Re: Re: &quote;...soon I know, I'll wake...&quote;

The elf made no noise, no scent, and had vanished from sight. Ulrich scowled at the darkness, then straightened up. "Hmph. She was just after the barbarian lass, then?" Sakura groaned and gripped the thick bolt, buried deep in her shoulder, but couldn't bring herself to even sit up straight.

Anna: Her ears were flicking this way and that, frantically scanning her brain for some spell to counter the invisibility spell Ataylia had cast upon herself. Glancing at Ulrich, she snorted, still crouched and ready, turning slowly. "Hardly...we're aidin her, so we're targets as well.."

Again the knight muttered under his breath and squinted into the darkness. Sakura grunted and tugged at the bolt, but only managed to nearly knock herself out with the pain as it grated against bone and muscle. "Hush, lass, she will find you again for sure." Father Ulrich nodded from Annabella to Sakura. "You know healing tricks, no? Help her." He swiveled his sword back and forth, following the line of trees surrounding them, looking for any sign of the elf's return.

She had already started towards Sa'kura, whispering softly as she knelt down, placing her hands around the bolt first, to send a numbing spell through the drow's shoulder before extracting the bolt. Dark blue eyes looked at the drow's face, brows lowered as she worked. "D'ye know any counter spell tae knock the invisibility right outta that huntress?"

The drow frowned, fighting back the last bits of ache that throbbed in her shoulder and from the other minor wounds that still troubled her, but nodded. Through gritted teeth, she muttered while lifting a finger to her own golden eyes. "Xas....can see her -" THWIP!! Another crossbow bolt bounced off a tree root just next to Annabella's head, barely missing Sakura's in the process. Ulrich cursed and mumbled something about Saints while backing up closer to them, now oriented in the direction the bolt came from.

She was growling in frustration, eyeing Ulrich as she began tugging the bolt out of Sa'kura's shoulder slowly, trying in vain to keep her hands from becoming slick with the drow's blood. "Where??? She was watching Ulrich now, shaking her head as she painstakingly removed the arrow from the shoulder. "She'll nae be comin from that direction..."

"Oh and what makes you so blasted sure, elf?" Mathews snapped back, not taking his eyes off the shadowed darkness. Sakura's whispered, broken common interrupted the iminent argument. "Xas...she is...not gone. She gives off heat...elves can see this..." she hesitated "most elves...?" obviously a question, uncertain if Annabella had the ability to see the infrared.

She yanked back hard suddenly, nearly toppling backwards with the bloodied bolt clasped in her hand. She shook her head, clearing it, and nodded slowly. She'd been paying more attention to the aid of de-bolting Sa'kura that she'd hardly even looked for the huntress. Wiping her hands hastily on her leather breeches, she neglected her own wound, which was weeping heavily down the front of her bodice, to place her hands on the open hole in Sa'kura's arm, whispering softly. She could only do one of these things at a time, as the spell took a good deal of concentration. "Keep yer eyes peeled, fer jest a moment...."

"Xas...eyes peeled..." She said quietly, eyes actually fluttering from blood loss. "Come on lass, I have a bad feeling about this forest. Too much evil for one night." His pun was lost as Ulrich began snapping his head from side to side in an attempt to see in too many directions at once. The sword swung back and forth to point at the area he currently scowled into, flashing brightly in the moonlight of the clearing.



She was sweating profusely now, hands shaking a bit as she fought to close the hole nearly all the way, unable to completely seal the wound closed. She was growling softly to herself, before glancing up at Ulrich, nodding in assent. "Aye....she's weak...we need tae find shelter...and quickly."

Sakura choked, suddenly, eyes wide and staring over Annabella's shoulder as she struggled to speak. Ulrich saw this as well, having glanced back to see the condition of the two. He lunged to the side, sword swinging wide in an arc, diving in the direction the barbarian elf was looking. His armor clattered loudly in the silent evening and sent echoes through the forest.

She ducked over Sa'kura's prone form, as Ulrich dove wildly with his sword swinging, not knowing who she should be more worried about, Ulrich, or the huntress. She crouched low, scooping her arms under the drow, and waiting for just a moment, to decide which direction to go.

The knight brought himself up with a grunt, again raising his sword forwards towards the forest. "Get her out of here, find shelter," he growled. "And if you see that warlock again..." He didn't finish, instead rose to his feet and again took up vigil, scanning the forest. A tree to Annabella's left rose its branch upwards a few inches, then lowered it again. Sakura only breathed heavily, eyes tightly closed.

Grunting, she picked Sa'kura up, hunching over to protect her as much as she could. She moved in the opposite direction of the moving tree, eyes now focusing on the surrounding forest for the heat signature that the huntress would be giving off. She moved fairly noiselessly, glancing back briefly for Ulrich. "Hurry up!!!"

: Just beyond the knight, a faint red tint colored the forest, a portion highlighted a few feet off the ground. In the shape of a smile. Father Mathews glanced towards the two elves and opened his mouth to say something. But only blood came out as he jolted to the side; one bolt in his chest between the rents in his armor, another now piercing the side of his skull.

She gasped, nearly tripping with Sa'kura's rather limp body in her arms, then let out a rather roar like yell, eyes blazing. She began swearing, ducking into a dense outcropping that seemed to loom in front of her. She muttered softly, sliding her hand over Sa'kura, blanketing her in a cloaking spell. She wasn't too worried about her heat signature with her blood loss. She turned quickly, likewise cloaking herself, before making off silently towards the grove where Ulrich now lay.

Ulrich lay motionless as thick blackness seeped out over the crushed grass and old leaves of the forest floor. The glimmer of red slunk noislessly across the clearing towards the side that Annabella and Sakura had disapeared into.

She stood over his body for a brief moment, mouth working as she tried to decide what to do. Then she turned, bolting silently across the distance towards where the "red" had gone, and leapt, eyes flashing a disturbing emerald in the dark forest, catching the "red" squarely in the middle in a tackle any linebacker would be proud of.

A bolt fired, but went wide under the unexpected leap. The elf rolled backwards under the tackle, her grunts and the impact with the ground silenced by her own spells. Three times, the butt of the crossbow slammed into the side of Annabella's head.

Growling like a wild animal, she brought the smashed hand back, hardly feeling the jarring blows due to the adrenaline pumping through her frame, and firmly connected with Ataylia's face. The power behind the blow was hardly fitting for such a seemingly diminutive elf, and Anna struggled to keep from shifting in her rage. She wriggled on top of the huntress, the entirely inhuman sounds coming out of her enough to give pause to most as she grabbed the hand with the crossbow, wrenching it free and tossing it far into the underbrush. Then the cursing began. Half was understood, the other half marred by the growling, animal noises coming from Anna's throat as she pinned the huntress down.

Leaves crunched under Annabella's gripping fingers. The crossbow clattered through the trees and vanished into the underbrush. There was only a second of confusion, and then the Annabella dropped to the forest floor atop a small bush. Ataylia was gone.