Steel the Bait (PM for entry)

[Clair Feldsky]

Clair sat on the bench of the wagon, riding on the front of the wooden construction. In some ways, it was built more like a fort than a wagon. The horses drawing it were drafts, and nearly as large as Corona. She smiled at the thought of her great white war horse flying high above and glanced skyward in response. Far up, she could see him circling and awaiting her call. She could see other flyers circling as well, since the burning blades were with them. One of them was Delia, a seasoned pegasus knight she'd managed to keep from losing her wings up in Ilia. Del had always reminded her of the life that called from outside the rigid discipline structure that Clair had kept herself to. The fiery reddish haired woman had been a black sheep in her squadron and asked for alot of trouble, but Clair had a not so sneaking suspicion that she would have fit in wonderfully with Celica's people.... Plenty of time to figure that out as they continued their long march Southeast. Eventually, the road would bring them to Fort Macendew, which the rebellion held at present. Not before they managed to mess up as much as they could for the anarchist faction on the way though.

Speaking of which, the Burning Blades seemed like a good sort to have with you. They weren't behaving like the soldiers in Richter's army had on the march. They were definitely looser. You could tell that most had been through alot though, and the ones that hadn't seemed to trust their more experienced neighbors in the warlines. It was the same trust that Clair had for the ones that had followed her. Especially these few who had asked to follow her even after the unit had largely disbanded.

They'd been traveling for half the day now, and the terrain had changed to reflect their trip. Underbrush was heavy, and there were quite a few rocks on the hills that flanked the narrow road. She'd read about these conditions on the trip here, but there was nothing quite like seeing it for yourself. They'd prepared as much as they could. There was enough shelter to take cover behind on the closed wagon's seat space, and they had tower shields slung on top which could easily be pulled down and set up for more cover. As to herself, she leaned against the back of the bench she was on, and felt the shield worn across her back hit the wall. True. They weren't the ones doing the ambushing, but she still thought surprise would be on their side.

A crossbow bolt from overhead suddenly thudded into the top of the wagon, within reach from the seats. She would have jumped, but she'd been expecting it for a little while now. She quickly moved to the bolt and pulled it out of what looked to be a hollow casing around the projectile, keeping the inside contained. As she pulled it out and held it up, a red flag unfurled for all to see. Ilian scout code: Enemies incoming.

"Alright! Stop here!" She called out to the others, and she saw the wagon in the front stop as she heard the one behind her grind to a halt. Without her even saying anything, the Burning Blades, and her forces were armoring up. The shields up top were pulled down and set into place in front of the drivers' seat, and the walls along the side were pulled up and fastened into place, nearly completely covering where the seats were. Clair glanced up and saw caught sight of Delia. The pegasus knight far above turned first one way, and then whipped in the other direction just as quickly. Rebels on both sides of the path then.

Clair looked at the wrapped spear leaning in the corner nearby and heard it spark angrily a few times. She felt her own temper likewise sparking at this turn of events. Here came the "noble rebels". Coming to liberate their country, and kill off a bunch of merchants carrying supplies. Not the most glamorous of jobs. She wondered whether there would be a chance to surrender given, or whether the blades would come out right away.

"Minister Dalca," Clair said, speaking to her passenger nearby as she moved to retrieve the wrapped weapon. "Please take cover. As you may or may not have surmised by now, this is not a merchant convoy. This is retaliation for the ones that died here without cause."

Clair looked over to her blue haired passenger, face neutral but carrying a little spark in her eyes and voice.

"By insisting you come with me, you have put yourself into what is about to become a pitched battle. We're expecting a little trouble out of this at the start, so please do your best to look out for yourself." She wasn't happy he was here. She really wasn't happy that she was here, but at least this battle was easy to motivate herself for.

[Saturos Prox]

"I think we've been through this already, Nayru," Saturos reminded the young falcoknight as he got up from his seat. "You don't have to keep warning me." The disguised operative remained calm as looked around the caravan, dusting off his coat in a nonchalant manner. He wasn't going to be playing the part of the cowardly noble in this scene, rather, the official so pompous not even squads of oncoming enemies could shake his foundation. The Etrurian figured that if push came to shove and he did need to join the fray, it would make far more sense for him to join the fight if he wasn't running away with his tail between his legs. Ironically enough, combat was more dangerous when you were trying to avoid it.

But now it was time for Saturos to do what he had tagged along to do in the first place: reconnaissance. Rebel intelligence had gathered reports that the Ilian forces, tired of taking the beatings they had been, were preparing to go on the offensive. There were also reports of a growing faction, one made up of the remnants of Richter Abend's forces and other patriotic foreign nationals, led by Richter's deputy commander Clair Feldsky. Thus, the idea for this little mission was for Saturos to get a feel for how these paramilitary Ilians operated, whether it be their strategy or their basic combat tactics, so that the rebels could begin formulating counter-offensives. It just so happened that the operation that the Etrurian operative had happened upon was a bait-and-ambush for a rebel sect in the area.

Ultimately, whether the rebels won or lost this ambush didn't matter to him, although the former would be preferable. He was undercover, and that meant fighting the rebels if need be. Besides, this was a great opportunity to get information on the Burning Blades as well, given their participation in Clair's operation. Maybe he'd be able to "acquire" some personnel documents of the guild lying around if he was lucky. Unfortunately the caravan hadn't been an actual weapons delivery, otherwise Saturos would have likely been able to scavenge a package of requisition documents showing exactly where the weapons were headed. Hard information was always better than soft. The Burning Blades seemed a professional sort, but even the best mercenaries would be paying less attention their cargo in the middle of a skirmish.

"I'll be taking my leave then," Saturos said, stepping down off the wagon. "I'll be looking forward to see how you and your men perform." He gave Clair a bit of a nod, then ducked into the back of the wagon.

[Clair Feldsky]

Clair watched the Minister go, unwrapping the weapon she held as he went. She was opening up something that most people hadn't had the chance to see in action here, and that was partly a deliberate move. Most of it was because superior force would win battles for smaller armies, and they were probably going to outnumbered, and certainly going to be outflanked. The lance crackled slightly as the covers came away, and she felt a charge as she touched it. Lightning like the sort that a mage could command arced up and down the tip and the haft excitedly as she held it aloft, then lowered it. It was almost like it was looking forward to being used.

She saw Delia wheel away towards the left side of the road high above them, and knew that that meant that the enemy would be hitting there first.

"Law, watch the left side!" She called down from the wagon, as she moved to the side and hopped down onto the ground. As she landed, a golden shield came out from where it had been hanging under her cloak, shining alongside the spear she gripped in her other hand. All the shine was in great contrast to the black leather armor she was wearing today.

"When you see my knight swing back towards us, it means that they're about to hit us." She gestured back to the sky with the lance as she got into a readied stance next to the front of the wagon she'd been driving. Around her, Mistrals and Burning Blades were readying for impact, pulling down shields off the wagons where they were stowed and setting up defenses to shelter behind until they were able to counter attack.

Clair waited, and then saw Delia turn. A moment later the first of the rebels came up over a hill she'd been watching, a bowman. As he raised his bow, the blond haired Falcoknight could see a surprised look cross his face as he realized that they were up against almost a small fortress of makeshift walls and shield carrying warriors. There weren't many easy targets presented. That was when she heard Noc's bow sing. From the second wagon in the caravan, her archer reached out and fired her arrow, leaving it lodged in the man's leg. He gave a howling scream as he went down and dropped his bow, and just then was when the rest of the wave crashed over the hill. It looked like there were at least twenty others coming over all at once. Above, she saw Delia and the burning Blades wheeling to engage aerial threats that had approached. A tight wing of wyvern riders were moving to attack the caravan, but had to make it past the line that the caravan's air cavalry were establishing first. That would keep the sky's busy with themselves for awhile. She had to worry about down here right now though.

"Archers! Fire!" The few bows that they had twanged loosing wooden shafts of death on the attackers. A couple were hit, but most arrows either missed or were caught in armor or on shields, resulting in an unbroken charge. That wasn't all they had up their sleeves though. Clair felt the power crackling just under the surface of the lance she carried, and somehow reached for it, as she had when the spiders had been attacking her. She lifted the lance aloft, and aimed it out at the charging line of fighters, and as she did so, she felt a boiling fury well up in her. Whatever their cause, these people deserved judgement for breaking the peace, and she was the one to deliver it to them. With a primal howl torn from her face, a long channel of blue lightning shot out from the tip of her lance, cutting through the earth as she did so. It wove and dodged back and forth as she sustained it, tearing up ground and burning flesh. Thunder rumbled and explosions of dirt flew into the air as she aimed the lance's power along the charging line, and a few fighters fell. More dove for cover when they saw what was shooting towards them, but the scrubby bushes and trees by the roadside couldn't afford protection from such force. They weren't expecting a mage to be here, but they should have prepared for one anyway. Never the less, the lines did meet, and she heard the sounds of battle engaging from the front, near where Yoma and Mut, were on the first wagon.

She cut off the blast of lightning. Before, when she'd used the weapon she carried, she'd felt drained, but right now it had left her feeling energized. She found herself wanting to use it again, and use it to crush the rebellion forces assaulting them into bone powder. It was a heady feeling to have at her fingertips.

[Hektor]

Hektor had zoned out, trying to think of every possible contingency in this not so little incursion when he was suddenly snapped back to reality by shouting. He had almost missed it on account of him not being used to the name, but he caught it just in time to react.

As the rebels rounded the hill his men immediately formed a wall in front of Hektor to ensure no one could get close to him. It almost brought a tear to his eyes seeing his men act so professionally. He needed to make sure they were rewarded after this battle. Rewarding men for good work was such a good way to keep efficiency and morale high.

Before he could do anything other than assess the attackers however a lightning bolt shot out and electrocuted the rebel lines felling a few. What power, when he looked over to see the source of the bolt it was none other than that Nayru character. Where does one acquire such a powerful weapon? Magical weapons were extremely rare. No matter on where it was acquired, for it was useful here and now.

His tome wouldn't be able to do as much on it's own but with the capabilities of shooting water combined with the electricity from Nayru's lance would provide quite a devastating effect. Perfect. Hektor began tracing glowing runes into the air with his hands forming a glowing circle in front of him while he mumbled incantations. The effect was that out of the circle a spout of water began to explode forth from the magical runes soaking the rebels in the area around him, making sure not to hit any of the members of the caravan. All that was needed was that electrical current.

Keeping the stream steady he shouted to Nayru, "Fire your weapon at the wet rebels!" If this worked the battle might go quite a bit faster if the rebels didn't wisen up.

[Elisabeth]

Bah, 'Nayru', what a dumb name. It didn't even sound like anything. That's what Clair told them to call her during this mission however, she seemed to want to 'protect her identity' around the pampered nobles and blue haired elite. Seriously why did they both have the same exact hair color? How 'Nayru' was supposed to hobnob her way to the top with keeping her identity under wraps was beyond her, she assumed that's what Clair wanted of course, why else would she bring them along? It's not every day you go out of your way to drag some random noble Lisa had never heard of before, and some other guy she ALSO has never heard of before. She was an Ilian commander, or something, it was confusing. So she just assumed this was just a political opportunity for her.

Lisa hadn't been around at the time, though whether she had been or not wouldn't have mattered in the slightest. It wasn't something she was interested in, and either way she probably wouldn't pay them the time of day. Or the time of night. Or time in general. In fact if it was up to her, she'd leave them at the roadside. She also wouldn't have organized this stupid campaign either, but what can you do? It was her job, at the moment, and if she had anything in her life these days it was the ability to put the pointy end into other people while riding a giant winged horse.

There was an attack, or something of the sort. Rebels, or something, she didn't really pay attention. What she did know, however, that they were trying to kill her. She was very apathetic and bitter about many things, but she didn't intend to put a stop to her continued existence at this moment in time. When it came to fighting, she wasn't the greatest combatant, but she did have skills that she put to use with a sort of casual grace. She was all around competent in every category, but didn't quite excel in anything in particular, the story of her life really. She held her lance in hand and pulled on Medusa's reins, the flying steed whining loudly as her unit charged. She followed in short step, as was her job mind you, hoisting her weapon and clashing with the flying wyvern riders. Lacking the sheer power to smash through them, like Celica might possess, she relied on her riding skills to swiftly outmaneuver them.

A rider speared the air towards her, she dodged to the left instinctively, the air whizzing as the weapon uselessly struck at nothing. She gripped the spear in her hand tightly, thrusting the blade right at the woman challenging her. She twisted her form and the lance scraped uselessly at the steel she wore, colliding at an odd angle and sliding right off. She drew back for a second strike, but Lisa managed to move first and had Medusa fly above. The woman tried to correct the trajectory of her strike, but it wasn't quick enough, the horse leaped above and she speared down with her lance. She twisted her form once more, and the weapon collided with steel. Only this time, because of the way Lisa struck, the blow angled and slid from the steel into one of the unarmored connections between her steel plates, biting in and drawing blood. The injured woman, instead of renewing her assault, backed off.

Lisa gripped the reins of Medusa once more, turning her attention towards another rider. She could have pursued, but that was too much trouble. It would leave her open to attacks from the sides, and in general it wasn't what she was aiming for. Far below there was a commotion and a bright flash of light, followed by a spout of water shooting high into the sky that she could see from here. Mages playing around, or something.

[Clair Feldsky]

Clair wheeled around towards the front of the caravan, and looked to see the front engaged. Burning Blades had made it up to the front and were helping watch each other's backs at the front wagon. scattered shots still came in from the hill side, but their initial ability to overwhelm with sheer force had failed this time. At the back, she could see a couple of enemies coming up as well, but she was more concerned with when the second wave of enemies would hit from the other side. There had been two forces coming towards them, timed to hit one after the other. The first they were dealing with. The second would need to be addressed still.

"Archers! Ready for assault on right wing! Incoming enemies!" There was no one visible yet, and some of the younger of the Burning Blades looked a little confused, but Clair's soldiers, as well as the senior Burning Blades were used to working with aerial scouting. Enough looked to the right that they'd be able to make a difference in a moment. They just needed the enemy to come into view.

Clair heard Law shout something. Something about hitting the wet rebels with lightning. She was surprised and pleased to see that he was a mage. More surprised that he was making himself useful, as he'd said. She wasn't quite sure what dousing enemy soldiers with a splash was going to do though, other than be a slap in the face. Whatever his reasons, she cut loose with a lightning bolt again, feeling a grim satisfaction in turning its power on the ones striking against them. To her surprise, the bolt arced much further than before, striking the first with enough power to knock him off his feet, and then coursing through him into the others that Lawrence had managed to soak down. It was quite the blow to the rebels here, but the rest were too closely engaged for her to finish them in such an expedient manner. She gave the magic caster a quick nod of "good call", before she turned her attention back to the situation at hand.

Clair caught sight of Jainus for a moment, and flagged him down. There were too many places to be at once here.

"Jainus, take a few fighters and secure the back of the caravan. There's a few enemies coming up behind us."

"Yes, Commander! Alright! I need some volunteers here, we're..." Clair had already turned her attention back to the middle wagon and how the most numbers of the enemy were concentrating there. Jainus was an Etrurian duelist of excellent talent, and had been with her long enough to have proved his worth. She could trust him with this.

She lowered her shield, and ran to the middle wagon, spear readied like a snake to strike. The first strike was free, and she nearly took the rebel's knee in two as she nailed him with the blow. He fell back a moment later, rent nearly fully across the chest from the axe of the man he'd been engaged with. That made enough room for Clair to shove her way into the conflict.

"That's it! Cover each other's weak points!" A sparking downward swing with her spear knocked an enemy's strike into the ground, barely letting him cover himself from a burning blade's counterstrike. Clair didn't stop, and leapt forward, bashing into the man with the Delphi Shield strapped to her arm. It was enough to knock him a little off balance.... Just enough for someone to lean over the top, of the wagon and put an arrow in the rebel's skull.

An arrow whistled through the air, and Clair heard an odd plink sound, before it embedded itself in the fighter next to her. Another rebel made a chop at the next man in line, and Clair found herself stepping into the defensive line fully, standing over the injured soldier as she suddenly came under a hail of blows from those in front of her. A few of their own arrows were whistling back, but not enough for Clair to be comfortable.

At the back of the caravan, Jainus and a few other combatants were squaring off with a group of attackers. They had to take care, because they were outnumbered, but out in the open as hey were, Jainus' blade was a silver blur moving from target to target. Even so, they were steadily being pushed back towards the wagons.

That was when Clair heard the battle cry come from the other side of the hill. She couldn't see what they were up against yet, as she was trading blows with other rebels on the far side of the wagon train. It didn't sound friendly though. Over head, Delia managed to steal a glance down at the battle going on below before cutting Sashra into the path of one of the incoming wyvern riders. Her maneuver gave the rider and scalewing a choice: continue on their path and fall into range of the green armored pegasus knight's striking lance, or lose altitude and becoming easy to pursue straight into the ground. Gaining altitude took longer than diving, and because of their light weight, a pegasus commonly had the advantage over the hunting lizards of the sky. The rider chose to dive, and Delia and Sashra followed right after him, intending to cut him off from the rest of the pack and finish him off. What she didn't count on was the wyvern she had missed passing overhead, and following her down. The shadow grouping she spotted on the ground gave that away as they dove for the earth.

"Damn Scale bags! Stop riding my tail, or I'll knock holes in ya till all your dirty air comes out!" She still pursued the rider beneath her, but this could be trouble. She'd have to hope that someone either from the ground saw her predicament, and could do something about it as they neared the ground, or else that one of the Burning Blades would see what was going on and come to the rescue.

[Hektor]

Nayru listened to him. It was good that she had team playing skills, that was an important part of any great leader. The spell arced through the moistened enemy ranks downing enough to make a difference for now, but the question is would they stay down. He had no idea if they could get up after that, it all rest upon how strong the lance was. Hopefully those darned rebels would stay down for good. He turned to see Nayru nod at him, she seemed pleased. It seemed he still had it.

His three men were doing quite excellently given the circumstances, exceeding expectations quite well. It was a great pleasure to see people working so well together. "Keep it up guys, you'll make Bern proud." Wait. why did he say that? Oh well, it's not like it could ever give anything away. The trio successfully parried attacks, making openings for each other and blocking each others weak spots. These three very well may go far in the line of combat.

Without warning however, arrows came from the other side of the caravan, many bouncing off of the horses' armor. A few were strong enough to stick in, but one arrow hit what may have been its target when it implanted itself in Hektor's right thigh. "OH Dear St. Elmine! Owowowowowow! The pain was momentarily crippling but the importance of the situation was able to snap him out of it rather quickly. He quickly retorted to the oncoming wave of rebels that were attacking from the other side with magic, a blast of icy cold water magic causing some to slim and fall, and setting up for another attack combo if Nayru had time.

They should have attacked from both sides at one, it would have been their best chance to catch everything off guard and split up the caravan. There were merits to the after attack too, like everyone would be focused in battle already, but that was a problem. Everyone was already ready for battle so they should be diverted easier. Poor Rebels.

There was so much going on in the roaring did of the skirmish that it was hard to keep track of it all, but out of the corner of his eye he spotted a Pegasus being tailed by a wyvern. He quickly tossed a few razor sharp icicles a bit ahead of the wyvern, anticipating where it would be; But there was no time to see the results if any. He had a battle to focus on, besides making the rebels wet that is. Forming a complex symbol in the air he formed more sharp icicles in the air and sent them at the new wave of advancing rebels, aimed right for the soft spots in their armor or any skin that was showing. It was quite effective taking down rebels in his area. It was pretty good that Bern didn't have many mages. Well, right now it was at least. If only these weren't people from his own country.

[Elisabeth]

"You! Rider, I need your help." A man called out to her, some stupid man no doubt. She had half a mind to just ignore him and go about her business, but considering her business is fighting people and very likely that was his business as well, she really had no reason to not listen. Outside of spite. While she was a very spiteful person, she did realize that she needed to listen to orders on some level, or she'll probably die. Death isn't very enticing as a prospect, so looks like she was helping this dork. So she swooped down towards the man with the silver blade, he had a name but she didn't really care what it was. "We're guarding the back caravans, come with me." Lisa shrugged. It was important to have aerial representation in a battle such as this, even in a smaller splintered force. She wasn't alone, but there weren't many people in this guys little workforce. She swears, if this guy got her killed she would be the most bitter resentful ghost ever and haunt Nayru until her dying days.

They were outnumbered, and she had to deal with like two different wyvern riders at once. Of course, how typical. Neither were incredibly skilled, which was good for her, because she wasn't incredibly skilled either. A good rider would probably massacre her mediocrity with impunity. Instead she managed to barely fend the two off by abusing her speed. Compared to the other pegasus riders, she was actually a bit on the slow side, however she hit a good deal harder than they did as well. Not as hard as a wyvern rider, mind you, but enough that it lent itself to her well. She was skilled in riding, but her reactions weren't as quick as they could be, and Medusa wasn't a warhorse in the first place. However she was more then capable of outmaneuvering these wyvern riders, and used her strength to make her hits count.

An archer from below fired an arrow, piercing one of the wyvern's soft underside and while the beast realed in pain and the rider couldn't get control of it, Lisa came by and slammed the pointy bit of her spear right into his side in the gap in the armor. It bled badly, but the rider lived as he retreated. Unable to fight proper anymore, he'd need to find a cleric before he bled out. She allowed it to happen because really, she didn't exactly get a rush out of killing people, if she could get them retreat it was good enough for her. Of course her victory was short lived as the second rider had a similar idea to hers and attacked her while she was distracted. His lance cleaved through the air and she twisted herself the best she could out of the way but it wasn't enough, her body could only twist so much as the edge of the lance found purchase in her unarmored shoulder, her riding arm. "Shiiiit" She cursed bitterly as he bit her lip in pain. She moved to counter but the rider zipped away too quickly. Instead she was left the with one arm laying uselessly at her side and dribbling blood all the way down. It hurt badly. Very badly. It made it hard to concentrate. She had a good tolerance for pain, but she wasn't superhuman. She could move her finger but it sent shocks of pain each time, and bending her arm was out of the picture. Instead she would have to rely entirely on her right arm.

Down below that one guy from before was dancing around or something. She pulled back slightly and kept in line with the other soldiers. The wyvern rider was still in the air, and she had to hold on to her reins and her lance at the same time. Here's to hoping she didn't drop it.

[Saturos Prox]

Saturos poked his head into the caravan, brushing past the hidden ambush soldiers that were currently pouring out of the covered wagons. While a few of them expressed annoyance at having to push past the man currently moving in the wrong direction, most didn’t cast a second thought at the man taking shelter in the caravan, as he was clearly not dressed for battle in the first place. It was all for the better; the Etrurian would rather be as low as possible on the Mistral Knights’ list of “people worth thinking about” right now.

The operative posing as minister took a seat in front of a large, fine crafted chest as the last couple of soldiers shuffled out of their hiding places. However, two more soldiers remained crouched inside, and while they looked ready to leap out at a moment’s notice, they didn’t seem to be going anywhere any time soon. Guards? Were they expecting an inside man? Or were these men in here just to make sure no one took off with this very nice looking chest. Saturos had to admit, it wasn't very inconspicuous sitting there all alone in the middle of the wagon. There was probably something quite valuable in there, though he had no way of accessing it at the moment. The Etrurian operative would have to figure out how he was going to maneuver around them without looking too suspicious, and if he could, get a look inside that chest.

As the fighting continued, the Etrurian could hear the shouts and cries of combat growing ever louder outside the covered wagon, and practically leaped out of his seat when he heard the sharp, deafening crack of thunder strike just above him. It was startling, to say the least. There had been no clouds in the sky, so it couldn’t be a storm. Mages? He hadn’t expected mages in the rebel forces. Saturos ran to the cart’s canvas window, to see what the commotion was, before spotting Clair standing atop the front of the caravan. In her hand she brandished a long, golden lance that crackled with electricity. The Etrurian could still smell the air around it that it had burnt. A magic lance, hmm? Quite the regal looking weapon for a pegasus knight. Saturos would have to make sure he didn't find himself with that thing pointed at him.

Then, suddenly, there was a shout from the other side of the wagon. The Etrurian swiveled around, his hand leaping to his sword before coming face to face with a very angry looking rebel soldier currently pulling a blade out of the gullet of one of the two Ilian soldiers that had remained in the wagon. Saturos cursed. He could see more rebels behind the one inside. He'd been too enamored by Feldsky's weapon to notice the rebels now approaching the other side of the wagon. He looked at the soldier next to him.

"Are you going to do something?" Saturos asked incredulously, readopting his ministerial character. The soldier just stammered, before stepping forward and clashing his lance against the sword of the advancing rebel. The Etrurian, on the other hand, slipped past him, jumping out of this cart and making his way into the next.

[Clair Feldsky]

Delia kept Sashra moving, weaving a flying pattern right to left and back as they drove through the air, trying to shake off their pursuer while trying to keep the wyvern she was chasing pinned between her and the ground. It wasn't a winning proposition. At best it was risky. At worst, she'd have her wings plucked out from under her by a wyvern knight's spear. She couldn't tell who was winning in the air battle. One moment they seemed to be doing great. The next, things had turned around completely, and she was on the wing away from danger. Below, there was a quick flash and something she barely caught sight of came flying up behind Sashra, but she couldn't tell exactly what it had been. Just that there was cursing coming from the enemy wyvern rider behind her, and she'd had a few wingstrokes bought for her. Thank the gods. Or the winds. Or whoever was watching out for her for that! The Wyvern team she was chasing looked behind her, and saw that she was still there, and dove suddenly, whipping down to land in a cloud of dust near the back of the caravan. She followed, Sashra twisting in the air to give the orange haired pegasus knight a better shot at the rider as they skimmed by just overhead. She struck out with her lance as they passed, but the rider managed to deflect her thrust harmlessly as she passed by.

"Damn!" Well, she'd missed and she was still being chased, even with the assistance from somewhere groundward earlier on. Ahead, she could see more of the sky battle being waged. One of their own managed to get a substantial hit in, only to take one herself immediately afterwards. That'd never do. They were going to go down if this kept up.

"Claaaaair! Need air support!" She yelled at the top of her lungs, winging by and moving into guard formation on the injured ally. As she passed over Clair, she heard a shrill whistle from the ground, and felt her spirits lift a little at the sound. Couldn't get distracted by that though. There was still plenty of work to do in the sky. Slipping her lance back into the holster on the saddle tack, she pulled loose a small javeling, one of only a few she kept, from the saddle, and twisted in her seat before hoisting it back towards the pursuing wyvern.

"Lisa?! You need help getting to our healer?"

Clair meanwhile had kept busy on the ground. There was always a blow to intercept. Always an opening to make. And, if someone was foolish enough to try and actually strike at her, the shield in one hand made it easy to deflect the strike, and the Thunderlance in her grip made it deadly to do so. Those she didn't actually pierce with her weapon, usually found themselves dropping their weapon from their hands as their arms suddenly were bolted numb.

The side by her was holding up well. The other side wasn't so well prepared. Even expecting attacks from both sides, they were simply outnumbered, and the battle on the opposite side of the caravan was about to become a desperate holding action. Arrows flew in, catching a few defenders that hadn't managed to get enough of themselves behind the hasty defenses they'd laid out. Law's attempts to slow down the enemy helped but couldn't stop them altogether.

"Claaaaair! Need air support!" The voice was flying by at high speed overhead, but Clair could hear well enough to catch the meaning. She'd been expecting to enter the sky fray at some point, but she'd also known that the moment she did, any chance at keeping things circumspect would go away. This was fine though. The time for deception had been in the planning stages. That time had passed now.

Leaping backwards, the Blond haired Falcoknight landed on part of the wagon for a moment before raising her lance and letting loose a thunderclap straight towards where she'd been fighting a moment before. A few arrows sailed her way, two seeming to bounce harmlessly off to the side of their own accord, and a third deflected off of the golden shield in her hand. Putting the Thunderlance in her other hand, she gave a shrill whistle, letting its tone reach up into the sky before taking her weapon back up again. There was an answering whinny from the sky, and she looked up to see one of the largest winged horses she'd ever seen descending. He'd be here in a moment.

Clair wasn't going to just stand there and look like some heroic painting by an artist somewhere though. Raising her lance, she leapt out past the lines of her fighters and, using the Delphi Shield in one hand and the Thunderlance in another, pushed a path to land right in the middle of the enemy lines. Lightning surged out from around her as she hit the ground with a yell, knocking the people around her to the ground with the force and pain of her lightning.

"Keep fighting, don't let their numbers scare you!" She called out, hair whipping around her face with a sudden burst of ferocity. "They'll rue the day they tried a raid against Clair Feldsky and the Mistral Knights!" This was battle. No! This wasn't battle. It was an execution, and rebels, or brigands, or whovever they were had sealed their fates when they'd made this decision. They'd had chanced to turn away. To stop. They could have found something else to put their life into. Now they would lose it as they had earned by taking the road of anarchy. And they would lose it to the lance she held in her grip. Clair looked at the weapon again, unaware that there were sparks of lightning dancing viciously up and down her whole body.

Raising her lance and firing lightning bolts at where the archers were, she looked to see a sight of Delia pitching a javelin at a wyvern rider chasing her in the distance. The rider juked in time to avoid the thrown spear, but couldn't avoid or react to the giant riderless pegasus dropping from straight above down onto his back. There was a loud roar from the wyvern as the beast plummeted, Corona the pegasus appearing to almost spring off the wyvern's back as he finished his approach. Granted, Corona springing off the wyvern was more akin to him kicking the beast into the ground. The dust cloud rising from that direction and Delia's wave let her turn her mind from whether or not she would need to deal with that particular bag of scales.

Corona touched down and before he could even stop, she'd vaulted onto him. With a quick kick, they were airborne again, and she was looking down at the battlefield from above. She didn't get an immediate feel for how the sky battle was doing, but she could see Law and his men below, working to stop the new wave of enemies. Jainus and his few were contending with a couple more than their fair share at the back as well. Including a grounded wyvern that was harrying them. And that looked like the minister running from the back wagon towards the others down below. What the hell was he doing out there?! At least he wasn't dead yet.

Jainus had had a rough time since the wyvern had shown up. More and more fighters kept coming until he was more or less fighting on the run from about five enemies. His blade clashed with five other weapons as he danced about, barely managing to stay one step ahead of those pursuing him. There was a solid sounding thud behind him and he rolled away on instinct as a massive claw passed right through where he'd been a moment before. Egads! Now he was fighting a wyvern too!?

One of the enemy swordsman got a little too ambitious and stepped in close to finish him as Jainus slipped back to his feet smoothly. It was a fatal mistake as the Etrurian turned Mistral Knight carefully let his blade glide along the hasty attackers and land in the man's chest. There was a sucking sound as Jainus leapt away before the others could take advantage of his momentary preoccupation with bloody murder.

"Alright then. Who's turn is next?"

[Hektor]

As the fight drug on and on the battle seemed a bit to even for his tastes. Whenever he took down one rebel two more would replace him in their advance, how big was this contingent of rebels? More importantly where was their base of operations? It would take some room to house all these men, what was their game plan? That was one of the hardest thing with dealing with rebels; you never truly knew who was loyal.

He cut out his spells for a moment allowing himself to take a few deep breaths and readjust himself to a more comfortable position atop his horse and winced in pain. It was hard to be comfortable with an arrow in your leg. But he found that he had little time on his hands; The moment he stopped casting his magic he noticed that there seemed to be a thickened layer of rebels approaching than before, it seemed as though he made himself a target to the rebels. Perfect, it meant he was doing his job right.

But the three men guarding him began to struggle in keeping up with the thickening number of rebels,so Hektor began to write glowing symbols in the air once more to help him focus his spell power. Once his circle of magic was complete he shot ice water out it one more, this time aiming at the ground around his men and the feet of the rebels in the area. He then drew forth more of the power of ice and snow and froze the water he had just sent solid; The resulting effect had many of the surrounding rebel's feet frozen in the ice so they had to chip their way out or they were perched precariously on the ice which was not a good way to fight in any condition. That gave the three soldiers the break they needed as they backed closer to the caravan along with Hektor icing the ground they left in front of them. With the current ground forces being taken care of he turned his attention towards the sky. That's when he saw a giant pile of scales and muscles flying towards him dangerously close.

[Clair Feldsky]

Clair took a moment more to give a quick glance over the battlefield as a whole. Delia had requested support before, which probably meant that the air battle was not going well. That part was evidenced by the enemy wyverns swooping down and around her and her forces. There were a couple of riders heading for the lead wagon in her little convoy. Another looked like it was on an intercept course for Lawton and his band in the center. This rider looked to have noticed the mage, and trying to take steps to eliminate him. The Falcoknight steered Corona into a turn with merely a small shift in her posture before angling to defend Law. She knew little to nothing of him or who he was, but his tactics were proving effective on the ground. She couldn't afford to lose the caster, even if it meant leaving Jainus to fend for himself a bit longer.

As she swung around on intercept with the wyvern, she started hearing a couple of small plinking sounds followed by arrows whipping wildly off course, as if they'd bounced off of something. More of the Delphi Shield's magic at work again. She caused Corona to dive slightly, picking up speed and evading the next volley of arrows fired at her. She turned her head as she let Corona pick his own path, and spotted three positions on the hillside where she could see archers hiding. She felt a rising sense of fury building in her, and raised her lance, relishing the feeling of its power building in her grip until the inevitable release of lightning arced out towards the shooters. A thunderclap boomed across the field as the white bolt of lightning caused the ground to rip apart where it struck. She pointed it slowly, letting the Thunderlance tear up the ground as it went. It wasn't the precision strike that she favored. Not at this distance, at least, but once the archers saw what was being directed at them, it was enough to convince them to duck and cover. She couldn't quite tell whether she got one of them or not. Too much debris and chaos over there. Not clear enough. She could always come back to finish the job though. For now....

Clair's blue eyes, dark with battle, whipped back around to the front, where she could see the wyvern approaching. Retracting her lance arm, Clair readied to strike, just as Corona dropped his altitude and spread his wings wide. They slipped under the enemy flyer, Corona's maneuver causing them to glide just below the wyvern's reach and just over the heads of the ground bound fighters, before a quick downward surge bobbed them back upwards again. Clair took a passing swipe straight over her head as they winged by, and caught the winged lizard's wing in the membrane. There was a spark and a sizzled smell, followed by an bestial anquished roar as the beast rolled to the side in order to avoid completely losing control of its flight. Clair took a look behind her and saw the rider diverting course off to the side and fighting to maintain altitude on his lamed mount. She also saw a couple of riders pulling up behind and above her. It wasn't hard to tell what they were going to do. Using height to gain the advantage on speed, they were going to try and push her and Corona into the ground. One pulled out a javelin, as she watched, and she just barely managed to get her shield up in time to knock the weapon aside. There was a solid thud as the weapon bounced off of the Delphi Shield. The impact was almost enough to take her off Corona, and she had to struggle with re-situating herself for a moment before working on attempting to get back in control of the situation.

So the shield doesn't work against javelins. Good to know for the future. Clair thought to herself, turning Corona hard to the side and trying to lose her tail. She looked behind her and was disappointed to see that though one of the riders had had to give a little distance to keep from colliding with his companion, the other was still tight on her tail.

[Hektor]

As he raised his arms to defend himself a sudden gust of wind even stronger than the one produced by the wyvern hit him making his hair and cloak act as though they were in a windstorm. When he opened his eyes he saw not a wyvern trying to impale him, but a Pegasus flying above him. It was Nayru, she must have noticed the wyvern target him and seen it as important to help him as he was the the only mage here, how considerate of her. He didn't want to boast, but he was an important part of the battle. Someone who could control elements on a field of battle was something that was important. It was nice to see another commander that realized the importance of mages on a battle field, that was something he noted of her.

With the smell of burned flesh through the air, the wyvern rolled out of the way so it didn't crash. Before he could yell his thanks to Nayru however She fled the scene being chased by multiple other wyverns. That wouldn't do, not at all. He couldn't let her get hurt right after helping him, that would be especially rude. He turned his magic to the skies once more. He began to draw more symbols in the air, he would need them for this spell. From afar one could only see a glowing circle, but once up close one could see a multitude of glowing runes; ones that would reap destruction upon the wyverns. A legion of small sharpened ice shards began to fly out of the center of the circle towards the wyverns in pursuit of Nayru. The effects were noticed soon afterwards as two of the wyvern riders began the plummet towards the ground, many holes torn in the wings, they were out for the battle as they crashed into the ground seemingly killing the mounts. The third wyvern, however, remained in the air as the others blocked the sharpened shards from reaching it. The fight seemed much more even for Nayru now

[Saturos Prox]

Saturos ran straight through the largely empty second wagon as he attempted to put as much space between him and the oncoming rebels, albeit at the expense of an unfortunate Mistral Knight. Upon making it to the wagon after that, the Etrurian ducked down under a tarp that was bolted to the floor of the cart, apparently to previously house Clair's hidden soldiers. Fortunately for Saturos, there was no longer anyone under it, so he settled himself still, in hopes that whomever was invading the wagon train would miss him entirely.

Despite the roars and explosions of what was beginning to sound like armageddon outside, Saturos could hear the footsteps of men jumping into the wagon he currently occupied. The Etrurian frowned. Guess that meant the man that had so bravely stepped up to defend his minister was now dead. Saturos felt a little bit bad, given that he wasn't even a minister, but these people technically were the enemy, so as long he managed to save his own skin he'd be rooting for the rebels. Another crack of lighting sounded, accompanied by a bit of snow blowing in from the outside. The sudden sound caused Saturos to let out a small yelp. Good grief, just what was going on out there? It was like someone was summoning up a veritable thunderstorm.

"What was that?"

Saturos froze up, still like a statue. Really? He heard him over that!? These rebels must be half bat. From his low vantage point, the operative could see the feet of an approaching rebel. It seemed, like any logical human being, he had decided to check the suspicious burlap tarp. Saturos would not let himself be discovered without cost. In the middle of a battle like this, what rebel would believe that the Etrurian was actually one of them, only disguised as an Ilian minister and traveling with an Ilian military operation pretending to be a merchant caravan in order to lure them into a trap. Not a chance.

As the man pulled up the tarp to reveal its occupant, Saturos leaped from his hiding place, unsheathing his sword in one fluid slash and running it across the chest of the surprised rebel. The Etrurian could feel the sharp tip of his jian cut cleanly through his victim's chest, drawing the man's lifeblood from his body. It wasn't a feeling he particularly enjoyed, but such was commonplace in a battle, and when faced with death, Saturos had little choice.

The man stumbled, clutching his rent open chest, while Saturos darted past him with the agility of a fleeing mouse. More rebels were scrambling into the cart. At this point, the disguised rebel operative was seriously considering getting out of this mess before the battle was finished. He'd expected to find at least some sort of weapon shipment, but it seemed that aside from a barrel here and a crate there, there was nothing, anything they did have being for show. Though that was valuable information in and of itself. The Mistral Knights were not above trickery, and the thunderous Clair Feldsky was a force to be reckoned with.

[Exiting Thread]

[Clair Feldsky]

Clair stopped swerving and focused on airspeed again. As long as she and Corona were flying evasively, the sharp turns and maneuvers would cause them to sacrifice airspeed. Once that was lost, the ability to maneuver would soon follow, and they'd be a much easier target for other flyers, as well as anyone on the ground looking to earn an Ilian falcoknight to their kill list. The black armored sky-knight twisted in her saddle, and looked behind her. She felt the lance in her hand begin to crackle angrily as she took in her pursuers once more. She felt her arm raising almost of its own accord as she saw them, and felt the lightning bolts gathering along its tip once more. She could feel its power this time. It wanted more. Always more. There could never be enough effort put towards the felling of those whose actions furthered destruction. It was ready to unleash its power, but it needed more energy, and it wanted her to fuel it.

The choice was taken from her as twin shrieks lit up the battle filled sky. Magic. She couldn't tell what exactly, but there were a multitude of small shards tearing at the wyverns and their riders. Shearing through the thin membranous material with a deadly purpose. Two riders crashed, and all around her other riders were giving the area a wide berth. That mage was going to be the one to turn the battle for them.

"Magic." Clair griped outloud to herself and Corona. It was equal parts awe and disgust that fueled her words. She had a healthy respect and fear for the stuff. She'd heard stories of it performing miracles. She'd seen it save lives on many occasions. She'd also seen the dangers that came with such power. It's why she'd trained worked as hard as she could to build up her resistances to it, and why she still didn't completely trust her weapon.

With a subtle shifting in her seat, she urged Corona around and wheeled him back towards the fight they'd come from. Law had likely just made himself a target, and the battle in the sky was still a pitched fight. She worked on gaining altitude as they headed back. Before her, she could see the fight laid out for her, as if it were on a table. The ground fight around the wagons were under heavy pressure from both sides. Overhead, the aerobatics of both sides was making it difficult for her forces or the enemy side to get a distinct advantage over the other. It was typically only once a flyer broke away that they were able to be brought down by conventional battle. A few looked like the intense air battle had thrown them from their mounts. A rider would be lucky to survive such a fate.

Clair caught a glimpse of movement behind her and turned to look, only to find Delia forming up on her wing a little behind and to the left of her. The rowdy pegasus knight gave a handsignal which translated to something like "Following your lead", then give a nod of affirmation. Knowing that she had some backup made Clair want to do something a little daring. Adjusting her flight path, Clair headed towards the ground battle right next to the wagons. There was fighting on both sides of the convoy, but it was strongest on the side she was on: The side the battle had first been joined on. As they neared, she leaned in and kicked Corona lightly a couple of times, signalling him to pick up speed. As they were almost upon the fight hooves touched down and Corona let out a deep bellow right behind the enemy combatants. The ones in the back who could afford to turn their attention only saw a pair of pegasi bearing down on them, one of them particularly massive, and then found themselves beset by hoof, mouth, wing, and spear. One fell as the golden lance in Clair's hand found a weak point just beneath the man's shoulder. Another found himself bodily lifted and thrown to the ground as one of the great beast's wings smashed into him. Flashing hooves and rains of steel ruled their vision for several moments until they seemed to be getting themselves together for a defense. A quick whistle was all they heard as they were about to retaliate, when suddenly the pegasi backed off. Two more short whistles could be heard by those closest, and then suddenly there was a black clad shadow of war in the midst of them.

On riding up, Clair knew that she'd only be able to press for a moment before some of the back row got themselves together for a defense. She only needed get a small opening though. And opening caused by drawing the eyes of her enemies to the obvious threat. Corona demanded the attention of those he threatened, so that hadn't been difficult. As soon as they had regrouped though, she'd signaled to back off, and pulled her feet up and crouched down on Corona's rump. The couple of quick whistles that followed signaled the the white winged giant to buck and throw her skyward through the air, only for her to land with her weapon planted in the middle of the crowd of combatants, charged and ready to fire. There was a brief pause as Clair made certain she'd landed where she'd wanted to, and then she let go of the Thunderlance's leash.

Thunder exploded out around the small falcoknight, sending her hair whipping wildly in the charge and release of lightning. Those touching her were hit as if by a hammer and sent flying back from searing explosions of lightning. Those a little further out weren't spared the ferocious burning surges emanating from the golden spear jabbed into the earth. The whole lot of fighters right around her dropped to the ground. Even Clair felt a burn from the lightning as she dropped to her knees, followed by a sharp drain in her energy. She panicked at first, worried that she wouldn't be able to get back up, but the drain leveled off and she could feel the tingling numbness dissipating from her fingers. She couldn't afford to stop on the battlefield. Stillness meant death. Movement was life. Had to keep going.

Taking a deep breath, she pushed herself back to her feet, and stood up to look back towards the battered convoy fighters she'd just ended the battle for. She was still catching her breath, hair wild with static and stray lightning coursing up and down her and her weapons. She wore a half grimace as she looked at them, then lifted her spear overhead and raised her voice once more.

"Take the fight to the other side, and DRIVE THEM OFF! Mistral Knights! Burning Blades! Weapons High" There was a cheer that went up from the group, and only grew louder once they made it to the beleaguered forces holding on the other side of the wagons. Pulling her lance from the ground and resting the butt on the dirt, Clair adjusted her shield, and looked skywards, back to the air battle. She spotted Celica and Nergal holding their own up their, along with the other Burning Blades. Once the ground battle became clearly onesided, she had no doubt that the air forces would turn and fly for the hills. She'd wanted to be able to follow them back to whatever lair they'd made, but after this fight, she wasn't sure that they'd survive another bout without resting up and refitting some.