Battle...

Avallac'h looked over the bits of armor Pen had insisted on. The body plate would keep his wounds from being reopened or new ones added. His thoughts were on Ciri, promising himself they would handfast as soon as the battle was over. He would not leave his child a bastard. He looked at the two swords Pen had provided, these were Witcher blades. He'd accepted them though he was unworthy of the title. The brooch at his shoulder, spelled like Pen's, bore the apple tree. He had not asked where she had gotten it, nor where she'd gotten the armor.

He fastened the last, picking up the blades. He heard singing, soft notes to sink into the mind and body. He knew that tune, a lullaby for the dying. The healers mercifully ending the lives of those too wounded to fight on or be saved. He had hoped never to have heard it again.

"...They sing it from the first death to the last..." Came Tam's voice. "One of their own was the first...tried to help remove a pike from some poor soul's guts...got speared by another."

He saw the young male take a hitching breath. He must have known the dead healer.

"Your brother is among them?"

"No, he is with the High Court at the Royal seat...for now at least," Tam said. "My Atar knows I won't leave until Atara does..."

"And your mother is most stubborn."

Tam had to Smile, Crevan had said the same many times since meeting her.

"She knows the price of this, and even the coolest and oldest heads of the Guild dread the battle."

"...The blood shall flow, they will give no mercy..."

"Neither shall we..." Tam said, putting on his Raven helm, now the king of Ravens. "We fly..."

Pen was there, ready before them.

The first clash of sword, the pike was quickly shattered by explosions, bombs buried on the earth. Battle cries, from For The stars to No mercy, rang all too soon to be drowned by blood and deafened by explosions. Then the humans came. Sidhe and Aen Elle were soon forced to fight back to back against the human hoard. They had counted on the division. Flashes of bloody smoke flew across the field, the vampires taking out as many as they could.

The battle raged, Humans, Sidhe, and Aen Elle died. In the aftermath, the ground could soak up no more blood so it stood in puddles beneath bodies. The merciful moved among the bodies, slitting the throats of those too wounded to be helped. To the healers of both the Seven stars and of the guild, it did not matter what the being was as the combatants were so mixed and covered in blood, mud, and gore.

Pen sat on a camp stool, covered in as much gore as her healers. She had to get air, the tent smelled too much of spilled blood. She wanted a hot bath, some of Regis' mandrake hooch and never to see another drop of blood again. She had seen the aftermath of previous battles, but this.. was extermination, not war. She had barred Regis from the healing tents, it had taken hours for him and the other vampires to quell their blood lust. The pryers were being constructed for the Sidhe and Aen Elle. A bottle dangling in blood-stained fingers appeared before her.

"Drink...better be plastered..."

It was Avallac'h, none too steady on his feet. Cullen stood behind him, so he didn't fall over. She took the bottle, downing it.

Morning came with a massive hangover and waking up near-naked with three men. Pen extracted herself from the three. Nuada stood by the table with a mug of the nastiest concoction to relieve a headache in existence.

"...I expected not to find you alone, but three..." He teased. "though I suspect they passed out before you..."

"Umm." She said. "...I don't even know how we got back here...let alone why there are three..."

"The young Aen Elle king was at court this morning..." He said, rummaging into her trunk to find clothing she could put on quickly. "He looked like he'd spent the night puking...even his viceroy looked a bit green." He tossed her Trousers and a tunic. "They have agreed to meet with you to hammer out a treaty, a lesson about the humans learned."

She made faces and cursed as she drank down the mug. Headache dulled, she got dressed before rousing her drinking partners from her bed.

The trip to the Royal seat was accompanied by much groaning, near the whole camp had decided to wipe out the memory of the battle with a few gallons of various concoctions. The wounded were looked after, they had healers who had the good sense to stay sober. She looked at her companions, Cullen tried to hide under his hood, as did Avallac'h. She would immediately get the sage to Ciri, letting her give him the lecture. She had gotten one from one of the said sober healers as they mixed up another dose of the headache tea.

Pen didn't have to bother trying to find Ciri, she was among those waiting for the Court of thorns to arrive. The ashen haired Witcheress rushed out of the small group to where Avallac'h swayed on his feet, slightly motion sick from being on the horse while his head still spun. A second later they were gone, no doubt tucked into a room.

"Is that safe for her?"

"I'll ave the midwife look at her..." Pen said. "but first I need a bath...I smell like a still..."

"That can be arranged, they deserve to wait for the trouble they have caused.."

Pen could not help but agree.