The scarred man stumbled, his face draining of colour as he reflexively leaned forward. Siara didn't wait to watch this, however, using her shoulder to slam the redheaded man, trying to get him off balance for long enough to wrestle her blades off him. Lucky for her, she managed to do so in the split second that he was shocked by what was happening to his comrade. Siara didn't worry much about what was going on with the other two mages, trusting that Barris was dealing to them. By now the shade was once again attacking her, its clawed fist raised high. Siara got out of the way, hardly paying attention to the sounds of battle breaking out nearby. She just assumed it was Barris, and hoped that he was managing to block the mages' magic.
By now the scarred man was recovering, and so was the redheaded Elmer. Siara took a few steps back, trying to keep all three of her opponents in her sight. It didn't work too well for her. It seemed that no matter how she positioned herself, she could only keep two of the three in her sight. Not for the first time, she cursed her partial blindness. She held her blades ready, eyes flicking between her enemies, trying to pinpoint which one would be easiest to pick off first. Her eyes kept landing back on the shade, though it was positioned between the two mages. If it weren't for that, then it would be the obvious choice. She didn't know enough about the power capabilities of the two mages to know which of them would be easier to deal with first, but looking at their physical appearance it would be Elmer.
Her eyes flicked back to her captor just as he prepared to cast a spell. She didn't want to know what it would be, and she did her best to get out of the way. She didn't have time to think about what the best plan was, not really. Her best bet was to just stay alive and try to do damage as she could. It certainly wasn't a good situation that she and Barris were finding themselves in. Fortunately, she was with someone who was trained in fighting mages, and Barris wasn't having anywhere near as hard of a time as Siara was. He'd managed to nullify the magic from one of the mages - Siara thought it was Alice - but not the other. While the nullified mage was trying to stay out of the way and figured out how to fight off Barris, the other one was blasting him with balls of fire. He had his shield raised and was advancing on the mage, though it was slow progress. Even if he didn't look entirely in charge of the situation, Siara knew it was at least somewhat under control.
Her attention was snapped back to her three opponents as the shade swiped out at her, only narrowly dodging the attack by leaning backwards and taking a small step away to keep her balance. She blocked its hand with her gold blade, preparing to thrust the black one through its leathery skin. Her plan had to change when Elmer stepped forward, hand outstretched to grab Siara. His hand was sparking with lightning, and Siara's plan changed. She awkwardly withdrew her golden blade, stepping out of the shade's path and twisting to thrust the black blade through Elmer's hand before he could grab her. A cry of pain escaped him, but it was cut short as Siara sliced her golden blade across his throat. The cry of pain was replaced by a quiet gurgling sound, a mixed look of pain, shock, and fear on Elmer's face as he collapsed first to his knees and then to the ground.
There wasn't time to think more about Elmer's death, Siara's concentration being snatched back by the shade as the claws grated down Siara's left arm. Her leather armour didn't do much to protect against them, Siara yelling in pain. The shade wasn't letting up, aiming a flurry of blows at her. She did her best to turn to face it, stumbling as she did so, but out the peripheral of her right eye she could see the scarred man finally recovering from the foot to his nether region. Blood was dripping from his arm, and Siara knew what was coming.
She spun so she could do her best to keep both the shade and the mage in her line of sight, but still trying to place herself between them. Blood was dripping from her arm, and keeping a firm grip on her gold blade was difficult. The shade was still advancing on her, the mage still mumbling something under his breath. There was no way for Siara to reach him in time to stop whatever he was doing, the shade getting dangerously close. Her eyes flicked to Barris, who was just finishing off the woman, his attention turning to the last mage. He was closer than Siara, and she knew that he was the best shot at bringing the mage down. She kept enough attention on the scarred man so she could hopefully save herself from any attack he threw at her, but turned most of her attention to the shade. Its hand was raised again, aiming to swipe down at her head. Siara once again blocked with her gold blade, doing her best to twist her dark blade into the exposed belly.
The wound wasn't as deep as she would have liked, but it did the job. Barely a cry escaped the shade as it fell to the ground and disappeared. Siara turned to check on Barris and the blood mage. Fortunately, Barris was just finishing the man off. Siara finally let the pain get to her, dropping her blades and clutching her arm with a scowl on her face.
"Mother fucking, nug shitting, pig sticking bastard!" she muttered, bending almost double as she clutched her arm to her chest. "Things were just going too well for me, weren't they?"
Barris wiped his sword clean as he crossed over to her, concern written on his face.
"Let me have a look," he said.
Siara shook her head, straightening up. She still clutched her arm, doing her best to hide it from Barris. She should have taken the chance to look at how noticeable her markings were rather than complaining about the pain. Despite liking Barris, and somewhat trusting him even, she didn't want him to know about them yet.
''It's fine," she lied. "I've had worse. It's not my first time getting injured in a fight."
"Just let me look. If those wounds get infected, they'll get a lot worse," he tried persuading her. Siara scowled, knowing Barris was right. She could look at the wounds later, but by then it could be too late.
"Fine," she grumbled, "just please don't freak out."
Barris half smiled, putting his sword away.
"I'm sure I'll be fine. It's not my first time tending wounds, you know."
"That's not what I'm talking about."
Siara held her arm out, flinching slightly as Barris gently removed the shredded armour from her arm and rolled her sleeve up. At first there was too much blood to get a good look at the markings covering her skin, which Siara had mixed feelings about. Part of her was happy to put off Barris discovering her secret for as long as possible. The other part was minorly concerned about the amount of blood she had lost, and was presumably still losing.
Barris motioned for Siara to take a seat on a rock nearby, grabbing a blanket from nearby and pressing it to her arm.
"Keep pressure applied," he told her. "I'll get some water boiling. We need to get the wound cleaned."
Siara sighed, wanting this to be over with. She hadn't liked people fussing over her for ages, and she liked this situation even less, waiting quietly for the coming revelation with resignation.
"This might hurt a little," he warned her, soaking the cloth in the water and gently removing the now blood-soaked blanket from Siara's arm. Slowly, carefully, he began to clean around the wounds, a frown deeping on his face. He hesitated for a moment, watching the exposed blue and red markings shimmering slightly. His eyes flicked up to meet Siara's, a small frown on his face.
"Yeah," she said, not in the least bit surprised. "That's what I didn't want you to freak out about."
