From Dusk to Dawn [RanixAurus x Peaches]

Tharin nodded in confirmation to her question. He whirled the hammer on his hand around. It was not the size of a warhammer, more like the hammer smiths used on their craft. Nevertheless, a bash to the skull even with that thing would prove fatal. Dwarves are by nature physically fit for combat, a trait halfly attributed to their hard work and harsh living condition. He was always ready.

"Go behind Ilphril, little girl," he pushed the girl toward the Drow, which the girl eyed with fear. Perhaps the show of weapon from earlier scared her. "It's okay, it's fine, go. I can't concentrate with you clinging to me."

The girl let go of Tharin's robe. Not sure of what to do. She fidget for a while before finally resigning herself to a spot behind Ilphril. Literally behind. She was clinging to her robe now.
Tharin was afraid that Ilphril would scold her, but the movement of the bushes was his priority. A few rustles here, another there...the enemies were gauging them. It's oh-kay Tharin, think of them as cave lizard. They're dumb. You're smart. You can do this. Tharin murmured to himself, trying to quench his fear.

The attack started within a blink of the eyes. From below...no, above! From a thick foliages on the trees above fell down a blue flash toward Tharin. He didn't fail to notice a sliver of light reflected on the thing. It had blade! With a surprisingly swift movement, seemingly unlikely for his chubby body, he dodged the thing's attack. The edge of the blade was only a few milimeters away from slashing his face. With his attack failed, the assailant had dropped down on the ground. Blue skin, long nose...it was the thing that the kid had told them.

Goblins. These vicious humanoid creatures at first glance looked like a member of the intelligent race. Their diminutive size looked like a Dwarf, only with leaner body. However, their thought process could best be described as "primitive". Humans and the rest of the continent's inhabitant viewed them as beasts. The Orcs were exception to this, as they employed Goblins within their community. It was said that the Goblins living in the desert were more educated than their wild kin.

The Goblin made a sharp turn on the ground, ready to pounce on Tharin once again. He didn't let it; the hammer was swung immediately, successfully connecting with the Goblin's face. There was this satisfying sound of bones crushing. The Goblin was thrown away by Tharin's powerful strike, bouncing on the ground several time before crashing on a tree.

More rustles. More were coming toward their direction. "Ilph! They're coming! Get ready!"
 
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Ilphril noticed Tharin's grip on his hammer. She did not envy whatever creature received a blow from that - a glancing blow would result in a large bruise and maybe a cracked or even broken bone. A hit straight on would result in even worse. A skull or the fragile bones of the face would stand no chance at all with a straight on hit. This was going to be... messy, probably.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Ilphril said, pressing her lips together as the girl stood uncomfortably close to her. Ilphril tried to shake her off. "But I cannot protect you if you are hindering my movements."

Perhaps that was the little girl's plan. Perhaps now was the moment she would transform herself into a demon, into a monster, into a shape-shifting beast that would devour both Ilphril and Tharin. Perhaps-

"Tharin, don't hesitate, don't worry," Ilphril spoke low and fast, trying to reassure her odd new company. She had no idea how he would react. He looked like he knew how to use the hammer, but had he ever been in serious combat before? Did dwarves fight for their lives often? She wasn't sure.

She was going to say more, but something fell toward them. A blue something was dropping straight down on Tharin, looking vicious and wild. "Look out!"

Luckily (impressively?) the dwarf dodged it, though only just, and Ilphril's former thoughts about the hammer connecting with a face came true. There was a sickening crunch and suddenly the goblin's face looked like a cave.


"Good one," she said with an odd note of pride in her voice, like she had somehow been responsible for his combat skills.

There wasn't much time for congratulations, however, as more of the blue creatures were rushing toward them with surprising speed. Ilphril was confident. She wasn't good with children, couldn't hardly cook anything, wasn't good with numbers, didn't appreciate poetry, and definitely couldn't play any instruments... but she could fight. This was her element.

Two goblins came after her, one brandishing twin daggers and the other one with some kind of rough spear. Ilphril lightly shoved the girl back a little further, making sure she was out of harms way, before springing into action.

She jumped as the first goblin with the spear lunged at her, landing on the spear's horizontal wooden shaft and snapping it with her weight. She twirled and kicked the goblin in the head with the heel of her boot, sending him reeling. Truthfully, she had to admire the second goblin's bravery; here she was, nearly twice his height with a weapon that was nearly as long as he and definitely longer than his dagger, yet he still had a fierce expression on his face.

Was he brave or was he just -

"Stupid," she decided, blood pumping and surging through her ears. Her chest was fluttering like a girl with a crush and she swung her scimitars in one fluid moment, nicking the goblin's thigh. Blood pooled out quickly as he lunged toward her, his dagger scraping the side of her armored midriff. His blue coloring was fading into a pale, minty tone. "How are you doing, Tharin?"
 
The Dark Elves, or more commonly called Drows by the inhabitants of the continent, are well-known for their proficiency in battle. However, this was the very first time Tharin had ever witnessed it with his own eyes. Compared to his rough, self-taught style of fighting, Ilphril's was more fluid. More dignified. More...lethal. Each slice looked calculated, a far cry from the Goblin's mindless attacks.

His daze was broken by a screech to his right. A Goblin lunged at him with a short sword. Not fast enough. He stepped forward as well, stopping the Goblin's raised arm with his hammer's handle before it could swung down the sword. From there it's just a clash of strength; clearly a Goblin couldn't dream to catch up with a Dwarf's strong arms, hardened by years' worth of smith works and digging. Tharin pushed the Goblin back, then smashed its ribs before it could react. Another sound of bones cracking into dust. The Goblin fell down at once.

"Huh? I'm fine. These guys're no big deal," Tharin laughed. Aside from the two that attacked Ilphril, this guy seemed to be the last one.

The girl from before had watched the fight wide-eyed. At first she squirmed upon seeing the blue creatures, but her fear slowly disappeared upon seeing Tharin and Ilphril dispatched them with ease. She remembered her family back in the village. If it's these guys...

"P-" she croaked. Tugging on Ilphril's robe. "Please help my papa and mama..."
 
Ilphril wiped the blood from her scimitars with a bit of spare cloth in her pocket, watching Tharin's hammer collide with the side of the goblin. She almost winced; that had to be incredibly painful. "Excellent job," she commented, sheathing her weapons as a wave of nostalgia washed over her. She missed her own original Drow weapons, the scimitars she had been trained to use since she was just a fresh-faced guard in the city. They were now a pile of dust near the crack in the rock where she had escaped from the Underdark; the Drow enchanted their weapons and armor to deter thieves from stealing them and taking them to the surface.

"No big deal," she repeated in agreement, eyes passing over the fallen goblins. They were certainly no match for Tharin's strong arms and heavy hammer, nor her Drow finesse and years upon years of training. "Kind of disappointing. But then again I suppose I've had enough fighting for now."

Something was pulling on her robe. Ilphril turned. Not something - someone. The girl. Ilphril had nearly forgotten about her in the heat of battle. "If you want us to help... I guess - guess we could," Ilphril said, looking toward Tharin. "If it's okay with him. I'm alright with a detour, I suppose."

It's not like she had anywhere else to be, anyway. She was mostly just wandering around, hoping to find work. Maybe this girl's parents could give them some kind of reward, or maybe at least a good dinner. Ilphril hadn't had a good meal in so long... her poor cooking skills hadn't left her with a very satisfied belly lately.

"Makes no difference to me, truly. But you should know - you both should know - that we might... run into other trouble, the longer we delay. I am... not welcome back into the Underdark. In fact, I did something that... angered them, and now they have been sending people after me. Hired thugs, mercenaries, assassins. It might be dangerous for you two to stay in my company any longer than necessary... so if you would rather me not accompany you to her home, I would understand."
 
The girl's eyes brightened when Ilphril voiced her agreement. She was all-smile now, not understanding the weight of Ilphril's warning. Tharin could understand them. Although, as a simple-living Dwarf he wasn't really accustomed with the way of the Drows. As such, the kind of sentiment Ilphril had described was foreign to him. Dwarves got to argument fast, but they forgive just as instantly.

"Hey, I don't really get it, but a thug or two won't be a match for Tharin, son of Thearon. Har har har!" He let out a hearty laugh. The girl looked amused with his antics. Good. A crying human is not a good taste for Tharin. "A'ight little one, why don't ya show us the way to your papa and mama. Go, now."

"Unh," she nodded and bolted off to the bushes. She was quite fast, but certainly not fast enough to outrun two adults, even if one of them is a Dwarf. It was the way she came through before. Tharin had feared that more Goblins would've given chase, but remembered that those blue things are idiots. They wouldn't have enough insight to send another party to check on the pursuers.

"Say, Ilph," Tharin called while running. She was really agile, as expected of a Drow. "I've never been to a human settlement before. Do I look okay? My stubs not weird? I heard humans are fickle about appearance..."

"There..." The girl had stopped on a thick foliage, crouching down out of sight. Tharin instinctively followed suit then peeked out from beneath the leaves. He saw some wooden structures...is that what human called 'house', he wonder...

Then smoke. And red stains on the ground. Blood. Some flesh.

It was horrible. Flame was still raging on some buildings, spreading to the grass around them. Bodies, or what was supposedly parts of human bodies, were scattered around, still fresh with blood. And Goblins. More than just four. Even in this limited sight he could spot around seven wandering around the perimeter, some dragging on human bodies as if it was a hunt meat. This was worse than a cave lizard hunting went wrong. Cave lizards wouldn't amount to this level of cruelty.

"What the hell is..."

"PAPA!"

Before Tharin realized it, the little girl had jumped out from the foliage, running toward a Goblin carrying a body. It was a human male, bloodied by what looked like several beatings with blunt weapon, likely from the Goblin's spiked mace.

"THE HELL?!?" This is totally bad. But if he didn't help her, she would die. Really fast. The Goblin had noticed the small human and started to rush to her. Tharin yelled and, catching the Goblin up by surprise, hammered its head.
 
Ilphril smiled slightly when Tharin seemed to simply brush off her warning about their lives possibly being in danger because of her past actions. "You've definitely proven you're capable in battle," she agreed, looking upon the young girl. She looked better now, less afraid and more... triumphant, maybe, now that she had found someone to help her family.

She admired Tharin's ability to interact with children. Or at least, he could interact with this one. He used casual language and seemed upbeat as to not scare the little girl. Ilphril didn't have much experience with children and truthfully she felt a little awkward around this small human girl.

"Do you look okay?" Ilphril asked in surprise as they ran, leaping over a small tree trunk in her path. "Tharin, I don't exactly make an effort to blend in... I suppose you'll be fine. And if not - too late to change anything now."

It would be nearly impossible for Ilph to blend in. Her skin was dark gray with a tinge of deep purple, her ears pointy, eyes maroon, and hair silvery white. No matter what she wore or how she dressed, she could be identified as a Drow a hundred yards away.

She didn't have time to ponder about how exactly they could make Tharin more presentable, however; the young girl crouched behind some bushes and Ilphril followed suit.

It didn't look good.

Chaos was a word she would use to describe it later if they made it out of this hellhole. Fire, blood, body parts. The goblins didn't seem to care about death with dignity at all. The Drow were cruel when it came to their enemies, but these goblins seemed downright ruthless and... evil.

"No!" Ilphril had been too busy scanning the area of houses to notice that the girl was getting ready to bolt out of her cover behind the bushes. She lunged, long fingers outstretched, but didn't even manage to brush the girl's back before she was gone. "Tharin!"

He was already ready, apparently, and smashed the charging Goblin swiftly on the head. With the sound of metal being withdrawn from its sheath, Ilphril's scimitars made an appearance. "I guess we'll be fighting our way out of this. So much for the element of surprise. Where's the girl, Tharin?"
 
The Goblin was dead. With one strike. When he think of it, Ilphril's strikes also killed them so easily. He wondered if Goblin are just this weak. Even cave lizards put out better fight. "I'm fine Ilph, but I guess I fucked up." The Goblin had let out a shriek when Tharin's hammer connected. It would surely be heard by the others. True to that, there were clamoring not too far from their spot. The Goblin's main force must've been coming. "The girl? She's..."

"Papa...wake up, papa," the girl had crouched over the body that the Goblin had dragged over. An adult human male. His face...it somewhat resembled her. "Why won't you wake up, papa?"

The body wasn't too damaged, but Tharin knew that it was too late. There must be internal bleeding everywhere on that body, what with it turned errily bluish like that. The face was contorted with pain, but have somewhat peaceful feeling to it. As if he was satisfied that he could let his child escape. So this...is her father...

"Kid," Tharin pulled her into a hug. Tears streamed down her cheek uncontrollably. She must've understood it by now, but refused to believe it. Her hand still clutched the dead body as if doing that would magically awaken it. Tharin buried her in his chest. Perhaps she was crying? Or was she screaming? The sound was muffled as he tried to hid her away from the harsh reality.

He had seen death, but it was always honorable, a defeat in worthy battle. Even cave lizards know better than doing this unnecessary torture.
 
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