Backscene: Impasse Impasse (Five days after Stalemate) Who: Imenry Barras, Cormac Murrough Where: About an hour away from South Reach When: 10 Nubulis 9:44 Summary: I hate you, I want you, I hate you. Rating: T Complete
An uneventful job was certainly not the way to describe this one. After that first attack in which they had all but given away one of their wagons and lost at least one man, the fun hadn't stopped. The road had been riddled with bandits. They'd lost one more man, a previously injured one, in the last skirmish and had decided to forgo camping the last night and push the remainder of the way to South Reach.
They were all of an hour away now and tempers were short. Imenry was hoping for a fight, if only to take it out on someone. The mercs had been sniping at each other and Imenry had moved towards the front of the convoy to get away from the bickering and fallen into a deep silence. She was a little weary, but she had spent sleepless nights before. The tired feeling only seemed to make her other senses more aware and she kept scanning the road ahead of them. They were so close to South Reach now, but she had a bad feeling. Could they make it another hour free of attacks?
It was a clear day at least, and warm enough, but something was off, and it made a chill dance up her spine. Imenry shifted uneasily on her feet, pausing for a moment before walking onwards. Perhaps she was being overly cautious, but she reached back for the hilt of her sword anyway. In the peripherals of her vision she caught a shadow of movement and she stilled again, holding a hand up in warning briefly. "There's someone out there," She kept her voice low, but pitched high enough that the others could hear her, and slowly drew her sword. The hiss of metal sliding against the leather scabbard on her back was a whisper of sound. Her boots scuffed against the dirt road as the wagons behind slowly rolled to a stop and others began to hesitantly draw their weapons. Some of them were looking doubtful, but after all the attacks, they couldn't afford to let their guard down.
She was tense but she tried to relax her muscles and keep ready to move after the first strike was made. She didn't have to wait long. The bandits swept out of the surrounding hills and forests, charging towards the group of mercenaries. They made no secret of their approach, as the mercenaries appeared to be expecting them. Still they had the upper hand, as arrows flew from the distance, with more than one archer hiding in the surrounding hills. Imenry ducked down, skirting around a wagon to come face to... chest with one of the attackers. He carried a large two-handed hammer and easily towered over her. He swung and she stumbled back away from the blow, dropping closer to the ground. Her knuckles scraped against the dirt as she tried to prevent herself from falling completely and still keep grip on her sword. The man lifted the hammer to swing downwards and she rolled aside, using the force of movement to propel herself to her feet.
The sent her behind the big man and she swung her sword hard at his back. He made a strangled sort of howling noise as blood bloomed across his back where her blade had found the flaw in his scavenged armor. He whirled on her and she kicked one leg out low, heel crashing into his kneecap. With a crunch of bone the leg gave out, and he dropped to his knees. Imenry swung her weapon again, slicing deep in between his neck and shoulder. She yanked it free and he crashed to the ground, sputtering and gasping for breath as his blood ran into a river and pooled around him. Stepping over the discarded hammer she stepped back into the fighting.
Two men had gone off, along with Cormac's Mabari, Shartan, to hunt down the archers, while the rest engaged the other fighters. She could see a pair of rogues engaged with said shield-wielder now, and though he was fending them off, they were taking his full concentration. She could take one off his hands, but he looked fine for the moment and there were others who certainly needed the help more. Bringing up her bloodied sword she made her way for the closest bandit.