The Second Servant

"...and she came like a Fury, down from the north, and the land quailed at her coming" - Tome VII "The Legends of the Ironfists", Azanulimbar-dum II 2805

Turn16

Without a Lord.

The miltiaman waits expectantly for the healer to make her move. Coru hesitates for a moment, aware of his duplicity, but his interest is too peaked to back out now. He steps forward and enters the interior of the building.

In the streets of Buhr Criocha shortly after...

Valdo strides through the village with unmasked anger on his face. The locals stay clear of him until he reaches the stone house of the Watch Commander - Raigorn McGarht, where he accosts one of the young militiamen standing outside.
"What on earth is going on here?" he shouts.
"Uh, Captain." The man salutes smartly. "The Watch Commander's house was attacked during the raid and I think he was hurt. We have called for the Lady Lorrelinde and she has just gone upstairs to aid him."

As the man finishes speaking, a clattering is heard in the street and three mounted riders appear in sight. Lochan swings from his saddle while the horse is still moving and runs it to a stop. Valdo notices who is with him and approaches to say:
"Can you believe this? I leave for such a short time and this happens.." He turns so that the militia men nearby can also hear, then exclaims:
"I swear on my life I will avenge this outrage on those that I am entrusted to protect. REVENGE!" he shouts with a clenched fist. Stepping straight through the open doorway without giving his men a second glance, Valdo scans the smears of blood on the wall in a glance, then mounts the stairs, two at a time.

At the same moment...

In the third of the rooms, farthest from the wooden stairwell, is another lesser scene of combat. An Easterling lies half in - half out of the doorway in a crumpled heap. Not as covered in blood as those downstairs, he is nevertheless quite dead. Across the room kneels the mighty figure of Raigorn, blood slowly oozing from a puncture wound through his mail shirt and down his broad back. He crouches over the whimpering form of a young woman. The guard accompanying Coru whispers:
"We think his daughter, Elinor is wounded. He asked urgently for you. You better go."
Without waiting for an answer, the militiaman gestures for the healer to go forward, then stoops to remove the Szreldor body.

As the dead man is dragged down the stairs, feet first, his arm flops out from where it was hidden, trapped beneath the body. Coru gives a start as the bloodied stump thumps against the floorboards, splashing blood from where the hand had previously been. But the warrior's attention is torn away as he hears the woman speaking quietly from between her sobs.

[From Elinor's muffled words it becomes obvious that the Easterlings knew where to find Raigorns family, specifically his beautiful daughter. While those downstairs held off the Watch-commander, others stormed the stairs to this room and after a brief struggle in which Beriwen almost slew one of the invaders, they succeeded in disarming the girl and pushed both her and her mother through the open window to others apparently waiting below.]

Coru's quick senses replay the scene in his mind. It is likely that Raigorn's timely decimation of the opposition downstairs prevented the Szreldor from capturing Elinor as well and thus she was left behind; her face now darkened with a frightful bruise given her by one of the departing warriors.

Raigorn stirs and turns, standing to his full height, letting the haft of a huge two headed axe drop to the floor. It is smeared with dribbles of blood and gore as is the veteran warrior who, a short while ago, wielded it with deadly precision.

"Ah, Lorrelinde. You took your time," he bellows. "The Lady Elinor here.....WHAT? Your not the Healer!"

Coru glances quickly towards the window, judging the distance for a swift sprint and jump. As he sees Raigorn reaching for his axe, the Gargath tracker throws back his hood. In the light from the window, Raigorn's eyes fall on the impressive tatoo covering the entire left half of Coru's face. It shows a black serpent, coiling itself to and fro. The Gargath leans against the wall to support his spear and keeps his hands free while bringing them forward in the universal sign of peace.

"Listen, I come in peace. Things are not as they might seem, so please let my tell my tale. I wish neither of you any harm," he tries in his best accented Arhunerin.

Raigorn is fuming but something in Coru's bizarre appearance stays his hand. "Speak now and quickly, before I rend you apart!" the huge man spits, ready to advance upon him.

"Be not fooled by my appearance. I am not Lorrelinde, as you can see, but neither am I one of the Szreldor. I am Coru of the Gargath people, known as the 'Hawk'. I have devoted my life to track down, and wipe out the people who ruined this village. That reason has brought me here.

Raigorn still appears tense but chooses not to advance. "I know a little of the Easterling peoples to the south and you don't look exactly like them...but you better explain yourself fully after I find out where Lorrelinde is or your life will not be worth offal for the dogs. Brannd! Get in here."

The flustered guard clatters up the stairs into the room.
"Right Sargeant. Explain why you let this Easterling into the house when I asked explicitely for Lorrelinde?"
"I...er..." he looks anxiously and a little shocked at Coru. "Er... well, he was wearing one of the healer's cloaks and the hood was up and..." he mutters to a stop as Raigorn staggers. The old veteran makes a valiant effort to keep his wobbling legs under him and clutches the window sill but finally sinks onto his knees with a grimace.
"Father!" shouts Elinor, moving at once to her fathers side but Raigorn waves the fluttering girl away in anger and embarassment:
"It's just fatigue. I'll be fine woman."
To the sargeant he says:
"Get that man out of here and see that he doesn't go far...and get Lorrelinde," he shouts after Brannd as the militiaman ushers Coru quickly out of the room towards the stairs.

At that moment, the bulky form of Valdo bustles up the wooden steps, while outside in the street, Lochan makes arrangements for the militia men to take care of their dead companions. As the cart and spare horses rumble off in the direction of the barracks, the Ranger, with Sealvach and Heladil following, head into the building after Valdo. Lochan stumbles with fatigue but forces himself up the stairs after the Captain.

Valdo sees the two men on the upper stairs and says brusquely:
"Is the Watch Commander in here...good. I will see him now."
He pushes past and heads into the room but stops short when he sees the wounded man.
"Sir! Are you badly hurt?"
"Nay, Valdo. Not as much as you appear to be. One of those bastards caught me in the side with his toothpick...but he didn't live long enough to profit from it. I'll live. They have got Maelwhin and Beriwen," he says tiredly, shaking his head in defeat, then raises his brows questioning:
"What has happened out there?"

*******

Froin looks straight at the Lord barely hearing Meraina speak to him, but he does catch it. "I believe I may have an idea."
Froin looks up quickly at Arekhel:
"You are a healer, or at least able to help others. I know, I saw back at the inn." Grabbing her hand, he adds: "If I could get you in, could you see if you can help?"

With a shout the Lord of Buhr Criocha pushes the women away, then passes out in pain as he tries to rise onto his elbows. His last remaining bodygaurd, turns and joins in forcefully ushering the villagers from the room.

Arekhel is startled by Froin's touch. She puts her hand to her chest, as if to calm down.
"Did you see that....Oh, Froin, it is you! What did you say? You want me to heal somebody? Yes, yes, sure...I'm coming..." She follows Froin, but still looks back out of the front door from time to time, as if distracted.

Nodding towards Arekhel and Froin, Relg says, his voice lowered: "That might be a good idea. Although they already have a good healer. I know that woman, Lorellinde, she helped Coru, one of my men, after he was wounded by one of the Szreldor. If you can talk to her, tell her that I am here."

Froin leads Arekhel to the front of the crowd, but is barred from going any farther by one of the guards.
"Let us see the Lord Mahrdhricks. I have a healer here who might be able to help. And from the looks of it, the Lord can use all the help he can get." The guard barely notices him at first. Froin continues but raises his voice.
"Son, I know you have a job to do, but I know you do not want Mahdhricks to die this day. You don't want to see your leader die after what has happened to this town. You will need his help to recuperate. If you are worried about him being harmed any further, I can assure you that," <handing over his crossbow to the guard,> "no more harm will be done this day. Let me take my friend to the lord and hopefully we can help him survive." Froin looks the guard straight in the eyes, sincerely meaning everything he has said.

Arekhel puts her hand on Froin's shoulder and looks straight into the guard's eyes, smiling encouragingly:
"He's right, we're here only to help and your Lord has everything to gain and nothing to lose from me." She pats her bag. "And I am a healer, like the woman there, I can try to save your Lord...you don't want him to die, do you?...you don't want to have his death on your soul for not giving him the chance to be saved? Honestly, we mean no harm...look at us, a dwarf and a woman...what do you fear?"

The man looks at Arekhel for a moment, then nods.
"Wait here."
He crosses swiftly to where Mahrdhricks lies and speaks quietly to the kneeling woman. She nods then waves him away, turning back to her patient.
He returns and speaks once more to the assembled group:
"OK, you two. Lorrelinde says the healer can come forward but only her. You others can help me get these people out of here. Has anyone seen the Watch-commander? He should be on his way here by now."

Arekhel moves quickly to kneel by the side of the two women and the fallen Lord of the village. The gash is wide and deep and Arekhel gulps at the sight of the man's innards held in by a taught and pale bag of tissue.
"So your a healer are you?" asks the woman named Lorrelinde quietly, her graying-brown hair held back in a bun with wooden pins. "Then soak this material with the liquid in this bottle, then pad it into the wound as smoothly as you can. We will have to undo the buckles of his breastplate and get it off him before we can assess the extent of the damage. I think his breathing is making the edges of torn metal rub against the sides of the wound. Arekhel reaches quickly to dab at the steel where a fresh line of blood is making a crimson line down the side.

Froin, feeling a little better that someone can help the lord, turns around, gathering himself:
"Alright everybody. There is nothing more to see here. We are trying everything we can to better this situation. And with your help we can make it a little easier. So if you could all just go home and pray for
the best, then you will be helping greatly."

Boldor sees the situation and acts by pushing forward:
"Rite nah get back - yer crowding him in, let the healer through..." and he starts helping the guards to push the crowd back, roughly but effectively (Boldor's had enough experience of being thrown out of Inns to know how to throw people out).
Boldor looks up to Gwalchmai who towers beside him:
"Oi you yer great Northern Lump, don't just stand their agaping, give us a hand!"

"OK, here I am!".
Gwalchmai steps over to one wall and picks up a (fauchard) polearm and uses it like a staff held horizontally to push the locals back. His deep voice joins that of the others and speaks to the crowd:
"Please, step back!"

Sneaking through the legs of the taller people, Raddish tries to reach the place where Boldor is, and talk to him. He only succeeds in getting caught between two locals and Boldor doesn't see him. He tries again.

Billy whispers quickly to Raddish beside him, low so that no-one else hears, then without really waiting for an answer, he zig-zags around the people in the crowd and narrowly avoids the arm of one of the militiamen, ducking beneath the man into the open space in the center of the large room. He faces the crowd before him. Using an imposing voice, the Hobbit exclaims:
"Ok, go back home. Give the people who are trying to save your lord some room. These guards have had a tough time as it is."
He flashes a smile at Froin and Boldor.

The local people slowly disperse until only the group are left. Meraina remains slumped by the door but watches abstractedly at the others actions.

"Right you lot. You can leave also," says the guard, looking fixedly at the Hobbits. Gwalchmai steps close:
"It's OK. They are with us. This is Raddish, an Ambassador of the Hobbit nation and this is his companion. They wished to offer aid to the Lord."

The man in the chainmail hauberk strides over to the assembled group to speak to the militiamen. "Owel, Mundor. Get that door closed and then you can help me with removing Fineag's body. Lorrelinde says we will have to move Mahrdhricks on a stretcher in a minute. It will be tricky."
Seeing the group remaining in the room, he glances swiftly over them. "Uh, hello. I'm Draigen, the other bodyguard of Lord Mahrdhricks. Thank you for aiding us in this difficult situation. As you can see, the Lord is not going to be able to comment on the situation for the time being but under Lorrelinde's capable hands, he should pull through."
Raising his gauntleted hand to wipe sweat from his forehead, the soldier looks around properly for the first time. "Phew! Um, I'll have that polearm back thank you warrior," he says, smiling genuinely to Gwalchmai. "Right, I guess we have to wait to hear what the Watch Commander has to say now. The safety of the village is in his hands - if he is still alive. I suggest you all head back to the tavern until all this is sorted out. No doubt Balneg will be able to narrate anything that happens to you there."

Draigen motions for the other militiamen to help him usher the group of travellers towards the door. Meraina makes no move to get up from the floor and Relg steps close to Gwalchmai:
"Gwalchmai, one of my men is missing. He was wounded after a fight with some Szreldor and stayed in the house of Lorellinde." Relg points over at her. The three women with Arekhel are carefully undoing the man's armour and placing the pieces on the flagstones beside his shield and huge mace. Relg continues:
"He should be here already and I wonder if something unexpected has happened. I have to look after him. Would you mind accompaning me? I don't want to fight any more of these people just because I am being mistaken for a Szreldor."

End of Turn 16.