The feeling of heat completely surrounding him was terrifying and he wouldn't hesitate to admit that he was frightened by it.

His armor felt heavier as the flames grasped at anything to spread its warmth and destruction; he could feel a rush of heat run up against his left arm as the few inches of material between his armor caught fire. He didn't have time to deal with it though… he had to get these people to safety and keep them out of harm's way. Kieran and Marcia were already chasing the remainder of the Begnion forces down while Makalov and Astrid were trying to get some of the fires under control. He had lost track of Calill and Danved awhile back but… there wasn't time for roll call right now.

They weren't expecting the enemy forces to run this close into the city... he wasn't expecting them to panic this drastically.

There were fires all around him; uncontrollable, untamable waves of red and orange that continued to sweep up into the sky above them. The once clear skies were darkened with black clouds that spread overhead like some kind of spill. It was difficult to hear the various screams that echoed all around them as clueless, panicked civilians ran all over the burning town. Houses and buildings were set in flames as the once sturdy oak wood supports began to crumble down into black ash; the creaking and crackling of secondary floors crashing down into the floors below was horrifying- especially when sets of screams became dead silence afterwards.

Bracing himself, he turned slightly and slammed a shoulder into the brittle wood of one of the back walls; feeling the structure give in to the sudden force and snap easily underneath his weight. The collision was enough to vibrate painfully throughout his body but the following shower of splinters forced his attention elsewhere. The mass of black smoke behind him rushed forward and almost felt like an encasing hand that moved to grab him; to pull him back into the mortal hell that resided in the burning inn. He ducked down slightly with the escape to try and keep pieces of the splintered wood from getting into his eyes and continued to move away from the crumbling structure behind him. It felt like smoke had coated every inch inside of his lungs and was slowly suffocating him from the inside out; he practically had to force out every heavy cough just to breathe and even then it brought a greater amount of pain from his chest.

It was almost inhuman to say that he preferred the bloodstained, open fields to the close encounters like this.

At least out in the fields there were no worries about being caught and trapped in a confined area; left to suffocate and burn all at the same time.

A lighter collection of coughing caught his attention and slowly brought it back to the small child he had carried in one arm. His armor had carried on a decent job of keeping her protected from the flames, even though the outer portion of his right arm felt like it had been burned down to the bone itself; he could feel the blood soaking through the thick material of his uniform underneath. For once, he was glad to have gone back into the building just one more time… the two trips before had seemed thorough enough as he lead person after person out through the remaining exit just before it collapsed; but on the third run, he almost didn't see where the little girl had hidden herself underneath one of the counters to evade the attacking solders outside. She must've gotten trapped by the flames… Goddess he didn't even want to think about what would've happened had he not gone back inside.

"Are you okay?" he asked as he slowly brought himself to a short stop; his body was aching for a break but this was no time to simply sit aside. He watched as the violet-red haired girl rubbed at her eyes in an attempt to get the smoke out from them. Her usually curled pigtails were partly scorching on the tips but otherwise remained in their normal style; the light-green material of her dress had been darkened by the smoke and soot inside while the hem showed signs of burns from where the fire had gathered much too closely to her.

"I think so." She mumbled with a soft nod; her matching violet-red eyes watered slightly as she tried to blink away the would-be tears. "... I want my mom."

He shifted her weight slightly against his arm as he started to put as much distance as he could between them and the burning inn that continued to scorch his back."Don't worry, we'll find her. I promise." He assured, although he hadn't really taken into account as to how much smoke was around them; as to how blind he was in this mess. He felt completely defenseless without his horse and while he had managed to strap his lance behind him so he could free up his hands... it didn't feel like it was doing him any good. As long as he could keep himself out of the enemy's way-

"Amy!"

The call of the name cut clearly through the blinding smoke and caught a hold of his attention; he recognized that voice anywhere and it would come to no surprise that the blonde-haired Mage was located so closely to the inn like this. The burning mess of wood and furniture had once belonged to her...

As tired as he was, he pushed himself to cut a path through the smoke to try and locate the woman; her voice was close, he knew that for sure... it was just a matter of finding her slender form in this chaotic mess around them. The little girl in his arms moved to press more closely against his chest as she tightened her grip on the loosened straps of his uniform; whether or not she had heard the call of her own name from before, she was making sure to keep herself as close to him as she could. The Fire Mage would no doubtingly be a far better choice at protecting the girl- what with her surprisingly vibrant 'motherly instinct' she somehow developed over the years; he needed to get back to his horse and get this clean up mission back on its feet. There was the matter of checking up on the rest of the Royal Knights and making sure the enemy forces had been driven out; there were still plenty of fires to douse and people to rescue... but if he could just reunite one pair...

"Amy!"

The second call was certain to have caught the girl's attention now as she quickly forgot about whatever was going on around them. "Momma!"

It was like the Goddess was cutting him a break this time around as the smoke cleared for a moment, just long enough to reveal where the Mage was frantically trying to figure out where the answered call had come from. He heard a brief chuckle escape from his own chest as he cut a path towards her; making sure to evade the burning beams that had fallen from a collapsed balcony and stretched across the ground like fiery sacrifices. It didn't take long for the Mage to eventually glance momentarily into his direction before a quick double-take had to be completed as the realization came slowly to her. With the effects of the ongoing situation and the rush of emotions that had been plaguing her, he had no doubts that she was probably feeling a little weak in the legs now.

The simple melt of her expression was enough to leave a throbbing feeling in his chest.

She quickly abandoned whatever it was that she had been previously doing and raced towards him; she seemed to be having a much easier time running while he had to settle with moving as quickly as he could. He was half-expecting for some kind of burning structure to fall between them and block their path but gave a mental sigh of relief when nothing like that happened. Hands seemed to grasp out towards one another and he felt the weight of the child move from his arms as the Mage gladly took her back. There was a mix of smiles and tears as the reunited mother and daughter seemed destined to suffocate one another in a shared embrace.

The weight of her daughter in against her arms once more was more than enough relief; and while she wasn't all to partial to crying... it seemed impossible to stop the tears that pushed themselves from her sky-blush eyes. The moment they spotted the smoke and the first time someone shouted 'fire' all she could think about was the little girl. She had arrived all too late to the inn and could only watch as the flames devoured the once beautiful structure from the inside out. But she didn't care for the would-be loss of a home-run inn, or that loss of that new beautiful dining room set she had just purchased... all her mind would focus on was where the girl had gone. None of the choices were good... it was either inside with the flames or outside with the soldiers. But now... now she knew she was safe. Fingers parted slightly as she pushed aside a loose lock of blonde hair and looked up to the blue-haired Commander; black marks scorched across one cheek and his armor showed signs of fresh damages. "Thank you Geoffrey."

He felt a brief smile come to him at the sight of the two but tried not to forget about where they were. It was still a battlefield and there were bound to be soldiers hiding out somewhere around here- soldiers he needed to get rid of. "Don't worry about it, let's just try to-" that former rush of heat that conquered his nerves was suddenly flooded by a cold sensation that seemed to erupt from nowhere.

And yet, dark-blue eyes dropped to see the bloodstained tip of a blade eventually work its way through his open midsection; continuing to move and rip through his body until the silver hilt of the sword had been firmly planted against his back.

Fingertips felt cold before they reached around and slowly unclipped the lance that had been strapped to his lower back; carefully moving the leather straps from their tied positions until they gave away to his motives. The moment the sword tore back out his flesh, he forced himself against the pain and turned around at the same time he freed his weapon; swinging the lance out around him, he forced the tip of it into the soldier's neck. He was able to strike with enough force to nearly decapitate the man as the silver tip of his lance made easy work of the vulnerable skin; shredding it completely open and throwing the body to the ground in a bloodied mess of open tissue and spewing jugulars. The surprised body hit the floor in a mix of confused gurgles and violent convulsions before death gave him the right to stillness.

Everything had happened so fast... he wasn't entirely sure he comprehended it correctly.

One hand moved to touch against his unguarded midsection and he felt the warmth of blood almost immediately rush between his open fingers. Pressing against the open injury, he felt his own flesh throbbing as the impalement wound ripped perfectly through his back and out his chest- seemingly hitting everything in-between. How did his guard drop like that? How could he have missed someone following him? Even with the smoke… he should've been able to hear the footsteps; he should've known better than to simply toss the battlefield aside and assume they were cleared of enemy forces. They had probably been using the smoke and panic as a cloak to hide themselves and evade capture for this long.

He had just allowed for himself to get caught up in the moment… this was the price for doing so.

"Oh my Goddess…"

Her voice was faint and seemingly breathless behind him, reminding him that he wasn't entirely to his thoughts right now. The touch of metallic blood in the back of his throat forced him to push it back as he glanced over one shoulder to the woman; she kept one hand on the back of his daughter's head to keep her from witnessing the sight. He had no doubt that his back was imitating the same injury as his midsection was; he could feel the same crimson liquid soaking through the material and touching at his skin. "It's fine… don't worry about it…"

She didn't believe him for one minute- it was impossible to after witnessing the ambushed attack. She... she didn't even see the swordsman- but she should've; she should've been able to warn the Commander or at least been able to take out the attacker before he could inflict this kind of damage. But she didn't see him and was thus ineffective in trying to protect him. After he rescued her daughter, it would seem the least she could've done was that. "You're bleeding."

"Get Amy and yourself out of here." he replied instead; it felt like his fingertips were turning numb as they struggled to keep a hold on his lance. "If you run into any civilians on the way, take them with you. I... I have to clear out the city..."

"You can't do that in your condition-"

"Calill, please... that's an order."

For the love of the- he wasn't actually trying to pull that on her, was he? Pushing herself to her feet, she cradled Amy against her and watched as he had already started off on his own path. She couldn't even understand how he was still breathing with that kind of injury, let alone expect to move so greatly with it or even fight with it... He was going to get himself killed- something she couldn't allow for him to do. But... but he was right that she needed to get Amy out of here; she didn't belong in this situation- she had already suffered enough without her. It was one of those conflicting choices situations now. The answer seemed obvious enough but the other choice was just as tempting for all the right reasons.

Maybe if she could get Amy out to safety, then she could come back and assist the Commander as best she could; or at least alert one of the others about his injury.

Goddess pray, she hated herself for it but she turned in the other direction and hurried along the smokey path behind her; carrying herself as quickly as her bold heels would allow for her to and keeping her daughter as tightly pressed to her chest as she could.

He was partly thankful he didn't hear a response or even hear a set of footsteps echoing his own. He knew she would make the choice to get her daughter to safety first... that's why he threw it out there; it was the only way to get her to go through with his order. And while she had good intentions of wanting to stay, he didn't want to risk it. His injury was a through and through but it wasn't that serious, it didn't hit any vital organs as far as he knew and he could still breathe with it- it was painful to do so, but he could do it. His movements were slower but he still pressed his way through the city as best he could; avoiding the thick fires that parading around him.

Every passing moment made it feel as though he was about to pass out…

But he had to complete his mission first and then he could rest in a pool of his own blood if he so wished.

His mount wasn't all too difficult to find even in the midst of the smoke and chaos; the horse seemed to have been searching for him just the same and came rushing across the open streets to him. The snapped length of rope that hung down around the stallion's neck said that he didn't really appreciate being tied up at a safe distance away from the fires. He patted the horse's snout and neck and felt the brief places where it's hair had been partly burned from a few close encounters. It was a slightly more difficult task of getting into the saddle now and he was almost certain he ripped his injury open even more. Blood continued to push through his open fingers as he tried to keep a tight hand pressed against the gaping wound; he tried to convince himself again and again that it wasn't as bad as it felt... but there was that small sense of reasonable thought in the back of his mind that said otherwise. It was the blood loss that worried him the most. The pain was beginning to die down as adrenaline took over and restored his focus on the matter at hand.

Judging from the different colored smoke clouds in the distance, Astrid and Makalov were achieving some success in extinguishing the fires; the screaming had died down just as well... he was hoping it was more for the fact that most of the civilians had been evacuated. A brief shout in the distance brought his attention to someone else as another figure moved quickly through the smoke; a mounted soldier leaping over short burning structures in an attempt to get somewhere quick.

"Commander Geoffrey!"

He knew that voice from anywhere. "Kieran. Did you and Marcia chase off the rest of the Begnion forces?"

The red-headed man had a clean expression on his face as he drew closer; his matching red armor showed brief signs of damage from a struggled encounter or two. "We forced out a majority of their soldiers but I think their fraction broke up during the chase- a few of them are still inside the city-"

"I know." he quickly interrupted. "I've already eliminated one of them. I'll take another run through the city and see if there's any more of the them hiding; you and Marcia go help out Astrid and Makalov with these fires- and if you see Danved, get him to help just the same."

"Are you sure you don't need any assistance in the matter?"

"I'm fine... just get these fires under control while we can still salvage the city." Geoffrey remarked; watching as the Second in Command quickly nodded before he took off back into the smoke- eventually disappearing into the burning city. In all honesty, he was lucky to have gotten out of the short encounter without the other man noticing his injury; the front of his uniform was slowly being stained by the running blood... He guessed the mask of smoke and panic of fire was enough of a distraction- something that was actually working with him for once.

A quick run around the city perimeter turned up nothing suspicious that might've dressed itself in Begnion's colors. After he was certain the outside of the city was safe, he dove in through the smoke and risked the burning flames all over again. Galloping through the streets, he kept a sharp eye for any kind of movement while trying to ignore how every bump and unsteady leap wrecked his entire body with pain. There was a total of two or three incidents in which he had to draw out his lance and take out a hiding soldier; feeling the painful shock that vibrated through his body with every solid hit. As far as he could tell, the city appeared cleared out for now... there seemed no other reason for soldiers to be here any longer.

At least that was one mess they got out of the way.

Now just to deal with the fires and the civilians.

Amy was safe now; she was with a group of well-known patrons who were standing just outside of the city. There were a few children out there as well, so she wouldn't be alone and they could attempt some way of play despite the mess.

She rushed back into the city as soon as the girl assured her that she would be fine until her return. The rest of the Royal Knights were easy to spot in the decorative armor while reinforcements were just now arriving; she would've cursed them for their ill-timing if she wasn't more worried for the Commander at this point. It was a working process with how every member was gathering water from the nearby pumps and throwing bucket after bucket onto the fire. Some houses were easier than others to extinguish but they were making progress on it... that was what mattered most right now.

"Ah, Calill, good thing you showed up. We need someone else to work the pumps." Marcia started as she forced herself to lift another heavy bucket without spilling the water all over herself instead.

"I'll help as soon as I can but where's Geoffrey?" she questioned instead; trying to avoid getting in the way of the other knights who were rushing back and forth all over the place.

"The Commander's doing one more run-through on the city to make sure there aren't any remaining Begnion soldiers." Kieran answered; grabbing the full bucket from Marcia's hand before he passed it off to the next person in line. "Have all the civilians been evacuated?"

"Yes, Danved is seeing to their comfort right now, but I need to find the Commander. Right now."

"Why? Is there something wrong?" Marcia asked, her expression turning serious for a moment as she slowed down the pumping process for now. "Did we miss out on something?"

She tried really hard not to let her temper get the best of her. "Have you even see him recently?"

"I saw him a few moments ago..." Kieran started.

"And you didn't see all the blood? He was -" she stopped for a moment at the sound of an approaching horse and looked up in time to see the blue-haired Commander just now returning and emerging out of the nearby smoke pillars. She felt that she had to be thankful that some kind of fate was working with them for once and playing time on their side. His face was covered in sweat and it was easy to tell the difficulty he had in breathing at this point. It would've been easy to blame it all on the fire and smoke for his sudden drop in demeanor but... she knew about the wound when no one else did. "Commander!"

He glanced up briefly at the call and she could see how badly the wound was treating him at this point. It was a slur of mental curses as to why they would even enter an engagement like this without bringing a healer with them. His horse had been slowed to a more steady gait as he closed the distance between them. "I cleared out the remaining Begnion soldiers that stayed behind- the city should be safe with the exception of the fires... How's the process with getting them taken care of going?"

"We've got most of the outer houses extinguished but reinforcements have just arrived as well." Kieran reported. "I sent them to the other end of city to start on the businesses- I don't think we'll be able to salvage much from the middle streets though. The fires are too intense in those areas."

"Alright... and the civilians are safe, correct?"

"Yes sir, Calill and Danved have managed to evacuate everyone to the outskirts." Marcia nodded. "We sent a note back for more reinforcements to bring the civilians some supplies for the night."

"That's good..." he started; stepping back for a moment to see how the overall process was carrying on. So far so good with the constant movements down the organized lines as every soldier was working to get the fires put down. For once, it seemed like things were working with them; the morning had started off badly enough with the Begnion forces seemingly ambushing their cities and now this... but at least it was all turning around. "I'm going to go back to the castle and look over the preparations there; can I trust that you'll keep this movement going, Kieran?"

"On my life, Commander."

"I'll accompany you." Calill quickly intersected. "I don't think a Fire Mage is going to be all too helpful in this kind of situation."

He showed a brief sign of hesitation but seemed reluctant to agree. "If you're able to keep up with me, then you have all rights to accompany; I'll need someone who knows these civilians personally to know what supplies to gather."

"Don't worry about me keeping up, I'm sure no one's going to notice if I borrow one of the horses that have been running amuck." she assured.

Just as she thought, it was easy to rope one of the brown stallions that had been freed from their stables; it only took a few calming brushes before it let her saddle it up and grab a hold of the reigns. She wasn't exactly the best at riding but it was much easier to travel around the city with a horse now and again; although she didn't usually travel all that much either- to put simply, she knew how to ride a horse when it was needed. And right now, she was partly thankful she had decided to pick up a lesson or two when they had been available to her. While she thought horses were rather smelly and unclean creatures... they did hold a sense of majestic flow with them; she used to think it was so amazing with how the Paladin fighters raced into battle on horseback with little regard to their own safety. They were the front men and the ones who usually broke through the enemy lines first.

She always thought the Commander made a suiting Paladin Knight; it was, what one could describe as, dreamy whenever he came rushing through- leading the Royal Knights close behind him. That sense of honor and fearlessness that coated his armor and the tip of his sharpened lances. She supposed that was why she always found him to be so attractive.

She watched as he kept a collective manner as they left a few parting words with the others just before their departure, but as soon as they were out of eyesight, it all seemed to slowly break apart. It was easy to see the toll the injury was taking on him as he moved one hand to cover his mouth when a heavy collection of coughs tore at his chest. His fingers and lips were blood-stained when they separated but he merely wiped the blood aside and seemed to disregard it overall. It was breaking him down piece by piece but his resistance was desperate in refusing to show the full extent of how the injury affected him.

"Please tell me when you offered to go back to the castle and over look the activities there... that you're really going to get a healer or two."

There was a brief moment of silence on his part as he tried to regain a steady breathing pattern again. "You have to understand something, Calill... A Commander cannot risk showing weakness on the battlefield, even if he is injured well beyond repair. He can't risk letting his troops see him in any kind of weakened condition; he has to give them the impression that the battle is theirs to win. It doesn't matter how much blood I've lost already or the pain, I have to set it aside and continue on with that imagery. This was a simple battle at the end, despite the overwhelming damages... this kind of injury is amateur on my part." one hand moved to push aside his wet bangs and clear them from his eyesight. "They won't notice my elongated absence until they return later on this evening; it's the perfect cover up."

"And what will they do when they realized that you've been injured this entire time?"

"It doesn't matter. The task at hand will already have been completed by that point."

It took a few seconds before she let a slight smile pass on to her lips. "You never told me how intelligent yet cunning you were, Sir Geoffrey. You would put most of our spies to shame."

"It's all a part of taking the job, Lady Calill." he chuckled lightly. "I hope my slower pace won't be a bother to you."

"Nonsense, this is the least I could do for you." she started before her eyes slowly moved to the partly charred material on his right arm; the fabric had been blackened and burned away to reveal a darker mess underneath it. Although, with the hinted clues of red stains against the remaining sleeve, she realized that the 'darker mess' was actually his arm instead. The flesh had been seared down to what looked to be the muscle before blood dried a protective layer over the injury. "My Goddess... what happened to your arm?"

He barely gave it a glance as though he already knew the wound well enough to not spare another look at it. "It happened when I was running through some of the buildings and trying to evacuate people. I got myself trapped in a confined area and burned myself pretty bad; it's not as serious as it looks though, I assure you."

"This isn't just another one of your strong fronts, is it?"

"You're still a part of my team, Calill, and I've broken my image plenty enough in front of you."