Chapter 2 - Ride of the Red Wolves

Kara looks at her party, the memories and joy they bring a great gift to her. But her destiny called her elsewhere currently. "Be well my friend. I shall come with Freya's glory and blessings, and shall help assist you in the fight against these invaders "  She then looks to the Druids, nodding softly to them before going with them with her equipment. She was unsure what all she would need, but better to be overprepared, than under when Freya calls on her.

The druids lead Kara off away from Magan's caravan, the setting sun at their backs. Behind them, the dull orange orb hangs low over the Severn, casting long shadows that stretch out across the land before the northern woman. The trees, the approaching houses of Fretherne and the three wise men themselves all cast in the warm gold of the fading light. South of the village, near the river bank, rises a hill-topped barrow, much like the one in Wansdyke. At the base, the earth slopes down to a path that leads inside. They stop and Wulfgar gestures for Kara to enter.

Kara kept quiet on the movement up, concern for her party clear, but the path of the God's did not mislead. This was to happen before the battle, but what part she would play seemed unknown to her. But she would get it her best try, for that is what was demanded of her. She raises Helgi to the sky, praying "Freya, guide me along this path set before me, so I may bring honor and glory to your name! Hear my prayer!"  She then sets onto the path, giving proper respect as she enters.

Inside the barrow, the fading rays of the sun shine in through a single west-facing slit. The three druids position themselves to the north, east and south. Wulfgar gestures to Kara to take her place in the middle. "Kneel,  Freyasdotter ," the old man tells her, "and look to the east." Another of the druids mixes herbs with a mortar and pestle while quietly humming a chant to himself. The bowl is placed on the ground before Kara. Its fumes waft up to her nose, sharp and acrid. "Who are you?" Wulfgar asks simply of the shield maiden before him.

As the sun begins to fall in the sky, Magan gather those warriors who ahve shown themselves to be swift, silent and competent ready for their mission. Leaving instructions with Gann to lead the troops as quietly as he can as soon as he hears a sound or sees the guards in the tower fall, Magan leads his own group, requesting of Caerek his spell to aid them once again. Using the cover of darkness and the blessing of the gods, the group crosses the ground, lining up shots with their bows to strike swiftly, silently and decisively, and move beyond the gate before any alarm can be raised.

Kara takes her place looking east, knelt down in her armor. She was not familiar with what was happening, but the wise men knew their business with the Gods just as she knew her place was to do. The interior of the barrow was sheltered more than the outside, giving some relief. Until the herbs burnt against her nose, making her exhale sharply. "I am a shieldmaiden, swore into the service of Freya, to bring her glory and to honor my homeland. I travel with one called Magan, to secure his lands against foreign invaders."

The fumes intensify Kara's senses, deepening the shadows and making the patches of evening sunlight uncomfortably bright. "Where is your homeland,  Freyasdotter ?" Wulfgar intones solemnly. To the west, shrouded by druidic craft and the cover of dusk, Magan leads Goewyn, Eadwyn and their small band of shadow walkers across the dunes towards the Red Briar compound. Consumed by divine purpose, Vidarr's chosen strides ahead of his flock, in plain sight but for Caerak's magic. Obscured from mortal sight, the warriors make haste across the open ground until they have their backs pressed up against the base of the palisade.

Under the blinding light, her golden braids fading to white under them, she answers solemnly. "I come from the land of ice and snow, with a midnight sun and hot springs flow. Norbweg is the common name among your people Elder. It is a beautiful land, with much song and drink." Her answer is not given to disparage these lands she was currently in, but it was telling of her love of her home land, and the differences she noted between the two.

Kara's vision blurs and she can hear the druids around her chanting in a foreign tongue. " Freyasdotter , you are named Kara. Olmsdotter. Of the clan of Norbweg. Speak your ancestors' names!"  Wulfgar instructs.

Gann walks among the circle of carts, followed by one bald man with a flat nose and a large bluefish tattoo on his broad forearm. He notices Eadwyng approaching and puts a hand on his shoulder to end the conversation, then steps forward to meet her. The freed slave walks back but glances with curiosity over his shoulder. "I know little of the Aesir," Gann speaks with a hoarse nasal voice. His eyes are focused behind her shoulders, studying the men around and though he speaks to her, his attention is elsewhere. "But I know one, you do not trick the Aesir. Magan asked and they listened,... I think." The warrior looks at the direction where Kara and the derwydds have departed, then at Eadwyng's eyes. "We must prepare, and gather our own strength. Is there something I can aid you in the task ahead?" He feels the weight of the sun pulling it heavy towards the horizon. The day burns slowly and the fateful night approaches.

When they are at bow's range, Eadwyng says to Magan "I could try an old trick that could make more difficult to others to hear the guards deaths... "  She sounds confident even if she is not giving away more details about that.

Magan nods. "We'll take any advantage we can get." 

Kara prepares herself the best she can, but the blurring of her vision was similar to other rites the world over it seemed. It never got any easier, but at times one was able to weather the storm best. She answers, though her voice seems different and from other angles "I know only of my father, Olm, and his father before him. I have no knowledge of my mother, nor her people, other than told to me by my father. She was from the further north he said, and all were as if Freya herself blessed them with beauty."

The fog that clouds Kara's sight shifts and takes shape. She sees the village where she grew up. The temple of Freya. Her father Olm. She smells the salt on the air and hears the gulls' calls on the wind and, beneath it all, the dull chanting of the druids. " Who are you? "

When the attack party is close enough to the towers Eadwyng takes the little drum she had made the past days while she was sitting at the back of one of the carts. She starts to play it, with a soft, low, rythmic beat that even those close to her have difficulties to hear. She keeps playing, murmuring some words while she approaches the tower. When she touches the drum and she steps forward a low vribation can be felt around her, expanding from the little drum ourwards. Under that low, bass vribation they cannot hear the sounds of the insects around them or they steps when they move forward. She hits it again and they all can feel how that vibration expands and moves towards the wall and the tower, nulifiyng the sounds coming out of it.

Kara is taken back through time it seems, the smell of her home heavy. The memory of being the only girl to grow up without a mother, the memory of her father struggling to do his best to explain things that he knew how. The consistent warmth she felt when she would visit with the Priestess of Freya. "I am a humble warrior in service to Freya. I am Kara, daughter of Olm, called by Freya. I call Freya my mother, for she has blessed me in this quest, and in my life previous."

" What are you?" Kara's visions carry her away across the sea to the halcyon days of summers long past. A golden light shines from the north calling her home and she sees a great longship pulled up on the stony beach near the cliffs of the village where she grew up. A tall woman clothed in a flowing, white dress stands barefoot upon the rocks, facing Kara's father, Olm. Long golden curls flow down the stranger's back and she hands him a basket of woven reeds lined with straw. All around them, the beach is bathed in light. She is the source of the call that Kara has heard. The call that Kara feels in her blood... but then the trance is broken by a wailing cry - the basket contains a baby. A baby with a scraggly halo of the same golden curls. Back in the barrow, Kara begins to shine with an aura of the same radiant light as the druids chant around her. "Sigrún," she hears her father murmur.

"Take aim" Magan whispers, drawing his bow and aiming at the tower. "Now!" He releases the first of a hail of arrows directed at the towers, already leaping forward as he does so to close the gap and try to gain sight of any who may notice what is going on. Night attacks relied on surprise and the enemy being relaxed and unsuspecting that anything could be coming. Full bellies and drunkenness would be their greatest ally, that and the small hoarde of steel clad warriors that would be approaching when they saw the guards dropped. His arrow strikes his target, a well aimed shot that strikes deep onto the flesh of the man. 

Goewyn was hidden deep within the shadows, far from the sight of the guard atop the tower. She had learned to hunt from her father, silently stalking your prey and watching their every move and waiting for that perfect moment. With the arrow nocked to her string, she patiently waits for the signal from Magan as she feels her heart hammering away within her chest. Much like the ambush on the caravan, she feels her a pit within her stomach at the impatience. What would she find within? Would her brother be here? Or had he been sold off again. "Take aim." She pushes all fears aside and seeks out a deadly calm within, taking several deep breaths as she draws the bowstring back. Her aim is true as she releases with his next command and watches with a sense of detached pride as several arrow shafts suddenly sprout from the man's torso. He immediately drops to the top of the tower, disappearing from sight. She draws another arrow as she notices the other guard still standing, although he too had two arrows sticking from his body as he looks about wildly! Nearby Caerak whispers a small incantation over a few rocks he finds lying along the ground near the walls. As the arrows slammed into the guards, he takes aim and whips one of the rocks with surprising accuracy. The stone cracks the guard in the forehead, but was strangely silent. The entire thing was very odd for Goewyn to witness, but she could not help to appreciate the power wielded by her companions...

Stationed in the rear, Gann struggled to see well enough despite his unharmed sight. He could only detect the silhouette of the fort against the moonlit terrain, the guard's movement barely discernible and the world below was deep into blackness. He knew Magan and the others were out there and one with the night, quieter than a falling leaf and deadlier than a pack of wolves hunting. His attention only split when he heard soft murmur behind the ranks that the battle-ready men silenced harshly. He couldn't spare breath for that now.   Then he felt the cold caress of the wind and it felt like it carried the distant whistling of an arrow, and then one of the moonlit figures on the one end of the far wall toppled with a barely heard gurgle. As if the spirits summoned him. He reigned over his breathing and hold a tight grip on his trusty blade. "Now!" He whispers rasped and men around him turned their heads alarmed.  "Now is the time! We hit them now with all we got!" Commands and encouragement spread like wildfire, and Gann guided his horse from behind the thick shadows and rode towards the night-shrouded gates. 

While keeping the rithm of the drum, now attached to her right hip, Eadwyn readies the bow, using the same movement to reach of an arrow with her right hand and hitting the drum again, the low bass sound moving across the grass like a gust of wind and somehow avoiding that the scream of pain of the man hit by Magan's arrow reaches the camp behind it.  She aims and fires, but she doesn't hesitate to see if the arrow strikes or don't, as she hits the drum once again to keep the sound flowing from the drum to the towers and she starts to run after their leader to close the gap.

In his hurry to take down the second guard, Magan's shot flies wide. He continues to hurry for the gate of the compound though, hoping for the men behind him to finish the job, he peers in through the gate, wedging his axe into the gap between to provide a lever to lift the latch. The slaves are equally rushed with their shots though and the man on top of the gate silently gasps as his luck continues to hold out. 

Following their leader across the grass towards the gate, Eadwyn fires another arrow to one of the guards,keeping the same pace and rythm with the drum in order to her trick to keep working. She hopes her arrow take down the man,the sound of their screams will not penetrate her summoned bubble but at soon as they realize that they could do another signal and they must be dead before that happens.

The second guard vanishes from the top of the tower, but, for the moment, silence appears to prevail. Meanwhile, the druid Caerak crouches and presses his hands to the earth behind Magan. Beneath the gates, the soil parts, opening up a trench large enough for a man to slip down into.

Goewyn starts to take aim at the second guard, but he disappears from view before she could line up the shot. Instead she notices Caerak shoving his hands into the dirt, with a frown she watches in surprise as the earth suddenly parts ways. She rushes towards the trench, rolling underneath the wall into the courtyard beyond. As she climbs up from the trench and her eyes catch the numerous individuals beyond her initial plan of killing the remaining guard changes. She could not handle all these men alone, not in such a tight area. As the man approaching the wounded and staggering guard spots her with eyes wide, she immediately turns towards the gate behind her. It was an uncanny feeling... the deepness of the silence around her made all this feel like a dream as she quickly slipped her father's bow over one shoulder as she dips low and pressed her other shoulder beneath the heavy wooden slab holding the gate shut. With a silent grunt and shout of effort her feet dig into the hard-packed earth as she finds purchase and with the help of Magan's axe the wooden beam lifts upwards. She tips it to one side, falling heavily to the ground without even a faint thud as she once again throws her shoulders into the gate and forcing it outward towards the darkness and the warriors beyond. She begins reaching for the warseax at her hip with a cold, grim determination in her eyes as she turns back towards the men inside the courtyard. She was death this night...

With his heels against the animal and his body leaning forward so close that the mane brushes against his face Gann ride forward through the underbrush, towards the blackness of the fort's wall. Not even a sign or sound is heard from there, and except that man who toppled off the wall, there was no sign the ambush had successfully broke their unpreparedness. But Gann's lets no doubt poison his conviction. Behind him, men ride their horses and their rhythm of drumming hooves strengthens his resolve.

Seeing the scene unfolding before him as the gates open, Magan flings two axes at the fleeing sentry. The first flies wide, the second cuts deep though and he falls to the ground like a stone. Feeling Vidarr's anger building inside him he switches his attention, focusing on the weaknesses of the man walking towards him, the other warriors are already moving past him though and in a few seconds he knows arrows will be streaking past his ears,he continues his run out of sight of the campfire,drawing his shield, ready to engage. 

Confused, but a gleam of understanding begins to form. She was unsure what her mother was, but whatever she was, if she was the real Sigrun, then she had a much greater destiny than just simply accompanying Magan. She was there to not only guide him to the glory of the All-Father, but to ensure all the warriors who came with him went to Valhalla as planned. But who did that make her?  "I am Kara Olmsdottor, but also Kara Sigrundottor. Both my parents are mighty warriors, my mother a Valkyrie . I am to ensure Magan stays on his path to bring glory to the All-Father. I am called to be Magan's valkyrie, to guard him, and to guide him." She felt as if just knowing this, knowing she was not fully mortal had changed something, like suddenly her odd talents and skills were both Goddess-Given and innate. She was between two worlds, and her task in the mortal realm was to prepare the path proper. She felt the headrush of excitement, but also a sort of new wisdom, for she could no longer rush into battle, but make every move count now.

The gate of the Red Briar compound opens into a yard surrounded by eight buildings, with a well in the center. Goewyn slips through the trench that Caerak has called from the earth and sees one warrior, an axe in each of his hands, already moving cautiously towards the strangely silent guard. The man is shirtless with a torso covered in thick hair and wears only a fur kilt, boots, bracers and a leather helm. Then the gates are open and Magan's axes fly forth. The fleeing guard ducks the first, but the second catches him in the back, biting deep through his leathern warrior's jacket. As Magan steps aside, Eadbert and Bertwald both draw their seax, charging the other warrior before he can sound the alarm. Eadbert's momentum unbalances him and his target slips by the thrust, but Berwald meets the man blade on blade. However, the warrior skillfully gives ground to avoid losing the edge. Eadwyn's action.

Eadwyn smirks when the gates open and she enters the camp,they still had the advantage of surprise and the most time they could keep it the betterat least until the rest of their forces reach the campment.  She enters it and puts her back to the wall, eyes sharp for any enemy. She sees Eadbert fighting with one warrior but recognizes that the three men near the wall could pose a major threath to the enter of the rest of their forces that should be approaching now.  She stops the rhtymth on her drum and inmediatly those around her can hear their footsteps, and their own heavy breathing. She says to Eadbert "He is nothing next to you Eadbert, show him no mercy" Then she turns towards the chatting men and she sings a low tune, a popular lullaby that brings memories of their childhood to the rest of the team. To the surprise of the others the men start to yawn and turn sleepy. 

Spencer H. said: Confused, but a gleam of understanding begins to form. She was unsure what her mother was, but whatever she was, if she was the real Sigrun, then she had a much greater destiny than just simply accompanying Magan. She was there to not only guide him to the glory of the All-Father, but to ensure all the warriors who came with him went to Valhalla as planned. But who did that make her?  "I am Kara Olmsdottor, but also Kara Sigrundottor. Both my parents are mighty warriors, my mother a Valkyrie . I am to ensure Magan stays on his path to bring glory to the All-Father. I am called to be Magan's valkyrie, to guard him, and to guide him." She felt as if just knowing this, knowing she was not fully mortal had changed something, like suddenly her odd talents and skills were both Goddess-Given and innate. She was between two worlds, and her task in the mortal realm was to prepare the path proper. She felt the headrush of excitement, but also a sort of new wisdom, for she could no longer rush into battle, but make every move count now. A deep chuckle reaches Kara's senses through her vision. "Perhaps," Wulfgar laughs.  "You are quick to word and action, Kara of the North, but you must also learn patience. You have been touched by Freyja's light. Helgi hears your call. Even so,  how the Lady has blessed you remains to be seen. Open your eyes." The mists of time that cloud Kara's vision recede, revealing the interior of the barrow illuminated by her own radiance. Her eyes glimmer and two luminous, incorporeal wings have sprouted from her back. "This is Freyja's gift that has awoken within you. Time and practice may permit you to call upon it yourself. Use Her light only sparingly. The spark of Her power that dwells in your soul can only give so much."

"RAIDERS! DEFEND THE GATE!" Bellows the warrior with the dual axes, turning to face Eadbert and bringing a hook-headed waraxe down in a brutal swing that the former slave barely manages to parry. With a roaring battle cry, the powerfully built man arcs his second weapon around to come in for the kill, but Eadwyn suddenly calls out, causing a last minute distraction that gives Eadbert the split second that he needs to raise his shield. "It's incredible that you cam recognize the sharp side of your axe. Are you sure that you have it right?" Immediately, all Hel breaks loose, as though that one moment of confusion has set off a cascade of chaos throughout the compound. To the south, two men comes rushing around the corner of the nearest building, while beyond them, by the campfire, the one slaver still awake shakes one of his comrades from his enchanted slumber. The first of the two heading for the gate is a big man with a broad seax. He sprints towards Goewyn, while his companion looses an arrow at the Welsh girl with deadly precision. The arrow buries itself in her shoulder, the wound bleeding profusely. Goewyn takes 12 piercing damage to vigour and 2 to wounds -> 15/27 Vigour, 12/14 Wounds, 2 Bleed In the central yard, four more men come rushing out from between the buildings to engage the invaders. One lashes out at Eadbert with a whip, but fails to catch him. Two more hurl bolas at Eadbert and Bertwald. The flying weapons tangle themselves around Magan's men's legs, sending them toppling to the ground. The last warrior, armed with longspear and shield sprints towards Goewyn. With the gates open, Caerak closes the trench in the earth once more in preparation for the arrival of Gann and those on horseback. Goewyn's action.

As the chaos erupts around them and the chance of surprise is ruined, Goewyn cries out in pain as an arrow pierces her armor into her shoulder. She looks around in distress as enemies close in around her and their warriors are quickly overcome by the defenders of the keep. The old man, Caerak, comes up behind her with a handful of strange moss in his hands. He gives her a look as he grasps the shaft of the arrow and pulls the object from her shoulder and quickly covers the bleeding wound with the moss, stuffing some of it into the gaping wound. He whispers a supplication in a language she does not recognize and watches in awe as the moss begins to glow faintly with a bluish color, like the purest mountain spring water; the glow spreads from the moss into her shoulder and with a sigh of relief the pain subsides. When Caerak feels the tension release from Goewyn's back and shoulders he gives her a brief nod and smile before turning back to the warriors preparing to overwhelm the gates and the ditch he had just opened up. Goewyn does not waste the opportunity with needless words now, answers shall come should they survive this battle. Instead she scrambles up the ladder of the watchtower and turns her attention to the bastard who had put an arrow into her. She takes an arrow from her quiver and with a breath just like her father had taught her, she draws the arrow back as she focuses entirely on the archer. She pushes everything else aside, ignoring the chaos and the other warriors as she spots a weak spot in the man's armor... a joint along his shoulder. 'See how you like this, bastard.' She watches with satisfaction as her arrow punctures the muscle of the man's shoulder and cries out in pain as well. She draws another arrow as she hopes to finish him off. As she draws her next arrow, she spots the cages and leans over the edge of the wall to call down to Magan. "I see the cages, just beyond the central yard!"

Charging forward to protect the two ex slaves tripped on the Ground, Magan is stopped dead as he is caught surprised by the warriors spear, he grins though recovering quickly, he takes a side step, and held at reach his eyes glint as he releases first his axe and then his shield, catching the man unawares and striking him firmly with each. 

Looking at the warrior who raised the alarm, Eadwyn whispers something unintelligible and the warrior starts to look around, for only him can hear dozens of the whispers of his former victims that had been called to claim vengeance. Or at least that’s what he thinks. Screaming in panic he runs away and the bard nods with a grim smirk on her face.  “You have the eyes of a hawk Goewyn. Be as swift and deadly as one and bring death upon them...”

As the din of battle increases, Egon sits quietly in his cell, inspecting the dirt and blood beneath his nails. The other two men in his cage, Cuthbert and Edgar, were calling out fruitlessly into the battle. "That's not a good idea," he had said. "We don't know if these people will free us or simply kill us. Perhaps we shouldn't attract attention to ourselves."  The two saxons had promptly ignored him and continued yelling. "Very well, but don't blame me when they come murder us It won't be my fault. It will be yours. But I won't blame you. I'll be dead."  There was nothing to be done. He had thought about nearly every avenue of escape. There was too much risk of bodily harm, and he didn't much care to start his new life as Egon with a broken leg -- or two. There was no point in worrying. Assuming they won the no doubt fierce battle happening at the gates, the men invading the camp would either free them, or kill them. There wasn't anything he could do about it. So he sat and relaxed, taking deep breaths to calm his nerves, and watched what he could calmly.  Whatever happens next, it would be a new experience. "This should be good."

Struggling on the ground against the bolas tangled around his ankles, Eadbert rips through the cords with a grunt while Bertwald rapidly saws at his own with the edge of his seax. Ducking and dodging the encroaching slavers as they push themselves to their feat the two men pull back towards the gate. One of the nearby jailers lashes out at Eadbert with his whip as the former slave tries to withdraw, but Eadbert catches the flailing end on his seax and counters with a shield bash before moving away. The warrior with the longspear thrusts at Magan again with poise and precision, although the Saxon's mastercrafted leathern jacket prevents the blow from doing serious harm. Magan takes 8 piercing damage, reduced to 4 by DR -> 28/36 Vigour The warrior with the pair of axes shakes off Eadwyn's enchantment and hurries back towards the fight, hurling the smaller of the two weapons at Eadbert, who ducks just in time. Meanwhile, another warrior wielding a broad seax rushes Magan with a snarl, but the blade sails past as he steps to the side. Two of the jailers pursue Eadbert, both striking from a distance with their whips, but he knocks one aside with his seax and the other is distracted by Eadwyn just in time to make the slaver miss his target. The archer who had exchanged arrows with Geowyn takes cover behind some barrels, crouching while he sees to his wound, but the slaver by the fire, now woken from Eadwyn's enchanted slumber quickly joins the melee around Magan with a stab of his seax. However, the blow just glances off of the protective leather. Magan takes 4 piercing damage, reduced to 0 by DR. Caerak's action.

Once more Caerak crouches, pressing his hands to the ground as he mutters a druidic incantation. Meanwhile, to the north a man clad in mail steps out of the larger building that Goewyn can see.

Goewyn continues surveying the grounds as she watches the archer taking cover behind some barrels as the warriors the begin to swarm around Magan and the others below. As she does so, she spots a warrior exit a building to the north heavily clad in mail. In a brief moment of indecision she looks between him, the archer, and the number of warriors surrounding Magan, Eadwyn, Eadbert, and Bartwald. The warrior with the longspear and shield as the most dangerous immediate foe on the grounds below as someone trained in the same style of fighting as that man, she knew how well he could keep the others from moving about on the battlefield. She draws her arrow back, breathing in deep with the draw, letting it out, and releasing in the small break between breaths just like her father had taught her. The arrows finds its mark and punctures through the armor! It does not hit anything vital, but it penetrates into his shoulder and blood begins to flow! From the darkness beyond the walls she can hear the thundering of hooves and knows that Gann and his warriors would be arriving very soon. "Magan! Warrior to the north in mail! Gann will be here very soon! HOLD THE GATE!" From outside the gate, Osric and Wuffa see Goewyn's arrow fly and follow suit! One arrow finds its mark as well and the man cries out as a second arrow penetrates his flesh! From the darkness beyond, they can hear the pounding of hooves and know that Gann and his warriors will be arriving soon. They each step to one side of the gate to allow the horsemen access the yard beyond.

Magan roars out with rage, pulling Thea free from his side he hacks down at the slaver next to him, once, then twice, deep into the shoulder, then straight through with the second swing. The man drops to the ground, white as a sheet with blood loss.  "My name is Magan Aethling, chosen of Vidar. Submit to me or die by my judgement!"  He flicks the true sword free, and blood splatters across his face and the armour of the warrior next to him. 

Eadbert and Bertwald sheathe their seax and loose arrows at the warrior holding the gap with the longspear. One flies wide, but the other finds a vulnerable spot, driving deep into the slaver's torso.

Eadwyn slips back towards Magan, resting a hand on his shoulder as she moves to cover the Saxon's flank. "Gann's right behind us, just a little longer."

The eyes of the warrior now facing Magan in single combat go wide when he sees his ally fall and the man roars with fury, swinging his broad seax high overhead. Grasping Thea tightly in both hands, Magan brings her up the block the strike, but the clang of metal on metal sends a painful shudder down both his arms. Magan takes 18 slashing damage, reduced to 12 by parry, reduced to 8 by DR -> 26/36 Vigour Across the yard, the archer exchanging arrows with Goewyn pops up from behind the cover of the barrels that he has been hiding behind. Another arrow streaks through the air, somehow finding her unexpected accuracy and the shaft scrapes across the girl's shoulder sending her tumbling backwards. Goewyn takes 6 piercing damage, reduced to 4 by DR -> 15/28 Vigour In the midst of the melee by the gate, the spearmen grunts from his injuries, taking a moment to bind his wounds tightly before he fights on. Meanwhile, the wild warrior with the axe throws himself at Eadbert. Thorny spikes erupt from the earth as the man moves, but he barely notices them as he carves a deep cut into Eadbert's chest. To the south, several other slavers advance, but must unexpectedly battle the thorns that have burst from the ground all around the gate. Unable to close and join the melee, two of them hurl light blades at Magan, but he dodges one and the second merely sticks in his armour. Eadbert is less lucky and this time a whip finally manages to wraps itself around his wrist. From behind Berwald the long blade of a sweord abruptly pierces his torso, dripping blood all over the ground in front of him as the heavily armoured warrior from the building to the north joins the battle. Caerak's action.

Continuing to chant as he presses his hands into the mud, Caerak channels the healing energy of the earth to stem Bertwald's bleeding, before moving aside for the oncoming horses. Goewyn's action.

As another arrow cuts across her shoulder, Goewyn turns with a curse and a glare towards the enemy archer lurking behind the nearby barrels. She marks him as her next target, planning to wait until he was visible once again to put an arrow through his throat, but the fracas and screams of pain nearby the gate inexorably draws her attention to the bastard with the longspear. She watches two arrows soar nearby him from her fellow archers outside the gate, but fail to meet their mark. She knows that he needs to be taken down, lest the headlong rush of Gann and his warriors fail...  She draws another arrow from the quiver on her hip, nocks it to the string, takes a deep steadying breath to assist in pushing aside the chaos, and finds the calm place within. She finds her quarry, watches him for a minute to study his movements, taking note of the weak spots in his armor, and draws the string back. As before, she felt that little voice in her head that told her this arrow was going exactly where she wanted it to. It was almost as if someone had taken a string from the point of her arrow and stretched it across the rampage just feet below her and jammed it into the throat of the warrior... Which is exactly where the arrow slammed into, taking the man completely unawares. His spear was mid-jab as the arrowhead slices cleanly through his windpipe and jams itself between the small bones in the back of his neck. The spear continues its swing as the man immediately drops to the ground limply. She lets out a brief sigh of relief as the man's death, meaning it will likely prevent the deaths of her friends, before ducking down and out of sight of the enemy archer as she listens to the rapidly approaching battle cries and shouts of Gann's warrior as they prepare to become death among the unsuspecting warriors within...

Magan hacks down once again with Thea, the man throws his sword up to block the attack but Magan forces it down into his armour, bending it into him. Springing back, he steps away to help clear a path. 

The waking cries of the slavers and the chaotic clatter of battle finally reach Gann's ears through the horses' sharp gallop, and he tightens his grip on the reins. Desperately searching for any sign of entrance, his eyes see few figures cast by the soft ember sheen from the fires behind the gates' frame, just in time to guide the beast in the right direction. He turns sideways to let a sharp yell at his followers to ride after him and then reaches for the cold hilt of his blade. He recognizes the figure of Magan just outside the fort when his booming voice threatens the enemy to submission, but even if seeing him standing gave Gann a glimmer of hope, he knew the strike has gone horribly wrong.  Once the horse turns left and the entry clears before him, Gann has mere heartbeats to react to the thick of the battle inside. All ready and armed and charging towards the entrance, the number of enemies greatly outnumbered the scouts and had them cornered by the gates. Gritting his teeth and let the fire of his anger boil over, he lets a guttural cry and kicks the horse into charging ahead. He crosses through the entry and cuts deep into the enemy rank as far as he could guide the beast he rode. The animal lets a loud bray and heaves up with its hooves brushing hard against the side of an armed man who stumbles backward. Gann is shaken harshly, his seax swinging in a low arc that almost misses but the man's momentum throws him against it and the end of the blade cuts the side of his shoulder. The horse twists and turns aside, shaking its mane and Gann almost leans off the saddle but his firm grip and hardened muscles keep him from falling aside.  "Men, charge through!" He roars, hopeful the cavalry behind him would hear as they storm through the gates and take a cue. The number of enemies that filled the fort gave him little hope if he and his brethren remained pressured to the wall. They needed to break through and cut the enemy like a blade deep into the flesh. "Cut through them!"

The riders following Gann come charging in through the gate, spilling in all directions as they attempt to leap and trample the front ranks of the slavers. Hrothgar pulls to the south, driving past the warrior who Magan has been fighting and dealing a decisive blow to the archer taking cover from Goewyn. The man crumples to the ground and does not get back up. Beornwyn turns north, thrusting her spear at the fearsome, mailed warrior. The blow is turned aside by his sword, but her horse kicks him hard in the chest as they pass. Aldwulf drives on through, sticking close to Gann. Although his spear fails to find its mark, his horse also manages a solid kick to the axe wielding warrior as they pass him. The others are held at the gate by the wall of defenders, hooves flailing in the air as their horses rear before the enemy.

"Calm down now brave warrior" says Eadwyng to Eadbert. and she produces some herbs from one of her pouches. She put them in her mouth and after a few seconds spits them back and form a cataplasm in her hands. She puts it in one of his wounds.  "It's not pretty but this will help you Eadbert" She turns around and looks how she can help. With the arrival of the cavalry the tide can turn to their favor.

The slavers spill in all directions as they try to bring down the invading horsemen. Whips fly at Aldwulf and Gann, one clacking off of the the Pict's mail while another mars the back of Aldwulf's thick woollen tunic. To the south, Hrothgar finds himself fending off seax from both sides and in the heart of it all Sigbert is met with a brutal barrage of iron blades. First a whip grasps his sword arm, leaving him open to the axe of the warrior who sways back and forth in front of him, bleeding heavily all the while. Then the broad seax on his left thrusts up deep into the poor man's gut, only for him to be dragged from his horse and decapitated by the mailed warrior wielding a sweord.