Lauren heard her breath ragged in her ears, her chest searing with pain as Evony's sword drove deeper into flesh, and the blonde tried to look behind her as the hissing voice of the damned woman whispered into her ear. She had won? No, Lauren could not allow that of her. She could not allow Evony, the damned woman, to win after all of this. After Lauren sacrificed her own soul to kill her.

She tried to move, do anything, but the heat from her wound was too great as Evony pulled the blade out and turned her slowly to face her. It would have been impossible for Lauren to move, but the captain willed it therefore she did. When the Morrigan had finally faced the blonde to her, the victory behind those mad brown orbs was too much to bare. Lauren slowly tried to raise her pistol still clutched in her hand, but it was too no avail as Evony squelched her sword- the sword that Dyson had given Lauren of all things- into the blonde's chest again. She must have punctured a lung, Lauren thought through the pain, as she felt blood begin to fill her mouth.

Was it all for nothing?

Faintly, Lauren could hear others screaming below in the chasm. Maybe screaming for her? She didn't care, she couldn't care, not when she was falling backward into a strong hand and her eyes began to close delicately. She would finally be with Nadia. Wasn't that enough?

Ysabeau screamed bloody murder for Lauren to turn around and defend herself. Her brown orbs watched, unmoving, as Evony skewered the blonde from behind and cackled something in her ear. The captain watched, unable to do anything, as Lauren was turned before fainting into Evony's outstretched hand. She roared vengeance when the Morrigan simply dropped Lauren's lifeless corpse next to her and stood on the precipice of the hill with her arms splayed open.

"Rise again, warriors!" the Morrigan cried, the maniacal grin on her features spreading from ear to ear. "Rise and devour the intruders!"

The captain tensed as she felt her ankle seized and as she looked down, her brown orbs brimming with emotion, she let out a howl before yanking her foot free and bashing her heel into the dead man's head. She raised her foot again before slamming it down, and over and over she did this until she tired and her huffing breaths filled her ears. It did nothing for her though, and she felt icy adrenaline creep through her muscles as she spun around toward Thomisina.

"Get the Morrigan now!"

The fair blonde barely nodded, Ysabeau seeing the pain on her bloodied face just as clear as she felt it, before bolting through the hordes of zombified men ambling toward them.

It was simply a mad house. The men had taken hold of Ciara's legs and pulled her to her knees while trying to push their knives into her belly. Before that could happen however, Dyson deflected the smaller blades and kicked them off of his love before hooking his arm under hers and pulling her back up. The thief was somewhere high, the only reasoning Ysabeau even knew of her location was because of the hail of arrows flying this way and that.

She wondered how many the small contraption could hold for such an onslaught, but quickly shut down the thought as she whipped around and skewered one of the men that was trying desperately to get to her from the small pond.

Brown orbs watched intently as Thomisina made her way up the slope, hoping beyond hope yet knowing without a doubt that it would not be the case, when she reached there Lauren would be alive and well.

Was all of this for nothing?

Tamsin ran that fastest she could up the slope, but also as silently. She did not know what kind of sorcery compelled the men below to fight beyond their life force, and she would not so readily run into an ambush if the Morrigan also had some insane ability. She must have, Tamsin thought as she ran, for she took a sword to the gut and raised up like it was nothing.

She wondered if a few days ago she knew she'd be facing a horde of undead men, if she would have still agreed to follow Beau's orders to the letter. But if she hadn't gone along, she would have never met Lauren. She would have never been in this situation to save the woman, even if it wasn't just for herself.

The Nordic blade was clutched tightly in her hand as she came upon Evony from behind. The woman was still facing out, a grin too wide for her mouth spread across her face, and Thomisina wanted to vomit. Instead, her green orbs flicked toward the unmoving body of Lauren and back to Evony before raising the blade to her side. Breaking into a sprint, Tamsin placed all of her center of gravity into her right side, making it so when she swung more force would slice through the air.

She was so close, so very close, and when she was five feet away, she swung with all of her might at the woman's neck. She expected to feel resistance, something to tell her that her attack had struck, but what she got was simply air.

As her body swung to the left, her eyes darted right to see what had happened. The Morrigan, the bloody woman, had ducked at the last minute, her brown orbs pinned on green with that sickening smile still on her lips. Her own sword was clasped in her hand, the steel pointing downward, and she swung up just as Tamsin had completed her arch.

Parrying quickly, Tamsin had to lock her foot behind her to push off from the next few flurries Evony threw at her, showing no indication of getting tired or finding any strain from the relentless attacks. If there was one wrong move, one misstep, Tamsin would be dead.

Her hair was coming out from her tight bun in small strands, and she had to flick her head from side to side to get the obstruction from her view. Her teeth gritted, her arms tiring from all of the death blows dealt below them, Tamsin kept going.

"It's over, dearie," Evony cackled, her sword raising above her head before Tamsin could think of a counterblow.

The steel was screaming down, so close to her unprotected skull, and Tamsin knew she would die this day. No promotion, no Lauren, hell even no piracy. She was a goner.

That was, however, until something with blonde locks appeared directly behind Evony and whispered something not even the grave could hear.

Was Lauren… alive?

Was this all... for something?