Turn 127

Emmett continues his full attentions on the man he just hit, hammering away with both his currently blunted arm and his borrowed blade. Hopefully he'll do enough to disable this opponent and give the other cause to flee.
    He does considerably more than disable, running the man through on this second attempt.
    Ibn Fadil snatches up the reins before they can get lost, and watches the man on the ground cooly, the knife in his other hand poised to throw.
    The remaining two men take to their heels.
    "Wait, stop him." Emmett weighs their options, hurls a rock at the man's back and misses, and decides he's not worth chasing after.
    Ibn Fadil hops down and retrieves his knife. "Shall we take the wagon, or just the horse?" he asks Emmett, glancing up at the birds and then all around. There is no sign of the ominous spiders.
    "Horse. The spiders are fast, and the wagon will just slow us down. Let's get off the road and into the trees." Emmett collects his effects from the wagon, quickly returning them to their rightful positions. "You've got better nightsight - you take the reins.
    "Thanks for the assist, by the way. I would have liked to heard more of their chatter, but that was pretty slick."
    The half-elf approaches the horse, freeing it from the wagon and taking it away from the smell of blood that's making it nervous, and trying to calm it. "It was necessary," he answers Emmett. "Bring the light, the horse needs it and she'll go faster if she can see better. The lord's cavalry will probably be coming any minute now." He jumps lightly onto the horse's back and asks it to turn in a careful circle, getting it used to the idea of being ridden. Was that a clicking noise he heard? He peers into the dark toward the town, his nerves strung out as tight as they've ever been.
    The horse is balky at first, no doubt due to all the excitement and the blood in the air, but after a few moments it appears to calm down a bit. Emmett mounts up behind him.
    When Emmett sees Ibn Fadil reaching for the lamp, he says, "That's too awkward. This ought to do" and flips up his eyepatch, illuminating the area in front of them with a bright, if reddish light. "No chance of fire if we fall, and we won't have to manhandle the pole."
    The half-elf actually looks nonplused, for a moment. "I keep forgetting about that," he admits. "Come on, then. I don't want to die in this icebox."
    The two head back toward town at the best speed the horse will make. Given all the recent hullaballoo, the two decide to skirt it rather than risk being seen and pursued (again) and move on toward the rendezvous point. There is still no sign of the spiders, but they are not unobserved; ibn Fadil can see the birds above them still.
    Never has the damselfly shape of their ship looked so welcome as it swoops silently down out of the starry sky.
    "You two do know that you have about fifty horsemen coming after you?" Brother Pham observes as he tosses down the ladder. Once the two are aboard, they rise swiftly until they are well out of range of any ground observation.
    "Well?" their acting captain looks at the two of them expectantly; the full crew except for Alais is gathered, anxious to hear about what happened after Lynden left them.
    

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