Invocatem - IC

[HerziQuerzi]

Caibry allowed the other girl to shoot off two more arrows before reclaiming the smoke from the bow for her own purposes; as far as she could tell, the first arrow had done no harm to the knight, and she saw little use in wasting her powers to enable more.

Letting her chain dissolve as well, Caibry reformed her smoke into a suit of armour to protect her from the hail. Slightly too large, there was no point at which the armour touched her skin. Against such a bludgeoning attack, she didn't wish to be struck by even incidental force. Still, the armour moved freely alongside her limbs as she began running towards the knight.

In the decision between running or fighting, the latter seemed the clearer option to Caibry. To run would be wisest and safest in the short term, but without Faire's strength they would be weakened in the days to come as they ran from their inevitable pursuers. And more than that, the woman had saved them. Caibry would not shame herself by abandoning her.

Through the armour, infused with her patron's silencing influence, the crashing of ice and wind and rain was reduced to a faint rumble. Something felt more through the soles of her feet rather than truly heard. But as she drew closer to the knight, the armour fell apart into a shrouding cloud of smoke, and the sound rushed back in.

And when the smoke itself cleared, coalesced together into longsword and shield, a mirror-perfect facsimile of the knight stood in it's place. Her speed and strength as a copy would rival that of the original's, though no elemental powers made themselves available to her. Her own powers would have to attempt to make up the difference, alongside any of her other companions still able and willing to fight. With a mute shout, Caibry leveled her near weightless blade and charged.

 

[Asuras]

Heightened by the ferocity of her determined swings, the momentum in every aspect of her battling so to helped keep Faire's mind moving despite the exhaustion that pulled at its feet. The moment her opponent was pulled off balance, she was already upon him. In then end, however, the slowness inherent in her body would not suffice. The knight seamlessly rolled away, his golden form revealing a tossed object now destined for herself instead.

A crash preceded a burst of flame that enveloped her body, which she could only fully register after the heat touched her senses. Faire cried out in panic as flames gripped at her uniform. The knight distracted, she fortunately had a moment to douse them with her own Patron's boons. A bubble formed at her chest and quickly passed through her torso, suffocating the flames and poorly washing away the still-hot oils. Fearful of remaining embers, Faire remained herself distracted from the fight at hand, if only for a moment.

Standing before Caibry, the golden knight appeared entirely enthused at her bravado, even less so for her poor attempt at mimicking a knight of Baelwill.

"One of you finally wishes to fight sword to sword?" he chuckled, "You'll find your attempts even more foolish than with your goddesses' powers." The knight did not return a stance of readiness to Caibry, even at the moment of her charge. He had dealt with the Chosen using his own magic thus far. He need not dirty his blade against such pitiful attempts.

The clouds roared once before lightning struck out against-

...against the knight.

The bolt meant for Caibry zipped away as soon as it had left its birthplace, guided by sheets and tendrils of water gathered unseen within its confines. Without a pretense of abnormality, it crashed upon the golden knight, enveloping him in a flash, and leaving his suit charred. It felt as if the bolt itself had robbed him of all his own energy, and left him kneeling upon the dirt. Nary a cough of pain could be uttered before Caibry's blade was upon him.

Grayed smoke split through golden armor, and blood spilled forth through the ethereal material where it had now created a hole. A moment passed, and the knight finally released the pain he held in the form of a bloody gurgle.

"D-damn you..." he spat. Mortally wounded, he could muster no more resistance, and his arms remained limp upon the ground, sword dropped from an open hand. "Run as you will. It makes no difference. The world will soon be ours to tread upon as we please. There will be no haven for you, even in the furthest reaches of the cold."

Faire stood herself up on failing legs, sparing no moment to cry victory or reply to the dying knight. Their chance to run on equine speed had finally been reached, but every blink of the eye was still a matter of life and death.

"Get on the horses. Go," she ordered. As the group mounted and fled, the golden knight remained, head bowed in defeat. The thin gates of the city were just beyond, and waiting further still was the allied knight and fellow Chosen.

---

After a day of periodically swift riding to the East, the group had begun to approach the beginnings of a vast meadow, which Faire had said was just before the Shallow Lake sitting at the center of Baelwill. Two towns stood directly between them and Mecrundyr, but were still a days away. For the time being, they needed to move off of the direct path to Mecrundyr's border, and find a place with cover to rest their horses, at least for a night. The knightess had, hours before stopping, already fallen asleep on her horse, tying herself to whoever had decided to take charge of her steed.

A grove of trees was spotted, and given the general flatness of the meadow, seemed to be the best place to rest. A suggestion was made for one or two to disembark from their horses and do their best to erase the horse tracks for a few yards, hopefully masking their destination somewhat. Once in the grove, they tied the horses up, and enjoyed some time of relaxation.

 

[RedArmyShogun]

Having fled from the capital, Xinyue still had found it best to not mention the whole, accidently setting their ally on fire. If anything how that golden bastard had redirected that all was fairly masterful, then to top it off somehow the horses had taken those impacts remarkably unscathed, as had she.

Reflecting back on that moment the chuck of ice had cracked and spilt in half after the initial impact, owing it to her Patron Godess, Xinyue was not about to question the chances of that, recalling her horse getting up largely unscathed, if not slightly pissed. Either way this near Death episode had made the horses willing to go even further, fearing the Men of Baewill. Then adding more to the groups luck, the Giant Golden Bastard got hit by some of his own magic it seemed, or was it a natural storm?

Wracking her head over all that had happened the Young Steppes Girl sighs, this was way more than she had bargained for.. Was it worth pursuing this even further? Then there was the question of the Golden bastard, or any trackers coming for them, either way the horses and a few of them were badly in need of rest.

"Well..that was..interesting? The bleeding has stopped, but I am a bit tired..shame I love the night more than the harsh and bright mornings.. Well if anyone wants to help me tend the horses?" Leaving the offer hanging, the beasts needed some care, they would die if kept pressed with double loads, accruing more horses would be fairly important..but that was for later, not now.

Taking care of her own first, Xinyue examines the shoes on the beasts hooves, removing small pebbles and the like while waiting to see if any sort of conversations would strike up or not, like it or not, they would be traveling together, for now.