The metal whistled through the air and that would've been it, back to the mud as simple as that, but it seemed the Wilds had a different fate in mind for him. He shifted right and the blow cut naught but air as he brought his own weapon around and hammered it down on his monstrous foe. For all the heavy blade's worth, it did little against the plate armor and Bale found himself stepping to avoid a strike from his opponent's weapon.

The darkspawn didn't hesitate and the attack was pushed forward. The next swing Stone Eyes managed to catch, but for all his strength, his adversary had a head and what seemed like five stone on him. He dug his heels in the muddy grass, the squelch of his boots in the filth mixing queerly with the grinding of metal and the ragged breath of either fighter. The burning in his forearms was hard to ignore and couldn't be managed long, so the lock was broke and he rolled to the side, the beast's greatsword sparked against his and slid right off, planting straight into the muck. Up on his feet before the monstrosity could free his weapon, he delivered a powerful backhanded swing, digging straight through its armor and sinking halfway in at the shoulder. A howl of pain rose from the creature's maw as Bale released his grip on the bastard sword and tore a knife from his belt, promptly shoving it up under the darkspawn's throat and silencing the shouts.

"Rrraughhh!" The roar of bloodlust mixed with fury permeated through the air, and his brothers took that as their sign to join the fray. Three men armored lightly with patchwork leather and no more than rust bitten blades stormed into the small stretch of woods, meeting their enemies with a fury that seemed to come straight from the legends that gave the infamous Chasind warriors their long wrought reputation. The darkspawn answered with twice as many shouts and the bloodletting to follow turned the mud scarlet and ebony.

He watched as Cal took an axe in the arm only to take off a head in return. He saw Rud as the giant forewent his steel for the satisfaction of lifting his foe, smaller than a dwarf, off the ground and ending its miserable existence with a sharp twist of the neck. Stone Eyes smiled as another rushed towards him, and snatched his blade from the ground before charging to meet the challenge.

A twang stood out amongst the clatter of iron and was accompanied swiftly by an arrow planting itself between the neck and shoulder of the approaching darkspawn. A hiss of pain and a half second's delay was all the time Bale needed to put a blade into the creatures skull, wrench it out, and keep his stride before his victim hit the ground.

Stone Eyes felt a low rumble in his chest and in the air, taking a moment to scan the tree line. More of the wretches poured from the brushes in pairs but it mattered little, for falling back had ceased being an option after the first wretch was slain. His eyes followed a group of fodder as Timmet's arrows sprouted from their joints like weeds on a hot summer day.

Cal cleaved another head off and turned, his rage quelled for a moment as the odds began to set in, while Rud was too far gone in his own madness to take notice, batting one enemy aside while gutting the another.

Bale raised his dagger and bastard sword up with left and right hands respectively, spinning them like a man half sane, and plunging into the confusion. It didn't matter where he swung because every blow of his hit and he made damn sure every one of them hurt. Blood and sweat was traded amongst three warriors and the horde, but the arrows had since stopped. Stone Eyes shoved a creature off his knife, pivoting around to cleave an arm off another. His body was numb with adrenaline, so the cuts he did receive barely registered as enemy after enemy fell before them, but the futility of their plight was becoming more apparent with each kill and every cut.

His eyes fell on Rud as the mountainous man took a blade in the ribs and watched as red rivers ran from it. He turned to see Cal hack away fruitlessly as the wretches overwhelmed him, eventually falling beneath the boots of his killers. There were too many... 'We are too few...'

Bale let a second cry mix in with the guttural snarls and screeches of the darkspawn.

He jammed his dagger into the head of one, and lost it as the felled wretch dragged it from from his hands. Taking his remaining armament into both hands, the Chasind aimed hard and low, taking the legs out from under the beast to his front. Quickly the line he and his allies had formed died along with Rud and Cal, and the enemy made their way around to his back and sides.

No, he could not be trapped.

He shoved booted foot into the next wretch in line, knocking him into all those behind.

'I will not be trapped.'

He stomped over those fallen before him, not minding if they were dead or alive, his sights set on a small opening in the mob just to his front. The weapons of those circling him darted out, nicking him here and there.

'I will not die here.'

He broke from the chaos, but the wretches pursued, all of them just out of sword's reach as he pushed for the tall trees mere yards ahead of him. His heart sounded like booming war drums at a distance to his own ears, but that terrible music was just enough to drive him onward, quicker than the rabble could close in on him, but it still wasn't quick enough. There was an instant's hesitation before he made the decision but, remorsefully, he let his blade slip from his fingers and fall to the ground and his pace increased all the more.

"I will not die here," Bale muttered determinedly between ragged breaths. He past the tall trees and that small light of hope began to grow in his mind as he saw the woods start to thin out. He turned to see that most of the darkspawn had fallen back in the wake of a monster so large it would put Rud to shame. He turned his head back around and the same old mantra replayed in his head. "I will not die-" but the belief in those words extinguished instantly as the sight of the gorge filed into his vision. He held himself back, digging boots in the dirt and teetered on the edge, a mere hairs breath from death, that death being in the form of torrential amounts of rushing water and a few dozen jagged rocks smiling like a set of crooked teeth that couldn't wait to get a taste of him. Stone Eyes was going to die here. He turned to see the darkspawn come just into reach of him and grab out with a long, demonic arm.

'But so are you.'

Bale grabbed a clawed hand with both of his and let the full weight of his body fall back over nothing, sending both the darkspawn and the Chasind into the river.