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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 3837640" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 7: Wolves and Orcs“Keep them off of her, Convel!” Falen yelled out to the surprised wolf now right next to Rennai’s unmoving body. He then raised his bow again, taking aim at the Ogre and attempting to let loose an arrow that would actually reach its target this time. This time, he was able to pull back the bowstring with little trouble, and let the arrow fly towards the large Ogre. It dug into the giant’s large torso, causing it to reel back in surprise and pain.    This was enough time for Convel to take action, diving forward at the Ogre’s leg with jaws wide open. The glaive-wielding Orc attempting to use this open moment to strike at the wolf, but Convel moved so fast that the glaive simply dug into the dirt road. And by then, the wolf’s powerful jaws had sunk deep into the Ogre’s ankle.    “I do not believe Rennai is dead,” Cor said firmly as his hands worked through a spell, “She looks to be breathing still.”    Falen couldn’t help but wonder how he could see this. There was fire and a good distance between them. But before he could say anything, a sickly looking arrow of acid appeared and darted out towards the giant. But the magical arrow of acid missed its target, flying overhead before disappearing completely a short distance later.  After the attack flew past, the Orc attempted another strike at the wolf, but Convel dislodged himself from the Ogre’s leg and jumped back in time to avoid another strike...which nearly hit the Ogre instead.    The flames continued to burn away at Aylana, reaching her skin beneath the clothes she wore and finally beginning to cause a great deal of pain. She did her best to fight through it, turning to face the other two Orcs, both of which were swinging their huge axes in again. Raising her shield up high, Aylana caught the first axe perfectly, and barely felt the jolt of the impact rock through her arm. But she was unable to avoid the second axe, which dug into her side and found an unprotected section between plates to dig deep into.    Pushing through the pain, Aylana lowered her shield and swung in with her sword at the first Orc. It easily sliced through the flimsy looking breastplate, cutting deep and dropping the beast with one swift strike. She reversed the momentum of her swing and cut down at the second Orc, the sword slicing it from shoulder to its mid section before she removed the blade and the Orc dropped next to its fallen comrades.    Feeling the need to end this quickly before one of the two remaining creatures dealt a final blow to the downed Rennai, Falen took aim and let loose a trio of arrows one after another. The first two arrows both struck the Ogre, driving deep and dealing a fatal blow that brought the giant down next to the first Ogre. The last of the Orcs spun to see this before the last of Falen’s arrows hit their mark, striking the Orc in his side, where no plate armour pieces covered. And just as the arrow hit, Convel struck, jumping up at the Orc and biting deep into his right arm.    Cor was watching this carefully, already puling together a spell and focusing its energy into his hand. He clenched his fist, extended his arm, and then opened his hand. There was a blue flash and three magical bolts of energy shot up and hit the Orc hard, just as he had managed to dislodge the wolf from his arm. The force of the trio of impacts was strong enough to send the Orc to the ground...and after a very long moment, it was obvious that the creature was no longer moving.    Shifting his bow onto his back, Falen took a quick glance through the flames to see that Aylana was still standing, then ran to Rennai. Convel was sitting over her unconscious body, sniffling at her and looking confused. Immediately, Falen dropped to one knee next to Rennai’s unconscious form, seeing blood escaping from a wound on the back of her head that she’d likely taken when she hit the ground. Taking a small piece of cloth, he wrapped it around her head to stop the bleeding.    As he held it there, Falen looked up to the wolf and said quietly, “She will be alright, friend...you did well.”    Convel dropped to the ground to rest his head right next to Rennai’s, sniffling at her ear and then making a soft, almost inaudible bark. It always made Falen smile when he was like this. To think, his parents had never let him have a dog, then he runs off and finds a wild predator that acts more like any dog Falen had ever seen.    Cor watched this for a moment from a distance then turned to look to Aylana through the slowly-dying fire in the road. Before he could say anything, though, she dropped to the ground. Thinking she’d succumbed to wounds, as he’d heard vicious fighting that direction, Cor immediately steeled himself, closed his eyes, and ran through the flames.    Thankfully, none of his clothes caught fire, and when he felt the heat around him fade, Cor opened his eyes to see that Aylana had dropped to the ground and was putting out fire that had caught onto her cloak and, from the looks of it, scorched her once-clean armour. She had pulled off her helmet, and it was off to the side near the bodies of Orcs that she must have slain. Cor extended a hand down to help her up, which she took...and, pretty much picked herself up, as Cor wasn’t much use in lifting the added weight of all of her armour.    “You look terrible,” Cor said flatly, noting that her face looked to have been burned as well as her shoulders...not to mention a few deep gashes in her armour that were still bleeding slightly.    Aylana reached to her side and pulled her sword out of a place where it had been driven into the ground, then sheathed the glowing blade on her back, “I will live.”    Cor nodded as he picked up her shield, which was laying on the ground on top of another Orc, and handed it to her, “Though she would not ever speak this, I believe Rennai could use your skills as a healer.”    It was the way he said the words that told Aylana something was wrong. Instead of making any comment on that, she slid the shield onto her back and retrieved her helm from the ground before looking to the flames in front of her. After staring at the fire for a few short moments, Aylana looked to Cor, “Though it may be dangerous, I have no had the best of luck with fire of late.”    So they went around. Thankfully, there was only that single temple and a storehouse at that end of the tiny little town, and so they simply had to walk around the still-burning temple to reach where Falen and Convel knelt in front of Rennai’s unconscious body...with Ogre and Orc corpses strewn out in front of them.    As Aylana approached, Falen looked up to see that she didn’t look to be walking very steadily. But instead of getting up to help her, which he knew would be a bad idea, Falen simply sent a concerned expression in her direction. Once she reached them, she dropped to one knee next to Convel, who was still laying there with his head resting on his paws, and Falen spoke up, “An Ogre decided she was more trouble than she was worth.”    Aylana nodded and looked down at the Elf. She had definitely taken a beating, but from the looks of the bodies around her, she’d given out more than she’d taken. Her voice held steady despite a somewhat light headed feeling, Aylana said, quietly, “I believe it is our decision to make, not an Ogres.”    She then closed her eyes to focus, and very quietly uttered a prayer, her hands coming down to rest on Rennai’s shoulders. After a short moment, Aylana’s hands began to glow gently, before the light faded and many of Rennai’s wounds began to fade.    Both Rennai and Aylana opened their eyes at about the same time. But where Aylana was simply feeling light headed and roughed up, Rennai managed to look completely confused. Her eyes looked back and forth over the figures around her, and then locked onto a certain pair...and the muzzle attached that was right in her face, nearly touching her nose.    Convel sniffed her.    Rennai shrieked, jumped up to a sitting position and dove away from all of them in surprise. While the three others grinned at this, Convel was just as surprised and jumped up to his feet, keeping his body low and ears up as he stared at her in shock.    Slowly, though, Rennai began to take in the situation, seeing the bodies around them, “...we won?”    “And your best friend here held an Ogre and an Orc off of your unconscious body,” Falen smiled and reached over to gently pat Convel’s head in hopes of calming the wolf’s startled state. He then got to his feet and looked to the burning building near them, “How about we take a few steps back before we sit down to recover and figure out what just happened.”    Aylana nodded as she got to her feet slowly, “I have seen no other creatures...”    “Nor any survivors,” Cor finished the unspoken end of that thought, his eyes scanning the grass near them where many bodies were piled...most looked to be the town guard.    Rennai shook her head, took in a few breaths, coughed thanks to the smoke, then managed to get up without falling over completely. As they all very slowly retreated to a safe distance, the feeling that they should stop the fire was in all of their hearts, but so was the knowledge that, currently, they were in no state for that, nor did they have the tools. Besides, it looked as if they were too late to find any survivors.    So, now a good distance away and up on a hill over looking the dying flames that had been set over the tiny little town, they sat, bandaged wounds, and allowed themselves time to figure out what to do next.</blockquote>

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