations to healing spells overall, so even she could not force her body to recover completely. Weakly, and using the staff for support, she struggled to stand herself back to her feet.

“No…not…will not fail.” Arinette stammered. The orb on her staff glowed more brightly, and a full, circular barrier similar to the one she had used to block Fedndros’ arrows surrounded her. The inside of the barrier was filled with a strange, blue glow, which made Meesei hesitant to teleport inside. Anyone that was at all attuned to magicka would be able to feel an immense magical charge in the air shortly before strange portals started to open all around them, from which odd, glowing, wisp-like magical anomalies started to emerge. The creatures, if they could be called such, immediately showed themselves dangerous as they began to attack anyone and everyone, Arinette’s allies included, with frost-based magical attacks merely by touching them.

Do’rhajul, after being left by Sabine, was struggling just to remain standing. His legs, particularly his joints, were in immense pain from the ice shards. He had tried to chase after Sabine, but only ended up falling down twice in the pursuit. But, at this point, he was back on his feet and stumbling in Arinette’s direction. “What are you…what are you doing Arinette? You can’t use the staff like that, we agreed! Using that much power…we don’t know what it will do!”

“It will kill her!” The Breton woman shouted, glaring at Meesei.

“And us along with her!” Do’rhajul growled back.

[Muttonhawk]

Sabine clenched her jaw and pushed her ward as far as it could hold. The barrage of fire was hitting too hard. Her arms nearly gave out as bright cracks lined the ward's edges. She closed her eyes and flinched for the next spell, only for it not to come. She took a moment to rebalance and recover as Meesei engaged again.

The sliding ebony plates made Do'Rhajul's approach easy to keep track of. Sabine backed away as necessary, though Do'Rhajul could hardly walk, much less charge her again.

Weakened or not, Janius was engaged with two opponents now. Three, if Yerig recovered and intervened. He stepped to reduce the angle at which the gladiator brothers were facing him from. Each step made his knee ache. It a great measure of relief to see her still living.

"Kaleeth," Janius said. He turned his head side to side to see what each opponent was doing. "Stay with me. Stay awake. Drink a potion if you can."

With a shout, Janius threw a chop at the Orc with the warhammer to second-guess his next attack. Even the bright yellow and blue lights from nearby did not break his focus.

Upon Arinette's channelling, Sabine could only stare in awe. A display of power like this could only invoke reading accounts of the greatest mages in history. Great and terrible magicks were wrought by such power. Sabine had no idea what would happen.

Not that there was time to deduce. The hissing white wisps that swam in the air demanded defence from all. They had all been in Skyrim long enough to know what wisps could do, even if these ones were different. Sabine ducked and weaved until she could line up spells to strike them out of the air. Fendros, where he had intended to shoot at Janius and Lorag's assailants, had to start using his arrows against the swarm of wisps as well. Janius caught a reprieve from his opponents, only to need to cut at whatever wisp came too near to himself and Kaleeth.

In a clear moment, Sabine called out. "Meesei! What is that staff!?" The worry broke her voice. "What do we do?"

[EliteCommander]

“It is the Staff of Magnus, and I…do not know.” Meesei answered in her deeper, gravelly voice. It was possible she could teleport inside the barrier, though she had no idea what the energy inside would do to her. It was true that the Breton mage was standing near her, and seemed to be unharmed, but that might only be because she had not directed the magic against him.

Do’rhajul marched up to the edge of the magic barrier. “If you’re going to use it, then use it to get us out of here instead. I know you can do that. That staff could tear all of our souls into another plane for all we know. How would your master reward you then?”

Arinette remained glaring at Meesei for a few, long moments before looking away and letting out a frustrated yell. “Fine! Everyone, to me!”

Just then, the barrier that Do’rhajul was pressing against allowed him to walk through unharmed. The Argonian fighting Lorag had the easiest time escaping, as he merely needed to bolt through the barrier and to safety. The two Orcs had been disrupted just as much by the wisps as Janius, as the Orc with the warhammer was having to stay at his twin’s back, swinging at any of the magic anomalies that came too close. The other was going to try to get a swing on Janius while he was distracted by a wisp, but the order from Arinette was something they immediately had to follow. Both of the twins made a run for the barrier, and unfortunately, the pressure from the wisps would make it difficult for Janius to follow, particularly since leaving Kaleeth’s side would leave her entirely undefended against them.

Meanwhile, the Redguard on the other side of the battlefield had conjured a daedroth to attempt to deal with Leaps. However, since most Daedra were inherently weak to shock magic, that in itself was a one-sided battle. The wamasu had, as he often did, opened up with his lightning breath before pouncing on the daedroth. Since the magic was particularly effective, it stunned the daedroth enough to give Leaps the upper hand. The two creatures were of roughly equal physical capabilities, but Leaps had leverage and was able to bite down on its neck. Though, in that time, the Nord fired another two crossbow bolts. Neither quite hit the wamasu’s throat, but they both embedded themselves into his flesh. Ahnasha was able to land an arrow on the Nord, but unfortunately, it had not quite hit a weak point in the armor and would leave nothing more than a bruise. Regardless, Ahnasha had been able to force her opponents into cover enough to protect Leaps.

Unfortunately, one of the magic anomalies came into existence just behind Ahnasha, and she did not react quickly enough to prevent its frost magic from striking her square in the back. She let out a scream and spun around, swinging her bow at the air. At the same time, the Nord and Redguard made a run for the barrier, leaving the tower shield behind, dug into the dirt.

Meesei wanted to try to bring down the barrier, as it might respond the same way to magic as a ward, but the magic anomalies made it impossible to focus their efforts on breaking through, as the pack had to defend themselves from the wisps. Once all of Do’rhajul’s team was inside the barrier, Arinette let out a slow breath, then slammed the end of her staff into the ground. There was a sudden flash of light and a strange sound, and after it cleared, everyone inside the barrier had seemingly disappeared. The portals which had created the wisps had also disappeared, though the wisps themselves remained.

[Muttonhawk]

There was no time to despair at their enemies escaping. Everyone in the pack kept fighting while being harried by the ponderous wisps. Enough strikes with magic or weapons shattered what corporeality they had. One by one, they broke and faded.

Janius struck down the last near him with a swing of his axe. A quick-breathed look around him confirmed immediate safety. Enough to painfully kneel down and remove Kaleeth's helmet where she laid. "Stay awake, love. Stay awake," he said frantically. Cupping the back of her head with his hand, he withdrew a skin with a healing potion to offer to her mouth.

Fendros stomped up to regroup with a new arrow nocked in his bow, held low in his hands and ready to raise against any leftover wisps. "Is anyone hurt?" he demanded.

Remembering herself, Sabine looked down at her body. She had flecks of dirt all over her from explosive spells. She didn't feel any pain. She came out surprisingly unscathed. "I am unhurt. I think, I..." Sabine's hands showed a shudder. Whatever she had to say trailed off as she brought her hand to her mouth, holding her breath. She was pale. After a few moments of standing still, she doubled over and let out a tiny wretch. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply.

"Sabine," Fendros said softly. "Please heal the others."

She opened her eyes and straightened. "Okay," she mumbled through her hand. Her legs quivered as she walked over to the nearest injured packmate. She wasn't sure whether what just happened was real.

[EliteCommander]

Though still breathing, Kaleeth was not terribly responsive to Janius. She did not resist his attempt to give her a potion, but she did not actively accept it either. She looked around slowly, and with confusion in her eyes. She seemed to have a hard time concentrating, and when she tried to speak, her words came out as slurred and nonsensical. Even without any extensive restoration training, it would be easy to recognize that she had a concussion, and one serious enough to require quick attention.

Although he was able to walk around without trouble, the blood on Lorag's armor betrayed his injuries. It poured down his arm, and at another place on his side, out of the small gaps in his armor. The plating protected most of the vital areas of his body, but that did not mean his wounds could not be serious. The silver wounds would not stop bleeding as quickly, and Lorag's body could not recover as quickly as it once had. Regardless, the pack knew him well enough to know that he was not going to let on to how badly he may or may not have been injured, especially with other members of the pack being hurt. "Kaleeth...needs help first." Lorag announced to Sabine. "I'll...get our things together, as quick as I can. We've got to move soon."

After the danger had finally passed, Meesei essentially collapsed. It had been all she could do to hold herself together and stand against Arinette. There were patches of fur missing from the burns she had retained from her Argonian form, as well as frostbite and distinct lightning scars across different parts of her body. She looked as if someone had tried to take her apart with magic. Fortunately, none of her wounds were made from silver, so her magic and natural regeneration both could actually start mending her body.

Underneath her fur, Ahnasha's back was frostbitten, and her arrow wound was still bleeding. She had lost a fair amount of blood by this point, but she could see that some of the others had it worse. Or at least, they had more immediate concerns. She kept her hand pressed over her wound to try and staunch the bleeding. A healing potion would have to do for her for now. Meanwhile, aside from Kaleeth, it was actually Leaps whose condition may have been the most dire. With his size, the crossbow bolts had not done too much damage, but he had been surrounded by several of the wisps. They could not survive his attacks, but they had caused plenty of damage in the time they had. Traces of their frost magic was all over his sides, back, and legs. The signs of frostbite were not as obvious on him, but its effects were even more damaging. His body was not equipped for the cold, and his overall body temperature was dropping dangerously low. With a low whine, he instinctively walked over towards Janius and Kaleeth for comfort.

[Muttonhawk]

If Lorag's stubbornness didn't turn Sabine, Kaleeth's state did.

"Sabine!" Janius called out. Sabine responded and dropped to her knees next to Kaleeth. Janius peered back to Kaleeth and continued with no small amount of worry. "The one with the hammer hit her hard. She took the blow to her helmet."

Though she was still shivering, Sabine put her hands on either side of Kaleeth's head and closed her eyes to diagnose her. Janius pulled back to give her space. When Leaps lumbered over and laid down beside them, his state prompted Sabine to open her eyes. A second of trying to concentrate on two patients at once made her trip over her words. "Uhm...Janius! Help Leaps. Keep him warm. Stop the bleeding."

Janius was no expert healer but he could do that much. He stood and hurriedly saw to Leaps' wounds. "There, there," he said to try and sooth the wamasu while he worked. "They got you, too, didn't they? Stay still."

Sabine had to concentrate hard. The brain was delicate and complicated. She had to make sure there was no bleeding or severe damage.

With barely a whisper spoken, Fendros took Ahnasha's arm over his shoulders and helped her to gather with the others. A quick word with her confirmed that she was not hurt worse than surface wounds, but there was no question that they were all shaken. Once Fendros and Ahnasha stopped, Fendros addressed Lorag and Meesei. "We got lucky," he said gravely. "They could have killed us. They got close." He spoke more clearly. "Are we honestly in a state to continue our mission right now? I would suggest that we go back to the clan and get attention from healers."

[EliteCommander]

Sabine would find that there was some internal bleeding within Kaleeth's head, as it was the cause of her concussion. While certainly not encouraging, it was not likely the worst case she had seen. She could be treated, but she would definitely need time to recover. Perhaps even a few days or a week, and in that time, doing anything that might lead to another head injury was out of the question. Regardless of what the rest of them did, she had to be returned to safety.

Meesei had found a tree to lean against as she concentrated on tending to some of her more serious wounds. None of them were caused by silver, but that did not mean she was not still weakened by them. She would just be able to recover more quickly than some of the others in her pack. "I...no, we cannot stay here. We will not be able to make it to Cyrus in time; we will just have to try to find him on the island. That is a problem for later, though. We need to get back home." She responded, in complete agreement with Fendros.

Holding out her large paws, Meesei started to charge magicka through them, but then let out a long breath as she clenched them into fists. "I cannot open a portal right now. I do not have the magicka. I need help, or a potion."

For those who had been harmed, the adrenaline of the fight was steadily wearing off, so the pain of their injuries would be hitting them soon.

[Muttonhawk]

"I have a pair of them still," Janius said. He unfastened two small leather skins and held them out. He needed to remain with Leaps for a little while yet. "Could someone...?" He stopped and winced as he tried to put weight on his wounded leg.

Fendros stepped up and passed the potions to Meesei.

Sabine did what she could to stem some of the bleeding in Kaleeth's head. It was not like a flesh wound where she could coagulate the blood, for a clot in the brain was worse than a concussion. However, with intense concentration, she could help the worst of it before the required sustained treatment. She remained still and with her eyes closed for as long as she needed to. The intense focus required helped to calm her somewhat.

Fendros spoke with a firmness that likely stemmed from his high alertness after such an incident. "So, what happened to everyone after the explosion? I do not think the mage fighting me knew of my birthsign, which saved my life, I have no doubt. I could not see anyone else most of the time, however."

[EliteCommander]

Meesei transformed back while the others were getting her a potion, then started to make another portal as soon as she had downed it.

"Annoying lizard kept dashing around me, shocking me and tryin' to get a knife through my armor with that spell Alpha likes to use. Couldn't get a hit on him." Lorag huffed nearby as he was gathering up whatever they had dropped on the ground. Like Janius, he was moving with a limp, and he was already starting to grit his teeth from the pain of his untreated injuries.

Ahnasha was looking out into the wilderness, alert as if they were still going to be attacked at any moment, despite how unlikely that would be at the moment. "That was definitely exactly what they planned. They separated us, had someone ready to deal with each and every one of us. They planned perfectly to attack us, divide us, and hit us at all of our weaknesses. At least perfectly for what they knew. Some of us have grown in terms of skills compared to their last reports on us, I guess. Still, they easily could have killed us. I mean...just look at us. At this mess."

"Yeah, but we gave as good as we got. Some of us did, at least. I saw some of 'em when they were running away. They were afraid." Lorag responded.

"That just means it could have gone either way." Ahnasha remarked.

After about a minute, Meesei completed her portal back to Blackreach and concentrated on keeping it open. The others would be slower getting through this time. Depending on how they reacted, it was possible the children were still waiting for them on the other side, along with anyone else they might have told.

[Muttonhawk]

The battered and broken pack stepped back into the yellow light of the Silent City on one another's shoulders. The first voice they heard was Rhazii's. He was distraught and tear-streaked. He was just entering the square where they had left with Marcaille in tow.

"You have to try and make a portal like Meesei does! I saw them jump into a-" Rhazii stopped as he saw his family. "Mother! Father!" He closed the distance between them in a few strides.

Fendros stopped him with firm words. "Help carry your aunt, son. Do not strike her head on anything, understand?"

Rhazii moved to comply. His eyes darted around to everyone's injuries. "What happened? Is aunt Kaleeth okay!?"

"She'll be alright, Rhazii," Janius said. He was glad for Rhazii taking Kaleeth under her other shoulder, especially with his jarred knee. "We just need to get to some healers."

"Marcaille," Sabine said. She didn't give much time for a response before squeezing Marcaille tightly in her arms.

[EliteCommander]

While not always the most outwardly kind of individuals, Marcaille saw the fear in Sabine. "Don't worry, we'll get this all sorted. I had some of the others start preparing as soon as Rhazii warned me. They should be ready for you." Although, she did have to gently push Sabine off of herself so she could get to Kaleeth more quickly. She gathered from Fendros' words the nature of her injury, so while Rhazii was moving to help carry her, Marcaille walked up alongside to very gently place her hand on Kaleeth's forehead, which soon started to glow. "This isn't anything to worry about. Just need to be careful, that's all." Marcaille stated. She had not actually had time to do any sort of examination; she merely needed to keep the child from panicking and potentially dropping her."

Ahnasha crossed both of her arms over her chest to attempt to hide her injury from Rhazii. The last thing she wanted was for him to be afraid for her. Meanwhile, Julan was even more distraught than Rhazii due to his age, and the fact that it was his own mother who was most obviously hurt. He was in tears as he ran up to Janius and Kaleeth. "M-mother? What's wrong, is she...you said she's going to be alright. She is going to be okay, right father?" He stammered. Julan was obviously terrified, but in his panic, he was somewhat getting in the way.

[Muttonhawk]

Sabine did not resist Marcaille's push. She had intended to keep the embrace quick, though even just that much was enough to help her calm a little more.

"Thank you, Marcaille," Sabine said. She breathed in to say something else, but Julan's fearful words interrupted.

Janius gently eased Julan out of the way of their path while he responded. "She struck on her head, son. I need you to run ahead to the healers and tell them that the champion's pack needs a bed for her immediately. Can you do that?" Janius forced an encouraging smile. It was hard for him to see Julan so distressed.

"What happened?" Rhazii repeated. "I saw the fire through the portal. I saw..." He gasped and twisted his head to look at Ahnasha. "Mother, you were shot!"

Now that he remembered what he saw, the gathered blood around her chest was much harder to hide.

Fendros raised a hand to calm Rhazii down. "We all got out of there alive. That's the important part. We'll tell you more later, pay attention to where you're stepping for now."

"Marcaille," Sabine said with a stilted voice. She was looking ahead while walking beside her. "I did what you suggested with the taproot. To make a spriggan angry where the essence was spilt. It...saved my life."

[EliteCommander]

"Good, good. You can tell me all about it later." Marcaille responded to Sabine. "Maybe you can apply one of my other recipes here too. When we get to the infirmary, I want you to take one of the stronger healing potions and mix in some finely-ground canis root and imp stool. One-eighth portions of both. The mild paralysis should calm her body and slow her blood flow by a bit. Make it easier to treat, and keep anything from getting worse. Hopefully, it'll be weak enough won't trigger her body's poison responses."

Julan was still in tears, which he quickly wiped away from his eyes. "Okay...I'll, uh, run ahead." He said, though he was distraught enough that he lacked the coordination to turn around without tripping and falling over his own feet. Regardless, focusing on the task he had been given, and nothing else, allowed him to scramble back to his feet to follow Janius' command.

"I'll be fine, don't worry. I've been through worse before." Ahnasha answered to Rhazii. Although, if she was being honest with herself, she was starting to feel feint from the blood she had lost. It had not been the largest of wounds, but it had gone untreated for a while now. The potion she had taken was helping, but she was looking forward to the attention of a healer. Fortunately, the Silent City had plenty of healers, and most of them would be available at the moment.

---

The pack, naturally, received priority treatment from quite a few healers as soon as they made it to the infirmary. Even if they had not been the Champion and her pack, there was no one else in the city that required such immediate attention. Marcaille and Sabine focused on helping Kaleeth, while the others were tended to by other healers. The wounds that Ahnasha, Lorag, and Janius had sustained were nothing unusual for healers who were used to treating warriors, so there was nothing wrong with them that was beyond the abilities of any of those helping them. That was not to say that their injuries were minor, and they would need time to recover fully, but that recovery was essentially certain. Since there were plenty of healers available, even Lorag ended up accepting treatment without argument. Meesei was the only one to refuse magical aid, but that was only on the basis that she could heal herself more easily without interference from others. As badly as Arinette's spells had scarred her, none of them carried with them the debilitating effects of silver. As such, her spells were causing the burns across her body to recede at an easily visible rate. Kaleeth, meanwhile, had fallen unconscious during her treatment, but Marcaille insisted that it was nothing to worry about, and that she would benefit from the rest.

The infirmary consisted of a large room with many beds, as well as chairs for those visiting the wounded. The whole pack remained in the room, and were mostly silent for a while. Meesei was sitting cross-legged on a bed with a constant glow around her. Lorag was examining his armor, which he had removed after arrival, for dents and other damage that he would need to repair. Ahnasha had got out of her now-bloody clothes, and was currently sitting still while an Imperial healer was wrapping her torso tightly in bandages.

"So...when are we gonna talk about any of this? There's no way we can let them get away with this." Lorag finally spoke up.

[Muttonhawk]

The that passed finally allowed some true calm and reflection.

Fendros and Rhazii were seated on chairs beside Ahnasha's bed, though Rhazii had just slipped out once he heard what had happened and that there was essentially nothing else he could do to help. He didn't say where he was going, but Fendros strongly suspected that he was going to try and spar with Ri'vashi.

Similarly, Janius was nearby Kaleeth. He was sitting over the edge of his bed after his leg had been treated. Thankfully, none of his bones had broken. Some bruising and damaged cartilage around his knee was repair well within the abilities of the clan's healers. He insisted on healing his own bruises and scrapes where they were more minor so that more attention could be given to his packmates.

Sabine, finally, was sitting limp and fatigued on a chair between Kaleeth and Meesei's beds. Once she had been finally convinced to sit down and calm, she turned into a shuddering wreck for half a minute or so. After that, she was astonishingly calm, though fatigued. There was no time until now to ask why.

Nevertheless, Fendros answered Lorag first, after a pause. "I've been thinking about it," he began. "There are a few measures we could take from now on. For one, we could mark multiple locations within a distance to teleport to. They knew exactly where we were coming through, so we need to take away their advantage there." His eyes turned to Kaleeth. "Secondly, we need to plan how to deal with those people since they have demonstrated themselves...and predict how they'll try to deal with us next."

[EliteCommander]

"Agreed." Meesei responded to Fendros. She still had her eyes closed as she sat on her bed, as if meditating while mending her own wounds. Her expression did little to reveal how much pain she may or may not have been in at the moment. Kaleeth was more seriously hurt, but Meesei had still received enough burns to seriously threaten someone without lycan regeneration: the kind of burns that could make the air itself painful. "There is no way we can continue our mission without dealing with them. They know we are going to be traveling in that area. Even if they have not yet determined why we are there, they know we will be returning. I am not going to take the risk of trying to avoid them again. Unless a miracle occurs and Cyrus kills that dragon, that axe will be staying on that island for quite a while. Right now, our primary goal is to deal with Do'rhajul's team. We just need to decide how."

Kaleeth did not remain unconscious for too long, particularly with Marcaille and Sabine's treatment working through her body. Her breathing became steadier, and after another minute, her eyes slowly opened. Julan had been sitting nearby, right next to his mother. He had stopped crying, but his face still made it obvious that he had been. However, once he started noticing some movement from Kaleeth, he was immediately overtaken by a combination of fear and excitement. He was certainly glad that she was awake, but he still had the worry in his mind that she might still be hurt somehow.

"Mother!" Julan shouted, wrapping his arms tightly around her in a hug before she even had a chance to speak, or react at all to the world around her.

[Muttonhawk]

"Right," Fendros said. "We might start by recalling individually the fight, and think about how to deal with each person in Do'Rhajul's team-"

Fendros was interrupted by Julan. Janius placed a hand on his back. "Woah there, son. Be gentle, now. Your mother's still hurt." Janius stood up and leaned over the bed. "Kaleeth," he said softly. "Can you hear me? How are you feeling?"

Kaleeth's condition caught everyone's attention.

[EliteCommander]

Kaleeth's drift into consciousness was slow, but steady. She blinked a few times, not responding to either Julan or Janius. However, once her mind was once again awake, she immediately drew up her hands to her head and groaned. "Ah, my head, it...hurts. Where am I? Where are...we?" She stammered, still momentarily confused.

Although Kaleeth did need to rest, her confusion and panic caused her to sit up quickly. "I remember...the fight. We won? Is everyone okay?" She said once she recognized that she was surrounded by her pack.

"Yes, we are all alive and well." Meesei said softly. "You may be calm. Though, I cannot say we won the fight. Do'rhajul's team escaped. Or, we escaped. It may be true to say that we all escaped. The fight was...worryingly close."

Kaleeth lowered her head and pressed her fingers against her temple. "I'm remembering more parts, I think. I...got frozen?"

[Muttonhawk]

Janius nodded rapidly. "That's right. The Nord, Yerig, he shouted this word I didn't understand and this frost magic was thrown over you." Janius turned his eyes to Meesei. "He barked a few different shouts. One made him like a ghost to escape a grapple. Another...was just a huge force that sent me flying. It made me think that it could only be the Thu'um you mentioned before."

Pausing, Janius' eyes lowered turned back to Kaleeth. "I do not know why he froze you. I thought he was trying to kill you at first, to spite me in warning him, but...he did it right before the one with the war hammer was about to strike your head."

After a moment, Fendros cautiously added. "The hammer. Did it strike true or glance away because of the ice?"

Janius blinked a couple of times. The thought didn't sit right in his head. "It glanced," he said.

[EliteCommander]

"That is interesting." Meesei remarked. "Yerig seems like too experienced of a person to do something like that by mistake."

Lorag huffed. "So what, he saved her, but then kept fightin' Janius? I don't remember seeing him stop. That could get her killed just the same, if the Orcs kept swinging. Seems like he can't decide if he wants to kill us or help us."

"Maybe he can't?" Ahnasha suggested. "We've all read the report on him. He doesn't seem like a fit to Do'rhajul's little group. I honestly have to wonder why he's helping them to begin with. It has to be something they've told him, or maybe he knows one of them? Trusts one of them. Even still, if he thinks we're as bad as his allies are probably telling him, and he is willing to help them, I can't imagine why he wouldn't be willing to kill us."

Meesei let out a long, soft breath. "That is a fair point, and it is difficult to say. Why raise a sword against us if he is, at the same time, not willing to let one of us die? Though, the magic he commands, the Thu'um, may provide a hint. The only group that still practices it in modern times are the Greybeards, but they are reclusive monks that live in seclusion on a mountain here in Skyrim. From what I know of them, they practice nonviolence and isolationism. They do not involve themselves in the world's events whenever possible. However, I cannot imagine that Yerig could have trained anywhere else. He would had to have been taught through the lens of their beliefs."

Ahnasha looked to be skeptical. "Well, he definitely isn't 'nonviolent'. And I'd say he's pretty involved right now. Are you sure he couldn't have learned anywhere else? You could have tried learning the Thu'um in Apocrypha, after all."

"Wouldn't be the first time someone's turned their back on the Greybeards." Lorag interjected. "Whole reason I ended up in Skyrim was because that Jarl Stormcloak left the Greybeards to fight a war. Eventually ended up killing their king and tried to take over himself. Don't see why this Nord couldn't have done the same."

Throughout the conversation, kaleeth did not seem to be getting any more comfortable. She pulled up her knees to her chest and pressed her head into them, with tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes.