Marching was always a pain, specially in the night, however Kellam knew damn well that this quiet march was far better than having to fight his way through, so while it was a pain, it was the less taxing option, even more so taking into account the state of their weapons, it didn't matter how good of a warrior you were if your weapon broke in the middle of a fight, then there was the fact that they had to protect their kids and if they were overrun Kellam would have to stay back since his armor would not help at the time of fleeing, all in all they were lucky.

"Dad?" looks like the little bunny woke up yet again, "What is it Yarne?" however a bit of a silence breaker is very welcomed at the moment, "Why are you scared?" and now he wished for the silence to come back, but he had to act for the kid didn't he? "I'm not scared Yarne, why would you think i was? This armor will protect me from any danger" he said with a smile while lightly punching his armor for emphasis.

"Well it's just that you have that look you always put when mom was angry, and well mom was also invincible but…" he let the word unsaid but both knew what he meant with that, Kellam looked at front of him and saw his companion's grip on his weapon falter, the memories were fresh and it still hurts to remember but at the moment their children had priority.

"Well, i'm scared, but for you" he was trying to deflect the answer, but he couldn't put more uneasiness in his son, so for now he would hide his true thoughts, "For me?" Yarne was confused, why would his father be afraid for him? It doesn't make sense.

"Of course, your mother had a lot of hope for you, you are among the last taguel remaining my son, so I will keep you alive no matter what. I'm afraid of me failing that and facing your mother's wrath" a half lie, but a lie nonetheless.

"Mom thought of me as a way for our race to survive?" the little one asked his father, his eyes shining with both happiness and disbelief, "But she always seemed so disappointed no matter what i did, saying that i wasn't a good taguel" he hated that part of his wife, being the among the lasts ones remaining affected her mind a lot, putting near impossible tasks for her only son.

"Well yeah, but that's because she was afraid that you would forget your roots, she wanted what was best for you, do not forget that son, she wanted you to have this even" he said pulling a ring from his pocket and putting it on the taguel's hand, "This was her ring, the first proof of our love and the second most important, keep it as a reminder of her".

Yarne looked at the ring and then at his father, indecision in his eyes before looking at his father for one last time "I'll do It" his mind made he put the ring on his pocket, making it be as safe as possible.

And then he started twitching, looking around him, a feeling he was very familiar started spreading through him, he was getting afraid, but why?, There wasn't any danger at the moment, everything was fine so why did he feel like he should run away as far as he could?.

The answer came in the sound of metal clashing against metal, his father's trusted shield stopping a sword that was going to him, the risen tried to slash again but a lance embedded on his torso, the knight giving no second to spare pushed him with his shield and stabbed it again the risen fell and started to disappear.

Kellam looked to side and saw four more of those creatures starting to appear so he pulled his son behind him and prepared himself, looking to his side he saw his friend doing the same, the former farmer looked at him and nodded, both taking their usual fighting positions.

Donnel dove forward stabbing his spear at the head of the first risen, the second one tried to hit him with an ax, only for a javelin suddenly piercing it's torso and pushing it back, It tried to get up but a second blow from the farmer made sure it couldn't do so, this was the way they fought, Donnel headfirst and Kellam covering any openings at range.

One tried to sneak beside Kellam, trying to go for the weakest prey first, a quick blow from the shield of the man stopped it making it drop his weapon from the impact, It tried to rise again but the knight stabbed his shield at the center, effectively bisecting the creature.

While that happened Donnel made sure to finish off the last risen, he was used to this by now, block, dodge and stab, it's a good think that this risen seemed to be the bottom of the barrel along with very few numbers, if it wasn't the case he doubted Kellam and himself would have made it very far.

As he looked for any more targets he took a sigh of relief when he found none, turning to his daughter he smiled seeing her and Yarne safe, and started walking towards them, until he saw some miasma starting to gather beside them, seeing this he broke into a sprint putting his lance up and pushing both children behind him, the miasma started taking the form of a woman, not letting it finish forming its weapon he tried to skewer it and end this as quickly as possible./p

pBut his lance clashed with metal, in the hands of the risen the Silver Blade gleamed with the moonlight, his eyes widening he tried to disengage and find another way but the risen grabbed his arm, and yanked him back, putting it's sword ready for a quick kill, the farmer tried to break free but it was in vain, looking at the arm of his soon to be killer he read a single word "Neun".

Or would be, if it wasn't for the shield that pushed the risen away, "You alright?" he really should remember the existence of his friends more often, but that's for later, he picked himself up along with his lance and glared at the monster, "Yeah, thanks to ya imma still be kicking for a long while" at this Kellam smiled and blocked the impact of a blow, his shield rattering below the force of it.

Seeing this Donnel jumped in and poked at "Neun" trying to get her guard broken seeing this the risen took a step to side and with spin tried to deliver a blow to the head of the farmer, but the annoying shield blocked it yet again and pushed her back, "Neun" looked up and saw the shield going at her yet again so she closed the distance and ducked to the side, the shield missing her entirely and leaving the knight wide open, but a lance piercing her leg stopped her.

The farmer smiled at the damage and prepared another strike, ready to finish this, but the risen blocked it, redirecting it with her sword and cutting the lance from the pole, leaving it as just a metal stick, without a way to defend himself Donnel jumped back and picked a Tree Branch, he saw Gregor fight with one once so maybe he could do it too.

"Neun" lunged at him, ignoring her leg wound completely she did something that Donnel didn't expect, she jumped, evading the lance that was supposed to intercept her and striking the knight with all her might, this one reacting in time to block with his shield, only for it to break on impact.

His eyes widening in disbelief Kellam dropped his shield and raised his lance, blocking the blade with it and realized that this risen, it was beyond them, he saw Donnel stand back, trying to think what to do branding a branch as a sword, and came to the conclusion that they were going to die, the only weapon left was his Javelin and it was on it's breaking point as well.

With all these factors in mind he realized that only one option was left, so he yelled with all his strength, "Donnel, take them out of here, the capitol is around one kilometer away from here, protect Yarne, please!" Donnel tried to protest but then he saw the face of his friend and with a heavy hard, for the second time that week he ran, he picked up Nah and Yarne and ran, even through the screams to stop from the kid he ran, even through the tears that wanted to spill he ran, leaving another loved one to die.

"Neun" for her part focused completely on the knight in front of her who pushed her back with a roar and ran forward raising his Javelin with all his might, hoping to win, hoping to not leave the little bunny alone and directed his lance to "Neun" who did the same, a last clash of metal echoed through the area.

"Neun" sheathed her sword and tried to give pursue to the fleeing group but while trying to stand up again she collapsed, hearing a slight laugh she turned to the knight who held a broken pole, and looking down she saw where the rest ended up, protruding from her leg, the remains of the knights javelin remained, "You won't go after them, not while i live" he was going to win no matter what, he would not leave Yarne alone.

Picking up the pointy remains of Donnel's lance Kellam walked to the risen keeping an eye making sure that she didn't try anything.

*Squelch*

The sickening sound resounded on his ears, his trusty armor pierced completely, he looked down and saw the risen holding a curved sword, and in the blink of an eye, his armor fell apart, all of it being broken in a split second, disbelief was the last thing he felt before he feThe risen for her part sheathed the sword, watching it disappear, indicating that her master's favor was over, turning around she tried to walk away, only for an arm to clutch her leg, looking down she saw the knight, no, the General trying to stop her, so unsheathing her Silver Blade she brought it down piercing the man one last time, the man's arm dropping to the floor, Neun turned around only to fall face first on the floor, and started dissipating, but her master calls for her, so she started disappearing, becoming miasma once again and returning to said master.

Kellam for his part tried to get up, tried to crawl but he couldn't, his injuries were too severe, too big, too dangerous…. He looked to the hand in front of him, watching the ring on his hand he smiled knowing that at least his son was alive, and so with a calm smile, Kellam won the fight and breathed his last.

Kellam The Shield of the Shepherds had died.