Blood covered Bell's face, hands, arms and even soaked his shirt. His wounded attempts to protect himself were beginning to slow as the results of blood loss started to take into effect. The feeling of defeat and failure washing over him, further making the effort of fighting back seem pointless. Where was Cami? He wanted to hold her, to have her in his arms and hear her tell him everything was going to be alright. He was beginning to loose consciousness. His world going black with the sound of that damned elf's wicked laughter ringing in his head.
Alcida looked on with sadistic glee as Bellmar finally ceased moving. The dark elf looked at his bloodied dagger then down at the perfect green orb that he had freed from the paladins skull. A malicious grin spread across his lips as he pondered the thought of either keeping it, stepping on it or leaving it out in the open for the wildlife to feast upon. The latter was seeming more and more boring, the first becoming a possibility and the second more appealing.
At the same time as Alcida raised his foot a stream of arcane bolts came from the tree line to hit him square in the back, knocking him flat on his face and winding him slightly.
"What the-?" Alcida growled as he sat up in an animal like defensive stance.
A heavily cloaked figure in elegant purple and blue robes stepped into the clearing and judging by how the folds of cloth hung to the slender figure along with the rich lavender perfume that tickled his nose Alcida could tell it was obviously a woman.
"You dare interfere?" he growled again as he slowly stood up, tightening his grip on the dagger.
The cloaked woman stopped but a few arms length away from the feral looking elf, her ruby lips the only visible part of her face. "I can not allow you to kill him." The woman inclined her head, face still encased in shadow but a lock of white hair found its way out of her hood and fell down across her chest.
Alcida's ears twitched and he snarled at the woman, eyes glaring in recognition at that stray strand of white. "Did he send you to stop me?" there was much emphasis on the word 'He'.
The woman showed no emotion as she merely waved a hand instead of replying, and with a small poof of smoke and tiny yelp Alcida found himself on the ground.. as a turtle. The woman bent down and picked up the Alcida-turtle, stroking his shell as she spoke, "As a matter of fact, dear Darklore.. no. I am acting of my own accord and even you should know where my intentions lie." the woman smirked slightly as the Alcida-turtle retracted his head into his shell as she went to flick the polymorphed paladin's nose.
The woman stuffed the turtled paladin into a leather satchel underneath her robes and then knelt down beside the unconscious Bellmar, stroking his black hair and shoulders fondly. "Oh Bell..." she said softly. She turned her head and looked down at the green eye that stared up at her from the ground.
Carefully she picked up the green orb and held it in the palm of her hand, lovingly removing any bits of grass and dirt from its wide gaze. She looked down at Bellmar before gently rubbing his shoulders once more. "Don't worry my love, I'll find you help. You will not die just yet."
Quickly the woman stood up, tracing the air with one finger and drawing out magical symbols. She never liked being tracked. Once the glyphs where in place and set, she briskly walked to the edge of the clearing and blinked away.
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Khamal Ringhorn, Tauren warrior of the Ashenvale Long Patrol, was on a routine scouting mission with three others from his unit, two of them new recruits. He and the others with him walked by the roadside heading west when a cloaked woman stepped from behind a tree in front of them. Khamal brought his group to a halt.
"Hail." he said with a nod towards the woman, hands held at his side in case he needed to draw his axe.
The woman nodded at the tauren and pointed off into the trees to the right of them. "There is an elf in need of medical attention. Go swiftly. His wounds are grave."
Khamal looked off towards where she was pointing and waved his scouts in that direction. When he looked back the woman was gone. His golden eyes scanned the trees momentarily but with a snort he hoofed his way through the woods to join his scouts.
It did not take long for him and the others to reach the clearing and, spotting the fallen Bellmar, rush to his side.
Khamal pointed at the two recruits, both young orc shamans. "Med kits. Now." Immediately the two dropped their packs and pulled out rolls of gauze, healing ointments and heavy bandages, setting to work at wrapping the worst of wounds first, starting with Bell's head.
The other seasoned scout, an orc hunter by the name of Tantuluka, scanned the edge of the clearing, his pet pig sniffing the ground around the group. "Obvious signs of a scuffle 'round the whole clearing, blood spots begin over there. Looks like he crawled ta where he is now." He said in his thick voice as he pointed out various spots to Khamal, the orcs eyes still searching for more clues. "Think that woman had somethin' ta do with this?"
Khamal merely shook his head slowly as he too looked around the clearing, occasionally watching the recruits make progress at tending to the fallen elf's wounds. "No.. there is much blood on him and around here and there was none on her.." the tauren lightly fingered his large nose ring in thought. "Although I'm sure she knows exactly what happened here." Khamal reached into a side pouch and pulled out a small mechanical cricket. He lightly touched the things back, listening to it as it made a whirring noise but frowned when the tiny device did nothing else. With a snort he placed the cricket back into his pouch. "No sign of any magic either." He said.
"Almost done boss. We also found this beside him." One of the scouts held up a pairing knife and handed it to Tantuluka, "Good enough guess that thats what caused just about all of this poor souls wounds, he's got no eye either."
Both Tantuluka and Khamal looked over the knife then down at the elf whom the two scouts were now placing on a makeshift stretcher. Khamal wrapped the knife in a cloth and then placed it into his sack. Turning to Tantuluka he spoke, "Have Ramtusk search the clearing for this elf's missing eye. If we find it we might be able to give it to Advisor Sunsworn and hopefully find out who did this. Mack your way back to camp in thirty minutes if you are unsuccessful." The orc hunter nodded and whistled at his pig, hunter and pet beginning their search. Khamal nodded and lead the two recruits, Bellmar in tow, out of the clearing.
