Caleb was sitting at the sidelines, actually a bit proud of himself that he made it just beneath the finals, especially since he wasn’t a damn knight. The guy he’d been taken down by finally had been really, really good, and all his training in the world didn’t make him an actual knight, which this guy clearly was. So, he was satisfied with that.
It was unexpected when very abruptly he was watching an influx of animals racing through the place, and branching off to take on different sections of the area. His mind barely had time to think ‘it looks like tactics’ before he had to scramble out of the way, several sets of buck’s antlers coming straight at him. He just barely made it when he looked around, hearing of course the sounds of distress everywhere. He spotted one of the girls he’d woken up with before and raced over to her, grabbing her upper arm to drag her with him.
Marian had been enjoying watching Caleb. She might not tell him that, but damn he was impressive. And getting lost in watching and joining in on the cheers here and there helped her ignore the fact that she was upset, that just being here was panicking. But it gave her something else to focus her attention and she buried the rest down under the surface.
Then all hell broke loose. Marian knew she should react, she should do something, but there were deer running at her, charging the grounds, and birds swooping, horses, all of it. She had no idea what to even do with things. It wasn’t until someone grabbed her arm, hard, and drug her away from the charge of animals. She stumbled twice before she caught up with him, running as well. “What the hell?”
Caleb didn't answer her, looking around for something that looked solid. Even a single wall would work better than being out in the damn open. In front of him he saw swarms of animals who definitely should have been scattering in fear of humans, instead attacking people. He saw one woman, likely a Lady, getting brought down by large rats. He almost went for her, but a second later a horse trampled her, and he veered them away from that.
Marian saw the same thing, eyes wide, but as she got trampled her stomach turned over and she had to look away, all but hiding her eyes in his shoulder. There were others. Foxes swarming and stalking a man with two hunting dogs that should have been tackling the foxes, but instead were growling and all but egging on the foxes to attack.
Eventually Caleb spotted a shack, nothing that would stand up to the attack or anything, but it gave him a buffer. He pulled Marian behind that, and drew his sword, waiting for anything to come around either side of the building. “If anything comes at you, move. Just don't move toward me, because I'll be swinging this,” he instructed.
“What? Move where? Just run? Leave you behind?” Marian’s back was pressed against the wall, staring at him confused. She wasn’t sure what she should be doing, but running sounded kind of pathetic didn’t it? Her eyes went to his sword and she wasn’t sure she could do anything with that, but she was pretty sure she could do something. Right? Of course what could she do with animals attacking? An tiny internal war was waging inside her, wanting to do more, but not sure how to do it.
“Only leave me behind if I go down,” Caleb told her, then he sidestepped as a boar charged around the corner of the shack, heading straight for him. He swung, his sword biting into it's back. The thing squealed, thrashing, though it was clear the lower half of it's body wasn't working. He pulled the sword from it's carcass, and slashed at it's neck, realizing those tusks were still a huge danger even if it wasn't charging anymore.
Right she could work with that. She could stick around until he went down. “I feel like I need a sword,” she managed before he took on the boar and she was sure she was going to be sick again. With the animal dealt with she peeked her head around the corner, too curious not to. She wanted to know what the hell was going on and looking seemed like the best way to determine what was going on.