In the Valley of a Thousand Footprints

[x] A Battle of New Beginnings

Efa had never been in an all out battle. Hell, up until that point she had only fought against enemies on two separate occasions. So when the airborne assailants fell to earth and staggered up, Efa blanked out for a second. 

When it came to stressful situations, it was characteristic of her to slow everything down and plan things out. However, in recent memory all she had done was improvise. This battle seemed to be a testament to her improvisation. 

I've gotta concentrate. Keep calm, like Clytyn said and pick them off one by one... okay Efa lets plan! There's thirteen of them. I'll take five and Clytyn can handle the rest, Ellian can shore us up. He has the dagger. Alright that should - 

Before she could finish her thought, Clytyn dashed forward, startling her. Two of them closed in on him, forcing Ellian and Efa to back up. Ellian sidestepped and went to deal with another who was trying to flank Clytyn, while Efa whipped her head around to see four others rushing towards her. 

You know what...? fuck it... fuck planning, let's just try not to die.

She let loose another silent llosgi in the oncoming enemies general direction. They were prepared this time. Three out of the four conjured shields of lledrith, while the fourth ran forward, dodging the ball of flame and jumping towards Efa. She took a few steps back, sidestepped, and cast a muttered Gwlychu at the place were the fourth landed from his jump. The splash of water caused him to slip and fall to the ground on the wet grass. Efa picked up speed as she ran, throwing a silent llosgi nonchalantly at the downed man's face, which erupted into screams as Efa turned her head away from the murder. One down.

She focused on the other three who had flanked her, only to see that one of them had been killed while she had been dealing with his friend, and one was preoccupied with Ellian, who was just managing to hold his own. Around him were two other bodies, twitching. The poison must be working thought Efa. It was disorienting with all grunts, screams and incantations being shouted. Efa went to aid Ellian, but Clytyn simply kicked Ellian's attacker in the balls as he was passing their scuffle, allowing Ellian to finish the man off with a quick nick to the exposed arm. He folded within a heartbeat, prompting Ellian to run to Efa. He stooped to pick something up from another one of the twitching bodies. A short sword! Why do these Magi have short swords as well!? 

Ellian tossed Efa her dagger back as he switched his newly acquired short sword to his dominant hand. Just in time too, as she heard a mutter and out of her periphery she noticed a yellow glow. Acting on instinct, she dodged towards the glow, rolling as she went low to the ground and jabbing the man in the leg with her dagger. She hadn't fully processed how close she was to death as the air just above her head rippled and she felt a searing hot feeling of energy pass over her, followed by a man's body hitting the ground. Two down.

From her right came the sound of Ellian's shout, whipping around she caught sight of the boy being thrown backwards by some spell. He hit the ground but rolled before much damage could be done and was back on his feet. Him getting blasted back reminded Efa of the incantation Ellian's mother had used back in Mynwent to send her flying, she thanked the Olde Gods that Clytyn had used that same spell when they had tried interrogating him.

Efa ran up past Ellian towards the commotion from where he got thrown, where Clytyn was single-handedly keeping the remaining five at bay, furiously muttering five incantations at once and firing them off. At some point Clytyn must have killed another three. She caught Clytyn's eye and he very nicely jumped back and away from the group. It was into this group that Efa wordlessly casted chwyth i ffwrdd. She had closed the distance before casting it and it did its job, sending some of the men flying back and a few to topple onto their asses. Clytyn seized the opportunity and went to one knee, muttering another incantation, this time causing a flaming sword to form in his hand. 

Efa watched in awe as he dodged here and there in-between the remaining attackers, sometimes slicing necks and sometimes getting blocked, eventually two attackers remained. They retreated a little and stared at Clytyn in fear. Clytyn quickly flung a spell that formed a cloud in front of their faces. The two attackers stood dazed for a moment. Clytyn bolted forward, followed closely by Efa. They slowed down a few steps before the attackers and simultaneously grabbed their foreheads and whispered ennyn in unison. 

The attackers heads went up in flame. They stood still for two seconds before the dazing cloud thing dissipated and they became aware of their heads being on fire. The last thing they saw was red hot flames, burning their eyes and crawling into their throats. 

Efa and Clytyn watched as the two of them slowly crumpled to the ground. Efa's face betrayed her disgust and fear at her feat of death, while Clytyn's remained impassive and emotionless, although his left eye did twitch.

Ellian slowly limped towards them, clutching his right arm, the short sword he had stolen was in his belt. He fell in line in-between Efa and Clytyn saying, "So... what now?" 

"We run away..." he said, still impassive, "Like mentioned earlier, I only joined these bastards cause my mother made me. Something about restoring lost honor and pleasing my father's ancestry or something, I don't know, don't care either. Since I'm basically their enemy at this point." He finished with a sigh. 

"We were on our way to Targarth," Efa said in a small voice, still staring wide-eyed at the corpses that had finally stopped burning. 

"Ah. Well. I'm also heading to Targarth so." 

"Wait why?" asked Ellian, turning to stare up at him.

"I'm going in search of love -or well rather, I'm going there to find my old love." He scratched the back of his neck and looked around for his horse. "To be completely honest I survived all these years with those arseholes cause of my memories of this one girl. And damnit do I love that woman... Anyway I got a little carried -" he cleared his throat "-regardless, if you're going to Targarth, allow me to accompany you. It'll be nice to have travelling partners."

"How does it feel that your travelling partners are the one's you were sent to kill?" Efa asked, shifting her eyes away from the various corpses.

"Quite refreshing actually. It's a -um... new experience," he said, grinning, revealing clean white teeth that almost reflected the sun. 

"Hmm..." 

"Are you suspicious of me little girl?" he said, bending his neck to look Efa in the eyes.

"No," she replied loftily, "I'm just thinking of the best way to kill you in your sleep."

They whistled for their horses. Raven came racing alongside Clytyn's mare. They seemed to have become friends during the chaos. They stood nearby and nuzzled each other. Clytyn looked at his mare with his hands on his hips and a smile on his face.

"before we move on," he said, "what route were you planning to take to Targarth? it is ninety six leagues away. A shortcut on a ship might speed things up." He suggested, quickly riffling through the pockets of a random corpse in an attempt to find usable items. 

"We intended to take this path up through the Grieving Basin and then find a town and move on from there. We were planning to take it safe and slow."

"very well. We'll ride North as the crow flies, along the dirt road. From my knowledge there should be a few larger towns and villages once we exit the Basin..." Clytyn pondered aloud.

"What do you think Ellian?" Efa asked.

"I don't mind either way, so long as we get to Targarth in one piece I'll be happy."

"Then it's decided. Let us travel the road long kept." 

Efa and Ellian mounted Raven, while Clytyn mounted his horse, who's name was Boudareece or Bou. The horses were agitated by all the bodies lying around, wanting to get away soon, and the riders complied, kicking their flanks and urging them forward, out of the meadow and onto the road. 

The midday sun was beaming, sunlight kissing their backs. It was nice and cold too, a chilly feeling, one which sent a chill down the trio's spines. The same chill they felt after they had covered a few hundred yards at a gallop... the chill of a new beginning.