A weird shaking feeling woke Noxtis. Curious as to what the sensation was, he looked around and saw Ember missing from the room. Hesitating whether or not to exit the room and figure out what was going on, Noxtis took the chance and exited. Only to smack right into another disciple who happened to be right outside the door.
"Owww, watch it, lover boy." Grunting and nursing her bruised pride, the feminine-voiced Crimson Scale Disciple pointed towards the door to the outside of the carriage. "Senior Sister wants you outside right now."
Hearing the lack of concern in her voice, Noxtis went outside to see what the heck was going on.
Walking out of the carriage, Elder Gundlach and Ember were already battling a band of attackers. While Elder Gundlach was clearly the strongest beastkin in the fight, there were over a dozen ratkin that were attacking the caravan. The other merchant disciples were hiding in their respective carriages and thanks to the defensive wards the ratkin were unable to break into any of the carriages so far.
What looked like the ratkin leader and two of the stronger subordinates were attacking Elder Gundlach, and while they weren't dealing any real damage to the Elder, they were clearly well-trained enough to contain the Elder from killing the other ratkin members.
Embervesent was well holding her ground while wielding a large sword as a few raiders had surrounded her, she was able to keep them at bay and even kill a few at this point. Embervesent must've caught the raiders by surprise since there were already two dead ratkin near the carriage. However, despite being caught off-guard, there were just too many ratkin for the two dragonkin to handle.
The horses, or rather Draco-Colts, neighed furiously at any of the ratkin that got too close. With their sharp dragon claws and scaled exterior, the ratkin attacked at range with their bows, most of which got deflected. As much as they struggled, the Draco-Colts were unable to break free from their reigns and did their best to defend the carriages.
Noticing the arrival of a non-crimson scale member, the ratkin leader looked at Noxtis in confusion as if not expecting to see him there. Taking advantage of that moment of confusion, Elder Gundlach managed to land a vicious kick to the ratkin leader's leg, scorching the thick leather leg guard as a loud bone-cracking snap echoed out.
*Grrrrahhhh* Slashing out with his saber, the ratkin leader snarled at Elder Gundlach in rage. Seeking out an order, the two lieutenants upped their pressure as the leader limped behind the two and snatched a potion out of his pouch to drink immediately.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Surveying the battlefield, Noxtis saw a group of ratkin ganging up on the Draco-Colts carrying the carriages in the back. Three of the ratkin were holding bows and aiming for the exposed areas of the Draco-Colts that were not covered in scales or armor.
Wanting to help out Ember, Noxtis realized that he needed to stop the other ratkin that were running rampant and place trust in Ember to stay safe.
"Oy Noxtis, bout time you got your ass up. Hurry up and help me kill these bastards." Slashing with her flame-tinged sword in a wide area, creating a huge bloom of flames in front of her, Ember bought herself just enough time to grab Noxtis' steel sword from her spatial ring and throw it in his direction.
Just as much as Noxtis had noticed the maneuver, a ratkin nearby also saw the flying sheathed sword and went to grab the shiny-looking weapon.
Thankful that he would have his weapon rather than trying to attack with his bare hands, Noxtis paws gripped the ground beneath him and jumped up past the nearby ratkin. Kneeing one ratkin in the head and stepping heavily on another, Noxtis was able to get just enough lift to snatch the sheathed sword in hand.
"What's going on? I thought that bandits wouldn't even think of attacking the Crimson Scale tribesmen?"
Parrying an attack, Embervesent shouted in response. "I don't know either, it happened extremely suddenly. Not only did these ratkin have much better equipment than other raiders, but they also have teamwork and battle skills much like a well-known Warband. Uncle Gundlach is also one of the strongest Elders and is having trouble protecting the carriages that are carrying the merchant disciples."
Embervesent kicked the gut of an attacking ratkin. "Nox, can you go stop them from attacking the end carriage? I saw a few break off of the group and head that way."
Rubbing his slightly smarting knee, he cursed the disgusting bony head of the ratkin lying on the ground and slashed his sword at its neck while it was still dazed. With one of the raiders bleeding out, Noxtis smacked the other that was in the process of getting up with his sheath. Knocking the other one off-kilter, Noxtis gained enough time to slash the ratkin's arm holding a nasty-looking dagger and rushed off to the group that was attacking the cargo carriages.
*Skreeee* Too concerned about his bleeding arm, the ratkin fell to the ground as he did use his other hand to try and stem the flood of blood.
Hearing the screams, the ratkin attacking the carriage looked over and saw Noxtis charging at them. Ignoring the carriage for the moment, the group of five ratkin aimed their weapons towards the approaching swordsman. Two of the ratkin in the backline fired their arrows at Noxtis which he was able to dodge quite easily while the three in front rushed to meet him in combat. Two of them held jagged sabers while the last wielded a spear.
Having dodged the initial volley of arrows, Noxtis became wary of the spear as its reach would pose a problem if he was too caught up fighting the two swordsmen.
Much to his surprise, the two swordsmen kept charging forward while the spearmen kept just out of Noxtis' reach. 'Damn, their coordination is much more refined than I would've guessed from raiders. But if they are brave enough to attack the Crimson Scale tribe then I suppose they would be either extremely stupid or well prepared.'
Meeting the two swordsmen in combat, Noxtis could easily tell that they weren't very smooth in their attacks and more flailing with their strength. Using the ratkin's bodies as a shield to avoid further shots from the ranged attackers, the archers in the back screeched annoyingly as they couldn't get in any good shots.
Noxtis used his sword sheath to block attacks he couldn't parry or dodge. Retaliating where he could, however, none of his strikes were able to have much power behind it and weren't able to do much damage with the tough leather armor the ratkin was wearing. With the constant pressure from the spear user and having to keep out of the vision of the bowmen, Noxtis grew increasingly frustrated by their teamwork and suffered cuts here and there.
However, even the ratkin were getting skittish as even their combined pressure was making very little headway and their bloodline made their tempers flare quickly. One of the ratkin archers got too impatient and fired a shot that only hit the shoulder of one of the swordsmen.
With that distraction, Noxtis shoved one of the swordsmen into the other and off to the side. The spearman took that opening to thrust his spear towards Noxtis' torso which he tried his best to dodge but it had managed to nick his side. Gritting through the sting of the spear attack, Noxtis dropped his sheath and grabbed ahold of the spear, and pull it towards himself only to meet resistance from the spearmen.
Seeing the two swordsmen getting up, Noxtis abruptly twisted his grip on the spear and broke off the spearhead which caused the spearmen to fall back from the loss of force on the other end. Leaping forward, Noxtis managed to stab forth with the spearhead and pierce the eye of the spearmen who howled in agony.
*Thhhhwwwiiiimmm*
With his body wide open, the two bowmen shot at Noxtis with one of the arrows hitting squarely in the meat of his left shoulder while the other missed the mark slightly and hit the still screaming spearmen on the ground.
The sound from the fallen spearmen quickly died out as Noxtis got back on his feet and felt a piercing pain coming from his shoulder. With no time to pull out the arrow, Noxtis snapped most of the arrow sticking out of his shoulder much to his dismay as the action radiated another sharp wave of pain.
Most of the movement of his left arm was gone due to the injury but the attacks from the other ratkin did not decrease in the slightest. Not able to risk another injury, Noxtis looked at the swordsmen and backed off while moving to the side. Eyeing the bowmen that were taking aim once again, Noxtis lowered his center of gravity as a thin black mist covered his form.
Shocking the four ratkin, the mysterious swordsmen before them had vanished. Screeching at one another, the ratkin looked around vigilantly to figure out where their foe had escaped to.
Appearing behind the backs of the two bowmen, Noxtis pierced his sword through the chest of one of them. Releasing the grip on his sword, Noxtis quickly gripped the other with his good arm and strangled the ratkin who had dropped his bow and clawed at Noxtis' arms. Ignoring the scratches that were accumulating on his forearm, Noxtis ignored the pain in his left arm and snapped the neck of the struggling bowmen.
With the downfall of the two bowmen, the two swordsmen were scared out of their wits to somehow see their companions die so quickly and brutally. Not wanting to end up like their dead comrades, the two swordsmen ran away from the carriage and fled the scene.
With the group attacking the carriage gone, Noxtis grabbed his bloody sword and pulled it out of the dead carcass. Noxtis ran back towards Ember and Elder Gundlach.