The last sliver of sun slipped below the horizon. A crescent moon was rising, but even with the moon and stars it was quickly becoming quite dark. The troll began to snore loudly. The carrion birds were quieting down, retreating to the trees to sleep.

Harold watched this strangely mismatched group without comment.  Bone-deep fatigue dragged at him from the use of his magic.  Normally he would heal the others anyway, despite the danger to him, but whatever had happened to them, he avoiding thinking about the possibility that they were dead, seemed to be keeping them from the full affect of their wounds.  Once they had rested, he would be able to heal them some more.  Uncertain where to go, he watched the exotic and tan woman, since she seemed to have some idea what was happening.  For now he would follow her.

Walther shook himself out of his study of the battlefield and shrugged on his pack.  To the crispy mage, he said, "You mention a forest to the north, but that is in the opposite direction of where we must go.  Our forces moved south on Ettermoor.  Our safest path lies with them."

Teion resigned himself to the fact he would need to subdue this woman with the limited resources he had to hand in order to take her with them. In his mind he began preparing a powerful spell, one that would more likley knock him out rather then her. Then an idea struck him, and he almost kicked himself for not thinking of it earlier. He leant beck on his spear "Fine, leave. I have no use of you if you will be this pigheaded." He waved his burnt had towards the distant woods, "Run away from the problem, I only hope you will be more cooperative the next time we meet, or I will not be so generous." He turned his back on the argumentative Vatril and walked towards Walther, his now concealed hands gesturing him to keep quiet in military sign language, something the Mage furiously hoped the captain understood.

Lonna's eyes furrowed. Given the burned mage's action and words up to this point she did not believe he was giving up so easily. He would probably try casting a spell on her the moment she turned her back. With that in mind Lonna moved toward the broken path that would lead her home, never once taking her eye off the savage mage.

Harold watched her for a moment, not sure what to do. He was pretty sure the woman with the vision was right and they should stay together, but he didn't know how to make it happen. Finally he made a decision to try. Trotting to catch up, he followed the woman. When he was close enough to talk, he smiled shyly. "Please don't go," he said quietly. "We don't know what happened, but maybe we can find out together."

"Do you think I'm a fool? I've heard what the Anaheer do to prisoners and one of you has already stabbed..." Her eyes widened as she realized what she was saying. In her concern over the Anaheer mage she had forgotten the wound she'd received. A wound that should have at least incapacitated her even if it hadn't killed her outright. She pushed the thought aside. Right now she had to keep an eye on the other mage. She would think about what the wound meant later.

Harold shuffled his feet slightly.  He didn't blame her for wanting to leave.  It was terrible what the soldier had done to her.  Still, Harold wanted to find out what had happened to them and having someone else who understood magic would be nice.  Plus she seemed the nicest one of all of them.  She had just put the troll to sleep and hadn't threatened or attacked anyone.

He wished he had the words to convince her to stay, but words were never something that came easily to him.  Looking at her with a pleading look, he tried.  "Something happened to us.  I think we're...," he choked slightly, but forced himself to continue, "I think we're dead, or we oughta be.  I don't know what's goin' on.  I just want ta know what's goin' on and I think we should stay together as much as we can until we do."

Don't say that! That's impossible! Lonna wanted to scream but deep inside she knew the man was right and it would go a long way to explain why she was still standing after the soldier had run her through with his sword. This gentle man also didn't deserve to bare the burden of her fear and uncertainty. And she couldn't let herself be distracted. She needed to keep an eye on the Anaheer mage. As long as he was within sight he was a threat.

Lonna forced a smile to her young face, her youth spoke of this being her first battle but with mages looks could be deceiving, and said mildly. "You seem kind enough but how can I stay with them? You've seen how much they hate me."

Walther wanted to explain to the Vatril heathen that she ought not to take his efforts to kill her so personally.  It had been practical, a matter of war, but the mage which was allegedly on his own side had signalled him not to speak, and he would humor the wizard for the now.

"We should be off," was all he said, ignoring the enemy in their midst for now, hoping that the burnt up man knew what the hell he was playing at.  "This way," and Walther began to lead them in a march towards Ettermoor.

Beetle looked at the others, made a 'what can you do?' face, then followed the Captain, his broken arm sending shivers of pain up his shoulder every time he jostled it. Anyplace was better than here. 

Teion followed the Captain, walking quickly as he could to catch up, not looking back, hoping his plan would work. "Coming healer?" He called to Harold as he walked away.

Harold leaned closer to the mage and muttered quietly, trying to keep the others from hearing.  His stomach churned with nervousness being this close to a beautiful woman, but he tried to ignore it.  "I've heard bad things about the Anaheer, too, and I'm starting to believe them, but I don't want to stay this way.  How else can we fix it if we don't stay together?"  For a brief moment, his eyes met hers, with despirate intensity, before he dropped them back to the ground, overcome with shyness again.

"They did this somehow." She answered just as quietly. "How can we be sure if we stay with them they won't do something worse?"

Harold shrugged, he struggled to talk, not wanting to argue with her.  "They seemed as surprised as us, maybe it wasn't them."

"You could be right but..." Lonna looked over to where the other mage and the soldier were walking away. "They scare me."

Harold nodded again.  He really wanted to stay with Lonna.  Of the group, she seemed the nicest by far.  But it seemed like Cali had the answers if anyone did, and he didn't want to be dead anymore, if it could be changed.  Unhappy, he wavered back and forth, trying to decide the right course.  Finally he looked up at Lonna.  "Me too, but being dead scares me more.  Please take care of yourself."  Greatly daring, as he turned away, he looked in her eyes again, concern and compassion obvious on his broad featured face, "I hope to see you again."  Embarrassed, he turned and shuffled after the rest of the group, wondering if he was making a terrible mistake.

Lonna reached out and squeezed the shy man's arm. "Be careful with them and don't let them know where you're from." She cautioned before letting go and heading for the nearby forest.

Cali paused for a moment, casting a concerned glance towards the healer and Vatril mage before falling into stride with Walther.  She remained quiet for a few steps, her face placid despite the turmoil with in her.  "Walther.  I seek something that I believe to be in your possession. An amulet."  She paused for a moment and closed her eyes as she finished the description, as if it were inscribed on the back of her eyelids.  "It's a bronze amulet of a sunburst over an oak tree...with a sword horizontally across it."

Her eyes opened again.  "I believe that it plays a part in what has happened...  I was unable to get to it in time to stop this, and now I'm unsure what part it plays in this puzzle.  ...but, with your permission, I'd like to take a closer look at it."

Walther eyed the woman with extreme caution, as if she were a viper - and in truth, she was, he reminded himself.  She had described the amulet given to him by his grandmother in uncanny detail.  It was a family heirloom, he had been told, which would bring him luck in battle.  If this was luck...

"Speak no more of it," he cautioned her in careful tones, "particularly within earshot of the burnt one.  Do this, and you may yet see that which you seek."

The seer met his eyes with a quiet calm, an undeserved patience that a mother might bestow upon her child.  "As you wish." She finally replied, her tone low to show her respect for his wishes.

Harold returned to the others as they crossed the now silent battlefield and headed for the path to Ettermoor. Lonna turned north, heading for a wooded area nearby.

As they set off Teion followed slightly behind, mumbling illegible things to himself as he went whilst observing the interaction between the others.

((Wrapping this page up. If you have anything else to add before the group reaches the path, go ahead and do so. I should have the next page up soon.))