Waldron and Emmalia IC

[Dragongal]

From what Emmalia could understand, Waldron had abandoned people to die. He had run away from battle. It was shameful and cowardly. But she had come to know him, at least to some extent. And she didn't think he was a coward or a traitor. He had had plenty of chances to run and he hadn't. If it wasn't for him, she'd be in a worse situation than she was now. People changed, and if anyone knew it, it was the undead-runaway-noblewoman. So why did he think he was supposed to have told her what had happened? The look of fear he had upset her, to see him so beaten, as did the fact that he just took the abuse Odrek gave. It didn't seem right to her. In fact, it made her start to wonder just how much she hated the thought of Odrek's blood.

"Waldron, don't apologize. You left the past in the past, as it ought to be." Gods, she felt like a hypocrite saying that. All the horrors she carried, the ones she let modify her behavior even now, and she was telling him to leave it be? He had been responsible for deaths, but so had she. "Trust me, you don't need to apologize with me. We're equals."

 

[Killershard]

He looked over at her, nodding his thanks, but he was keeping quiet for some reason. Something was on his mind, something horrific about his past, and he was remembering it. In the distance, Waldron thought he heard the neighing of a horse and looked behind himself to see nothing...Strange. Meanwhile, Odrek's wagon caught up with 4 others, falling into a formation with his in the center. The convoy then shortly began to climb up a hill side with the setting sun to their left, downhill. "Only a little bit to the fort..." Waldron said to himself as he overheard what the mercenaries were saying. What was in store for Emmalia and him? He didn't know, but he had regained his sure footed personality over these few short moments. He definitely didn't plan on staying to figure out.

 

[Dragongal]

Emmalia looked over at him for a few seconds after he spoke. If they were taken into that fort, escape would be much harder. Not to mention, she was hungry, still recovering from poison, and Waldron's head was still injured. They had to face the thought that they could potentially be trapped for a while. She leaned in and quietly whispered, "If they keep us over a week... in a week's time, I...." She looked distinctly uncomfortable as she tried to find the words. "If we are still here in a week's time, do not hold against me what will happen." That was the most that she felt she could explain to him. Already she had said too much.

 

[Killershard]

Waldron raised his hand to Emmalia, as if signaling something about keeping quiet, and suddenly the convoy stopped, a mist blocking the view of the first two wagons. Yet there was screaming, pained screaming, that much gave something away. Odrek stood up, gripping his blade, "What the hell..." When suddenly an arc of purple lightning shot out from the mist into the side of their wagon, sending everyone aboard toppling into the rocky floor, one of the soldiers stood up too soon, catching a massive arc through the chest. Waldron scrambled to hide under the wagon, he had no intention of figuring out what the hell they were facing, even though he had a damn sure idea of what it was. He needed his armor...It had to be somewhere in the wagon. Waldron looked back at the mist, and saw two silhouettes being cleaved clean in two by a massive metallic halberd, the shadowed figure being one of massive metallic armor, reaching around 8 feet tall. Waldron knew exactly what that was at this point, an executioner. Somehow his guild knew he was working with a vampire, and that didn't sit well with them. If Emmalia was anywhere near this hulking abomination, then she would be feeling a similar energy as with Waldron's armor, one of death magic.

 

[Dragongal]

Emmalia had been thrown as well, and with her slight frame, she'd gone further than Waldron. After hitting the ground with a tumble, she scrambled up to the side of the cart to hide. It would have been smarter to run, but she didn't want to abandon Waldron. He had no armor or weaponry. And considering how they didn't even know what they were facing? She managed to get near him and slid her shortsword over to him. He might have need of that, even if it was just to cut a rope. At the moment, she was still trying to fight the rising instincts within her - with the smell of blood about and the dark magic in the air, she was having a tough time keeping her thoughts clear. Truly, though... she couldn't think of how to escape this one except to flee. Couldn't they just come back for his armor later?

 

[Killershard]

Waldron nodded again to Emmalia, taking her blade. In the background there was the sounds of the fighting, even a musket shot or two, followed by the sound of another arc, apparently even gunshots couldn't keep this thing down. Waldron sighed, gripping the blade "I doubt we'll be able to hurt that thing...But I need to get my armor, or something, otherwise i'm doomed if we actually do have to fight it..." He held his head for a moment, and looked about the upturned wagon "Do me a favor and cover me, we're not the only thing the mercenaries have to worry about." A squad of 6 mercenaries armed with spears and shields and armored in half plate came running down the hill from the fort, hearing the commotion, although as Waldron predicted, were heading towards Emmalia and himself first, suspecting them of being bandits.

 

[Dragongal]

Emmalia said, "Dunno if I can protect you from getting shocked, but men, I can handle them." She flashed him a confident smile, then moved toward the incoming men. If they really wanted to ignore the armor thing and attack her, then they could. But she'd not go down without a fight. She waited by a cart which would protect her from the armor monster to her side. When one of the men approached and raised his spear, she was ready, and deflected the attack to her side with her buckler, then grabbed the spear and tore it out of the man's hand. She whipped it up and caught him across the neck with the end.

 

[Killershard]

There came the arc sound again, accompanied by Waldron shouting "Emmalia! Look out!" And another arc shot into the hill side, except this was aimed specifically at the hill, sending rocks tumbling down into Emmalia's position, some hitting the soldiers and bashing them across their heads. Waldron, at the bottom of the path, grabbed a shield to hide behind as the rocks came towards him. He was working on putting on some bits of the armor that he had miraculously found, the chest plate and gauntlets being the first step. Although he didn't have much time after he put his helmet on, as a heart pounding roar signaled that the armored beast was near, and it swung its halberd down at Waldron's cover, slicing it clean in two. Waldron looked down at his feet, the gear he needed was in a bag before him, but he couldn't just grab it and run off with it with the clearly defined warrior in his path. How his guild got a dread knight so large, he wouldn't know, but now wasn't the time, and the attacker swung his halberd across at Waldron, who rolled out of the way. He gripped Emmalia's shortsword, staring forward at the fearful behemoth. No way in hell he could hurt this thing, not now. He looked up at Emmalia "If you've got anything up your sleeve, now's definitely the time!" He really hoped she did, all they needed to do was distract this thing for a few moments so Waldron could grab their gear, and, well, it wasn't the best plan, but they could slide off the opposite side of the hill. It wasn't too steep, after all.

 

[Dragongal]

Emmalia had lost her footing as the rocks tumbled down about her, but she had quickly regained it, only to watch the fight between Waldron and the thing. The men she had been fighting seemed similarly stunned. Waldron's cover was destroyed, then he asked her for help, and it had her wondering what she really could do. As the scent of blood started overwhelming her, she had to be aware that she was weakened by her past fever and by fighting the dark magic and her own instinct. She was simply too weak.... So she stopped fighting.

One of the men had risen to attack her, or perhaps to run past her - she wasn't sure because she didn't stop to ask. He had his spear raised and she could her him approaching and that was all she needed before she turned, caught his raised hand that held the spear, leaned in, and ripped his throat out with her fangs. Just that little bit of human blood was all she needed. Before his body even dropped, she grabbed his shoulder with her other hand and swung the corpse away, and into the armored beast. An effective way to get its attention off of Waldron, she supposed. Now she just had to keep from getting killed herself....

 

[Killershard]

The flung corpse hit the beast with a hollow ding just as it was about to swing it's halberd down at Waldron down again, sending it stumbling back a few feet away from him, allowing him just enough time to grab his gear. After he got up, he bolted for a small ditch, some what moderately safe to put the armor on. As he approached, a mercenary rounded the corner from a stopped wagon, swinging a mace down at him, he sidestepped , slicing him across the chest with the shortsword "I'll have to thank Emmalia for actually giving this to me..." He pushed the man out of his way, into the path of the fight. After the metal warrior had regain its footing, it swung its halberd at a group of three mercenaries, smashing them aside of it's current path; a path that seemed to be towards Emmalia.

 

[Dragongal]

In hindsight, it was not the wisest thing for Emmalia to attract the attention of the giantwarrior thing that was from a group that specifically hunted undead. Sure she gave Waldron time, but now how was she going to survive? Obviously, flee. But if she was fleeing, why not get some good blood while she was - no. No, that wouldn't be okay. What they needed to do was just run until it couldn't follow. And that was one thing Em could certainly do: run. The fact that it was in the path she needed to take was her only obstacle.

While its halberd was down after a swing, Emmalia knew her only chance to escape was there. The human blood would only give her a boost for a short time longer before she was again weak, so she started running straight toward it. As it raised its halberd and made a horizontal swing that would have cut her in half, she dropped to the ground and slid between its legs, past it, then rolled out of the slide and kept running down the hill.

 

[Killershard]

Waldron clicked on his last piece of armor, looking at his left gauntlet, moving every finger to see that it was alright. He then saw Emmalia skid past the warrior from the ditch he was hiding in, and decided that now was a great time to move as well, while the thing was slightly distracted. And so Waldron ran to the edge, listening to the commotion in the background, He'd be damned if Odrek came out of this in one piece. But he didn't care, and neither did Odrek, so at least they could agree on that. Once he made it to the edge of the hill, he lifted his feet, sliding down it moderately fast. He hoped that this would be enough of a head start to let Emmalia and himself escape from this thing, but even he wasn't sure what the thing was capable of.

 

[Dragongal]

The sound of metal scraping dirt attracted Emmalia's attention to Waldron. So he was running as well. Smart. She had been worried that she was abandoning him, but at the same time, she'd figured he was smart enough to realize that running was their only option. Whatever that thing was, they didn't stand a chance against it. It was huge and, thankfully, it was slow because of that. Slow and very loud.

At the bottom of the hill was dense forest that both Emmalia and Waldron slid/ran into. While the thing was following them, it was already lagging behind. Emmalia doubted if it could even have used one of the lightning strikes on them, from that range. Once in the forest, though, they couldn't stop. They had to keep running.

 

[Killershard]

Waldron slammed his feet against the ground as he reached the bottom of the hill, slowing himself down and stumbling to flat ground. He looked over to Emmalia, out of breath, and raised a finger to where his lips should be. He had indicated to be quiet. For the fighting above had died down, there were pained coughs and gasps here and there, even the occasional loud clank as the executioner moved from place to place, but it didn't seem like it would follow, as if it had lost the two. Waldron took this time to start moving, slowly but as quietly as he could. Despite his heavy armor, he had enough height between him and that thing to where the noise died off. With a decent amount of time and steady, yet cautious movement, the two would be free of the pursuit, their pursuer's loud clanks had died off eventually.

 

[Dragongal]

Emmalia's muscles were on edge every second that she could hear the executioner. An important question kept running through her mind: was its priority her, or him? Not that she wanted to blame Waldron, but... that thing was out to murder them, and if they didn't know exactly why, they weren't likely to escape. It wouldn't simply give up on them.

But that was a concern for another time. Emmalia was weary, and she didn't doubt that Waldron was as well - he still had that gash on his head, after all. They needed time to think, plan, recover... and maybe they both owed each other some explanations after what they had both been forced to reveal.

The shelter they found after almost an hour of walking was a glad with some fallen trees laying through the center. These would serve well as benches, and wouldn't catch if they decided to make a fire. By the time they got there, Emmalia was shivering imperceptibly, and she was dragging her feet, though that was partially because her tasting human blood had brought her less-then-human side out more for her to mentally deal with. First things first, though. She gently said, "Take off your helmet. I'll clean and wrap up the wound on your head. You never cleaned it."

 

[Killershard]

Waldron was sitting on a branch. He was still mostly quiet through out their escape. He had to think many things over, he had lost all bonds of brotherhood. This was obvious. Odrek and his military brothers, gone. They thought Waldron was scum. The Dread Knights? Obviously thought Waldron was a threat or possibly a thrall for working with a vampire, they would undoubtedly hate him. All he had left was working with Emmalia. And he really hoped he didn't screw this one up too.

Yet Waldron was spared the deep interaction with her. His helmet was already covered in blood he had been coughing up, as he was in no condition to be running for his life with the injuries he had earlier. And as he looked up, he coughed up the red fluid one more time, it seeped through some of the holes in his helmet before he hit the ground with a thud, unconscious.

 

[Dragongal]

The fact that he'd been bleeding was obvious. The fact that he'd been coughing it up had not been. In fact, that last cough made her jump as Waldron collapsed. Her first question was if he was dying. She got to his side and pulled his head into her lap before removing his helmet. The scent of blood drew her attention before anything, but she just shook her head and kept going. He was still breathing, and if he was unconscious, it meant he was resting... therefore, it was perhaps for the best if he remain unconscious. She took off her pack and used her canteen to clean off the wound on his head from earlier, then bound it properly with the right herbs to prevent infection. The bruising and cuts from Odrek's violence, she couldn't help him with.

Her final action was to lay him out and let his head rest on her pack. For herself, she had intended to hunt, but found herself incapable. She was shivering too badly and she was too distracted by anything and everything. Memories, especially, were plaguing her. Escape from those, through sleep, was her best plan. All she claimed for herself was his cloak to use as a blanket before she curled up by one of the fallen trees to sleep.

 

[Killershard]

Waldron shot awake, his wide eyes looking around the forest. Where was he? He didn't remember how the hell he got here... A forest, just like the one Emmalia and he were in a couple of days ago. Except quiet. He sat up with a pained grumble, looking over at his bloody helmet, then at Emmalia. She didn't seem hurt, at least from the looks of it. He turned around, slowly, looking back up at the hill, and in the distance, he thought he could see wreckage. Right, that wreckage. Those carriages that almost took the two to imprisonment, and maybe worse at Odrek's hands.

He stood up, stumbling for a moment. Right, his head was definitely injured. He knelt down by his pack to grab some water, yet the canteen was apparently empty. He looked around. With being downhill this much, and with the relatively high amount of peaceful animal life he could observe, being squirrels and birds, he thought that there was definitely water close by, and that it was most likely safe to go get. And he stumbled into the woods, leaving his bloody helmet but taking his canteen. He didn't tell Emmalia, why? It didn't really cross his mind, maybe it was the head injury. Or maybe he was just in too deep with other things in his mind, deeper and more painful things, most likely.

 

[Dragongal]

Moments after Waldron left, Emmalia woke. Not because she had heard him depart, but because she heard a squirrel arrive. As hungry as she was, she didn't want to fully wake up to capture it. Her body was sore from last night, since she'd tricked it into allowing her more strength than she ought to have had. Even now she complimented herself for that plan - taste the blood but don't swallow it, and get a few minutes of extra speed and strength without going mad. But even still the bill came due.

The scent of blood caked on Waldron's helmet tugged at her mind. Blood was blood, dried or not, but she wouldn't let herself get caught in that trap. Why can't I go back to sleep? It was such a pleasant dream.... But it's not my fault I'm starving. She couldn't hear his breathing or smell any fresh blood, so he had to have been gone... there was no better time to feed. Reluctantly she shook her head a bit and sat up. The squirrel was but a few feet from her. All it took was one bolt and she had it in her hands. Being merciful, she ended its life quickly and proceeded to drink the meagre breakfast it offered. As she drank her eyes turned red, and when she finished, they were green again, and she tossed away the corpse so Waldron wouldn't have to see it. Then she sat down to wait. His helmet was with her... so he had to return.

 

[Killershard]

Waldron had found a small flowing river flowing to the west of their current position. He stood by it, taking a deep breath. Finally, a small moment of calm for a decent time in a few days. He knelt down, washing his facial hair and chin clean of blood before filling his canteen. For once, he felt that he didn't need to worry about being ambushed, the birds will still chirping, and down the way he could see a deer. At least for him, a sign of safety. After the canteen was full, he stood up, walking back to the camp.
He walked past Emmalia, yet he gave no wave or hello, just slumping down to enjoy the quiet serenity for once. And also to think about what their next move was, they couldn't stay out here forever, I mean, in hindsight going back to check the wreckage may or may not be out of the question, but he wanted to do it if the mercenaries didn't recover their gear.

 

[Dragongal]

Emmalia looked up at Waldron as he returned, but made no further motion. Perhaps he was mad at her. Perhaps not. Perhaps he was simply tired as well. Whatever it was, she decided that she would not be the one to break the silence. After what had happened, he likely needed it more than her. Then again, was he like her, and more accustomed to the silence of solitary travel than anything else? Perhaps.

She only moved when a cat came out of the woods behind her. It was a fully grown tabby, but there were soot streaks on its fur from the forest fire. The fire that Waldron and Emmalia had inadvertently started. The little creature crawled into her lap and rubbed its head against her chest. Emmalia let the cloak she'd borrowed fall and pet it for a few seconds, then made a gesture toward Waldron. The cats tail flicked side to side, then it went from her lap and moved to sit in front of Waldron, evidently expecting some petting.

 

[Killershard]

Waldron was polishing his helmet with a rag when the cat came over. He set the helmet down, smiling for a bit and running his metal hand along its back. He looked over at Emmalia "Didn't know you were friends with cats? Then again, it seems a lot of people are friends with cats." Witches, vampires, the list of arcane or dark things that were friends with cats seemingly went on. He didn't blame the cats, though, they never hurt anyone. He pet the cat again and thought for a moment. He was more of a dog person, personally, it's not like a cat is going to help you in combat, he had served with some fine mastiffs in the past, great dogs to be around actually, although he could only say so much for the people that fought them. He looked at the cat, pointing back at Emmalia. "Wonder where it came from.." He said out loud. Although he himself really had no idea and he was pretty sure that Emmalia didn't either.

 

[Dragongal]

The silence had been broken and that was all Emmalia needed. "Probably was a farm cat and ran off in the woods. From the spot in its fur, probably ran from that fire, poor thing." The cat swatted at his finger as he pointed at Emmalia. It was evidently pretty playful little creature. Emmalia clicked her tongue and the cat went back to crawl into her lap. She slowly petted it's head. "Probably was a rough night for you, eh little one?" Despite what they had been through, she couldn't help but grin. Very few people knew, but she adored cats. They were sneaky and cuddly and lazy. And it made her smile more than she ever had around Waldron. In fact, she almost seemed like a normal girl.

Finally she tore her attention from the cat. She had human company as well, after all. And after last night, mentally and physically, he probably wasn't in the best shape. "How's your head? I bandaged it up after you passed out, but that doesn't mean it's gonna be healed."

 

[Killershard]

He took a drink from his canteen "Feels like shit, but what else do you expect when you collide head first with a table." He looked over at her with his still slightly gloomy face, despite her actually smiling for once in all the time they'd worked together and leaned down to put his helmet back on. "As much as I'd like to stay here, I don't think it's in either of our interests. So, any plans on how...or really where to go." He leaned his head against a tree behind him, looking around him to see if could see any signs of civilization, although besides the distant wreckage of the wagons, there was none.

 

[Dragongal]

Emmalia looked down at the cat for a few silent seconds as she thought. "I don't think we can go back, or to the village near here - as we agreed before, it's not safe for us there, nobody will trust us. Maybe we should go back for your greatsword, though? Though they may have that now. I... I don't know." Emmalia smiled slightly and shook her head. It was so rare for her to have no plan at all. But now people knew of her vampirism, and she apparently had a hunting partner. Things had changed. "We can't go back, though. That's clear. May as well keep heading West."