Falius:

"Namiras breasts! "Falius cursed.
He had been silently trying to pick the lock of his cell with a small bone when the door to the cells was kicked in. The warrior then attacked the prison guards.

"so is this one man the cause of all the noise outside?" he thought.
"no way could one man kill all those guards on his own,not even the champion of cyrodiil could."

Falius then spotted the vampire entering the room.
"You better hurry up with those grunts!" Falius shouted "Gotta vampire behind you!"

Aerona did as Swift said, and headed in the direction of the cells. She stayed crouched, and walked silently, though she doubted that anyone could hear her footsteps over the sound of shouts and ringing steel. It was simple enough to find the wood elf's cell, as he shouted a warning to Aren. The mention of a vampire made a shiver creep up her spine, but she made herself look anyway.

She saw him enter, adorned with sturdy ebony armor and carrying a sword as black as night. She knew enough about vampires to bring a fire spell to her mind, but her destruction skill was nothing extraordinary.

I can only hope it will be enough if something goes wrong...

"Shh," Aerona whispered to Falius, hoping that he could see her well enough to understand that she was camouflaged, and would like to stay that way, "We're here to get you out, just sit tight and don't draw too much attention to us."

It was too dimly lit in the fort to tell where Swift was. She hoped he would come quickly with the key.

OOC: Took some liberty with Aren. Got to explain why the fight is taking long enough for the jailbreak after all.

Still sticking to the shadows, Swift-like-Fish made his way to the opposite end of the room. Experience had taught him that when looking for something that moves fast and at waist-height or higher, in this case the sword of a fighting Dunmer, slow or immobile objects tended to be ignored. So he forced himself to be slow and low, grateful for the dim light that only enhanced the effect.

Fortunately for him, the three against one situation had forced the battle into a stalemate. If Aren committed himself to taking down one of his opponents with a decisive blow, he would leave himself open for the other two. If his opponents attacked together, they would only be in each other's way and attacking one at a time would only let them be slaughtered. So trivial blows were exchanged, not to end the fight, but to keep each other at their toes.

He reached the key without incident, slipped it off its hook and crouched down again to avoid being spotted. The Argonian weighed the key in his hands. He had no plans of making his way around the room again just to reach Aerona. It would take too long and any movement he made put him at risk of being discovered. Besides, if he'd planned to open the cells himself, he wouldn't have sent the woman there. No, from the onset his plan had been to toss the key over but even with the sounds of battle, he was wary of the sound the key would make upon striking the floor.

"Gotta vampire behind you!" The voice suddenly rang out above the clamor of steel. Swift looked at the entrance and indeed, the vampire was there. He had no more time to worry about making noise. Aren was in no position to guard his back as well as his front. So the fisherman tossed the key in the direction of the voice, gambling that either Aerona would be there as well, or that it would land close enough for the prisoner to take it and free himself.

"And now, to help my other comrade, this one shall...must hunt the humans." Swift-like-Fish thought and subconsciously bared his teeth. He took the only weapon within reach and leapt towards the back of one of Aren's foes, pressing the burning end of the torch firmly against the man's shirt. The flames greedily began to devour the fabric and their owner screamed as he dropped his sword. His attention had fled from the Dunmer before him and now solely rested on his flesh being burned.
"Death by fire, horrible...but necessary." The Argonian recoiled in horror at his own deed while swinging the torch wildly, hoping to catch anyone else or at least keep their swords away.

Falius heard a faint voice over the noise of the dunmer and guards.

"shh," it said, "were here to get you out, just sit tight and dont draw too much attention to us."

Falius nodded in the direction of the voice he renembered.
"hey, I know that voice, you were at the palace!"

before he got a reply, a metallic thunk came from outside the cell, and an argonian Falius recognised appeared, who followed the dunmers lead.

"I came for action, and the bloody fisherman is getting more than me!" Falius thought.

Aerona was not prepared to catch the keys, and they fell to the stone floor with a metallic clank. She searched frantically for a moment, skimming her hands on the surface of the ground to find them in the darkness. She finally felt them, and fumbled with them for a moment before finally finding the one that unlocked Falius' cell.

"Are you hurt?" she asked the wood elf as she opened the cell door.

Just as the words escaped her mouth, she felt a hand grip her shoulder painfully. In her fright, she lost concentration, and both her and Swift were now just as visible as anyone else.

A darkly-clad aspirant nord with crooked teeth grinned at her, "Trying to hide are you, elf?"

Aerona tried to squirm away, but the nord only tightened his grip.

"Well, to be honest, I-" Falius started to say, but before he could finish, a guard had found his rescuer.

"Tell me, who used to live in this cell?"Falius asked the Nord.
"Huh! What kind of plan are you thinking?!"He scoffed.
"Well, if he was a pain in the neck to guard" Falius slyly said, picking a bone he had been whittling "He can't be much worse than THIS!"

He leapt at the Guard at the speed of a black horse, and plunged the bone into the Nords beefy throat. As he slowly suffocated and struggled to maintain balance, The Nord had swung his great black hammer into Falius's Chest, Knocking into the far wall.

He landed dazed, with a feeling of great pain in his chest. "Divines, this feels worse than that bottle of daedric whisky I drank."

Falius's vision was blurring, but he was able to make out the dunmer warrior and argonian struggling beneath the assault the vampire was giving them. Taking a secreted vial of poison from a slot in his armour, he laced one of the arrows that lay around him. The poison was concentrated daedric blood, poisonous to the touch, causing instant death.

Picking up a bow that had been abandonned, he aimed as best he could with a destroyed chest, and let loose the arrow.
________________________________________________________________________________

Mardus

"Ha! you underestimated the power of an elder vampire!" Mardus taunted his two opponents "six hundred years of immortality is more than enough time to learn how to kill a couple of adventurers!" The fight had lasted a long time now, and he could see the two mortals were now wearing out, making mistakes that were almost fatal, and striking weakly. It wouldn't be long now.

Suddenly, a strange feeling took over The vampire. He looked down, and saw an arrow protruding from his gut. Mardus chuckled and prepared to start his assault again, but his muscles suddenly clenched, and wouldnt move right. "What trickery is this!" He said, fear apparent in his voice.

Aerona was freed from the nord's deathly grip, thanks to Falius, but she found herself on hands and knees gasping desperately for air. She watched in horror as the nord made one final hammer swing before collapsing in death. It sent Falius flyng over her and into the wall behind them.

She willed herself to get back on her feet, still trying to catch her breath. She made her way towards Falius; even though he was not dead, she could tell by the way he moved that he was severely injured. She watched him let an arrow fly, but didn't bother to look back to see if it hit the target. She was a healer first and foremost, not a fighter.

"Don't move," she instructed. Falius' chest was crushed; she could tell by his labored breaths. It was just difficult to tell how bad it really was. She could barely see in the dark dungeon, and Falius wore thick leather armor that she would need time to remove. The injury was beyond using simple healing spells. She went to work doing what she could to preserve his life until she could operate under better conditions.

She fortified his endurance, so that he could better fight the injury, and used a moderate frost spell on his chest both to numb the pain and to slow any internal bleeding the impact of the hammer may have caused. It was all she could do to help him at the moment, so she turned her attention to the fight. She did not involve herself directly, but gave herself the duty of protecting Falius in his vulnerable state.

Aren had been fighting his four opponents for some time, doing a simple slash and block routine, designed to do nothing more than keep the enemy busy from getting his allies. Naturally this also meant that he could not launch any proper strikes for fear of getting struck himself.

The status quo changed swiftly as a vampire came in from behind him, yet to Aren's great fortune he seemed more interested with boasting and posturing than to kill the only real warrior in the room. By now their last ally had been freed only to get struck by a hammer wielding nord. Seeing Aerona do her best to heal him he started to look for a way to end the fight.

The oppertunity arrived in the form of Swift who lit one of his opponents on fire. Before his remaining enemies could gut Swift he went into action. In one seamless motion he deflected an incoming strike and followed up with a quick jab of his gauntleted hand that chrushed the juggular of his enemy. Diving under another strike he came up standing beside Swift and a blindingly fast slash of his sword opened up a pair of bloody grins on the throats of his enemies.

Looking at the vampire who was looking around dazed he activated the enchantment on his sword. Instantly his sword was wreathed in flames and he stepped towards the abomination. "Learn my face beast, it will be the last thing you see before your soul is ripped to shreds in the depths of Oblivion" Aren growled at the vampire before launching his attack.

Instead of doing it with caution, trying to gauge his opponents skill he laid into the vampire with all he had. Using every century of his skill, speed and strenght Aren launched a never ending series of strikes from all angles with such speed that the others were struck with inaction. After a minute he gave a mental yell of triumph as he managed to unarm the vampire and before anyone could take stock of what happened he swung his sword against the neck of the abomination.

The look of panic on the face of the vampire was one of the most satisfying sights Aren had seen for some years and he grinned with triumph as the now headless vampire turned into dust. Turning back to Aerona he snapped out his orders. "Do what you can for him end get out the way you came from, I'll divert the enemy and follow later...if I haven't returned by an hour I'll be dead, so good luck and it has been an honour to meet you", then he tightened the grip on his sword and fled the room to go towards the upper levels of the fort where he would see if he could find the one person who could best him in combat.

Before Aerona could argue, Aren had already fled. She sighed heavily.

And just how am I going to get him down a well and through flooded tunnels?

Aren's strength and fighting skill would have helped carry Falius, not to mention protect them should they encounter trouble on the way out... She made herself stop thinking about what-ifs and focus on the task at hand.

"Hang on, Falius, we're going to try to move you in a minute. Tell me if it starts to hurt too badly, and for the love of the Nine, do not fall asleep."

"Swift, can you help me carry him? We'll have to be very careful with the upper body, so I'll take that. You grab his legs."

OOC: if you need his stuff grabbed, maybe swift could do it?

Swif-like-Fish was in shock, sitting on the Floor where he had fallen after tripping over his own feet. If anyone had desired to harm him, now would have been the time, time Aren did not allow as he swiftly took advantage of the opening the Argonian had provided. Within moments only the vampire was left and he too fell to the Dunmer’s blade.

Aren vanished right away afterwards, leaving Falius, Aerona and Swift in the room with the dead. With Aerona calling for him, the fisherman slowly returned to his senses.
“Yes.” He only hissed as, still trembling, he knelt down beside the Bosmer to take his legs. The task helped clear his mind of what had happened and he refound his tongue.
“How to get him out, ideas? This one could drag him out through the well and back to the surface in under a minute. But harmed as he is, this one believed his wounds would only become worse.”

OOC: If you want to get Falius’ stuff gathered, its probably best if Falius says so. Swift wouldn’t think about it himself. He'd be more worried about getting Falius out.

"I don't think we have any other choice, Swift," Aerona replied, "There'll be trouble if we try the door, and Aren is our diversion. We have to take the tunnel."

She didn't want to say anything about it, but she was fading. Besides the mental strain of repressing panic and acting on pure adrenalin the past few hours, Aerona was feeling the indescribable drain associated with over-exhausting her magickal abilities. Between the fight outside, and the subsequent rescue mission, she hadn't given much thought to how many spells she'd been casting. If they met trouble, she'd be no help.

I don't want to scare Swift with my problem...we'll just have to be quick and silent.

She carefully lifted Falius with one hand supporting his back, keeping it as straight as possible. They began shuffling back the way they came. Aerona just hoped that they'd survive long enough to reach her supplies. Her potions could do for Falius what her spells could not.

OOC: perhaps aren could find falius' things?

After firing the arrow, Falius had blacked out. He was still concious, but everything was a blur. He remembered his chest becoming cold and not as painful, and him being lifter up, but he couldn't see or hear anything.

He tried saying a few words but they only came out as wheezes. Finally, he said something coherent. "A-A chest, vampires room," Falius wheezed out. a fit of coughing overtook him and he began to feel the pull of the black void drawing him in. But he wouldn't go yet.

The young healer wasn't sure how wise it would be to fetch Falius' belongings from the vampire's room, but then again, she wasn't sure of much at all anymore. Perhaps the wood elf owned some enchanted item that would get them out of this mess.

She set the bosmer down as gently as she could.

"I'll fetch his things, Swift. If I'm not back soon..." she decided to let that statement drop. There was no time for a backup plan. Her mind was too tired to think of one anyway. She wasn't even sure if she would be able to cast water-breathing when the time came.

Aerona shuffled away, into the blackness of the old fort. She found the room easily; the coffin on the floor gave it away. It was dark, so it took her a few moments to find what she was looking for. A chest in the corner. It wasn't locked, and the items inside looked as if they belonged to a hunter. There was a bow, a knife, a very basic mortar and pestle, and a few poisons. She took it all and found her companions again.

"I've got it," she said, somewhat disappointed that there was no powerful magickal device. Now they had a person and a bunch of stuff to carry. With a sigh she slung the bow over her shoulder, stuffed the mortar and pestle inside Falius' armor, threw the poisons to the floor (she figured she had enough alchemical supplies at the wagon to replace them), and presented the knife to Swift.

"I think we can go now," she said, struggling to keep her eyes focused as she lifted Falius once more.

"Take a sip from the flask, and give it to me." Falius wheezed out."

"You'll need it". The mead Falius had brewed from his Mothers recipie would give an instant energy boost and helped with wounds, meaning it could well save their lives when it came to leaving.

At Falius' behest, Aerona left to fetch the Bosmer's belongings. It wasn't long till her return but to Swift-like-Fish's feelings it was far too long. He had been tempted to go after her, but he couldn't leave Falius and in his current state, carrying the young man by himself would only serve to worsen his injuries.

Upon her return, Aerona handed over a knife to Swift who tucked it behind one of the loops in his harness after which they picked up Falius once more. By now, it had become obvious that the healer was at her limit. She was barely able to carry Falius and would be no good in a fight, nor would she have the strength to run. Even the swim back through the tunnel could very well be too much for her.
"When at the well, rest in the shadows. This one will bring our friend to the shore, then come back to get you."

Aerona took a sip of Falius' mead and gave it back to him. She and Swift carried the wood elf back through the corridors of the fort. By the time they got to the well, whatever effect the mead had was gone. As much as she didn't like it, she was going to have to take Swift's advice and rest while he took Falius to shore.

She helped Swift lower Falius into the well before seating herself in the darkest corner of the room, leaning heavily against the stone wall. She couldn't help but close her eyes.

"Do what you can to keep his back straight," Aerona instructed weakly, eyes still closed.

"And Swift? Please hurry. I don't like this place."

Swift-like-Fish

Swift-like-Fish rechecked his harness which he'd strapped around the Bosmer. It wasn't much as far as improvised braces went, but he hoped it would at least help keep the young man's back straight. Still, he feared that the underwater journey would worsen his wounds or perhaps even prove to be fatal.
"He'll need more medical attention once on the shore. And the only one this one knows who can provide that attention will still be here. Best hurry." He thought as he tightened the last strap.

"And Swift? Please hurry. I don't like this place." Aerona had her eyes closed and looked so tired it was hard to tell who was in worse condition, the Bosmer or the Dunmer. Swift found it almost odd that he was still bursting with energy, but put it down to a mixture of the adrenaline still coursing through his veins and not having done as much as she had.
"This one shall return as swift as possible. Stay safe till then." He said, keeping his voice low out of fear for being heard. He didn't know what happened to the group that had stormed towards the entrance, or what became of Aren. He could only hope that the distraction from their comrades outside would serve its purpose and that the Dunmer could hold the attention of anyone left inside.

"Hold breath deep." He whispered to Falius after a moment and once he had confirmed that the Bosmer had indeed taken the deepest breath he could with his ruined ribs, the Argonian dove. This time around, he could no longer use his arms to propell himself forward, occupied as they were with holding Falius and preventing the wounded man from hitting any of the many protruding rocks of the tunnel. His legs were likewise occupied with preventing the Bosmer's own legs from flailing about, possibly injuring himself even further or just slowing them down. All that the fisherman had to move them through the tunnel was his tail which sweeped back and forth. And his tail was all he needed. Having grown strong from a life spent underwater, it propelled Argonian and Mer forward through the dark tunnel and up to the shore.

Swift's earlier assesment of taking merely a minute to reach the shore turned out to be wrong. It had been nearly two since they dove down through the well till they reached the surface of the lake. Still, he had no time to check on Falius' condition. Every second wasted was one more second that someone might find Aerona and she was the only one who could take care of any complications that had occured after the journey underwater. Even worse so, the sky had darkened and it appeared to be raining. But being as used to water as he was, whether it came from the sky or a pond, the Argonian paid it no heed. The fisherman pulled Falius onto the shore, laid him out flat as possible and checked to make sure the Bosmer was still breathing and his heart still beating. After that, he instantly dove back into the lake and raced down the tunnel once more.
"This one hopes no one will find him lying there. While the cover of the vegetation growing next to the shore is strong and will hide him well, he is helpless."

Reaching the well took scarcely more than a third of the time his trip with Falius had taken. Now unhindered by anything and becoming more aware of every obstruction in the tunnel with each time he passed through, he was as swift as the fish he hunted. At the end of the tunnel, he used his legs to cushion the impact with the well's wall and propelled himself up to the surface.
"Are you well? This one will help you swim and leave the dark place."

Aerona sat alone for what seemed like an eternity. She fought to stay awake, and fought harder to keep her food down. Something wasn't right. She was tired to be sure, but she hadn't done so much that she should feel this awful.

I must be getting sick. she thought to herself.

She must have dozed off for a moment because the next thing she remembered was Swift asking if she was ready to leave.

"Well as I can be right now," she said, pulling herself to her feet, "Let's go."

Swift nodded.
"This one left Falius on the shore. The bushes hide him well from errant eyes..." He hissed, then paused as a thought occurred to him. "But with the unexpected rain, he won't dry and cold may grasp is wounded lungs."

He helped Aerona into the water before proceeding. He had expected the rest to do her well, but she looked just as, if not more, tired as she had been when he left.
"This one will pull you along through the water and make the journey faster. Can you breathe water?"

I'm not sure. she thought, but kept to herself.

Aerona didn't reply to Swift, she simply cast the spell. It worked, to her surprise, but now she could feel the drain even more.

She lowered herself into the well, and they made their way out of the fort. Her hand gripped Swift's tightly as he propelled them both through the water. Aerona's eyes were closed in the water, and with the tunnel's twists and turns, she quickly became disoriented. The feeling was gone as soon as it came; Swift brought her to the surface more quickly than she had expected.

Her eyes were open now, and she was treading water. Tiny red droplets fell in the lake around her.

"Is that...blood?"

Gillyed wasn't liking this, he wasn't liking it at all. The resccue team had been gone for a long while, as had been the psycho with the mask, a combination that did not bode well. To top it all off, it had started raining...Blood. He had been scouring his mind for any reference to this occurence in his tales and songs, but was drawing a blank, he knew no spell or unnatural event that could have caused such a violent twist in the laws of nature, and this meant that something very, very bad must be going down.

Subconsciously he began to grip the haft of his warhammer a little tighter, and checked the straps on his shield. "We can't stay here for long, I don't know if this is just blood or not, but my guess is that it's not going to be a good diea to get smothered in it, we need to get the others and find some shelter." he said to the Redguard, peering towards the lake. "I just hope they're back soon"

"Is that...blood?" Exhilerated as he was at having left the fort for the last time and knowing that both Aerona and Falius were safe (for now), Swift-like-Fish did not notice the healer's words at first. After a moment though, when he realized she was gazing at the sky as opposed to the shore where the Bosmer was waiting, he too looked up and began to realize that this was not mere rain.

"Blood?...But that would be impossible. There is no bird large enough to bleed from the clouds like rain." He hissed in disbelief. As it struck the water, the crimson droplets mixed with the lake, whose surface was now a light shade of pink. The Argonian admonished himself for not having noticed. It wasn't like him, to ignore abnormal conditions in the waters around him. Perhaps he really was as tired as Aerona was, but hadn't allowed himself to notice. On top of that fearsome thought, he gagged at the thought of having breathed the foul blood.
"This one breathes water with gills on the outside, but she has actually swallowed the water...this could be bad."

"This is impossible." He repeated while shaking his head.
"But this is no time for speak. Tired as you are, you cannot swim much longer. This one will help you climb ashore now. Also, this one is sorry for leaving Bosmer in this...rain." He continued as he retook Aerona's hand and forcibly dragged her the short distance to the edge of the lake, to the same spot where he'd left Falius.

Cyldreen saw the rescue team emerge with the troublesome Bosmer. From here, he could see that Falius is not conscious and his chest had a staggering dent in it, probably caused by a hammer. The dunmer, though not wounded fatally, was nearly the same. She was hanging on the precipice of consciousness.

Aren was not with them and Cyldreen did not know what that meant.

The Breton, through sheer force of will, raised his hands to the air. The unnatural rain that weakened him he blocked out and in his mind, he imagined the symbol of Illusion. When the picture was burned in his mind, he muttered the Word of incantation. The air surrounding him gathered and whirled around his arm and shot off with a great speed towards the sky.

And then it exploded in a shower of green sparks and red smoke.

Let us hope that that Nord and the Redguard sees it.

He carefully climbed down, a feat on on its own as the rain was wrecking havoc on his own, and made a stumbling trek towards the rescue team. When he finally reached them, he rested on his hands on his knees.

"The signal has been sent," his voice slurred the words. "Pray that the others have prepared a swift escape.. Of Aren, what has become of him?"

Swift helped her to shore, and Aerona quickly checked on Falius before finding her clothes. They were right where she'd left them among the shrubs. She spotted green sparkles and red smoke; the signal, she assumed.

She dressed quickly, and just as she was finished Cyldreen approached.

"Aren was fighting his way out to clear our escape," she said quietly as her eyes drifted back to the Fort, "But I don't think we can do anything about it right now. We need to get Falius to the wagon so I can help him."

The red shower kept on. They hadn't been standing on the shore very long, but already her hair was soaked in blood, and she was feeling worse and worse.

"Cyldreen, could you help Swift carry him? I think being in this blood rain is making me sick."

Gillyed caught a glimpse of light through the scarlet mist that was descending, it had the familiar hint of magick, and wasn't killing anything which probably meant it was a signal, or some mage trying to tell the gods to stop. The Nord checked the wagon, everything was set to go, though he was loathe to move to the road just yet, not until he knew what was happening.

He clambered up the steep slope between the wagon's hiding place and the banks of lake and peered down towards the shore, trying to spot the rescue team who would be heading up. The rain was soaking into his furs, weighing him down, and was beginning to block out his vision as it splashed on the ground, mixing with the dirt to make thick and viscious streams flowing down into the lake which began to turn an ominous shade.

"Come on hurry up", he muttered, considering heading down to the shore and looking for the group himself.

The Breton nodded and bent to pick up Falius' legs. He turned to Argonian.

"Come on, friend. Let us carry our elfin friend to safety."

"Yes, you lead. Did the wagon get moved? If so, this one does not know where to go." Swift hissed as he helped carry Falius, still careful not to put too much strain on the mer's back.
"This one only hopes that the dark hunter still inside is safe. And what about other comrades? This one saw a sizable group of enemies run for the entrance. Did they come out to fight them, or did they stop at the door?"


OOC: I thought part of the plan was a distraction from the ones still outside. Since that didn't happen, having the group meant to engage those outside stop and wait at the door is the best way to resolve the plothole I think.

Nathan pulled his poncho's hood over his head, securing the flap over the lower part of his face. It would take more than a shower to seep through his winter gear. Still, the shift in weather was... unsettling. He stood guard by the wagon while Gillyed went to check on the others.

"Why couldn't it be rain?" The Redguard muttered, contemplating his reddening boots. "Blood is so hard to wash out."

"Right. Let us be careful then." And with a grunt, Cyldreen began to walk towards the general direction of the wagon. The condition of Falius was something indeed, particulary when seeing it in front of you. The healing skill of Aerona was not the greatest, but it was enough. He just hoped that she had enough energy for herself to keep up.

"I haven't seen anyone outside the Fort, if you don't count the corpses we left. Perhaps they thought twice about rushing headlong outside where their defender's murderers are?"

The Breton was careful in the matter of handling the elf. It will not simply do to have their objective die because of some human error. When the scout inside Cyldreen was sure they have passed a certain line of perspective for the Nord and Redguard, he turned his head.

He detected them and the wagon.

"Hey! We need some help, we got a mer down!"

OOC: Did not notice the group of enemy rushing out of the Fort until I checked posts earlier. Sorry, guys. My fault. I'll just side with what Jack said. Sorry, again.

OOC:Yeah, I remember people running to the door but never actually going out, and kinda forgot about them too. Waiting at the door seems like a good idea.

"There they are, damnit looks like they're in a spot of trouble" Gillyed murmured. Against his better judgement he dropped his shield and slung his warhammer through a loop in his belt. "Look after that, and try and get the wagon close to the road." he grunted at the Redguard as he began to walk, though it was more of a slide, down the slope to the others. He saw the Breton was managing the stretcher alright, but the Argonian seemed to be in a bit worse for wear. While not weak he knew the man hadn't gone through the rigorous training others in the group had.

"We're just over the rise, but it's quite slipper now thanks to this...weather" Gillyed grunted, he felt unduly tired, far more so than that earlier battle should have made him.
"If you want I can take the mer from here" he said to the Argonian "But either way one of us should steady him, incase one of the carriers slips in the mud."

They made it to the Ayleid well and the wagon. Aerona stumbled towards the well, knowing that it would restore her magickal abilities. It did the job; a blue swirl of light surrounded her for a moment, and her next breath felt fuller.

The sickness was still present. She could feel it.

It has to be this rain. Mara, what could make blood fall from the sky?

"Lay him down in the wagon," she said. Even her voice sounded stronger now.

She went to the wagon and began rummaging through her rucksack. She found some ingredients; lavender sprigs and fly amanita caps. She crushed them with her mortar and pestle. It was a pasty mixture, the same that she'd used on Gillyed earlier. This time, though, she needed a potion. She put the paste into a vial of water, and mixed it by shaking it up.

She propped Falius' head up and poured it bit by bit down his throat, making sure each dose was small enough for him to swallow. When the potion was gone, she laid his head back down.

"The potion will take effect in a minute or two," she said, "I'll follow up with some spells as we go. I think it would be wise if we went back to the city now."

"Thanks for this." Falius said as the dunmer healed his wound. "I dont even know your name and you've saved my life."

"About the blood," He added. "I renember an old child's tale my Mother used to tell me:
Undorsil, Curse-bringer of Old,
Who possessed magic that all behold.

He came across a tattered book,
And he decided to take a look,
One curse managed to slip his lips,
And pain filled him of a hundred whips.

When he woke, he felt his lips,
And they had became tattered rips.
Many years past, and more curses spoken,
And Undorsil is now, all but broken."

Falius Paused, as a small fit of coughing took over him, but he quickly dove back, while he could still remember how his Mother would sing the tale:

"Undorsil now brings fear from far,
Causing disasters to make us scar.
Poison rivers and strokes of pain,
And worst of all, the cursed blood rain."

"Might just be a coincidence, but it does sound like it. We should go to the city anyway."

OOC:Dunno what brought this on, I was just in a poetry mood.

Swift-like-Fish

When Gillyed had offered to take upon himself the task of carrying the Bosmer, Swift shook his head.
"The young one is hurt bad. Best to only put down and pick up as few times as possible. This one can carry him to the wagon with gleamfaced's help. Still, if you would be willing to support Falius' back, this one would be most grateful." He grunted. The young hunter was quite light, even moreso since the Argonian only had to lift half the mer's weight. The ground was slippery though, which forced them to be even more cautious when moving. The fisherman had infact opted to use his tail as a third leg to help balance and anchor himself as they moved up the slope.

Now he too was beginning to feel the first hints of exhaustion and he inadvertantly lowered the Bosmer by a few centimetres. He hoped it was only because of his actions. Swimming at top speed wasn't much of a problem for him, but doing it while dragging someone else with him, after sneaking and fighting through a fort was something else. He really hoped that was the cause of the weariness he felt. If it was the rain affecting him however, then it would be a bigger reason to fear the strange weather than its colour had been. Argonians like he were known to be almost immune to all known and unknown sicknesses, both mundane and magical. If the rain had gotten to him, then it would have gotten to everyone else four times as badly.

Finally they managed to safely lower Falius onto the wagon and Swift allowed himself a moment's rest. Only a moment however, as he agreed with Aerona's assessment that they should be leaving as soon as possible.
"This one thinks that returning to the great city is best as well. If only the dark one would safely make it out of the fort soon. This one will ready the horses and wagon. If the hunter of men has not yet returned by then..." He paused for a moment, thinking of what he'd just implied.
"We must decide whether to wait longer or leave." He finished.

While his companions busied themselves with their tasks, Swift focussed on the horses. He couldn't be sure, but to him the normally meek animals looked even more passive than usual. Could this also be part of the rain? Surely it was merely an unusual but still natural phenomena? The idea of the land being smothered in crimson poison from the skies was something he refused to believe. Something he refused, up till the moment the strengthened Falius began to mutter a folktale of some sort.
"Does the small hunter know more? Is it just a tale, or is there truth in those words? This Undorsil, is he myth, or real?" Swift asked. He'd switched out the horse in front of the wagon. On the way back, it would be best if the strongest of the two horses pulled the wagon, which meant the one who had only carried Cyldreen on the way to the fort. He didn't dare touch Aren's horse. The beast seemed to be quite different in temperament and talent from the other two.

"To be honest, I'm not sure," he replied to the Argonian. "I used to ask my Mother if he was real, and she said no. Still, would you tell children that a mage would make it rain blood and poison rivers?"

"before I forget, could I get my knife back? my bow as well if you will". Falius looked down at his broken curiuas and sighed."I'm guessing none of you are any good with an anvil?"