Zilo had finally evened the playing field with his horse Presto by improvising backward galloping with magically hastened speed. Carten Manos, the moon elf mercenary, was not distracted by the silly display for long. He began unleashing more arrows at Ziloand Presto.
Unlike before, Presto and Zilo were much better at weaving around the shots now that they could see them. Well honestly, Zilo didn't need to do much, Presto was the one avoiding the shots, leaving Zilo free to return fire.
Since Zilo was firing back at Carten who was running forward, the first arrow that nailed the elf hit harder than he was expecting. The silver streaking arrow planted firmly in Carten's left thigh and blasted the leg out of his foot stirrup on his horse.
The archer shouted in pain as he looked down to his leg. His gaze shifted back up to Zilo, he gritted his teeth as he looped his leg back into the stirrup and muttered through the arrow in his teeth, "Alright, letsh shee you dodge thish then." Carten took three arrows out of his quiver but slipped two of them through a loop in his saddle.
Zilo saw him shoot the first arrow simple enough, and like before, Presto moved to avoid it, but suddenly, Zilo's torso got demolished from two pinpoint arrows to his right arm and his gut. He looked down, questioning where the arrows came from. Zilo looked up and a bit of blood spurted from his lips.
Zilo tried to pull some more arrows, but his muscles strained from the action. Without his legs to ground himself, his shooting had all come from his arms and his core, which now had two arrows planted in them both. Carten must have used that first arrow as a Ranged Feint before shooting both arrows simultaneously without loss of accuracy, a Manyshot.
No spells left and his ability to shoot hindered, Zilo wasn't looking to be able to keep this up, but that was not the end of his misfortune. With their backward running method neither had really been keeping an eye on the trail. They had not seen the fork in the road and the sign directing travelers leaving this land. One way continued all the way to Deneval, and the other lead to a small bridge over a river that led out to the coast.
Presto backward galloped butt first right into the sign and the horse and bard were forced down to the ground. Carten advanced, pulling the Arrow of Slaying from his teeth. Zilo snapped up with his hastened legs to see Carten was only 25 feet from him, and moments from releasing his shot that would slay the bard. Carten had a giant grin on his face.
Zilo focused, making Harmony return to bo form and his violin rose into the air. He had no more spells but that didn't mean he was totally without magic As his violin began to play Zilo's Dirge of Doom. Carten and his horse suddenly jolted with a primal fear from the performance, and the horse flew up on its hind legs, throwing the archer from it's back.
Carten fell to the ground with the Arrow of Slaying landing upright stuck in the ground and the horse fled back toward the city, and away from Zilo. While the fear may have subsided, the loyalty of the horse to its master was not stellar and the beast continued to flee for its life. Carten rose from the ground, wincing as he put weight on his left leg and clenched his teeth as he starred at Zilo who returned Harmony to bow form. Both men attempted to draw and fire an arrow, but both winced.
They both starred and both lowered their shots. Zilo spoke first. "Can't imagine shooting is easy with that leg grounded."
Carten replied motioning to Zilo's stomach and shoulder, "And I'm sure shooting with those both isn't very pleasant either. In that case, shall we settle this with our blades?"
Zilo squinted, looking over Carten's equipment again, seeing only his bow, and no other weapons. Carten grinned as he shifted his hands to both the top and bottom of his bow and the middle grip released the two bow arms. Once released the bow's metallic sharp design made total sense all at once. The bow's arms split to be similar in function to twin scimitars. The middle grip floated magically to Carten's leather strap for his quiver.
Both snapped the arrow shafts from their wounds and they prepared for the combat. Zilo grabbed his whip, adjusted his buckler, and unsheathed Scherzo as his bow became a bo and returned to his violin. The violin began playing a melody of Inspire Greatness and Zilo charged, thinking he finally had the advantage. He swung Scherzo, but the strain in his arm from his wound weakened the strike, and Carten easily blocked it with an overhead cross of his blades before planting his boot in Zilo's chest.
Turns out Carten's mercenary experience was not just in archery, and his follow up was to dart in and slash Zilo's brow and send his hat out and flying. Zilo's speed, song, and magics were just enough to bridge the gap though, as Carten's clear skill with a blade trumped Zilo's own natural ability.
The exchanged of blades had a flurry of blocks and slashes being dodged, but Carten proved a bit more underhanded than the simplistic bard. He threw his left blade away for a split second but was suspended by the bowstring that still connected the two scimitar grips. With his new freehand Carten's arm snapped back to the quiver and faster then Zilo could reach the arrow was stabbed into Zilo's left shoulder before taking the Stabbing Shot and performing a maneuver that intimidated Zilo.
The Archer tossed the arrow up, threw out the bow grip from his chest, reconnected the blades into a longbow, notched and fired the arrow at his fleeing horse, ending its cowardliness with a head shoot from 200 ft away. Zilo faltered as any person would after seeing that and began taking a few steps away.
Carten grinned with satisfaction tilting his head to his weapon and said, "Impressed, you haven't even seen half of what Sanguine Fury can do."
Carten returned the Sanguine Fury to its twin-blade form and swung the two from the 15 feet Zilo had backed up. in the swing he flicked two switches in the grips and the blades released from the hilts, flying forward on two wires that were stored in the hollowed grips. The blades flew in the air, and Zilo hopped to avoid the sweeping attacks.
He lept over the low sweep and blocked the other with his buckler, but the force sent him spinning down. Carten flicked the switches again and the two blades returned to the hilts pulled by the cables. Carten tried to make his way to Zilo with a dash, but his leg made him move too slow. Zilo returned up to his feet and snapped his whip out to catch Carten's good leg.
Zilo pulled and tripped Carten onto his back, and Zilo tried to stab down with his blade. Carten again crossed his blades and deflected the direction of Scherzo to the ground past Carten's shoulder. Carten snapped one of the blades out of the cross and swept it about at Zilo's Legs. Zilo did leap in time to avoid it, but his whip on Carten's leg was cut and made useless.
As Zilo landed, the elf swung his blade, releasing it again and the blade flew out and gashed into Zilo's leg. Zilo retreated, throwing away his cut whip and pointing his blade out at Carten. Carten rose, and looked at Zilo, smiling. Carten made his way over to the stuck Arrow of Slaying and aimed it at Zilo. The bard tried to move in a timely manner, but his leg made that difficult. His movement stopped when he was starring right down the sights of the archer.
"Goodbye. You put up a good fight, but like all the others, you will die."
Carten pulled back the arrow, but then the bowstring just fell apart. This was not like it snapped, something unseen cut the string. then a voice shouted out,
"Forceful Strike!"
An invisible blade slashed down Carten's shoulder to his hip, and Carten was blasted by a huge amount of concussive force and he was flung into the river by the fork in the road. Zilo blinked a few times before being slapped by some invisible force and hearing a familiar voice.
"You idiot! Gone for less than two weeks and nearly dying on the side of the road!" Zilo rubbed his cheek and squinted forward, finally remembering the voice,
"Leo is that you?"
Greater Invisibility finally wore off, and the hooded frame of Zilo's magically gifted crook of an ally, Leo appeared before him with his Rhoka being returned to its sheath.
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