Citadel Dreams of Green [attn: Craig/Z and Bella/Lys]

[Bella]

They rode to a certain point that Lysira deemed as "safe enough" and then she dismounted. She left her horse with the rest of them and went off on foot. It was harder to scout with an animal the size of a horse, after all. On her feet, she could be just this side of silent. No one would see or hear her coming. And if she stayed on the right side of the wind, no animal would even scent her.

She moved around the base of a low hill before she began her ascent, lowering her body as she drew closer to the top. From that vantage point, she had a view of one side of the outpost that was only partially obstructed.

From there, it was a point to point move. It was from every angle that she could safely achieve, keeping in mind all points that she might be spotted from. She sought out signs of Trollocs, Fades or Draghkar...or anything else she could think of. The Trollocs were easy to spot, and she spotted quite a few of them.

It was impossible to get a proper count, but she made for a rough estimate.

With that, she slunk back into the shadows and made her way back to where the others were waiting for her. When she found them, she stopped the full-silent trek and approached with her hands raised--just so no one got too startled by her appearance. Once they had seen and acknowledged her, she came closer.

'There are still many Trollocs there,' she reported. 'I would guess maybe around a half of Fist? It's not as many as were there to take it and so far as I can tell, there's nothing but Trollocs. For the rest who were here to overrun it, they may have moved on to another outpost and just left these to hold it.'

[Craig]

Zarayne

If this was what being a member of the Green Ajah was about, she didn't like it. She was no craven, but waiting in the middle of nowhere, hoping that Shadowspawn wouldn't find either you or your Gaidin, and having no backup. Zarayne understood the basics of Gateways, and there seemed no time to learn the land to escape before Sightblinder's monsters would be down upon them. It was these sorts of thoughts that busied the Accepted's mind as the party of three waited on Lysira's return. That and her discomfort in these unfamiliar clothing. She well understood the need for protection, but it astonished her that she'd be much happier back in her banded dress.

Zarayne noted Marwen was keeping watch in the same manner that Lysira did, watching every angle at once. She wondered if she ought to do the same, but Tia Sedai seemed at ease by comparison to the Commander. Is this why Aes Sedai have Warders? She wasn't certain she liked the idea of needing someone to look after her. In the wild, the unobservant and unaware were the easiest prey. Zarayne didn't wish to rely on someone else for protection. Another reason not to go Green.

If there was more anti-Green sentiment – or simply more regret at being here in this situation – it paused when Lysira reemerged from the white snow-covered hills. Out of habit, Zarayne opened her mouth to translate Lysira's gestures before she caught herself short.

Half a Fist? She tried to imagine it, a hundred ten-foot tall monstrosities. As sure as trees snapped in winter, that had to be too large a force for them to have anything to do with. So do we follow the rest? Lysira never said where the rest had gone. Back into the Blight? Even with one of the Eyeless commanding them, all of the books said that Trollocs didn't travel far from the Blight. Did that mean the Blight was close? She hid concern behind her wide jade eyes, forcing herself to watch Marwen and Tia for their reactions before voicing any of her own.

[Roan]

Tia Sedai

Tia frowned at the news when Lysira returned and reported half a fist of Trollocs. She looked to Zarayne and Marwen before looking back to the Gaidin. “Half a fist is. . .that’s still a fair number.” She thought back to the hunt she and Alrim went on. They faced a far greater number and sent for reinforcements before making their move. Should she do the same again here?

If it was just Trollocs, could she and Zarayne help even the score with just the four of them? Tia wasn’t sure she wanted to put the Accepted in such a position. As these thoughts went through her mind, Marwen spoke up, “It is a fair number, but not as many as we faced. We could return with some of my men and make quick work of them.”

The Green found herself nodding slowly, “I think it would be wise to get a few more with us before we try to take them on.” She looked to Lysira, “What are your thoughts, Lys? I trust in your skills with the bow, but four against fifty seems unwise.”

[Bella]

The diminutive Gaidin smiled wryly. 'It is not a battle I would recommend, no,' she agreed. Greens were formidable, Marwen was a skilled warrior, and Lysira was no slouch, so said the herons on her bow...but none of them got to that point by being reckless. They were only four strong, and one of them was little more than a girl.

Not that Lysira imagined Zarayne would enjoy hearing that description, but Tia was still young to Lysira. The little Gaidin might have looked young, but the years she'd actually lived--and the things that she had lived through--all told of the opposite.

'My gut says this number will remain, but they aren't likely to bring in anymore. Not for a time. If they moved part of the group on, it's with a plan. They are taking outposts, I would bet. Leaving enough to hold them. But with a good force, small and fast, we can take out this group and resecure the Redoubt.'

[Craig]

Zarayne

So there are Trollocs traversing the Blightborder, going about on the business of raiding and holding outposts. To Zarayne, it seemed like they were looking to weaken the defenses of Shienar, no doubt with the intent to turn it into a second Malkier. That made her frightened due to what it entailed for the rest of the world. Shienar was large, defending a good third of the Blightborder itself. If that was to expand out to the other borders of Shienar, it would force the line too thin. She looked towards Lysira and Tia for guidance. If these thoughts were in her head, they had to be in one of the others' minds as well.

Zarayne centred her attention on the current problem: Kentano's Redoubt. It was a battle that would need fighting if the Blightborder was to be maintained. Lysira said they had time, but how much? If the rest of the Trollocs was moving onwards towards the next fortifications, shouldn't they dispatch this group quickly, then race to intercept whatever was out there? It shamed Zarayne to realise that she did not find the idea of dealing with the Trollocs appealing. Her lessons in the weaves that would be productive for fighting had only progressed at a moderate pace, and that had never been under stressful conditions like it would be here.

Still, she summoned up the resolve to ask. It was one thing to assume your trained companions were already considering the question you were about to ask, but it was another to avoid asking because you didn't want to hear the answer. "Can we afford to wait? It took us a day to get here, so it would take two or three to return, would it not?"

[Bella]

It was one of those situations that posed questions no one really wanted to answer, since there wasn't exactly a right or a wrong. Both answers were right, and they were both wrong. Could they afford to wait, but could they afford to be bold? It was said that fortune favored the bold, but frankly, that had not always been Lysira's experience.

'That is the question,' Lysira said. 'I don't know if we can, but I don't know that we really have the option. We are two channelers, but you are still learning. I am skilled, and so is Marwen, but it is just we four. Do we wish to risk going against fifty Trollocs? And simply hope that there are not others I could not see?'

[Roan]

Tia Sedai

Tia shook her head, “I don’t think those odds are in our favor. I’d rather get numbers on our side. Four against fifty. . .if one of them was Memma, sure, but. . .I am not her.” Before Tia could say anything else, Storm snorted and stomped at the ground before letting out a high pitched whinnie. Knowing her Memma trained Storm, the horse wouldn’t react that way without reason.

Without hesitating, Tia reached for the Source, and saw three Trollocs come around massive boulder, “We’ve got company!” Bringing together threads of Air, she let her tendrils grab the three and lifted them up before slamming them head first into the ground. Unfortunately, they didn’t go quietly, letting out a squeal that the others would surely have heard.

“Light. . .I think the decision has been made for us,” Tia exclaimed. She spared a glance back and saw the horses were moving off. She knew Storm wouldn’t go far, but would get out of harm’s way as she was trained. She then looked to Zarayne, “Stay close. Do what you can to thin their numbers, but be mindful of Marwen and Lysira.”

Tia tried to school her expression and keep her trepidation to herself, but the odds before her and the other three were not in their favor. A cry went up, and seconds later, Trollocs seemed to swarm the area. Pulling together threads of Air and Fire, Tia let loose a line of lightning that took out another three, but the mob didn’t even seem to slow down.

The Green was not ready to return to the Pattern, and would be damned if she let any of those with her do the same without a fight. As a group began to close in, she used Air to let go a burst of wind, knocking the advancing horde back and on their backs. It wasn’t lethal, but it gave the group space and time.

[Bella]

Fortune favors no one! The words exclaimed themselves into Lysira's mind with no small amount of annoyance at the three Trollocs that found them. It was clearly some sort of...patrol, in as much as the beasts did such things, but how had she not heard it? That was a grave failing within the Gaidin's mind, and she'd have to work to atone for it.

The diminutive Gaidin wasted no time in swinging back up onto her horse. An archer was better when they could get distance, and the best way to distance was on a horse.

She grabbed her bow and pulled a handful of arrows. Lysira took a split-second to make herself aware of where everyone was--especially Zarayne, that Lysira took as her charge for his trip--before she began taking her shots. Tia used the One Power to give them some space and by the time any Trollocs rallied from the Air blow, Lysira had put arrows through the eye-sockets of three of them...

[Craig]

Zarayne

The soap bubble that had shielded Zarayne from the worst horrors of the Blight had been pricked. Massive beasts appeared, hefting blackened weapons that had never been forged by human hands. At first Zarayne thought she was looking at Ogier, but their heads were not right. Each Trolloc seemed to share the face of an animal twisted into a mockery of itself. And their bodies, impossibly large, were just muscle coated in leather and chain.

Her panic-wrapped wonder ended abruptly as her guardians reacted. The first of the Shadowspawn seemed to float into the air before speeding into the ground. Zarayne could see saidar glowing around Tia Sedai and the tendrils that made the Trollocs seem like puppets. "D what you can to thin their numbers," the Mistress of Novices commanded.

She'd never been in battle before. The sense of calm needed to take in saidar eluded her like it never had before. Arrows whizzed through the air, killing more Trollocs. The sense of elation of seeing the Trollocs fall countered a part of her fear. The light of saidar rushed into her in that momentary gap.

The power that blazed around the Green Aes Sedai was comparable to that within the Accepted, but experience was securely on Tia's side. Zarayne could see the weaves that the Green used, but Air was not her forte. Instead she wove green threads of ''saidar'' into the ground. She felt dust against her skin and the smell of sand. The ground beneath her horse's hooves vibrated slightly, then a weak wave pulsated outwards that did nothing but move snow.

Gathering her bearings and having a better understanding for the soil, the second ripple that emerged was nothing like the first. Snow burst skywards as the land blistered up in an arc originating five feet in front of Zarayne. Pockets of swelling earth exploded in a directional shower of rocks and dirt. Some of the Trollocs within the weave's path were knocked over as the land erupted beneath their hooves. Others found themselves struck by a torrent of rubble and stone. At least one Trolloc crumpled as a sizable boulder seemed to punch through the beast's chest. Those that survived the attack on two feet were still blinded by the rising soil.

The gap that she had opened up was still clear of her companions but filling again with Shadowspawn. She directed flows of Earth and Fire into some of the uprooted rocks near her feet, then used Air to project them before her. As the rocks stuck the advancing Shadowspawn or the ground around them, the rocks exploded, sending their mass in a thousand different directions. Again the attack deterred or injured far more than it killed, but the effects of throwing multiple projectiles started to amount. Whenever one Trolloc survived for long enough to come within twenty feet, either an arrow or a lightning bolt ended their life.

[Roan]

Tia Sedai

How quickly arrows flew from Lysira’s bow would have amazed Tia if she had time to take much notice. The ground before them rippled as Zarayne put her strengths to good use, giving the small group room and distance between them and the horde of Trollocs. If the Green Sister hadn’t been so focused on the fight, she may have wished to have a talent for Fire seen in her Memma. While it was not her forte, Cloud Dancing was, and Tia was not at all hesitant at putting her own strengths to use.

Pulling together threads of Air and Fire, Tia watched as a line of Trollocs charged. Zarayne’s focus was on another group, and the eight or so Tia watched escaped harm from the barrage of rocks. Thrusting her weave outward, a line of lightning tore into the lead Trolloc and lept from one to another, culling six of the eight, and injuring the last two. Without hesitation, Tia brought down two more bolts of lightning to take out the last of that line. Perhaps they could cull the entire herd of Trollocs, after all?

A scream to her left caught her attention, and she saw Marwen engaged with a Trolloc who managed to get within striking distance. The Commander took a sword to the left shoulder, and the Trolloc was going in for the kill. An arrow to the eye socket of the Trolloc meant he didn’t get the chance. Yet again, grateful for Lysira’s presence, Tia turned her focus to keep any other Trollocs away from Marwen. Sending another line of lightning out, she crippled another four as the Commander took a stumbled step backwards. “Zarayne. . .I can heal, but I have no great talent for it. What of you?”