Always Rhun For One More

[Kay-Larr]

She looked out towards the mountains. No wonder they were always ready to fight. Even on their own world they were in danger. She wondered if anyone had ever tried to work out some kind of a peace agreement.

Kay ate a bit more of her food before looking to [member="Valentinian Alexandrus III"] and giving him her answer. "It's very peaceful and not unlike how I pictured the daily routine of soldiers to be. I take it that tomorrow will be combat training?" It was of course just a guess.

 

[Tanith Alde]

"You would be right in that. The day after that we'll break off and head to the cavalry school, and for our final two days I'd like to show you the Academy of Sorcere"


In the distance smoke curled toward the sky lazily, a camp fire? A burning house? Who could say. It could be both, or neither. Valentinian peered intently at it but was unable to distinguish anything


[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

"Sounds wonderful. How often do you have these types of trips?" Surely he would need time for other duties.

Kay followed his gaze and saw the smoke. It wasn't a natural fire as she wasn't aware of any electrical storms. Someone else seemed to be camping out there too. But whether or not they were hostile remained to be seen.

[member="Valentinian Alexandrus III"]

 

[Tanith Alde]

"Personally, I haven't attented a training exercise such as this for many months, as you could have guessed by my skills at putting up a tent" He joked reffering to the nearly botched attempt quite early on of hoisting up one of the walls of the tent. Slowly around them the camp was beginning to simmer down from it's activities as night came in.

"You go on ahead and find your tent, I think you're sharing a tent with one of the other women " Valentinian didn't show any signs of wishing to turn in quite yet, intent on keeping watch for an hour or two more

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay smirked to herself. She thought that their missteps in putting up the tent was her fault, or that he just didn't want her to feel as though she was inferior. But they did a good enough job, she thought.

And now she was being dismissed for the night. That was okay as she could probably use some sleep, most especially as they were going to have some combat training tomorrow. She bowed her head to him. "Alright, if you insist. Goodnight, M'Lord. Rest well."

She turned and headed off to find her tent. There was another lady inside. Kay greeted her and then removed the sword from her hip. She had no bedclothes and given that this was a training camp, she didn't want to be woken up in the middle of the night for an exercise and have to make others wait while she got dressed. And besides, it wasn't as though she slept in bedclothes while she was hiding out or on the run anyways. One always had to be prepared to break camp without notice.

Kay set out a bedroll for herself, slid herself into it and then closed her eyes, doing a bit of meditation to help relax her mind to allow herself to sleep.

[member="Valentinian Alexandrus III"]

 

[Tanith Alde]

Valentinian kept watch for some time more, before shaking his head. Was he in a proper army camp, he would have sent out riders, but being as it was a training camp all he could do was watch. Unless....He made his way to the stables. A few mounts were kept for emergency, and this might describe such. He tried to avoid making much noise as he passed the tents, including the one Lady Kay slept inside as he lead the horse to one of the entrances, intent on finding out for himself what the cause of the fire was

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay was always a light sleeper. She had to be. So when she heard noises outside of her tent, she slid out of her bedroll, grabbed her sword and belt, then quietly exited her tent to investigate. It caught her by surprise to see [member="Valentinian Alexandrus III"] sneaking off. She approached and whispered loud enough for him to hear, "Not running away, are you?" Her eyes darted to the direction of where he was headed. It was towards the smoke.

 

[Tanith Alde]

"Just out for a little stroll" He said lightly, glancing toward the flames then back at her, his hand resting on his belt "I shan't be gone for long, please, rest. I'll be fine, just a little concerned about the flames" He tried to convince her, placing one foot in the stirrup he swung himself up into the saddle with a practiced ease

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay wasn't convinced. Out for a stroll with a mount? And concerned about the flames? [member="Valentinian Alexandrus III"]
was more worried than he was letting on.

"Well if it's a fire that needs putting out, then two of us would make quicker work of it than just one. And besides, I wouldn't be able to rest until I was sure that everything was okay. So in short, I'm coming with you M'Lord."

 

[Tanith Alde]

He considered. Placing her at risk wouldn't exactly make him a good host but, she didn't look like the type of woman that could be persuaded, or coerced, into backing down. Finally he leaned down and extended a hand to help her up

"Fine, take my hand we must hurry, we may still be able to help"

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Oh yes, she was a stubborn one. Sometimes that got her into trouble, yet sometimes it saved her from it too. Kay reached up for his hand and climbed onto his steed. She had never been on the back of a creature before, so she wrapped her arms around his torso.

"Have you got comms to be able to call the others if we need them?"

[member="Valentinian Alexandrus III"]

 

[Tanith Alde]

"Comms are somewhat limited here as well..I would be happy to describe our laws to you, once we've returned" He said as she spurred the horse out of the gate, it's hooves skittering against the gravel path as they sped toward the flames.

It was a few kilometers away, and a quarter hour ride brought them in sight of what it was. A large Farmstead was burning, for quite a long time by now. There were bodies littering the floor. Men of Rhun...and savage hill men. There was a group of farmers still trying to defend themselves, the three behind a makeshift barricade of hay, wagons and furniture, cracking away every odd minute with their las-locks at the hillmen taking cover behind the barn.

"Raiders" The prince growled, his hand reaching for the hilt of his blade

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay held on tight as they rode, squeezing with her knees by instinct to keep herself from falling off.

When they reached the farm, she slid off the beast and frowned at the sight of the bodies. She's seen death before, especially when her husband was alive and she would help with the wounded during battles. If only they had decided to investigate sooner. But there were survivors.

Kay looked to [member="Valentinian Alexandrus III"], "What's the plan?"

 

[Tanith Alde]

"Not one more"

Valentinian said, drawing his blade. By his count, there was roughly ten raiders. Between him, the las-lock armed settlers and the lady, he felt confident they could fight off the raiders. Armed as they were with axe, torch, spear, bow and such, they did not present too much of an immediate threat.

"Make your way to the settlers, Try to calm them down. Have them fall back, don't let them put themselves at risk. I'll distract them untill you get them clear, allright?"


The plan was quite straight forward, not much could go wrong. He turned to look at Kay for agreement

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay nodded. "Alright. They don't know me, but I'm used to that. I'll take care of it."

She snuck around, keeping to the bushes until she got behind the settlers. Not wanting to startle them, she whistled and then held her hands out and open.

"I'm a guest of your Lord and he's asked me to get you all to safety. He'll take care of the raiders. Are any of you wounded? We have a camp not far from here. I can help you get there."

[member="Valentinian Alexandrus III"]

 

[Tanith Alde]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xCCAs8iglY

Valentinian clutched his sword with both hands as he strode across the open field toward the raiders. By luck, divine intervention, or perhaps some level of dread on the part of the raider's caused any missiles, arrows spears and the like, to miss , though some came dangerously close to making an end of the young prince.

"Without the Dark, there can be no Light, We have purpose. Without the Lie, there can be no Truth, We have purpose. Without the War, there can be no Victory, We have purpose. Without the Death, there can be no sacrifice, We have purpose. Without the Hope there can be no Future, We have purpose. "

Valentinian spoke the ancient word's softly to himself as he strode toward the scum that threatened his people. The words brought comfort, kept the fear at bay long enough for him to act. They kept him moving, acting, alive. Already, the first few raiders broke from their hiding places behind the barn, eager for blood. The prince brought his blade up, countering an axe swipe from one of them, while kicking another back to buy himself some time.

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay kept her attention fully on the settlers and not on the fight nearby. A few of them were wounded, though not badly. She didn't try to heal them with the Force however, as she wasn't sure how they would take that. Plus she was keeping her gifts a secret still. Only a select few knew about them.

Even though she wanted to help [member="Valentinian Alexandrus III"] , she just had to do what was expected of her and look after the settlers. Quietly she led them back towards the camp. Having to go on foot would take them longer, especially as there were injured ones among them. Kay encouraged them though to press on. "It won't be long. I promise you. And if any of you need to rest, just tell me and we'll stop."

Of course she kept looking behind her to be sure that they weren't being followed. A few of the settlers did the same thing as they walked.

 

[Tanith Alde]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4qDqUq5LRM


"Come out you cowards and tans, Come out and fight me like a man. Show your wives how you won scars here in Anders. Tell them how a single man made you run like hell away" He taunted them. He ducked under a wild swing and brought his own sword up in a cross swipe, severing the man's head from his shoulders. He was distantly aware of a pain somewhere near his right shoulder, but that was shoved to the back of his mind as he whipped about just in time to stop an axeman from cutting him down a head as well. Behind the man he saw the last of the settlers moving over the crest of the hill. He needn't hold them off fore much longer, just a few more minutes....

He took a few steps back, managing to get his back to the barn wall, forced onto the defensive it was the best spot for him as he had barely seconds to react to blade snaking in time and time again to get past his defensive. "Where are the smears and jeers,That you bravely let us hear when you kill poor farmers? Come tell me how you slew those brave Settlers two by two " He demanded of the raiders, taking the offensive, forcing them back through sheer bloody mindedness. Another body fell at his feet, and then a third. Slowly he was driving them back. Already, one had begun to flee. Then he felt it, a sapping wound, somewhere in his chest, and he was thrown back several steps. Looking down he saw it, an arrow, sticking out of his chest.

Gripping it he snapped it off, giving him the ability to move somewhat better, though he knew that arrow had taken much of the fight out of them. He widened his stance, needing the balance to stay on his feet. He knew two things, he had to stay standing, and he had to keep the sword in his hand. Spinning in a half circle he brought the blade in for another bide, feeling the ribs of his foe crack and the man go screaming in pain to the ground.

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

They could hear the fighting in the distance behind them and Kay did everything that she could to press on ahead instead of going back to help. Once at the camp, she knew where she could send the others in training. In the meantime she was needed here.

Kay wrapped an arm around the shoulders of one man as he was starting to limp pretty badly. "Keep your weight on me. We're almost halfway there. You all are doing great." Thank the Force she was dressed in clothing that they recognized. Otherwise if they knew that she was an outsider, they might not have gone with her.

[member="Valentinian Alexandrus III"]

 

[Tanith Alde]

"Is that the best you've got?" He roared at them, managing to get one of them to back off a few paces, bringing his weapon up defensively, which allowed Valentinian to bring his blade down, swiping his leg out from under him before embedding the blade in his chest. Four. Four more. He just had to stay on his feet for four more opponents. One of them swung down at him, causing him to stumble do to a clumbsy parry. He hit the ground, panting softly, his vision starting to blur. Was he to die? Here? Today? He knew it, a day would come, when his courage failed. When he gave up the will to fight..... "But today is not that day" He growled, more to himself than his enemy. The man struck down at him again, and he managed to push the blow aside once again, following through on the parry he thrust his blade up, burying it in the neck of his assailant. Three. He saw them, approaching him, two, maybe three meters away. They had him, and they knew it. leisurely they walked toward him, in no hurry. Summoning up the last drudges of his strength he forced himself to kneel, and then, to stand.

They paused now, how could a man withstand such a beating? Half of an arrow still stuck out of his chest, and numerous wounds that wept crimson attributed to his injuries. Grimly, the prince advanced on them, and they began to fall back, running for their lives. Valentinian stood, watching them go, his body trembling, before he sunk to his knees, leaning against the sword for support

[member="Lady Kay"]