Totally undisturbed they were able to destroy the tower. That could only mean the enemy had gathered and they were now together on one road. If they were at the top road, the Mogul Khan and the Bone Fletcher had no chance. Together, without further discussion, they followed the stream to the top road. In the middle was nothing. Their soldiers were somewhere on the enemy side, their tower was still standing. So they had to be on the top road. They decided it was too risky to stay in the stream, but turned left, following a path up under some trees, passing a neutral merchant on a clearing before they arrived just behind first tower. They could see the Bone Fletcher but not the Mogul Khan. And like they had feared, all five enemy heroes were gathered in front of the tower. The ranged heroes were attacking the building but alone the skeleton could do nothing about that. He was going back and forth, shooting at the enemy soldiers to get them to follow him away from the tower.
As he saw them, he joined them. "The faceless man has already cast his sphere", he said.
"What about the Khan? Did they get him?" the Storm Spirit asked.
The Bone Fletcher nodded. "I couldn't do much against all five of them."
The next wave of soldiers passed them on their way to the tower.
Luna looked at the Bone Fletcher from the corner of her eyes, trying to find a reason for the strange pull towards him. Maybe she had known him before he had become a skeleton? But she was sure that wasn't the case. Normally she should despise all skeletons since she had to fight against them way too often in the real world.
"We go in", the Storm Spirit said, shaking Luna out of her thoughts. "I'll go for the sniper, since I can charge through the heroes up to him and then hold him in place. I hope I can do enough damage to kill him but it will definitely be enough to get him to retreat. The Bone Fletcher should try to circle around them to get them from the back. The other two should distract the others as to what I and the Bone Fletcher are doing. Ready?"
They all nodded and moved forward. First tower was nearly down, all five enemy heroes still around. The Bone Fletcher turned invisible with a soft whoosh, only slightly outlined for his allies, and just walked through them until he was next to the shooter. The Storm Spirit turned into a wave of electricity and charged. He stopped in front of the dwarfen sniper and attacked him. In that same moment, the Silencer cast his spell to make all enemies unable to cast their abilities and Luna ran forward, starting her Eclipse while the enemy was confused enough not to attack her immediately. Next she cast her Lucent Beam on the voodoo priest, to hinder him from casting his ward or his stun. She threw her glaives as well, which bounced through them, killing the enemy soldiers but also hitting the enemy heroes.
The shooter was an easy kill for the Storm Spirit and the Bone Fletcher and even the voodoo priest went down pretty fast. But that was about all that they could achieve before the Silence faded and the remaining three, the knight, the faceless man and the female archer, began casting their spells. When Luna turned away from the dead priest to her feet, she saw the last hit the knight delivered to the Silencer, his sword crashing hard on his upper body and going through the thin material of his robe as if it was butter. Then he switched his focus and while turning around, he transformed into his dragon form. The faceless man was by his side and at that moment the archer released her shackle shot from her bow, hitting the Storm Spirit and the Bone Fletcher. Then they all three turned towards Luna.
They had only superficial injuries and they were three against one. So Luna didn't even think about attacking them, but ran. She followed the way down to the stream, the paws of her cat splashing through the shallow water. They didn't follow her and after a few steps she stopped. If they didn't go after her, they would try to kill the two others. Maybe they could use their skills to get away, but maybe not. And she still had a Lucent Beam to cast a stun. So she switched directions and headed back to the tower. There she saw the enemy heroes running into the woods, surely chasing her two allied heroes. She debated going after them, but she wasn't fast enough to catch them anyway. So she would have to anticipate which way they would take back to town to intercept them.
She was about to head to the stream again, when she saw someone teleporting to first tower. It was the Mogul Khan.
"This way!" She didn't look if he would follow her, just hoped he would realize what she was up to, and headed for one of the ways that lead out of the enemy woods down to the stream. And really, the Storm Spirit emerged. But alone. He was badly injured but since no one was following him, he would be able to make it to the safe zone. She ventured forth, now hearing the Khan behind her. She entered the woods on the right way and he on the left way. That's when she saw them. The Bone Fletcher was just circling back to get to safety. He was invisible but something was clinging to his body, making the enemies able to see him though he had cast his ability. It had to be a powder the merchants sold, one to outline invisible enemy units. He was nearly dead, the archer right at his back, running at high speed and drawing her bow string back to deliver the final shot. At the same moment Luna was near enough to reach her. The Bone Fletcher passed her but stopped only a little behind her, as if he didn't want to leave her alone against the enemy, though he was severely wounded and she not.
Luna cast her Lucent Beam on the woman, stunning her before she could release the arrow. As the two others advanced, the faceless man jumping right in front of her and the dragon spitting fire on her, the Mogul Khan appeared. He rushed next to them and shouted some kind of battle cry that made the faceless man and the dragon attack him instead of her. Luna threw her blades, which did way more damage without soldiers surrounding the heroes. The faceless man was cut down by the powerful hit from the Khan, instantly killing him though he had not been that near to death. As they both switched their focus to the dragon, the Bone Fletcher joined them again, though he remained in a safe distance, so the female archer wasn't able to get to him. The dragon turned and wanted to retreat, but somehow the Khan had made them able to move faster and they were able to follow him.
The archer woman had used the skill that made her super-fast to escape and when they were nearly under second tower of the enemy they decided to let the dragon go. It would gain them nothing if they died because they didn't know when to stop chasing.
The Bone Fletcher was still with them, though he was in dire need of regeneration.
Without a word to one of them the Mogul Khan went to the top road to kill the soldiers there and Luna and the Bone Fletcher were alone in the forest. The skeleton turned and headed back to town without a word.
Luna followed him. She wanted to regenerate as well before she headed out again. And that was the only reason why she followed the Bone Fletcher.
They entered the town and still the skeleton hadn't talked to her or even acknowledged her. She began to feel uneasy. Of course she didn't know him that good, but she had helped him. He could at least look at her.
In the safe zone he turned away from her and began browsing through the wares of the merchants. He didn't buy anything so it seemed more like a way to dismiss her.
It shouldn't be important, since the Mogul Khan had ignored her as well, even after she had helped him. But she had talked with the Bone Fletcher and he hadn't acted like that before. Something had happened and she could by no stretch of her imagination say what it was that made him ignore her.
She was confused and unsure about what she should do but when he wanted to leave the safe zone, still without looking in her direction, she acted. "Wait!" She jumped from her cat, discarding her weapon and her shield, and, as the Bone Fletcher didn't stop, she ran after him and grabbed his arm.
He stopped and spun around and when he looked at her now, she could feel that he was furious. Involuntarily she took a step back, releasing his arm. His anger seemed to radiate from him in waves, and it was solely centred on her. Shit, what had she done to cause such kind of rage towards her?
"What?" he snapped at her. Luna was totally baffled. He had been so nice to her. She frowned. "What is wrong with you? I have done nothing to make you angry. I have helped you. You could be a little nicer."
The Bone Fletcher stared at her for a moment. "Well, don't help me." Then he turned away again. "Not help you?" Luna looked at his back incredulously. "Of course I will help you again! How can you be mad at me for that?"
It only took a second for him to stand in front of her, their faces on one level, his black eye sockets fixed on her, his horns almost touching her head. Luna stared back. She wouldn't be intimidated by him and she definitely wouldn't back down. He couldn't just order her not to help him in a fight. She was the Moon Rider, a warrior of the Goddess of the Moon, a guardian of the Nightsilver Woods!
Slowly his anger seemed to leave him as his gazes roamed over her face and then locked with hers. But he was still standing rather close and it was strange to look at a skull that was attached to a somehow living creature. It didn't disturb her as much as she would have thought, though. He stepped away from her, bringing a little distance between them. Then he cast his eyes onto the ground, like before. As if he didn't want to look at her. Or as if he thought she didn't want to look at him.
"I'm sorry I scared you", he said. Before Luna could contradict him, he continued. "It seems I can't see you getting hurt. I lured them away from you, so you could escape. And when I saw you running alone directly into the three of them, I was shocked. The thought of you injured or worse, dead, makes me panic. When they attacked you it was as if I could feel their blows, only much worse, somewhere inside me. Damn, I gave you the possibility to escape and you just came back!" He was looking at her again, as if he had forgotten to keep his eyes cast down while he was talking.
And Luna was baffled. He had been angry at her because he was worried about her? She was unsure if she should be angry that he thought so little of her fighting skills or flattered that she mattered that much to him, when he turned to leave.
Luna called after him, and this time he did stop. She walked around him to face him. "I don't really know what to say." Her voice was soft. It seemed her mind had decided she should be flattered rather than offended. And now that she let his words sink in, they brought some unfamiliar warm feeling with them that spread through her body. She smiled, because somehow it was just so sweet how he was worried about her, how he put the value of her life so much above his. If he felt such a need to protect her while she had the urge to be near him maybe they did have some kind of connection.
When he still didn't look at her, she raised her hand and, with just the tips of her fingers, touched his cheekbone. The Bone Fletcher lifted his eyes. Luna's fingers lingered for a second, feeling the smooth surface of the bone through her thin gloves. She wondered what he had looked like before he had become a skeleton. He had sharp canines and small horned appendages on his chin and of course the horns on his head. But the rest of him spoke more of a human then of some kind of beast. Goddess, she was suddenly very curious about the skeleton.
"You know I'm here to fight, just like you. I can't stay back and try not to get hurt all the time. Besides, we will be resurrected, so it isn't such a big deal. But if it makes you happy, I will try to be more careful. I can't promise anything, though. And I definitely can't promise not to get hurt or to die."
If skeletons could sigh, the Bone Fletcher would have done so. But he nodded.
Luna was not completely happy with the result of their conversation, but this time she let him go. She couldn't do more and she would never quit fighting only because someone else wanted it. As sweet as she thought his worry for her was. She was no simpering maid in need of rescue, she could well defend herself. She retrieved her weapon and shield and mounted her cat.