Sleeping.
Such a wonderful, pleasant sort of thing. She'd found herself finally drifting into the arms of images and clouds when growls erupted around her. No, a nightmare? But she felt herself tighten her shields not a second after.
She blinked an eye into wakefulness, in front of her was Terogin's chest, but he was sat up, a low rumble belonging to him, but the other? She turned her head. I'jopa looked about ready to haul the both of them up by the ear.
Terogin laid out a curse in orcish, light, under his breath. But righted himself onto his knees and stretched. Bernadine rolled onto her back underneath him, watching his body move.
He was so… so… remarkable, pleasing to look at, handsome features and all. The look she gave him must have been striking. Because he had to look at her twice, then his lip quirked up on one side while he laid the back of one knuckle against her shoulder, saying to her, "Le'ss move yah oveh ta dhe group, mmh?"
"Oh." Bernadine sucked back in the oozy feeling of wanting him to move her around. "Right."
She managed up onto her feet, and walked with slow careful steps, her body irreverent over the loss of almost sleep.
She found a spot some feet away from Shihn, who wasn't sleeping but looking up, the sky had darkened substantially.
She watched Terogin turn away, grumbling insults before finding Nukourn and walking into the brush. The orc seemed to disappear first, a melding of shadows and darkness drew him in, harder to see. Terogin simply dissolved into the grim colors of grey and blue, fading into nothing.
She asked Shihn what the two were doing.
"Patrolling, ain't sendin' us out to watch by ourselves in a place like this."
Bernadine sat down, and quietly prayed, "Light, keep them safe."
Shihn chuckled from where she lay. Bernadine didn't bother to ask if she'd insulted the orc on accident, or if some other misunderstanding had gone over her head. She sat, and crossed her legs, her body feeling less willing to dream now that she'd moved from one spot to another.
At least ten minutes had passed. Silent, slow, and soundless. Absent of anything calm, it was beginning to set off a coiling feeling in her gut. Bernadine looked to the eagle that had walked to her side. It was stalking, stepping light so as to make no noise.
It was simultaneous, the bird looked up, and her shields rattled behind her. She turned, seeing nothing. And then…
A hulking figure… dark in color, even with the lack of bright lights, his fur was deep, rich. His eyes were pale, and narrowed. He crept closer by means of using one hand to distribute his weight as he slowly came forward.
Neither of them made an attempt to sound alarm. Bernadine was frozen, but he was waiting. Her heart was in her throat, finally in a brief note of clarity, everything came together.
He stepped forward and then bounded, her shields rose and crashed as he slammed into them.
Shihn rocketed up, "Honan!"
Everything in the small camp came to life, she couldn't see because she was facing the tauren behind her shields, but there were sounds of fighting, what might have been a surprise attack.
The tauren in front of her did not continually ram the shield, which was something she hadn't expected, it was both a slight relief and worry.
So, quickly, and sneakily, she diverted the one shield to surround the entirety of the camp. In a visual explosion - shields erupted everywhere. Now she finally turned to see who needed help or if the group was enough on it's own.
With one hand she cast a large golden wave that rippled over all the fighters, as fast as it came, it sparkled out of existence. But she had what she needed, every nick and bruise among the fighters was hers to share. She just had to decipher whose was whose.
By luck she felt her shields shatter behind her, the tauren had found her weakest point and slammed his warhammer into it expertly. Her bones rattled as she watched it fall, fear ensnared her. Her lungs went cold and rigid, her breath came as a shriek that was soundless.
He cursed her in a language she didn't know and lunged.
She tried raising another shield, having to falter the one around the camp to give her the needed strength. But he plowed over that one before it had even begun to glow. Bernadine put up a thin one around her, hoping it would save her enough from the blow.
Suddenly, he stalled, mid stride and came flying forward, hitting the ground so heavily he created a valley where he slid. Bernadine was able to step aside just as he stopped where she had been standing.
Terogin stood on his back, the troll stood and roared, victorious over the stealth kill. He had holes in him from ripped out arrows. Bernadine lifted a golden circle.
"Leave it!" He cried. "I'll be fine!" Then he shouted above the clashing of battle, "Keep movin'! Dhey've got an archeh!"
No one gave a clear response, but when he dove off the back of the now dead tauren Bernadine felt herself move with him. He flew into the trees, vanishing. She casted another wave, finding each fight again.
The magic in her veins guided her past I'jopa and Honan, who were decimating a small group of four tauren, two each. With death cries behind her, Bernadine raced by and came upon Vakiinu fighting back-to-back with Shihn.
Shihn had more broken bones, most of them were her fingers. Which she had curled in a fist for each hand. She fought with no weapon and yet the tauren she was up against looked tired and lacking.
But the fight inside him had not died yet, he made to run Shihn through with a short sword, or possibly a dagger. In his hands it could have been anything. The orc appeared startled, Bernadine put up a golden ram, and sprinted at the tauren.
He was caught off guard, getting slammed into from the side. The only reason he tumbled forward was simply because he'd been overly focused on Shihn instead. Getting trapped in his own legs.
Shihn whirled to the side, "Watch out!" She dodged him as he flew past her.
Vakiinu must have heard her warning. He flicked an ear behind him and slipped to the side just as the tauren came in and collided with the one he'd been fighting.
The lull in fighting allowed him the chance to face both of them. He nodded at Shihn, thanking her in his strange tongue. Then he growled lightly at Bernadine, "Careful, human… might find yourself… underfoot."
To him what he said was funny. Bernadine decided to take it as advice, being surrounded by things nearly five times the size of her and all. Vakiinu and Shihn turned back to the struggling tauren, Bernadine caught sight of Terogin not too far away. He was doing crazy jumps and dodges, performing them miraculously in the fight.
In the distant haze of night, she could make out Honan, cutting down two tauren with one swing, aimed viciously across their throats. Her throat curled, her stomach cramped in revulsion and horror. Then she saw the shine of arrowheads flying across the camp. Zipping into Honan's arms and bouncing off his armor.
They did have an archer, as Terogin had said.
Her hands moved on their own, coming together and creating a small ball of light.
Before tossing it into the air above her she shouted her warning, "Cover your eyes!"
She let it go, and it rocketed upward for a good few seconds before dimming into a fine point of light. It expanded in a wave of blinding white, so fast it looked as though it exploded.
Night was now day, everything was visible. The shadows forcibly shoved deeper into crevasses. Some dark corners where the light just couldn't reach became a void, so dark with nothing to see.
Thankfully when her group looked up to her, they followed her warning, as did a few of the enemy tauren, cringing from the sudden light. But the light was at the proper backs, making for easy kills, easy sightings of others once hidden away.
Including the archer. But he managed a last laugh, in a sense. Bernadine got a shield up in time to deflect an arrow aimed for her, but it was strong and fast.
It blasted into her shoulder, spinning her like a top for a moment. She remained standing, hand on her collarbone, already knowing that would be a nasty bruise for later.
A loud thud that shook up her legs gave her a sense of clarity. She turned, just in time to find one of those grimtotem tauren standing behind her. His arm was already brought back.
She managed both a shield and a shriek of terror as he swiped his arm across, colliding with her and knocking her clean off the ground. The shield had reduced the most damaging impact of the blow, like broken bones and missing limbs. But she got the wind knocked out of her when she landed squarely on her back against another tauren.
This tauren turned, angry to have a small human sized inconvenience be launched directly into his side. Thankfully this one was Vakiinu, and his anger was quickly redirected to the tauren that had sent her flying.
He roared a challenge, bringing his sword forward.
The light from the ball was fizzing, turning the magicked daylight into a pale comparison. The world around them was fading into grey, lacking distance beyond the ill colors.
The light wasn't going to go out immediately, they must have had another few minutes before it puffed and shrunk to a point like a faint star. Bernadine let Vakiinu handle the tauren, seeing as how both looked decked out, ready for blood.
In the grey light she almost missed the large tauren sprinting toward her. Her breath stalled, but her body, tired in every way possible, put up the necessary shield automatically.
And then this tauren brought up his own shield, a physical ward versus her golden one.
When he slammed into her, it was the heaviest hand Bernadine had ever been dealt. She was nearly flattened. The blinding light of her not giving her shield up, despite the now gruesome crack running down it's center, shined like sparks of metal as he ground his shield into hers.
She was being pushed back, her feet sliding over the ground easily enough.
Shit… Shit…
Of course, there was a misstep, her ankle rolling under her and soon she followed. Landing on the ground, knocking herself clean of air… again. She was going to need a new breathing technique if she survived this.
The tauren rushed her while she was down, he was going to use the long and sharp pointed end of his shield to cleave her in two. Up another shield came, with heavily gritted teeth to match. Both of their eyes were wide, and wild.
He brought down his shield like a hammer, and it cracked her first shield. Bernadine felt her guts shift upward into her lungs, trying to keep everything together amidst the fear.
She summoned a second behind the first, letting it shatter under the weight of another hit. This second shield she thickened so it would last a few more wind ups, desperately she looked around her. Being on the floor had the strangest vantage point.
From where she was, dealing with the unyielding bash of an angry tauren, she could see only scraps of fights here and dust being shot up into the air there.
Her shield shattered and sunk around her, when the tauren roared at her she screamed in terror, flinging up a handful of dirt into his face. He hardly evened out, his rage was palpable, he raised his fist this time.
Bernadine curled away, making to dodge by springing up onto her feet, but an arrow zipped into his neck, staggering him.
The sight nearly sent her back in time to her school.
The hand he'd raised against her went to his throat, not to pull out the arrow, but to clutch at his jugular in confusion and helplessness. Something horrible and trembling deep inside Bernadine wanted to help him, so few needed to be dealt a blow like this.
But she was frozen, watching him gurgle a word here, twitch at a spurt of blood there. Then he saw something approaching from behind her, because he made a buzzing hiss and readied his shield in his strongest hand.
Terogin walked up into view, a growl echoing through the ground. Calmly, he eyed the tauren, he carried one of their swords in hand, a lighter one, designed to be a short sword perhaps.
The tauren swung clumsily at him, and Terogin moved.
It was quick, the tauren lost balance and stumbled back, Terogin brought a hand of his own up and ripped the arrow away in one smooth motion. When the tauren fell to a knee, he was kicked back onto the ground. He lay there a moment, and then tried to rise, receiving a sword deep in his chest.
Terogin left the sword, and stepped away, the tauren faded into rest. Bernadine let her eyes catch the moment of his final breath before looking up at her troll.
Strange, he'd come closer to her, laid a hand on her shoulder and was speaking softly. And yet she was hardly aware of what he was saying to her. She could hear him, but the words out of his mouth were filtered through a brain riddled with fog.
Terogin remained by her side now, he'd seen the grimtotem try to cleave her open and set out to end the worry. Now, there was a new worry, Bernadine wasn't as present as she'd been before the ambush started.
She looked through him a moment and processed his hand on her shoulder before she smiled up at him. When he asked her how she was, she stared longer at him, a confused lilt to her brow.
A look of understanding bloomed in her eyes, she nodded slowly, and put her hand on his, saying, "I cannot hear you… over the blood… pounding in my ears…"
Her words were slow, a soft and gentle slurring because she could only rely on her throat to make the right noises, her mouth was chittering, her teeth close together.
"Hmm… A'right…"
But it wasn't, he wasn't favoring this look on her, wearied and drained so far beyond being able to put two and two together under a second. Her reaction time was slow now, when she turned to see how everyone else was doing, she had to take multiple deep breaths in the turn as if that alone was exhausting.
She had found Honan to watch, Terogin remained by her side, as the battle was dying. The bright light she had cast still had remnants of grey streaks like moonbeams coming down from the sky.
This must be what she got that necromancer with…
Terogin had turned away from the light just in time, even then, it was still hard to look at pale or lighter colors that reflected the light's brightness. He found it quite astounding.
Honan busied holding one lone grimtotem under a rather firm chokehold, the grimtotem was clawing uselessly at the arm around his neck, occasionally gasping.
Finally, the last of them fell to Nukourn, and a silent stillness crept over the group, waiting.
The last one, being held up by Honan, fell to his knees. His cloven feet trying to find a hold on something, anything. The group gathered around the survivor, a young tauren, most likely fresh and full of hot blood much like Vakiinu.
Who was standing in front of the still fighting tauren growling at him.
When the group formed a semi-circle around their prize, a golden circle sprung from the ground, and softer sparkles glistened in the air around them. Bernadine could hardly raise her arm now that she let all the adrenalines seep out of her body.
Everyone's surface wounds were slowly erased, bumps and bruises would have to be dealt with later, seeing as how she made a 'oooooh' sound and touched a hand to her head, asking for a seat.
Terogin kneeled down next to her as she did so, then raised his head back to Honan, "Why yah got dhat 'un wit' yah, Honan?" He jerked his chin to the struggling grimtotem. Eyes squinting.
"Thinking we bring this one back to that witch doctor… they'll know what to do with this sorry bastard."
Terogin accentuated his snort, making sure the distaste was well heard. He growled, eyeing the grimtotem, "I t'ought we were done wit' dhem, Honan. Yah know, walkin' till we hit dhem burnin' sands o' dhe Barrens."
The older tauren narrowed a suspicious glare into the troll, "I am not carrying this lump with us all that way, Terogin. You will simply deal with it."
He swiped the air in front of him as if it held a horrible stench, muttering a curse in zandali.
This got a rise out of the grimtotem, for whatever reason, speaking in a language that only so few could actually understand must have been some form of a trigger. Because the tauren managed to speak while under the hold of Honan, rattling off taurahe, sounding cruel and angry as ever.
Terogin only gives Honan a brow, either waiting for translation or reaction of the words he could not for the life of him even begin to piece together.
Honan growled ferociously, now tightening his hold and eliciting a strong gag from the grimtotem. Ah, something right evil about that he'd gone and said, then.
He could hear Vakiinu somewhere off to the side, humming approval at hearing the gagging sounds.
"Go over the dead. Make sure there's no getting back up." Honan instructed Nukourn, but when the orc departed, so did the rest of the group.
They leaned over the corpses, testing rib cages with feet and making more incisions with blades, just to be sure. Terogin remained where he had knelt, Bernadine at his side. Her eyes were closed, and she was breathing deep, almost asleep.
He was going to have to carry her on the way back, in order for her to get her needed rest.
Above them, in the stars, he could see a circling figure, he guessed it was the eagle, waiting out the fight. Hoping he was right he whistled shortly to get her attention, swiftly, she dipped and floated down. First landing a few feet away, then when he held his arm out, she shook all her feathers and took the short flight to his forearm, landing elegantly.
Nukourn and the rest soon returned, multiple arrows in hand, he dropped a number of them at Terogin's side. They were his own make, so the orc had found them and brought them back. He grunted in thanks, taking the arrows and restocking them in the quiver.
Pleasantries out of the way, Honan hauled the grimtotem onto his shoulder like he was carrying a sack of potatoes. There wasn't any worry of escape, while the group had been scavenging Honan had tied back the grimtotem's hands.
He gave them all a look over, before turning on heel back to the direction of whence they'd come.