Raza Lockter, Sir Henrick and her five best men exit the Sarin Desert on their way to the road to Bailor. Henrick purchases a horse in the border city and tells Raza her orders.
"There will be a small group of others that are also being dispatched to guard the village, wait here for them, I'm gonna go on ahead and join the royal guard who are escorting some refugees to the new town"
And so Raza turns to her men and tells 4 of them to scout the city for the four men she should expect. She had been given a basic description of them. While she waits Chakan, her mate speaks up.
"I worry for Raze, he is all alone in the tribe, and you know the other children bully him."
"Good, bullying will make him stronger or weaker. If it is the latter then he is no son of mine."
"You know typically the mother is the caring person for the child."
"Unfortunately I only had my father and he only taught me of war, its why the wings follow him, and why they follow me."
"Very well dearest."
After a few hours the Wing agents return with the four individuals. First was a Barbarian woman, likely daughter of a chief and seemed to be of great strength. Second was a lithe little Rogue girl with a tendency to sharpen her blades.
Third was an Elf with a wolf-pup following him behind. He walked like one who knew the forests past the desert, much like the Rangers that Raza had heard of. Last was a small man with a fire in his eye and claimed to have dragon's blood like a Sorcerer.
Raza looks over each of them and sighs, despite their potential it was just as she feared, they were green. None of them had seen warfare before and so she would need to take charge.
"I don't know you and you don't know me, and quite honestly, that is the way that it should be. Chances are that we will never meet again after this so I see no point in giving our names. Trade names among yourselves if you wish, but I don't wish for such pleasantries, they will only serve as a hindrance."
"You're a bit cold ain't you girl?" said the Sorcerer. Raza motions for her men and the others to set off.
"Call me what you will, but words don't make facts. For those, you need strength."
The group travels northeast toward the position where the refugees had planned to meet them.
After walking within two miles of the meeting point Raza and the rest of her men stop in place. the Rogue looks to her, and says,"Something wrong? You scared suddenly, Bird?"
Raza's eyes go steely and she reaches for one of her blades. the rest of the group recoils, afraid that she may attack any moment.
"Ready you're weapons and spells! The refugees are in danger!" With that Raza sprints through the woods along with her men. After running through the forest for a few minutes the ranger and his pup manage to catch up, falchion in hand.
"Why are they in danger?" asks the Ranger.
Raza looks back to the man and in a serious tone remarks,
"I smell their blood."
Raza and the Ranger arrive at the edge of the forest and Raza sends her Tengu to flank the forest edge. Raza and the ranger wait for the rest of their team to arrive before exiting the treeline, but what they saw they were not ready for.
Bodies lay across the ground, dozens... no hundreds of dead villagers and guards lay across the hills. Raza wades among the dead as she hears one of her companions puking behind her. Raza uses her Carrion Sense to try examine the area, all of the wounds are old, signifying corpses, but she can smell one wounded person of the the north.
"There's a survivor! come on!" Shouts Raza.
After searching the bodies for a few minutes they find a young elf girl. They pull her from the bodies and move her to the trail away from the dead. The Ranger patches her up back to heath with a combination of herbs and spells before she begins talking.
"The bandits came and attack from the forest, Henrick tried to rally a defense, but... then... my parents." The girl begins to sob and the barbarian kneels down to give her a hug after dropping her ax.
"They know the area well, did they use any ability past just sword, girl" says Raza coldly.
"I...I don't k-know."
"Then what good are you?"
The Sorcerer grabs Raza by the arm and says, "Hey she just lost her family, give her a break."
Before Raza can respond the group hears the girl mumble something.
The barbarian leans down and says, "What's that hun?"
The girl mumbles again and the barbarian reacts in shock before walking back to the rest.the barbarian stumbles over her words,
"She... well she-"
"She asked you to kill her." Says Raza staring at the girl with no emotion showing.
"How did you know?" Asks the barbarian before Raza begins to walk over to the girl.
Raza's memory flashes for a moment as she see's herself as a little girl clutching a bloody dagger over a number of children's bodies staring at the ground with dead eyes.
"Because I know that feeling all too well." She says.
Raza stands before the young elven girl. Raza takes out a short sword that is about the right size for the girl and drops it at her feet.
"Take it and get up." Says Raza to the girl who looks up at Raza with tears in her eyes.
"Don't just sit there and hate your life! Take the blade and get up!" Shouts Raza. The shaken girl grips the blade and stands with it. Raza turns and begins to speak
"Death is not something that you can just ask for, it is something you must earn. Now show me that you are ready to die." States Raza turning and taking out a whip with a serrated tip.
The girl looks at Raza warily then lets go of the sword, letting it drop to the ground.
"I'm scared... I want my mommy." Raza snaps her whip to get the girl's attention.
"I WILL NOT STRIKE AN UNARMED OPPONENT! TAKE! THE! BLADE!" Shouts Raza.
The girl grabs the sword and charges Raza, tears on her face, and she tries to thrust the blade at Raza. Raza leaps up and to the left out of the way of the blade, then flicks out her arm to begin twirling in the air, then before you know it. the whip in Raza's hand has struck the girl's face, and she falls to the ground dead.
Raza retrieves the blade and mutters a short prayer
"Lord Zurck, accept this soul to bath in your shadow."
As Raza rises she notices that there is a figure blocking the sun, she turns up to see the barbarian swinging her ax at Raza. Raza flicks up her blade and barley manages halt the attack inches from her face, but she still buckles to the ground under the force of the attack.
"YOU KILLED HER!" Shouts the barbarian. Raza rolls out from under the attack and flips up to her feet.
"Of course I did, and what would you have done, made her live with this!" Raza waves her arm out to the scores of dead bodies. The barbarian looks out to them and lowers her ax.
"This is not my first time seeing this, and this is not my first time seeing a young girl who was done with life! But I made her think without the coddling of those who say they care! Or that they understand! She made the choice to die with a clear mind and in a fair combat! When you are being tortured and chained to a wall only dreading the next day to have another part of your soul drained from your body and then you want to keep going! Then and only then do you have the right to tell me that what I did was wrong!"
Raza flicks off the blood from here whip and turns down the trail and keeps walking while her Tengu get in line behind her.
Raza's new companions watch her walk off with their mouths open.
"I don't like how she works." Says the barbarian.
"At least she's fair about it. She gave the girl every chance to give up, but I guess it was just too much to live with." Says the Rogue.
The Sorcerer quickly casts Detect Magic then turns back to the rest, "Well there is some magic about her, she's more than just a normal fighter, but it's not arcane, I can tell you that."
"Well, she knows her stuff either way, better to have her with us than against us, that's for sure." Says the Ranger.
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