Alone in the Dark

Defensive Postures

Shadows stretched along the road, bringing a winter chill to the end of the day as they slowed their horses to a brisk trot, breath coming out of nostrils and mouths in clouds of steam. The world seemed to drop away beyond the end of the road, which met up in a crossroads with the main path leading north and south along the coast. Out in the distance they could only see growing fog, obscuring anything beyond the sound of the waves crashing below. There was water out there and possibly ships, but the oncoming reinforcements were as invisible as they were blind to the battle about to take place in front of the dead end.

Keana turned to see the leader of the Lansend Guards approaching, horse coated in sweat, though the man's expression was calm. A life long soldier, Keana was certain that Thaner would meet death with the same grim expression as he always wore.

"The cove down there is where Lady Nerini said she came ashore, and this is where she told the Sellexun forces to meet us. I can't see into the bay with the fog, but with the bluff at our back, we can stand in the crossroads and the creature can only come at us in the open." Thaner said breathlessly.

Neither one of them was counting on the Sellexun forces to arrive on time. Wherever they were, they would have to slow down in the fog, or fear crashing their ships against the shallow waters. If they were coming at all. Nerini had believed in these allies of hers, but Keana was beginning to wonder if they would merely wait out to see how things turned. A cold, logical move, one that Keana didn't completely fault them for.

"Archers up in the trees. Scouts, pull back here with us, we can hear that thing coming, we fight as a unit now." Kea called out to his company, wheeling his horse around to watch the quick, but resigned movement of his fighters falling into their places. With a nod to himself, he glanced at Thaner. "Keep the Lordling safe, would you? And out of the way, I would hate for all this to be for nothing."

Thaner scowled at him and opened his mouth to respond, probably in a less than impressed tone.

"There's three more of them!" One scout yelled out from her place in the trees while she readied her bow.

Everyone froze in their positions, and Keana could see resolve turning to fear on a few of the faces, both young and old.

"That's alright. We've taken down more than that in the castle. No worries." Keana nodded and dismounted, giving the animal a smack on the ass that sent it running north along the road.

The mounts would be missed, but as it was, they would be little better than fodder, few of them being trained for war, and those that had been, were not trained to battle the creatures that the team of fighters would be facing.

Keana barely watched it and the rest of the horses bolt, and instead settled into position in the centre of the crossroads, forcing himself to maintain an appearance of calm disinterest. He shrugged his cloak over his shoulders and spun his blades in his hands as he forced his breathing to calm and his body to loosen. Keana was beginning to suspect that they would be again facing the monsters without the backup that should have landed hours ago.

The creatures shifted into view, forming a lined of shadows that crested a small rise in the road. They stopped where they were, as if taking stock of the force facing them down. Keana was sure they were confused at the resistance, at the fact that the prey was no longer running. He saw the black shifting masses of shadow, the hulking, fanged creatures that everyone else saw, but when he focused through with his talent, he saw through the magic, to the smaller, mortal parts of the bodies. They were grotesque and still frightening, but he could see them. They glanced back and forth at one another, before baring their wickedly sharp teeth. Their magic swirled with a menace that caused his skin to crawl, leaving a film of evil clinging to his mind when he looked through it.

"Remember, to the centre, archers. You all know what they look like and where they're vulnerable. Let's take away their cloaks." Keana called out calmly, bracing himself one last time for the oncoming battle.

The monsters advanced at speed and with Keana's nod, the archers unleashed a volley from their assortment of bows, causing the creatures to scream and stumble backwards in pain as they were riddled with injuries aimed for their physical bodies. Keana followed behind them with his blades, attacking the most forward one with as much momentum as he could seize, setting it back on its heels before it could even begin to regain initiative. He got under one slashing arm and brought his curved blade up diagonally into the mass of darkness, feeling it cut into solid form even as the second claw caught him and sent him flying backwards.

Keana hit the ground hard before he rolled over his shoulder and into the air, coming to his feet to see the creature's magic fading. His opponent fell to the ground, bleeding and dying after being cut nearly in half by his curved blade. Keana smirked to himself, then frowned when his spinning swords caught his eyes in the brief moment of respite he had amidst the chaos of battle.

His second blade was warped and burned black, looking barely usable, and Keana could only presume that the damage was from the blast of power back at the castle ruins.

Aside from a few seconds to appreciate that his one sword was mangled and could only be used as a blocking device, and not a reliable one, he was out of time. Keana spotted another two creatures, easily handling the rest of his fighters, sending people flying or spilling blood onto the ground that was dirty with churned up snow and earth.

With a growl, he sprinted at one of them, yelling for more from the archers. He saw the bolts hit home, deep, before he launched into a fight with the creature closest to him. Keana attacked before it had time to recover from that volley.