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<blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 2696794" data-attributes="member: 8530"><p>Chapter 152. “Ogre Battle", Friday, January 20th </p><p></p><p>Nanuet notices that his necklace glow increases in intensity to a brightness equivalent to looking directly into the sun. Oddly enough, the glow has no ill effects on him, although both Riley and Chester are momentarily distracted by the brightness. His hands then begin to glow as well, but it is not the tourquise color of the healing spells, instead they begin to glow a bright red. As he touches the ground he sees the color flow into it and up the mountain in the direction of the other ledge. </p><p></p><p>The boulders beneath and supporting the upper ledge then glow the same bright red color and then transform, but not into the mud that he is expecting to see. Instead, it turns into the magma of a volcano and the rock above begins to desolve and crumble, the magma splashing up between the cracks. </p><p></p><p>One of the half-ogres is caught beneath a now forming crack in the upper ledge and falls into the magma for a quick but very painful death. The half-ogre on the other side dives off of the ledge, falling twenty feet to the mountain below which he then begins to roll down. Much to everyone's surprise the cannon remains where it had last been, levitating in the air and still pointing towards the lower ledge. Dodge has wrapped his hands around the rear of the weapon and is holding onto it for dear life, dangling in the air as the magma pool speads a mere four feet beneath his shoes. The ogre mage rapidly levitates through the air towards him, ignoring the splashing magma below as he grabs his master. </p><p></p><p>Ruby's shot at the ogre mage missed. She then hears a shot from further down the mountain where the other half-orge was. A bullet enters and immediately exits through her right upper leg, managing to miss the bone and major blood vessels but causing major pain . She leans against the rock to keep from falling. </p><p></p><p>Ruby feels the bullet go in and out of her leg but at first does not realize what happened. Then she starts to feel a searing pain in her leg and when she looks down she sees blood starting to seep through her pants, flowing out the bullet hole left by it. The pain is excruiating and she falls to the rock next to her for support, letting out a string of unlady-like explicatives. </p><p></p><p>She looks down the mountain to see where the shot came from and sees one of the half ogres there with his gun, shooting at Chester who came flying off the ledge. Using the rock for support she picks up the rifle and shoots at him, letting loose a few more choice words.</p><p></p><p>Chester's shot then fires. He had not been enlarged this time or well braced and the recoils sends him sailing backwards and off of the ledge, dropping the hand cannon as he falls. He rolls down the mountain for fifteen feet, banging his head against several rocks. He hears the sound of the round exploding but his view of the highest ledge is now obstucted by the one with his friends on it. </p><p></p><p>"Blast it," yells Chester as he goes flying off the ledge. After he lands, he rubs his head and feels a big knot forming on his forehead. "I guess you boys didn't want to share the bounty." A bullet shot from the half-ogre down by the carcass then strikes against a rock just above Chester's head, narrowly missing him. He scrambles behind the nearest rock he can find and shakes his head to clear it. Once he can see straight, he draws his Remington and returns fire at the half-ogre by the carcass.</p><p></p><p>As the hand cannon fell Riley made a wild dive through the air to grab it. He manages to catch the gun in midair as he sails off the front of the ledge and into the open air as he then begins a forty-foot fall to rocks below. </p><p></p><p>One aspect of Riley's dreams that he had not shared with the others is that they all ended the same way, with his death. There were many variations as to how he died. In some he was killed by the team with the giants, in another he took a gut shot from Buffalo Bill Cody and in several he was killed many different ways by the three headed-dragon. The common theme in all of them was that he died a meaningless death, too afraid to act. That was what had tortured him the most. </p><p></p><p>The last day few days had been surreal for him. All of these people who he met were willing to sacrafice themselves for a greater purpose. It was these people who Kajika said that he needed to learn from. He was still destined to perish on this trip but that death would stand for a greater purpose. </p><p></p><p>He thought that he had already achieved that when it was his shot that struck the three-headed dragon, but in truth, that shot had mearly been one of self-preservation. The soldier Chester had been away at the time and the weapon was the best thing around to save Riley's life. Once Kate cast the spell on him he was committed. He felt momentarily proud, but then the creature returned. Riley cowered in the far corner of the ledge while the others attacked and killed it, his only contribution being in telling Chester about the weapon's range. </p><p></p><p>Riley spent the next half-hour feeling ashamed of himself. He watched as Chester selflessly reloaded and fired the weapon, and was shocked when the recoil flung Chester back to his probable death. Something in Riley's mind snapped at that instant. He saw his one act for redemption and took it, leaping towards the falling weapon. </p><p></p><p>The fall to the rocks below lasted but a matter of seconds but to Riley it was as though life now moved in slow motion. With perfect clarity he surveyed the surroundings, seeing the half-ogre that had dived from the upper ledge now standing and pointing a shotgun across to where Ruby stood on the lower ledge, with Kate and Nanuet also both lying within the shotgun's range. Riley's left thumb clicked the lever that ejected the spent shell and slid the reserve shell into place. </p><p></p><p>As the ground came near Riley steadied his aim towards the half-ogre and fired. Riley's final sight was that of the shell exploding against the half-orge's neck, blowing the creature to pieces before it had a chance to fire the shotgun. Riley then fatally struck the ground.</p><p></p><p>Chester's shot hits the half-ogre for a massive explosion, blowing away the creatures right arm, shoulder, lower jaw and upper chest. The levitation spell remains in the effect and his not being grounded causing him to sail back thirty-five feet and into the mountain wall. He releases Dodge as he sails back but the temporary assist was enough to allow Dodge to pull himself up and onto the rear of the cannon still floating in the air.</p><p></p><p>Chester's shot misses the half-ogre, who dives behind the Chimaera's body for cover. He watches Riley fall and, amazingly, fire the hand cannon at the other half-ogre. The ex-soldier sees Riley hit the ground below him with a crunch. He says to the doomed man, "Riley! Don't you die on us. That shaman won't be happy. You didn't have to risk your life for that gun." Chester recocks the hammer on his revolver and fires again at the sharpshooter.</p><p></p><p>Nanuet is still a little fuzzy and the mass confusion around him doesn't help. He looks around for his companions and remembers that Ruby has been shot and that Chester fell. "Anybody need healing?" he yells out excitedly, finally standing on his feet and dusting himself off.</p><p></p><p>When it came, it came faster than Katherine could have imagined. The waiting seemed so long, and the shooting went on for a few seconds. With only Dodge himself left, Kate grabbed the bandages and crawled out from the illusion toward Ruby. "They both need you, but I can help Ruby and I won't be able to help Chester up. I don't think Dodge is a problem right now, he's preoccupied with not falling." Kate started unrolling a bandage but Ruby pulled back. "Not now, Kate. Get back to the cave!"</p><p></p><p>Nanuet looks around and sees Chester and Ruby firing down at the dead three-headed dragon with an occassional rifle shot back firing back from that direction. Looking the other direction he sees a badly wounded half-ogre over three hundred yards away on its remaining hand and knees, apparently searching for something among the rocks. </p><p></p><p>Nanuet remembers the new pistol that he recently acquired. He pulls it out in hopes that it hadn't gotten damaged when he fell and begins shooting at the human. He yells for Kate to get Ruby into the cave. He then looks over his shoulder towards the direction that Chester fell and begins making his way toward him. </p><p></p><p>The only other person is the human named Dodge of is sitting atop the cannon, which is levitating in the air and still pointed towards the lower ledge that he is standing upon, Ruby and Kate both nearby. Nanuet makes eye contact with Dodge Dodge who yells back "You killed my sons. I'll see you all in Hades!" Nanuet then notices a spark of fire in the man's hand that touches the rear of the cannon.</p><p></p><p>"I don't believe in Hades," Kate muttered to herself. "Ruby we have to go, now! We don't want to be anywhere near here when that thing goes off." She tried to wrap her arm around Ruby's waist and pull her away, hoping she wouldn't resist. Nanuet continues to shoot at the human, looking back and forth between him and Chester.</p><p></p><p>Nanuet empties the pistol of ammunition but given his inexperience with the gun and the very long distance between him and his target none of the shots connect. The cannon thunders, the recoil knocking Dodge off from it. The southern plantation owner falls into the magma beneath him, joining his half-ogre son in death. </p><p></p><p>The cannonball strikes the ledge, shattering it into multiple pieces and causing another landslide. Kate and Ruby were both headed back into the cave when the ball stuck, rocks and debris knocking them to the cave floor and hitting both Ruby and Kate. Nanuet was near the edge of the slab that had been the ledge and is thrown from it, falling and rolling down the mountain to a point near where Chester is at who gets hit by some rocks. Any hopes of Riley having survived the fall are dashed as several tons of rock wash over him and bury him from sight.</p><p></p><p>Kate got herself back up and went for one of the packs. Jake had been thinking of this expedition, and had bought supplies. She had some cuts and bruises, but she could still move alright. She reached the pack and pulled out the rope. "Ruby, honey, we need to get Nanuet and Chester back up here. Can your heal yourself a bit? It'll be quicker than me bandaging you up." "Sure, Kate." She watched as Kate took the pack out of the cave to help Nanuet and Chester. Ruby took in a huge breath. She was in bad pain and didn't feel like singing, so instead of working on the spell she closed her eyes and rested for a few moments.</p><p></p><p>Katherine went as close to the edge of the cave mouth, the ledge that had been next to it having now collapsed, carrying a rope. She looked for the most stable boulder she could find and wrapped the rope around it several times, leaving plenty of rope free on each end. She tossed it over down to Chester and Nanuet. </p><p></p><p>"I'm not sure how hard that climb will be, use the rope to help you," she called down. She took a moment to look farther down the mountainside where Riley lay beneath the rocks, the same fate that for just a moment the others thought had befallen Kate. Praying wasn't part of her nature, but she hoped that whatever came after he would find peace. </p><p></p><p>She sighed and went back to the boulder. There was no way she would be strong enough to hold the rope for the men. Wrapping it around the boulder should have made it stable enough, but she sat down on the free end of the rope for good measure.</p><p></p><p>Chester and Nanuet stay huddled behind the rocks. There has been no movement or gunfire from the area of giant chimera for several minutes now but they assume that the half-ogre sharpshooter is still hiding behind it and waiting for a target. </p><p></p><p>Up at the cave mouth Kate scans the area as well. The magma has now started to cool down and is changing color from red to black. Further over the mortally wounded half-ogre mage appears to have succomed to his wounds and is lying draped over a rock, blood still pouring out from the missing upper right side of his body. </p><p></p><p>Around three-quarters of the mile down the mountain she sees dust rising up over the trees heading in their direction at a good pace which based upon the prior arrivals of both Comstock's group and the soldiers and the directions they left she recognizes this as the sight of yet another group of mounted riders heading their way.</p><p></p><p>Nanuet assessed his wounds before trying to stand. He had some scrapes and bruises, but nothing too serious. Chester was nearby and seemed to be in similar shape. </p><p></p><p>He knew the sharpshooter was somewhere below, but there had not been a shot fired for some time. Sonoma's invisibility trick would have worked nicely, Nanuet made a mental note to try and learn that one someday. </p><p></p><p>"Chester, can you climb?" Nanuet asked the wounded soldier. "If you need healing first I can do that, otherwise I think we need to get moving." Just as he finishes saying that he notices the tell tale cloud that indicated more riders were approaching. "Yeah Chester we need to get moving now, we have more company."</p><p></p><p>Kate backed up a few feet and said into the cave, "More riders coming up the mountain, I can't see who it is yet." She pulled Tom's pistol out of her pocket and watched the dust cloud.</p><p></p><p>Ruby opens her eyes hearing Kate's words. "Crap," Ruby says outloud to no one. She tries to concentrate on her song to heal herself but is having some difficulty through the pain in her leg. She stops singing and shuts her eyes tight, clearing her mind. She opens her eyes and tries her song again. </p><p></p><p>The spell has the intended effect of healing over the wound and erasing the pain, leaving behind only two small purple-and-yellow bruises where the bullet had entered and exited. She finds that she has no difficulty walking again, and only feels a minor irritation from where the wound, comparable to the feel of an insect bite.</p><p></p><p>The dust could gets closer and the rumble of galloping horse hooves now begins to echo through the valley. At the sound of the approaching horses the half-ogre by the chimera's carcass decides to make a break for it. He has approximately 600 feet of fairly open rocky ground before he will make it into the relative safety trees below. He is still holding his rifle in one of his hands as he runs but is not pointing back, though he does occassionally glace back in the direction of where Nanuet and Chester are.</p><p></p><p>Ruby stands and is surprised at how well her spell worked. She looks to the back of the cave, to see if Sanoma, the dragon and the baby are ok. She then walks back to the front of the cave and looks in her bag at the dynamite she brought with her. Now that the cannon was gone they might need it, so she quickly got all of it together and ready if necessary. </p><p></p><p>Then she picks up one of her other rifles and heads out to stand next to Kate. She looks at the pistol in Kate's hand and laughs. "Jake must have not given you too good a lesson. Try this instead," as she hands Kate the rifle and some ammunition. "It's only one shot before you have to reload it." "I know this won't reach," Kate said, indicating the pistol. "But it's all I had. And I hope we won't be needed to shoot at all. If we're lucky, it will be Senor Bolivar and his group." Kate slipped the pistol back into her pocket and held the unfamiliar rifle instead. Ruby glances down the mountain to take note of Nanuet and Chetser, then Ruby waits to see what will emerge from the trees.</p><p></p><p>Nanuet takes a quick look at Chester's wounds. "You should be fine to climb up there, with those new riders approaching we need to be able to defend the cave." Nanuet helps Chester get up the rope and back to the cave mouth. He then proceeds to climb up the cliff face using the rope as well. His arms and legs ache as he climbs, but he grits his teeth and pulls himself back up to the cave mouth. </p><p></p><p>Taking a quick look he notices that the riders will be upon them soon, so he climbs back up to his spot above the cavemouth where his weapons and hiding spot were. Nanuet first reloads the pistol and tucks it back away, fumbling with the unfamilar weapon. He then makes sure his rifle is loaded and ready to be fired and lastly checks his shortbow and arrow supply. He still has 8 of the arrows coated in the reddish mud nearby and several more untainted ones as well. He lays the bow down, takes up his rifle and watches the approaching riders. The half-ogre makes it into the trees a quarter mile south with just seconds to spare before the riders charge out from the trees a good four-tenths of a mile further west of him.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Silver Moon, post: 2696794, member: 8530"] Chapter 152. “Ogre Battle", Friday, January 20th Nanuet notices that his necklace glow increases in intensity to a brightness equivalent to looking directly into the sun. Oddly enough, the glow has no ill effects on him, although both Riley and Chester are momentarily distracted by the brightness. His hands then begin to glow as well, but it is not the tourquise color of the healing spells, instead they begin to glow a bright red. As he touches the ground he sees the color flow into it and up the mountain in the direction of the other ledge. The boulders beneath and supporting the upper ledge then glow the same bright red color and then transform, but not into the mud that he is expecting to see. Instead, it turns into the magma of a volcano and the rock above begins to desolve and crumble, the magma splashing up between the cracks. One of the half-ogres is caught beneath a now forming crack in the upper ledge and falls into the magma for a quick but very painful death. The half-ogre on the other side dives off of the ledge, falling twenty feet to the mountain below which he then begins to roll down. Much to everyone's surprise the cannon remains where it had last been, levitating in the air and still pointing towards the lower ledge. Dodge has wrapped his hands around the rear of the weapon and is holding onto it for dear life, dangling in the air as the magma pool speads a mere four feet beneath his shoes. The ogre mage rapidly levitates through the air towards him, ignoring the splashing magma below as he grabs his master. Ruby's shot at the ogre mage missed. She then hears a shot from further down the mountain where the other half-orge was. A bullet enters and immediately exits through her right upper leg, managing to miss the bone and major blood vessels but causing major pain . She leans against the rock to keep from falling. Ruby feels the bullet go in and out of her leg but at first does not realize what happened. Then she starts to feel a searing pain in her leg and when she looks down she sees blood starting to seep through her pants, flowing out the bullet hole left by it. The pain is excruiating and she falls to the rock next to her for support, letting out a string of unlady-like explicatives. She looks down the mountain to see where the shot came from and sees one of the half ogres there with his gun, shooting at Chester who came flying off the ledge. Using the rock for support she picks up the rifle and shoots at him, letting loose a few more choice words. Chester's shot then fires. He had not been enlarged this time or well braced and the recoils sends him sailing backwards and off of the ledge, dropping the hand cannon as he falls. He rolls down the mountain for fifteen feet, banging his head against several rocks. He hears the sound of the round exploding but his view of the highest ledge is now obstucted by the one with his friends on it. "Blast it," yells Chester as he goes flying off the ledge. After he lands, he rubs his head and feels a big knot forming on his forehead. "I guess you boys didn't want to share the bounty." A bullet shot from the half-ogre down by the carcass then strikes against a rock just above Chester's head, narrowly missing him. He scrambles behind the nearest rock he can find and shakes his head to clear it. Once he can see straight, he draws his Remington and returns fire at the half-ogre by the carcass. As the hand cannon fell Riley made a wild dive through the air to grab it. He manages to catch the gun in midair as he sails off the front of the ledge and into the open air as he then begins a forty-foot fall to rocks below. One aspect of Riley's dreams that he had not shared with the others is that they all ended the same way, with his death. There were many variations as to how he died. In some he was killed by the team with the giants, in another he took a gut shot from Buffalo Bill Cody and in several he was killed many different ways by the three headed-dragon. The common theme in all of them was that he died a meaningless death, too afraid to act. That was what had tortured him the most. The last day few days had been surreal for him. All of these people who he met were willing to sacrafice themselves for a greater purpose. It was these people who Kajika said that he needed to learn from. He was still destined to perish on this trip but that death would stand for a greater purpose. He thought that he had already achieved that when it was his shot that struck the three-headed dragon, but in truth, that shot had mearly been one of self-preservation. The soldier Chester had been away at the time and the weapon was the best thing around to save Riley's life. Once Kate cast the spell on him he was committed. He felt momentarily proud, but then the creature returned. Riley cowered in the far corner of the ledge while the others attacked and killed it, his only contribution being in telling Chester about the weapon's range. Riley spent the next half-hour feeling ashamed of himself. He watched as Chester selflessly reloaded and fired the weapon, and was shocked when the recoil flung Chester back to his probable death. Something in Riley's mind snapped at that instant. He saw his one act for redemption and took it, leaping towards the falling weapon. The fall to the rocks below lasted but a matter of seconds but to Riley it was as though life now moved in slow motion. With perfect clarity he surveyed the surroundings, seeing the half-ogre that had dived from the upper ledge now standing and pointing a shotgun across to where Ruby stood on the lower ledge, with Kate and Nanuet also both lying within the shotgun's range. Riley's left thumb clicked the lever that ejected the spent shell and slid the reserve shell into place. As the ground came near Riley steadied his aim towards the half-ogre and fired. Riley's final sight was that of the shell exploding against the half-orge's neck, blowing the creature to pieces before it had a chance to fire the shotgun. Riley then fatally struck the ground. Chester's shot hits the half-ogre for a massive explosion, blowing away the creatures right arm, shoulder, lower jaw and upper chest. The levitation spell remains in the effect and his not being grounded causing him to sail back thirty-five feet and into the mountain wall. He releases Dodge as he sails back but the temporary assist was enough to allow Dodge to pull himself up and onto the rear of the cannon still floating in the air. Chester's shot misses the half-ogre, who dives behind the Chimaera's body for cover. He watches Riley fall and, amazingly, fire the hand cannon at the other half-ogre. The ex-soldier sees Riley hit the ground below him with a crunch. He says to the doomed man, "Riley! Don't you die on us. That shaman won't be happy. You didn't have to risk your life for that gun." Chester recocks the hammer on his revolver and fires again at the sharpshooter. Nanuet is still a little fuzzy and the mass confusion around him doesn't help. He looks around for his companions and remembers that Ruby has been shot and that Chester fell. "Anybody need healing?" he yells out excitedly, finally standing on his feet and dusting himself off. When it came, it came faster than Katherine could have imagined. The waiting seemed so long, and the shooting went on for a few seconds. With only Dodge himself left, Kate grabbed the bandages and crawled out from the illusion toward Ruby. "They both need you, but I can help Ruby and I won't be able to help Chester up. I don't think Dodge is a problem right now, he's preoccupied with not falling." Kate started unrolling a bandage but Ruby pulled back. "Not now, Kate. Get back to the cave!" Nanuet looks around and sees Chester and Ruby firing down at the dead three-headed dragon with an occassional rifle shot back firing back from that direction. Looking the other direction he sees a badly wounded half-ogre over three hundred yards away on its remaining hand and knees, apparently searching for something among the rocks. Nanuet remembers the new pistol that he recently acquired. He pulls it out in hopes that it hadn't gotten damaged when he fell and begins shooting at the human. He yells for Kate to get Ruby into the cave. He then looks over his shoulder towards the direction that Chester fell and begins making his way toward him. The only other person is the human named Dodge of is sitting atop the cannon, which is levitating in the air and still pointed towards the lower ledge that he is standing upon, Ruby and Kate both nearby. Nanuet makes eye contact with Dodge Dodge who yells back "You killed my sons. I'll see you all in Hades!" Nanuet then notices a spark of fire in the man's hand that touches the rear of the cannon. "I don't believe in Hades," Kate muttered to herself. "Ruby we have to go, now! We don't want to be anywhere near here when that thing goes off." She tried to wrap her arm around Ruby's waist and pull her away, hoping she wouldn't resist. Nanuet continues to shoot at the human, looking back and forth between him and Chester. Nanuet empties the pistol of ammunition but given his inexperience with the gun and the very long distance between him and his target none of the shots connect. The cannon thunders, the recoil knocking Dodge off from it. The southern plantation owner falls into the magma beneath him, joining his half-ogre son in death. The cannonball strikes the ledge, shattering it into multiple pieces and causing another landslide. Kate and Ruby were both headed back into the cave when the ball stuck, rocks and debris knocking them to the cave floor and hitting both Ruby and Kate. Nanuet was near the edge of the slab that had been the ledge and is thrown from it, falling and rolling down the mountain to a point near where Chester is at who gets hit by some rocks. Any hopes of Riley having survived the fall are dashed as several tons of rock wash over him and bury him from sight. Kate got herself back up and went for one of the packs. Jake had been thinking of this expedition, and had bought supplies. She had some cuts and bruises, but she could still move alright. She reached the pack and pulled out the rope. "Ruby, honey, we need to get Nanuet and Chester back up here. Can your heal yourself a bit? It'll be quicker than me bandaging you up." "Sure, Kate." She watched as Kate took the pack out of the cave to help Nanuet and Chester. Ruby took in a huge breath. She was in bad pain and didn't feel like singing, so instead of working on the spell she closed her eyes and rested for a few moments. Katherine went as close to the edge of the cave mouth, the ledge that had been next to it having now collapsed, carrying a rope. She looked for the most stable boulder she could find and wrapped the rope around it several times, leaving plenty of rope free on each end. She tossed it over down to Chester and Nanuet. "I'm not sure how hard that climb will be, use the rope to help you," she called down. She took a moment to look farther down the mountainside where Riley lay beneath the rocks, the same fate that for just a moment the others thought had befallen Kate. Praying wasn't part of her nature, but she hoped that whatever came after he would find peace. She sighed and went back to the boulder. There was no way she would be strong enough to hold the rope for the men. Wrapping it around the boulder should have made it stable enough, but she sat down on the free end of the rope for good measure. Chester and Nanuet stay huddled behind the rocks. There has been no movement or gunfire from the area of giant chimera for several minutes now but they assume that the half-ogre sharpshooter is still hiding behind it and waiting for a target. Up at the cave mouth Kate scans the area as well. The magma has now started to cool down and is changing color from red to black. Further over the mortally wounded half-ogre mage appears to have succomed to his wounds and is lying draped over a rock, blood still pouring out from the missing upper right side of his body. Around three-quarters of the mile down the mountain she sees dust rising up over the trees heading in their direction at a good pace which based upon the prior arrivals of both Comstock's group and the soldiers and the directions they left she recognizes this as the sight of yet another group of mounted riders heading their way. Nanuet assessed his wounds before trying to stand. He had some scrapes and bruises, but nothing too serious. Chester was nearby and seemed to be in similar shape. He knew the sharpshooter was somewhere below, but there had not been a shot fired for some time. Sonoma's invisibility trick would have worked nicely, Nanuet made a mental note to try and learn that one someday. "Chester, can you climb?" Nanuet asked the wounded soldier. "If you need healing first I can do that, otherwise I think we need to get moving." Just as he finishes saying that he notices the tell tale cloud that indicated more riders were approaching. "Yeah Chester we need to get moving now, we have more company." Kate backed up a few feet and said into the cave, "More riders coming up the mountain, I can't see who it is yet." She pulled Tom's pistol out of her pocket and watched the dust cloud. Ruby opens her eyes hearing Kate's words. "Crap," Ruby says outloud to no one. She tries to concentrate on her song to heal herself but is having some difficulty through the pain in her leg. She stops singing and shuts her eyes tight, clearing her mind. She opens her eyes and tries her song again. The spell has the intended effect of healing over the wound and erasing the pain, leaving behind only two small purple-and-yellow bruises where the bullet had entered and exited. She finds that she has no difficulty walking again, and only feels a minor irritation from where the wound, comparable to the feel of an insect bite. The dust could gets closer and the rumble of galloping horse hooves now begins to echo through the valley. At the sound of the approaching horses the half-ogre by the chimera's carcass decides to make a break for it. He has approximately 600 feet of fairly open rocky ground before he will make it into the relative safety trees below. He is still holding his rifle in one of his hands as he runs but is not pointing back, though he does occassionally glace back in the direction of where Nanuet and Chester are. Ruby stands and is surprised at how well her spell worked. She looks to the back of the cave, to see if Sanoma, the dragon and the baby are ok. She then walks back to the front of the cave and looks in her bag at the dynamite she brought with her. Now that the cannon was gone they might need it, so she quickly got all of it together and ready if necessary. Then she picks up one of her other rifles and heads out to stand next to Kate. She looks at the pistol in Kate's hand and laughs. "Jake must have not given you too good a lesson. Try this instead," as she hands Kate the rifle and some ammunition. "It's only one shot before you have to reload it." "I know this won't reach," Kate said, indicating the pistol. "But it's all I had. And I hope we won't be needed to shoot at all. If we're lucky, it will be Senor Bolivar and his group." Kate slipped the pistol back into her pocket and held the unfamiliar rifle instead. Ruby glances down the mountain to take note of Nanuet and Chetser, then Ruby waits to see what will emerge from the trees. Nanuet takes a quick look at Chester's wounds. "You should be fine to climb up there, with those new riders approaching we need to be able to defend the cave." Nanuet helps Chester get up the rope and back to the cave mouth. He then proceeds to climb up the cliff face using the rope as well. His arms and legs ache as he climbs, but he grits his teeth and pulls himself back up to the cave mouth. Taking a quick look he notices that the riders will be upon them soon, so he climbs back up to his spot above the cavemouth where his weapons and hiding spot were. Nanuet first reloads the pistol and tucks it back away, fumbling with the unfamilar weapon. He then makes sure his rifle is loaded and ready to be fired and lastly checks his shortbow and arrow supply. He still has 8 of the arrows coated in the reddish mud nearby and several more untainted ones as well. He lays the bow down, takes up his rifle and watches the approaching riders. The half-ogre makes it into the trees a quarter mile south with just seconds to spare before the riders charge out from the trees a good four-tenths of a mile further west of him. [/QUOTE]
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