Sel stayed behind the refugees for two reasons : to keep to himself, and to guard the rear. But mostly the former.

He had taken his brain power from the task of finding right and wrong in the imminent war, and put it to thinking about where the mage could be and how he could possibly be stopped.

He tried to remember each room he walked through in the mage's lair, trying to find a clue as to where it was. And as much as he hated it, he had also been asking Azura for guidance - though not very reverently. If she wanted him to do something, she had better tell him.

Sel looked ahead, and noticed that a small altmer girl started lagging behind the group. Sel was moving faster than the toddler, and when Sel came up to her he asked, "Where are your parents?" The girl sniffed and wiped her eyes. "I don't know."

Sel looked around for any altmer, but saw none. "Don't worry, we'll find them." he said, still looking for a sign of the girl's parents.

"What's your name?" Sel asked her.

"Triel." she answered.

Sel picked her up and said, "I'm Sel."

Sel planned to find Celia - she was better suited to taking care of young girls - but couldn't find her. So instead, he walked through the mass of refugees with a little girl on his shoulders, looking for her parents.

So far, he had only found two altmer, and neither was a parent of Triel.

YOU HEARD THE GIRL! LETS MOVE!" Falx roared above the crowd of thousands. It took several minutes just to get everyone to point in the right direction. Falx gestured for the group to follow him.

"I know the you all do not want to get involved in a war, I can't blame you. But I, being a Knight of the Empire, and a Imperial, need to do my best to defend it, and that includes everyone that is apart of it." Falx looked ahead, they were slowly leading the refugee's out of the city. "If the empire falls I'm afraid it will be a dark time for Nirn..."

Falx rode ahead of everyone, he smelt evil in the air.

Fenris rode alongside the refugees, he felt like a sheepdog. Thats exactly what this felt like. The sheepdogs herding the sheep. But where then, where the wolves that came to prey on the flock? Fenris began to really dislike the city. Too damn big. Too many angles of attack. He passed a temple, frowning when he saw the statue, and the state of the temple.

Kynareth's temple, and it was in ruins. Kynareth, Kyne, was one of the Aedra held in most reverance by Nords, esspecially Tongues. It was personal now.

Celia was a bit confused on whether she should stay in front of, behind, or beside of the refugees... If she stayed in the back, she could be attacked. If she stayed in the front, she was still vulnerable.

Twiddling with a strand of hair in a state of confusion, she continued along the left side of the refugees. She glanced from the corner of her eye and saw Serene in the distance, on the right side of the refugees. She smiled at Serene. Serene smiled and waved back before turning her attention to some young children.

Celia surveyed the group. She tried to locate her companions, but she could only see a few of them. The refugees were many, and the crowd stretched far, far behind her. How were they going to defend all these refugees?

It was nearly sundown when they finally reached the outskirts of the city, and Celia sighed in relief and began to feel at peace. However, that moment only lasted for a several seconds, before she heard loud growling sounds. "Oh, no. Not again..."

Jonacin was bored by sunset. They had been herding the refugees towards the gates all day, and it was a very tedious task trying to keep them moving. Then he heard the growling, and he suddenly decided that boring was better than trying to fight demons amidst a horde of paniced refugees. He decided to wait until the last minute to ready his weapons, in order to avoid causing the refugees to panic before the beasts even arrived

Myra rode a way behind serene, watching her intently. He saw the outskirts of the city finally approaching, a suprisingly abrupt end of of buildings. He shouted to anyone in the group who was listening.

"So is this mage guy in oblivion? If he is then we can just wait until a portal opens, cross our fingers and dive in. Maybe we'll land outside his front door!"

Myra was too busy thinking with all the thought power he had of a way of finding the mage to hear the low rumblings of a growl to the west.

(OOC: on the slow computer, again)

Celia nervously glanced at Serene, who only nodded her head. Obviously, Serene had heard it, too. Celia could see that Serene had prepared and focused her magic in order to throw out spells that would be needed.

Celia turned to her left, then to her right, trying to figure out the direction the demons or beasts were coming from. Oh, no, oh, no! she thought. They're coming from both sides. What should she say to the refugees? Should she be blunt and tell them what's going on?

Celia desperately looked for the Knight, but he was too far in the front. She glanced back and saw Jonacin. "Hey, Jona!" she rode towards him, keeping an eye in the direction she assumed where the growls were coming from. "What should I do? Should I fight? Should I tell someone?"

In the middle of her questions, a large creature came rushing at the two of them, claws extended and jaws wide open, revealing pointy, sharp teeth and a mouth filled with fresh blood.

Myra, slipped quietly away, to sneak around the back of the animals. months later after the refugees had gone he was found dead...well some of him was found anyway.(I'm done roleplaying, my character sucks)

Jonacin turned when Celia called out to him, but then whipped around when he heard the beast running towards them. In one fluid motion, he slid his sword from its scabard and lopped it's head off. The refugees began to panic, running towards the city gates in disarray. "We have no choice, we have to stay and fight!" he shouted over the noise of the paniced people, "if we try to run we'll be dragged down and killed! Let the refugees run and form a protective wall behind them, don't let anything past!"

Celia nodded in reply to Jona's shouts. "All right. If you stay and fight, I will, too!" She rode around to bash an occasional beast-demon-thing or two, and searched for the others.

In the middle of the panicking, retreating crowd, she spotted Sel with a young Altmer girl on his shoulders. Celia's breath was nearly taken away as another large beast towered over Sel and the refugees from the side. Suddenly, the beast froze as small glowing sparks covered its body. Serene was using a paralye spell onto it.

That's great, but it's going to wear off, sooner or later! Not to mention there's more coming our way...

Celia shouted as she waved, "Sel, get over here!"

Jonacin was getting irritated. He could see that many refugee bore weapons, yet still they ran, leaving him and the others to fight overwhelming against odds. He cut down another demon with a disembowelling slash, and caught a lunge from anothers claws on his shield before running it through. The mound of corpses before him was growing, but the beasts kept coming. his armour ha been reant a nd torn again, and fresh blood was pouring from new wounds. If the others didn't show up soon, this was going to be his last fight

Several of the demons were blasted into the air as Fenris road past, his shout utilmately sending them to be dashed on the city walls. He charged into the fray, shouts sending the beast flying, or crushing them into the ground. his blade whipped about, tearing into them with ease.

Shakur rode woth the refugees for a few second, before he know there was no danger for them. He pulled the reins of the horse till it whipped around. "Ride!" Shakur yelled, drawing his claymore. He saw one of the larger monsters that was making it's way toward Sel. He jumped at the monster, landding behind it. He swung his claymore, cutting of three of it's six legs. "These monsters are definately some sort of new daedric foot soldier". Shakur didn't remount his horse, but told it to run and hide. "Sel, get that Child out of here! We'll flank the back of the stragglers chasing you!". Shakur ran towards another beast until it opened it's jaws opened, so he shot a fire ball into it.

All was calm in the front gaurd, the sun was slowly setting and it was nice and cool, Falx could almost fall asleep...

"By the Nine! Look the beasts have returned!!" A peasent shouted.

Falx turned around, there were hundreds of them, they looked almost as bears and dogs, but evil.

"Keep refugees moving forward!! I'm going to help the center guard!"

Off falx dashed, it would be at least 30 seconds before he'd reach the foul creatures. He ready his broadsword... Contact!

He sliced at the neck of one of the beasts, then two and three, there were to many!

He saw Jonacin was in trouble, already 6 of the beasts had surrounded him, and none of the peasents would help him!

"Ride Akatosh, lets save our friends!" Falx whispered to his horse. Falx forced his horse to leap in the air then come down and crush beast standing behind Jonacin. Jumping off his horse he went back to back with Jonacin.

"Stealing all the fun are we?" Falx grinned

Waiting for dantrag.

Sel nodded his thanks to Serene for the paralyzation. He put the little girl down beside him and drew his sword.

"Stay close to me Triel." Sel ordered. He did not go out of his way to attack any demons - not with a responsibility like Triel. He heard Celia's shout, but could do nothing with demons crossing his path. He had to constantly remind himself not to rush blindly into the fight. As soon as he saw an opening, he sheathed his sword and scooped up Triel, running towards Serene and Celia.

As he was running, he saw an altmer couple overcome by a mass of demons.

Sel covered Triel's eyes so she would not see. He prayed that those people were not Triel's parents.

Jonacin grined when Falx leapt into the fray beside him. "It's about time you showed up, i thought i'd have to deal with these pests all by myself" he said conversationaly as he gutted another of the beasts, and then decapitated one that lunged in from his left, "but i think i'm in need of some healing, a few of the buggers have managed to scratch me". He groaned and clutched at his side, where there was a particularly vicious rent in the armour with blood pouring copiously from it. "Celia!!!!! I need some healing here, FAST!!!!" he yelled, slicing the arm off another beast before stumbling and falling to one knee, growing weak from bloodloss. He continued to fight, but knew that the end was near if he didn't get healing soon

OOC: ok I gotta go now, one of you can play for me, but no major decisions like having me eaten by plants.

"Hang in there Jonacin!" Falx said has he hack off one of the beasts legs, "I'm sure she'll be here shortly.." They both were getting over run, not even the great Tiber Septim could stop these hordes.

A horn bellowed to the distance.

"That sounds like the horn we use for the Legions!" Falx watched as many imperial Knights thudded over the hills, "Thank the 9, the Dragon Riders are here!"

Fenris was in the thick of the creatures, riding about on his horse. The things were smart, they stayed out of the radius his shouts covered. He continued fighting, not even noticing the aid coming. "Ya want Nord for dinner? Come get it!" he yelled.

Several more daedric beasts faded from this realm as their corpses hit various objects with bonecrushing impact.

When he got to Celia, Sel gently handed Triel to her open arms.

"Take good care of her." He said just before drawing his sword and dagger and jumping onto the nearest demon's back.

He stabbed the daedra through the back of the neck and jumped off before its body disentegrated back into Oblivion. He wiped the blood that had splattered on his face off, and charged into the next demon that showed its face.

Konrad looked around him, wondering if the other people were goin to do something. Upon confirming nothing was happening he unsheathed his sword and charged out of the group of refugees, his small army behind them.

Coming face to face with a beast he rolled beneath its scattered legs and sliced as he rolled, choping it in half. As he got up from the roll he heard two of his other group killing another and saw another member charging for a beast single handed.

"No Caius! You're not strong enough!" he cried, but slowly watched him get devoured by the thing. He released a shout of rage and charged at another beast, hacking at it until it moved no longer. Behind him he could hear the shouting of orders from his second in command, followed by a gurgle. He quickly turned round and was splattered wth blood from his luieftenant, his neck sliced open.

Falling to hisi knees Konrad prayed to the nine divines that no more of his men would be killed. As he was doing this the two remaining soldiers were surrounded, one of them being killed and one being snatched up by an imperial knight. "YES!" he yelled, grasping his sword and wrenching it from the ground, then swining round an dcharging at the beasts.

Shakur rushed to Jonacin's aid as fast as he could, casting spells on the way. Shakur ran at the beasts and head butted one to get their attention. He had them follow him to the hoarde of rushing imperials.

Konrad was locked in combat with one the beasts, but had respite as it sniffed the air and ran away, charging towards Jonacin with the rest of them. He sliced one of the foul beast's legs away from under it as it ran towards the tasty blood. He sprinted after the beasts, beating a few of them in speed and running them into the ground with his blade.

He bent down while running and grasped his dagger, running with increased fury. He span as one jumped for him, getting sliced across the chest but digging out its heart at the same time.

He stumbled along now, tiring.

Celia sighed in relief as reinforcements came in, but soon became miffed when Sel handed her a small young girl into her arms. Greeeat, as if being a healer wasn't enough. Now, I'm a nurse, as well. She glanced down at the girl. "All right, be a brave girl, now. I can't concentrate if you cry, m'kay?" She bashed the nearest demon with her hammer. "See? I'll take care of you..."

Celia's ears picked up the shouting of Jonacin. "Oh, dear, Jona!" She forced her horse to run fast, despite the demons lunging from different directions. Celia told the girl, "Hold on tight, and don't cry, m'kay?"

The little girl nodded nervously as demons approached them from behind. Luckily, Serene blasted them with a few fireballs. Thank goodness for magic, thought Celia as she rode towards where Jona was kneeling.

"Jona, Jona, you okay? Oh, you're bleeding badly!" She dismounted from the horse, and told the girl, "Now, be brave, and don't cry!"

Celia turned to Jona, and concentrated on healing him as fast as she could. Fortunately, Falx and Shakur were there to help defend against incoming demons.

"Come on, come on, come on." Celia was starting to get impatient. She used her willpower to completely heal the spot, which became a small scar instead. But Jona should live.

Celia felt a huge headache coming on, especially with the small girl whimpering. "It's okay, little girl. It's okay. Shh, shh, shh."

Celia smiled at Jona, despite her headache. "Hey, I told you not to die on me!"

posting

Shakur ran with the front lines of the imperials. Shakur's adrenaline rush ran off. He finally understood what he was doing, rushing into a mass of the monsters. But was he afraid? No. There was no time to be afraid. Arrows were flung at the monsters and shakur did his best shooting fire balls to knock them down.

OOC: Dantrag, if your waiting for fuzzy to post, he left so post away.

Sel was surrounded, but he didn't care. He slashed to the left, releiving a demon of its head. He quickly charged through the hole he made on the cricle just before he stabbed another in the back. His sword pierced the demon's armor, but got stuck. Sel cursed his luck. He let go of his sword, and picked up a nearby daedric longsword. Sel didn't like the feel of the heavy longsword, but it was better than fighting with only a dagger.

Sel noticed a young imperial boy fighting the demons - and doing quite well. He ran towards the boy, slashing demons all along the way. there were four demons crowding him, and Sel took the opportunity to insert his sword into the closest demon's back.

Sel put his back to the boy's. "I got your back and your left. You get your front and your right."

Konrad wiped the sweat off his brow, seeing the dunmer run up and help.

"Thank you sir." He slashed ahead of him, but the beast jumped to his right hand side. He stabbed out with his left hand, turning 90 degrees to the right. He sheathed his dagger and gripped the sword hilt with his other hand. He swung out, slicing through the necks of 2 of the beasts. His arms were screaming at him to stop with pain, but he put his mind to the task of defeating the next monster.

This one was big, with a baker's dozen of heads, and twice as many legs. It lunged out with its clawed limb, and smashed him to the ground. Spitting blood from his mouth Konrad picked himself up, and jumped to the floor again, sliding between two of the things legs. He faced upwards and stabbed his sword through the beast's weak stomach, the point of the blade emerging from the top of the central skull with an escort of a blood shower.

The dagger followed suite, and Konrad crawled out of the way of the animal quickly before it bellowed a death cry and slumped to the floor. Konrad ran up to it again and withdrew his instruments, then turning back to the dunmer.

Sel faked right with his longsword, the demon went for it. Sel promptly threw his dagger into its face. The demon fell to the ground, and Sel pulled free his dagger and went for the next daedra. After a few more kills, Sel grew tired of the game.

He turned to the young imperial. "Run towards that altmer over there!" he yelled. "It would be easier if we were all together fighting than all spread out like this."

He helped the imperial kill the demon he was fighting before finally running off towards Celia.

Konrad followed in the direction of the dunmer warrior, now lagging behind. He tried to actually see the altmer but couldn't, there was too much happening and too much gore to see anything clearly.

He ran to a horse that one of the knights had been killed off. Slipping on some blood he fell face forwards, grasping onto one of the harness straps and being dragged alongside the dunmer by the panicking horse.

If there weren't a thousand demons murdering people around him, Sel might have laughed. Instead, He jumped up onto the horse and pulled the imperial up behind him.

Having never ridden a horse before he came to Cyrodiil, he wasn't a very experienced rider. And, he had never ridden a crazed horse before. There wasn't much he could do besides hold on. When they got close to Celia, Sel pulled on the reins, but the spooked horse did more than stop. He threw Sel and the imperial off of his back before running away.

"That's one way to do it." Sel said, rubbing his head.

Konrad wiped the mud from around his eyes and mouth, looking around at the carnage. He stood up again as quickly as possible, unsheathing his sword. The knights' numbers were now slowly depleting, but they had killed many. Konrad's last soldier had also been killed, but he had no time to think about that. He pulled the dunmer to his feet, and lashed out at another beast witjh his knife, slicing of its head.

He ran to the side of the altmer and patient, and stood beside them, sword dancing between the enemy lines.

"Hmm, it seems the monster are escaping by themselves now, how curious." The dark figure had been sitting in silince while watching his new prey through an enchanted mirror. As he sat in his dark throne, watching with acute intrest, an idea formed. "What if," He said to himself, a slight smile forming on his lips. "I were to make an appearance? I could then hqve time to subdue my pathetic enemies and tranform them into my own magika....Perhaps i will."

Uttering those final words, Arcyatk drew himself up out of his black seat and turned to leave his castle. He headed for his room of enchanted mirrors and paused, deciding on the best way to interput the fighting,

It was dark, the fighting lasted from sundown to moon up. Many beasts were still lurching on. Falx walked up to the boy,

"Thats some fine swordsmanship you posesse boy, I'm sorry about your friends.."

Falx looked up into the dark blue sky, nothing but death these last few days. It seemed as though the gods were leaving people alone to their own matters. Falx looked at Sel,

"Do we have any word on the status of the refugees? From the looks of it 100's died here, and thats not counting those that will die of disease and such." agrunt sounded from Falx, "Where is the emperor now? I'm going to go speak with commander Varros, the Knight in charge of those Reinforcements we just recieved." Falx walked off to go find him..

"Hail Sir Varro!" Falx gave a slight bow, only to show respect, "What word is there, and how have you found us?"

"It will sadden you if I were to tell you, but a member from Sir Darius' party manage to escape the chaos... Darius is dead, along with the Knights under his command. No one is among your ranks either Albarnias?"

"No sir.. Those damn beasts changed my men, they turned them into creatures more foul than any other.." Falx was burning with anger, "I request permision to stay with these adventurer's, we have learned off the source of these, problems. It seems as though there is a mage of the sort, that he has the ability to defy Arkays laws and soul trap people!"

"Yes, it would seem that, that takes priority, find this menace and report back to me. We will take control of these refugee's and lead them to safety, you and your freinds deeds are wonderous, I wihs there were mor epeople like you in this world.. Dimissed."

Falx ran back to Sel and the others, "Well, the refugee's aren't our problem anymore, I managed to get Commander Varro to take control of them, now we can focus on the mage..."

Konrad nodded thanks from the Imperial knight, and went to find his friends' dead bodies. He slowly gathered them together in the middle of the battlefield and buried them side by side, stabbing their swords in the ground over their seperate bodies.

Returning to the group he saw they were to leave the refugees. He had no-one in the rabble of sheep to go to, so picked up his courage. "I...would like to join you on your quest to find this mage you speak of."

His face was hard and cold, the shock of his friends' deaths and his first real battle toughening him up more than his training ever did.

Sel nodded to the imperial. "You can travel with us on one condition - you have to tell us your name."

Falx looked a little shocked (and proud on the inside) that one so young would want to fight, "Sel, err, I'm gonna let you take care of this one.."

Konrad stared at the dunmer, "It's Konrad sir, but I would also like to learn the names of al of you." He gestured towards the group, his hand dripping blood.

Sel took it upon himself to introduce everyone.

"I'm Sel, this is Falx, Serene, Celia, Triel, where the hell is Arco?, Jonacin, Fenris, and Shakur." he said pointing to each one.

OOC: I didn't forget anyone, did i?

Konrad bowed to them each in turn. "This is quite a travelling party," He said, noticing nearly all races bar beasts were there.

[quote]"Hmm, it seems the monster are escaping by themselves now, how curious." The dark figure had been sitting in silince while watching his new prey through an enchanted mirror. As he sat in his dark throne, watching with acute intrest, an idea formed. "What if," He said to himself, a slight smile forming on his lips. "I were to make an appearance? I could then hqve time to subdue my pathetic enemies and tranform them into my own magika....Perhaps i will."

Uttering those final words, Arcyatk drew himself up out of his black seat and turned to leave his castle. He headed for his room of enchanted mirrors and paused, deciding on the best way to interput the fighting,[/quote]

Arcyatk stood, in a trance for hours, deep in thought and watching the fight come to a slow crawl with most of the creature destroyed. With a snap like lightning, he shook himself out of his trance. Noticing that night had fallen while he stood dormint, the sorrcerer magically changed his clothes and his overall appearance with a mere wave of his darkened hand. He sighed. "It seems while in my thinking much time has pasted, perhaps I should try a different method.

The mage stepped forward, into one of his shimmering mirrors. Flying through time in the spell of the enchanted glass, Arcayatk took the few seconds to go over his plan. Although he was immensly powerful and had escaped Oblivion, he was still mortal, though, not by much. If his plan backfired then the altmer would need a contingency plan. I will appear in full disguse at the camp and pretend to have come back from fighting. With this my magic, no one should be able to recognise me. He smiled slightly at this thought. After the camp is quiet and sleeping, I shall unleash a horde of my...favortite...creations and take out the guards and refuges. Arcyatk noticed that the trip was alomst over. Then I will find and kill the emporer, naming myself ruler of the entire country. The mage smiled deeply at his plan and stepped out of the closing portal. His magic had brought his just outside the camp and in a cluster of trees. Using his magic once again, Arcyatk inflicked several deep wounds upon himself to match his story. Prepared, he staggered out into the opne, calling for help before "fainting" and falling to the ground.

Sel pointed to the fallen altmer.

"Celia, look!" he said. He took Triel from her and said. "We might want to do something." He grabbed Celia's hand and pulled her towards the injured altmer.

(OOC: sorry for these long posts! :embarrassed2: )

Celia nodded her head, a bit tired, but understood the urgent situation. "All right, all right, Sel! I got it, I got it!" She still had a big headache, but she tried to focus all of her healing powers onto the injured Altmer.

Her hands hovered over the Altmer, helping his deep wounds heal over time. However, she had a sense that Altmer had great power. Perhaps he was a mage? Was he one of the refugees? If he was a mage, he would be of great assistance to the refugees.

When the healing was finally done, Celia slowly stood up, her muscles sore after bashing demons and healing the wounded. She leaned over the Altmer. "You can get up now, mister Altmer sir. Though you might feel a bit numb..."

She walked towards Sel and the others, rubbing her tired shoulders. "Well, should we rest a bit? Or should we continue on?" She smiled at the newcomer (Konrad). "Hello, there."

Konrad woke up from his daydream. "Uh, hello..." He wasn't very fond of magic, and had always shied away from it.

Arcyatk slowly opened his eyes. He lokked aroung wearly before trying in vain to get up. He appeared exasuted. "Uhh." He looked toward the nearest warrior he could see, Sel. "Uhh...Here..." The fake soldier lifted his habnd a few inches in an atempt to motino for Sel to come closer.

Fenris raised a eyebrow at the teenage Imperial. "Fighting in the thick of them things laddie? Heh, ya look like a Imperial, but thats a rather Nordic trait boy," he said with a grin. He looked at the carnage. "Right pathetic beasts, little good for speed and shock value," he said.

"Only good for taking on peasant masses. Nothing against true warriors."

Konrad grinned at the big Nord. He took of his leather jerking and unbutton his shirt, wrapping bandages around his chest whre 3 claw marks had cut through the skin. Inside he hoped that the scars would stay. "Maybe we should, like, help the Altmer?"

(OOC: sorry, slow computer)

Celia tiredly raised an eyebrow at the Nord's speech, not sure whether to be annoyed or offended. "And healers with hammers as well as mages go under the true warriors category, I hope?" She narrowed her eyes. "And I wouldn't exactly call those creatures pathetic, just a bit difficult to kill... at least for us unTongue peoples..."

At Konrad's comment, Celia shrugged. "The Altmer was asking for Sel's help, kid."

She pushed Sel roughly towards the Altmer. "So, go help him."

Celia frowned and rubbed her forehead. She still had that throbbing headache. She glanced down at the small Altmer girl who was still with her. "Now, what am I going to do with you?"

Konrad leaned back, whispering to Fenris. "She's a bit grumpy, isn't she? Is she always like this?"