Dar leaned against Gwyn, trying to move his head so that he could see more. "We should try and put some more distance between us and those we left behind."
The kobold nodded again. "Stupider is right...scamper scamper!!'
Dar looked confused. “Did whoever this is just call me Stupid?”
Gwyn shook her head and started after the little beast. “No, I’m Stupid. You’re Stupider. Try to keep up.” And so they continued to climb into the rocky hills.
Scrambling away from the tent after diving through the chewed gap, Gwyn ran up a ridge mainly consisting of sand and loose shale. Dar, blood still running down his face from his ruined eye, was holding onto her arm. In front of them, the odd little furry creature that had rescued them was hopping from stone to stone, cursing a blue streak.
Gwyndolith cast her eyes all around as she ran. She felt she knew Angmar well or at least better than most. The red streaked sky was right, the acrid smell was right, but she couldn’t seem to recognize any landmarks.
Nik scrambled up to the top of the ridge, looking back at her. "Move it stupid....they chase you and stupider soon....we gotta figure out how to get back to Yelpy Knife Ear so she can shwingshwing them!!!'
Dartanius held tighter onto Gwyn's arm. All of his focus was needed to stay awake through the pain so he let Gwyn handle navigating both of them. “I have no idea what that talking weasel keeps saying….
Nik looked back at Dar. "Is stupider gonna die?....if stupider die I get his hair. I think Stupider gonna die. Weasel…what the feck is weasel….' The kobold scrambled up higher, peering back the way they had come. "Nobody chase you...maybe they figure the wargs will kill ya so they don’t gotta bother.'
Gwyndolith stopped, gasping in the hot, smoky air. "Well... They had a plan for us... So... Either they have a plan to recover us or... They are incredibly stupid... But we will likely have a few moments of peace." She then started checking Dar over while Nik made “tsk, tsk” sounds. It was hard to tell from the swelling and the blood and the charring, but the damage to his eye looked pretty bad.
Dar laughed a little. "I am sure it looks worse than it is."
Somewhere in the distance, the howls of wargs can be heard'
Gwyndolith shook her head a little "Well... You could already be dead... So... You could count this as a win of sorts... But it's beyond my ability to fix..." She paused hearing the tsk tsk noises and glared at the small beast. "Would you just shut the feck up?! For one moment." She then sighed softly as the howling could be heard "We need to keep moving."
Nik nodded to himself. "Yep...wargs...Nik guess it....they let wargs eat you. Nom nom nom grrr.'
The howls changed tone and were getting closer. The pack had their scent.
Gwyndolith ignored Nik and helped Dar up "Come on..."
Dartanius let Gwyn help him back to his feet. Standing up he sniffed the air for a moment before wrapping his arm around Gwyn's neck for support. "We have to keep moving yes. Wargs are not the only things following us. The Handlers of the Wargs are on our tail as well, I think."
They struggled to crest another ridge which was about when two of the wargs come at them, though they could hear howls all around them. The two snarled then set themselves to leap.'
Gwyndolith narrowed her eyes, unarmed and on unstable ground. "Great..." she muttered, ready to attempt a dodge with Dar.
The wargs sprang ruthlessly and Nik screamed….but they sailed past all three of them and seized upon something hiding in a gorse bush above them. A man's scream echoed, and a dropped short sword skittered down the stones towards them.
Gwyndolith scrambleed for the sword and looked at it. It was a fairly crude affair, the blade and hilt seeming to be tied together, but it was better than nothing.
Blood sprayed as the man screamed and pleaded, but Gwyn simply gripped the sword harder and waited. As she had expected, once the wargs had finish with their first victim, they circled around towards the trio. These wargs were not eating what they killed….this was their sport.
Nik yelped and rolled to the side then scurried up into the gorse bush as the first of the wargs lept for Gwyn. The beast slammed into her, overbalancing them both and landing on top of Gywn snarling, hot saliva dripping down into Gwyn's face. Falling back, Dar nearly rolled down the hill.
Gwyndolith scowled up at the beast before driving the newly acquired sword up towards the warg's underside, sinking firmly in.
Dartanius rolled slightly down the hill before looking up at Gywn must be. He couldn’t see her, but he could smell the warg on top of her as well as the second, circling and looking for an opening. He lets out a loud Roar or rage and pain, his very flesh seeming to tear and flow as he changed into his Bear Form, rearing up. Dropping down to all fours heavily, he charged at the Warg on Gwyn, sinking his teeth into its neck and tossing it off of her.
The warg was able to back away, still alive but badly wounded. Both beasts hesitated, very wary of the bear. Gwyndolith quickly hopped up to her feet next to Dart "I was wondering when you would remember to do that…"
Dartanius looked at Gwyn and growled before turning to the Wargs, standing up on his two back legs as he roared loudly to further intimidate them.
Gwyndolith reached out to dig her hand into Dar’s fur tightening her other hand around the makeshift sword. "Alright... Alright... We can do this."
Dartanius watched the movements of both circling Wargs before he lunged forward. The wounded Warg whimpered as Dar locked his jaws and used the weight difference to snap the neck of the beast, both of them now tumbling down the hill. The remaining Warg prepared to attack the bear from the flank before Gwyndolith rushed forward aiming to thrust the sword deep into it's neck.
The warg however twisted just as the blade struck, snapping it off at the hilt and biting at Gwyn, fangs flashing. She avoided the first bite but her foot slid on the rough ground, leaving her easy prey for the next attack.
Suddenly a large rock sails down and hits the warg in the head...then a second. A spray of blood came from the gorse bush followed by a sing song voice...."C’mere Doggie...Got yer yumyums...'
A third rock hit the Warg, smelling of blood and fresh meat and he bounded towards the gorse bush. As he landed, he howled as he sank into the bloody earth. A shallow pit had been dug under the bush, the loose soil soaked in blood to create a sticky mud.
Gwyndolith looked for something sharp, scrabbling in the dirt for the broken blade. The wargs paws were still trapped in the bloody mud as Gwyn slits it throat with ease.
Dartanius released the other Warg from his jaws and suddenly changed back to his Human Form...whatever energy he had had he used up and now he laid there not moving.
Nik scrambles up the ridge again away from the bloody gorse bush. "YAY...Doggie for dinner. We can eat Stupider too since I think he dead!!!'
Gwyndolith glared at Nik "You will not touch him... The wargs however... We'll have to make do with what we can get." She rushed back over to Dar, not completely sure the strange little kobold was wrong until she felt the man breathing.
Nik sighed, disappointed as he scrambled higher to look around then made a sound that sounded very much like UH…OHHH before whistling. "Hey...stupid....come lookie on this huh?'
Nik pointed as Gwyn joined him angrily. Off in the distance was a city, the banners of Angmar flying above it and a large party of red robed horseman gathered at the gate, conferring with town sentries.
Nik glared at Gwyn. "I bet this all your fault...'
Gwyndolith blinked a little "Wait... That's..." she paused and frowned at Nik "No... I was right... This isn't real... Well... Not yet at least..." she said trying to wrap her head around what her eyes wre telling her.
Looking down from the ridge, they were facing the West Gate of Bree....now clearly occupied by the Angmarim.
