Thank you to the player of Tavarius (Suits and Ties) for his collaboration.

Prior to Raye's return to RhyDin

She wasted no time once she was inside her room; stuffing her ruck sack full of her belongings that had been unpacked. Weapons were replaced upon her body, a sigh of relief falling from her lips as she felt much more like herself when fully armed. A quick glance around the room registered the flower ball still in full bloom. With a muttered curse at her silly weakness, she retrieved it and spoke to it once again to make it take the shape of a wooden ball; it was then stuffed into her pocket.

The shutters that served as a window were opened and the burst of cool night air washed over her, brushing the thick mop of chestnut hair back from her face. She paused for a few moments to savor the feel before tossing her sack of belongings out onto the roof. She was straddling the windowsill with one leg in and one out when that delicate elven hearing picked up a thunderous sound. After blinking a few times, she squinted slightly before drawing in a ragged breath at what she saw.

It was the sound of hoof beats. Mounted upon no less than thirty horses were men and women dressed in ragged leathers and furs. Some held torches, most held swords, axes or hammers. At their head was a mountain of a man who wielded a great double-headed axe in his left hand, the right was up and pointing at the quit form of the inn as they rapidly approached it. Hoots and hollers were caught up in the wind and drifted to the open window, to the waiting ears of an elven woman.

They waved weapons about as the man in the front whirled and shouted orders to them.

?Kill any man ya find! Take all his valuables, bind the children, toss the women outside n?tie ?em up tight before starting the fires!? he shouted to the fervent roars of approval his men responded with.

Without further ado, the host continued ahead and soon fell upon the inn. Several men dismounted before their steeds had begun to slow, some fell, and some stumbled, but more maintained their footing and charged the door with bloodthirsty shouts echoing in the air.

Raye was able to focus upon what she was seeing as the horde drew closer. ?By the gods...,? she breathed.

She was now faced with a moral dilemma and she had never been very good with them. She could most likely slide down the roof, as she had intended; able to get away on her own with minimal resistance. Or she could stay and fight; defending people she didn't know and had only a few moments earlier been highly suspicious of.

It took a matter of seconds to retrieve the longbow from her shoulder and nock two arrows as she bellowed out behind her, hoping someone on this floor of the inn would hear her and not just assume she was drunk. "TO ARMS! RAIDERS! TO ARMS!" This was shouted as she aimed the bow and let loose the taut string, sending the flying missiles nearly two hundred yards into the formation of charging raiders. Immediately two more arrows were pulled from the quiver upon her back, but this time she had a clear target ahead of the rest, a massive man barking orders that was undoubtedly the leader. Take out the leader to promote chaos amongst the troops, she remembered from her days of soldiering. The arrows were nocked close together and she fired, two more were pulled and fired; all four aimed for that one massive man. Without pause she continued to draw and fire, now into the front ranks of the formation. She felled several horses and grinned a wicked little smirk as she watched the chaos begin to unfold, riders being dismounted, horses tripping over others in their path.

She had possibly bought some time and taken a few of the men down; but now she was spotted and had to abandon her post as an enemy archer was trading fire. Leaning out the window, she grasped the ruck sack and cackled quite madly as an arrow thunked into the wood of the building barely an inch from her head. Slinging the bow over her shoulder, she ran for the door; bellowing at the top of her lungs for everyone to wake up, to take up arms. Banging on doors as she went, she finally reached the end of the hallway and began her descent of the stairs, yelling as she made her way down.

The first of her arrows went wide, but the second hit a man square in the chest and sent him rolling backward off of his horse. He was trampled by those bringing up the rear and any hope he had was soon crushed. The large man at the front was clearly the leader of this band of brigands for a reason. When the first arrow shot toward him, it sunk deep into his armor and bit at his shoulder, but he snapped it off with a sweep of a massive hand and rode on. The next he ducked beneath and winced when he heard the whinnying of a horse behind him, no doubt it had taken the hit for him. He jumped from the saddle and rolled on the ground, springing to his feet in time to sweep his weapon up and intercept the third projectile. The forth came in as the axe went down and embedded itself into the bicep of his left arm. He roared defiantly and snapped it away, tossing the weapon to his free hand as he rushed at the door.

The sounds below were mostly shouts and terrified screams, a few of the cries were lost to gurgling founts of blood as men were cut down like animals. Though Raye's arrows had felled a good four men and temporarily slowed the progress of a few others, many more had managed to slip beneath her arrows and were in the commons of the inn or the road outside, cutting men down and dragging screaming women to a large wagon owned by some fat merchant.

As Raye came to the top of the stairs and was able to see clearly into the commons below, Tavarius stepped into few. He rubbed sleepily at his eyes, appearing to have only just gotten back up from his quick fall into bed rest. He trudged along, his hair even wilder than before and his clothes positively wrinkled. A raider saw him and lunged with a vicious looking sword, but the Trickster lazily danced aside and avoided the clumsy attack with apparent ease, despite how close the weapon came. He grabbed the back of the man's elbow and squeezed. The crunch that sounded in response was sickening, as was the splinter of bone that jutted out from the man's skin and sprayed the ground beneath with little droplets of bright red blood.

The sound of the man's pained howl made his eyes part widely and realization suddenly dawned. He looked as though he was only just now figuring out where he was and what had happened and turned to peer at the man beside him, who flailed wildly while Tavarius' inhuman, iron grip maintained its merciless, crushing hold.

"Who are you?" asked the Trickster.

"You're tired," Tavarius said as he reached into his pocket and withdrew one of the little wooden balls that had the tendency to bloom to life with a variety of flowers. "Come," he said, nudging her arm with the corner of a sharp elbow before stepping forward and tossing the ball overhead. Many of the raiders glanced up, their gazes held by the hovering orb as it began to glow a bright, violent red. The light illuminated the room and bathed it in eye-watering light and Tavarius grabbed Raye by the arm and rushed the door. The men fell aside as he came upon them, all too-distracted to defend themselves against the sudden charge.

I am," she rasped out between gritted teeth as he pulled her towards the door. It was sheer force of will that prevented her from stumbling; that and the realization that Tavarius was leading them rapidly into the gathered group of raiders at the door. "Oh fuck..," was muttered under her breath; was there really a better expletive for the situation than that?

What was this, though? The raiders were...moving out of the way? Just letting them charge? It was this moment that she noticed the change in the room's lighting; the color of blood and fire that seemed pulsing with life, angry and vengeful. Raye was unconcerned with the fact that these men were distracted and not defending themselves. They were the aggressors and would, without thought, kill or enslave every person present for this battle. She had no intention of giving them the chance to do so.

There was no more time to ponder the strange red glow or the morality of striking while the opponent was unaware. They had reached the throng of raiders and her free arm was once again wielding the thinly curved elvish blade with deadly accuracy. Each thrust and slash sent pain coursing through the core of her body, fiery and violent; demanding a fresh spurt of blood from the wound as payment for every brutal movement.

One man, a large brutish raider, stepped between them and the door. This was the head of the raiding party, the man Raye had hit in the arm and shoulder. He swung furiously with his heavy axe but Tavarius ducked beneath it and tugged Raye low with him. He released her, only long enough to spring forward with his fists extended outwards. They each connected with deadly accuracy; the first shattered the man?s jaw and the second crushed his windpipe. When Tavarius? foot slid forward, he pivoted on a heel and brought the other one up to kick the man hard in the chest and send him reeling back through the door.

Tavarius the Killer?s actions were as seamless as those of Tavarius the Trickster. He reached down to guide Raye up to her feet and tugged as he darted out the door. Just outside of the inn, Tavarius turned around and lifted his free hand. With a snap of his fingers the windows and doorway flashed with bright red light and screams echoed through the air, the raider?s all fell silent in the moments that followed and smoke began to roll out of the windows in great, dark plumes. Tavarius tilted his head as his hand twisted and his palm stretched out, and a little wooden ball came hovering through the air into his waiting grasp.

?We should go,? Tavarius said as his eyes swept over the bound forms of the captured women and children. ?I?m sorry.?

It took Raye considerably longer to move up from the floor than it took Tavarius; she sat there for a moment and watched with wide staring eyes. The one she had deemed innocent and helpless, obviously in need of her protection, killed the leader of this band of ruthless raiders with his fists and bared feet. Lashes were blinked a few times in disbelief before she finally shook it off and dragged herself from the floor with Tavarius? help.

?I suppose this means you don?t really need my help, after all,? she half smiled; her weariness a pale mask straining over delicate features. Her left arm was drawn in against her side, sword still gripped firmly within that hand.

Allowing herself to be tugged out the door, her gaze shifted from his snapping fingers to the sudden screams coming from the inn followed by silence. Noting the thick, black smoke belching from the windows, Raye?s eyes widened in disbelief as she looked back at Tavarius; horror seeping into her near whisper. ?What...did you do??

Despite popular belief, Rayvinn was possessed of a compassionate heart and was quite the champion for the underprivileged and innocent.

She tugged her arm free of his hold, and turned to dart back into the inn, calling over her shoulder, ?there were innocent people in there, damn you!? As well as Raye?s bag, carried downstairs with her at the beginning of the battle. All the more reason to go back inside. The neckline of the tank top was pulled up so that the material covered her mouth and nose as she darted back inside the door.

?The ones they hadn?t killed were near death,? Tavarius argued, frowning as she turned away from him. ?No! Don?t go in there! The smoke?s toxic!? he turned and rushed after her, ignoring the thick black smoke that obscured his vision. He groped blindly through the air and found the hunched over form of a man who had been stabbed to death by a longsword, beside him was the charred corpse of a raider.

?Merci!? Tavarius shouted, coughing as the smoke began to fill his lungs. This was infuriating...he stopped and glanced to the side, where he could just make out the wall to his left. Carefully picking a path over the charred, maimed and dying bodies that littered the floor, Tavarius approached the wall and kicked it. The wood groaned in protest. He kicked it again. A second time, it groaned and creaked and after a third kick, a foot-sized hole punched through. He reached into his pocket for a ball and placed it carefully into the hole, then dodged aside to duck behind the bar.

?Duck and cover!? he shouted, something he remembered hearing a few years ago.

The boom was muffled and no fire erupted as a result, but the nearby tables and chairs were thrown across the room like rag dolls and shattered against the walls. The hole Tavarius hade made was considerably larger now than it had been before, the head of the raiding party could have easily climbed through it.

Smoke rolled out in great bursts, caught up by the wind as it breathed through the windows, door and hole in the wall until most of the inn was considerably clear and visible.

Rayvinn only breathed in short gasps; even through the material of her shirt the smoke was like fire to her lungs, causing her to bark out a harsh cough. Even with her enhanced vision she couldn?t see much farther than a foot ahead, this was made worse as her eyes began to tear up with cleansing tears attempting to purge the burning smoke from their irritated surface.

She faintly heard Tavarius call after her as she first re-entered the inn, but she was far too set on this course to turn back now. Exactly what she hoped to accomplish while being unable to see or breath was a mystery; she only knew she needed to try to help anyone that might be left alive inside. She also knew she had to get the ruck sack.

Stumbling blindly, she tripped over the charred remains of a large human and momentarily entertained the thought that perhaps it was the man that had grabbed her up; as obviously one death was not enough for him to die. Continuing to hack, rasp, and stumble; eyes still watering fiercely so that there were trails of almost clean pale skin beneath the layer of soot and grime that now coated her from head to toe, Raye sought the general direction that she had dropped the pack. Continuing straight ahead, she knew she would eventually come to the wall that housed the staircase, it was to the left of that opening that she thought she had dropped it when she had witness the attack upon Tavarius.

She did make a point of listening for moans and groans so that she might assist someone injured should she stumble (quite literally) upon them. What luck that she had been paying attention, as she heard the shout that dictated she hit the floor, which she did. That muffled boom was enough to cause another stream of colorful curses, undoubtedly learned from the seediest of individuals, to pour from a mouth that was pressed to the filthy ground. Not that this really mattered, she had already had the most foul thing ever in her mouth when she bit the chunk out of the disgusting man?s cheek.

Spitting and cursing, rubbing debris from her hair and what she could reach of her back; Raye began to move again until she finally forced herself to her knees. A hand that appeared to have never seen soap nor water was rubbed across the exposed wound and pressure applied as she gasped lungfuls of the quickly clearing air. The world felt as if it were spinning around her so she closed her eyes tightly to try to regain her bearings. This made the wooziness worse so she reopened red rimmed, bloodshot eyes and blinked rapidly several times to clear the stars up from her vision. Finally feeling everything return to as normal as possible, she began to look around and finally spotted Tavarius.

He may not have even heard her, her voice was so soft, yet filled with mild surprise. ?You came after me.?

Raye blinked several times in surprise as Tavarius jogged alongside her horse. "Why would you want to travel along with me, Tavarius? I am a complete stranger to you." Again, the icy fingers of paranoia groped at her mind and her gaze became narrowed and icy.

And then he was off, mounting a horse and riding back towards her after deciding he was coming along. She had watched this entire production, turned around as much as the fiery hot agony in her side would allow.

"Tavarius, I am going to pass out soon. You will need to get us to shelter. If there is no one to attend my wound, you are to pour a goodly portion of whiskey directly into the wound and then put a thick bundle of bandages upon it and bind it tightly to help slow the bleeding until I awaken and can sew myself up." How she planned to do that was a mystery.

Apparently they were to be traveling together, after all. By her instructions on how to treat the wound, not to mention the knowledge that she would finally be overcome by the blood loss and exhaustion soon enough, it was quite apparent that Rayvinn might have done this a few times and might not be this "plain and ordinary" frightened female she had claimed to be when they were introducing themselves.

True to her word, a few miles down the path, she finally succumbed to the pain, loss of blood, and dehydration and slumped forward on her horse.