[Arry]

Annû

Annû had thrown off his clumsy gloves and untied himself as quickly as he could. The members of his search team were on solid footing, no danger of falling through the ice. Giving a sharp tug on the rope to get their attention, he waved wildly at them, motioning for them to come help pull in on the rope of the man who’d gone under. He sprinted toward where a number of others had gone to capture the slithering rope and added his weight to the pull, the rope grating on his still ungloved hands.

For a while it seemed a hopeless task, for every one step they managed to take back, the strong current seemed to pull them forward two. Annû heard some shouting at the front of the line and a very short time later the pull became easier. ‘What happened?’ he asked those in front of him. ‘The skinchanger,’ he heard back, ‘he’s gone in to help.’ Quickly following came the shout back that the man was out. Those at the front of the pull line ran forward with great haste to assist bringing him back.

Suddenly from behind him came the loud sounds of Elves and men shouting. Annû’s head whipped around, his eyes caught the sight of Southrons charging at those who stood guard along the beach. Arry yelled loudly fro his nearby companions to draw their weapons. Many of the Elves, including Annû knocked arrows to the long bows and fired a rapid volley toward the advancing troops. Then those with swords and clubs, men and Elf alike, charged at the advancing Corsairs attempting to drive them back. They fought hard against murderous spawn battering, slicing, and thrusting as they could. Those Southrons who broke through faced the deadly aim of the Elven archers. Both sides threw themselves hard against the other.

The snow and ice ran red with blood.