Seekers of Truth RPG

[Crystal Heart]

Sandrina's blood pulsed through her at the prospect of battle. She unshethed her sword and looked back at the group.

"Let's go!" She called, running forward through the gate. They followed her, weapons at the ready. They entered the scene and found Hama and Raen fighting with all their might against, a quick count from Sandrina, eight. She took a deep breath and ran forward, bringing the raging enemy away from the two men.

"IT'S ME YOU WANT! COME AND GET ME!" Sandrina screamed, yelling for all to hear. She pushed forward, slashing and dodging. The biggest, most burly man that she had ever seen stood before her, his eyes blazing with fury. Sandrina smirked.

"You, I'm going to kill you for the reward!" He spat, taking a swing to her left. Sandrina countered, their blades smashing together with a great clang.

"That's what you think," Sandrina said, plunging forward. Her sword fell through his defenses and through his ribs. Sandrina swallowed hard, but pushed deeper. The man's eyes widened and he fell to the ground backwards. Sandrina put a foot upon his chest and pulled her sword free. She wiped around to look at the others.

"Anyone else want to try?" Sandrina taunted. Two men at once, from both sides, ran straight for her as if wanting to impale her. She dodged forward and backwards. She ran like a rabbit from a fox. Her eyes were filled with something that hadn't been there in a very long time, confidence. She weilded the sword as if she had been doing it her entire life. Her body remembered every movement that her father had taught her years prior. Memories of the lessons flooded her mind.

"You fight like your father!" One man yelled out in disgust. She laughed hauntily.

"Of course. He was the one that taught me!" She slashed at the man's shins, dodging towards the safety of the group that were fighting the others.

As she ran she slipped upon the grass. She hurried to get up, but the man caught her arm and twisted her in front of him. He held his sword high in the air, above of her head.

"Now you'll die like you should have you no good brat," he said, his eyes laughing happily. He bent back her wrist and her sword fell to the ground. Fear washed over her, replacing the adrenile rush that had had a hold of her. Then, words from the past snapped into her mind like lightening. She smiled and kicked her heel into his most sensitive area. She watched as he fell to the ground. She hurried and grabbed her sword. She swung with her eyes closed and heard the plop of the man's head to the ground. She shook away her thoughts and turned away, running to the others.

[Firefoot]

As he rode along without much to think about, Arthur’s earlier question came to Harold’s mind: Where are we going? The truth was, he was not comfortable with the answer he had given, that they would decide what to do when they got there. By then it might be too late to do what needed to be done. The foreboding feeling from earlier had returned, and though Harold was not one to go on nothing but intuition, these were special circumstances. Somehow he just knew everything was not going as planned, that Sandrina would not be killed by those he had left at the estates. It was not very comforting, but it gave him time to make plans. What he needed was an advantage.

He needed to get to Sandrina, make her feel fear. But what kind of threat would have the desired affect on her? Harold backed up to Sandrina at the estates. What would her next move be? Harold didn’t think she would just settle down at the estate and leave everything be; she would need more help than just the rag-tag following she had. She would need... Henry. Of course! How could he have forgotten? Something would need to be done about that - Sandrina could not be allowed to access her parents. It would create all kinds of problems. Harold knew that he would be at least two steps ahead of Sandrina here. Not only had he decided what she would try to do before she even knew, but he also knew the whereabouts of Henry and Eowyn, something that Sandrina probably didn’t.

Now how to accomplish this. The only way to be sure that Sandrina and her parents did not have contact would be to have either one or both under constant surveillance, and do it quickly. He knew that Henry and Eowyn’s new cottage was a couple days’ hard ride from where they were. Something should be done sooner. Sandrina could have done any number of things in a few days. She needed to be stopped, perhaps by some kind of threat. A threat of pain, yes, that would work. No woman could withstand much pain, weak creatures that they were. Or perhaps pain to her parents. The corners of Harold’s mouth turned upward in a small evil smile. If Sandrina continued to try to reach her parents, she would be made to watch their deaths, and then die herself. She would die anyway, but for her to watch Henry and Eowyn die... Harold couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of it sooner.

So once Sandrina was threatened, he would need to go after Henry and Eowyn. A threat was no good unless it could be backed. They could be... kid-napped. Harold was feeling quite pleased at his own cunning. A great deal better than anything his incompetent sons could come up with, and certainly Sandrina would not be able to figure out the complexities of the plan. In fact, the only way Harold could see that his plot might go wrong would be by Sandrina’s foolishness. Sometimes he wished women were just a little bit smarter; it would make plans like this more foolhardy. It would have to do, though.

Harold pulled his horse up and motioned for Arthur and Samuel to do the same. Harold quickly outlined his change of plans to them. Arthur seemed satisfied; Samuel, on the other hand, looked sick. Harold scowled. Samuel had better buck up soon; it was another way the plan might go wrong, if Samuel were to duck out and go to Sandrina. Harold knew too well that exceeding mercy was one of womenkind’s worst faults.

Harold took this opportunity to switch mounts, as he had been riding the same one since the morning. Arthur did the same. When he was remounted, Harold said to them, “We need to return to the Lightheart Estate with all possible speed. The sooner this gets done, the better.” The fresh mount was only too ready to go, and Harold let it go as fast as he dared. It was several leagues back to the estate, and they would not reach it until the next morning. Harold soon fell back into the monotony of the rolling plains of the Riddermark and the sound of hoofbeats in his ears. He was heated from the inside from the fire of desire for revenge, stoked up by his new foolproof scheme.

[Hama Of The Riddermark]

Hama saw Sandrina kill the man, but he was too well conditioned to flinch as he saw the headless body slump to the floor. He heard footsteps behind him a fraction too late as a sword swung into his armour, knocking him off balance. Regaining his footing he turned to see a familiar face. "John" he said, stepping forward and thrusting, which was parried. "Hama, I knew you'd be here, always the Lightheart's loyal dog." this time the mercenary slashed, and Hama parried and darted forward, ramming his sword into the mercenary's chest up to the hilt, it burst through his back in a shower of blood. "Better a loyal dog than a dead one." he spat into the man's face, letting him slide off his sword to the ground.

Hama heard a cry...Sandrina! He looked round and saw a man holding her round the waist in an attempt to keep her still for another man to kill her. Hama cried out as he ran towards them. The man holding Sandrina looked round and saw Hama, Hama saw his eyebrows raise in fear as he hurled his sword. It sliced the shoulder of Sandrina's shirt as it spun, pushing through the man's neck. He fell, desperately clutching the sword as he tried to pull it out. Sandrina screamed as blood spurted onto her clothes and ran towards the second man just as Hama fired, the arrow ripped the other shoulder of her shirt before thudding into the mercenary's chest. As he sank to the ground, Hama ran up to Sandrina. "Sandrina...you're good, but not strong. Do not take on men twice your size, or you will end up dead."

[starkat]

The battle had begun. Anora had crossed swords with one of the mercenaries and Was trying to disarm him. The man was taller and heftier than she had fought before, so she was having trouble. Suddenly she tripped and just as the man was about to kill her an arrow knocked him backwards.

Anora caught a glimpse of Hama and nodded her thanks. She ran over beside him and Sandrina and the three of them stood together.

[Crystal Heart]

Sandrina shook in fear. Only moments prior she had been in the grasp of two men, bothing asking each other would would be able to get to do what they wanted with her first before killing her. Hama had saved her. If he had not she would have been dead.

Her split sleves hung down and flapped in the small breeze. She ripped them off and threw them to the ground. She grabbed Hama's hand and pulled him away from the battle. Her chest heaved, trying to pull more air into her frightened lungs.

"Hama," Sandrina gasped as she ran, "There is no way that we can stay here. There are too many. I, I've grown too tired to fight. I can barely weild my sword. If you do not stay with me, then I fear that I shall die before my time."

Sandrina tripped upon the ground, nearly falling completely face first into the grass. Her legs shook violently and she knew that she could not carry on. She had already killed, three men, or something like that. She could no longer recall. She had seen too much death and blood and she had pushed herself past her own limits. She had drained herself.

She grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled his face closer to her.

"Leave me. Save the others. Their lives are more important," Sandrina pleaded. Her eyes shimmered with tears that she tried to hold onto. She swallowed hard against her words. More memories that she had lost came swarming into her mind. Memories of a long forgotten love for the man before her. She had forgotten, but her heart had not. It explained what she had been feeling deep inside since she met him.

She wanted him to save himself. She did not want to see him die here. His life, above all others, was more important to her then anything else in the world. She closed her eyes and kissed him softly before pushing him forward.

"Go. Please. I beg you."

[Hama Of The Riddermark]

Hama looked at Sandrina, he saw the tears flowing down her cheeks. He smiled the first real smile she'd seen form him as a tear escaped the corner of his eye momentarily before he blinked it away. "No, Sandrina. I swore that I would protect you, you are the most important thing here right now. I cannot let you just die here. There are only one or two left now, we WILL come through this." Sandrina looked up at him from the ground and her brow creased as she tried to stop more tears. "You are so unlike how I remember you, Sandrina." Hama smiled, "The girl I knew before was not the sort who could kill a man, even if he attacked her." Sandrina gulped, "I still can't." she sobbed, "I still can't kill heartlessly, I'm no soldier, Hama."

"Drop your sword!" Came a voice from behind. Hama felt cold steel against the back of his enck and lamented his misfortune. He stood slowly up, throwing his sword a few feet away before moving with the sword of the mercenary. He stopped, and Hama heard the swish of the sword and squeezed his eyes shut. He screamed in pain as it sliced deep into his lower back and he fell to the floor in a spray of blood. The nmercenary looked pleased with himself and moved over to Sandrina. Hama looked through his hazy eyes to see him clamber on top of her. "Well Missy, looks like your little quest has failed." he said heartlessly as he began to unbuckle his leggings. "Not if..." Hama crawled up and rose to his feet, pushing his regained sword through the mercenary's shoulder, Sandrina screamed again as the point pushed through and cut her slightly, and as the man coughed blood onto her chest. Hama rolled the mercenay off Sandrina with his foot. *I can help it..." he finished his sentence, before swooning and falling onto his back.

[Crystal Heart]

Sandrina picked up Hama's sword and chopped the man until she was sure that he was dead. Then she dropped to her knees where he had fallen. She placed a hand upon his face. It was still warm and he was breathing.

"Hama!!" Sandrina screamed in terror, hoping that he would wake to the sound of her voice. He didn't move. She shook him violently. Yet he didn't move. She fell upon his chest, sobbing. Totally unable to move away from him. She could hear his heart beat and his strong breathing, but she was so afraid that if she moved that he would die.

She finally raised herself up off of him and pulled him over. The gash in his lower back was deep and bleeding. She grabbed her sleves and tied them together and tied it around him the best that she could, ripping more of her shirt to stop the bleeding. She looked up.

"RAEN. ANORA, ANYONE!! HELP!!!!!!!!" Sandrina screamed at the top of her lungs, hoping that they would hear her in time.