Freyja looks at Katia. "I would like to stay, but if Katia wants to go, I will go with her."
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Freyja doesn't say anything, but she, perhaps surprisingly, absolutely devours the stew that Dahlia brought over. She nods her head when Dahlia asks if she wants seconds, and says "Ale?" through a mouthful of mutton and bread.
*follow Freyja into peril
Freyja finally sits up. Even though her wounds are healed, it still takes enormous effort; even magical healing cannot fully remove the trauma of having been hit by half a dozen javelin-sized arrows fired from a 10' tall composite bow. She takes Katia's hand and sits side-by-side with her on the bed. She expects the tears to come, but her eyes remain surprisingly dry. She stares at the floor for a long time, unable to say the words out loud. Then her eyes drift to Trjega, who is sitting on the shag rug on the floor (nice touch, Katia) and cleaning blood out of her fur. Trjega never asked for any of this, but she would -- and has! -- follow Trjega into peril without hesitation. Doesn't she deserve a rest? She has been close to death just as many times as Freyja has, maybe more. And, just like that, her mind is set. "Okay. Let's go."
Freyja doesn't move, but her eyes open. She can't bring herself to look at Katia. She can't say that she hasn't thought about exactly this. Not long ago, she couldn't miss, but now it feels like she has completely forgotten how to fight. She has to face facts: she is a liability now. She has heard of this happening to soldiers in combat, but it was unthinkable that it would happen to her. She has too much experience, too much training. So why is it happening? And why now? So many of their friends have died in this war. Leaving now feels like a betrayal to their memories. She finally shifts her eyes to meet Katia's. "We are the only ones left who were at Phaendar. Can we really leave now?" Her eyes look desperately at Katia, almost as if they are saying please say yes.
Freyja isn't ready to leave the void. Outside the void, everything hurts. Inside, she feels nothing but at least it doesn't hurt. The void isn't completely cut off from the outside, though; she knows Katia laid with her and healed her, she knows that Trjega is there, and she knows... she knows that V is talking to her now. She doesn't answer for a long time. She is grateful that he doesn't talk again but also that he doesn't leave. He knows some of what she has endured. He has endured similar hardship. And Katia has been there from the beginning. Freyja is not alone. Part of her wants to be alone. Most of her, even. No. She can't come out yet. She isn't ready. Without opening her eyes or even moving, she whispers to V, "Can we stay here tonight? Please?"
Freyja lies motionless. She is aware of the tremendous pain she is in and she is aware that Katia and Trjega are nearby, but that awareness is distant and dim. In her conscious mind, there is nothing. Numbness. Void. It's a relief to feel nothing. Maybe this is where she should stay.
The moment Katia says that the oni has fled, Freyja drops her bow and collapses to the ground. She pulls her knees into her chest, closes her eyes, and lies still, her blood saturating the hardpacked dirt below her.
Freyja was dead. She knew she was dead, especially when she couldn't manage to hit the enormous oni with five damn arrows. She can regularly put arrows through the eye sockets of hobgoblins; why has she struggled so much to hit non-goblinoids? She sees one of Origa's fingers twitch and realizes this is her one and only shot. She pushes the doubt out of her mind and aims her bow carefully.
Freyja spits blood on the ground and takes another step toward Origa. In what will likely be her last action on this f~%!ing planet, she fires another volley. She can't believe that it's going to be some ogre looter that finally gets her.
Freyja hasn't been this hurt since the dragon. She knows she can't handle another barrage like that from Origa, and her aim hasn't been very reliable lately, so she makes the unusual decision of opting for defense over offense. Gritting her teeth through the pain, she whispers the incantation for barkskin.
Freyja aims for center mass instead of vital spots, just hoping to score some hits.
Then she calls Trjega to her side.
Shooty bad lady.
Freyja takes another step towards the fray and tries to put hunter #1 down .
Freyja whispers a thank you to Gozreh for getting the wolves out of the fight; she would have put them down if she had had to, but it would have broken her heart. She has no such compunctions for ogres, though; they are vile creatures that do not deserve the unconditional loyalty of an animal. She puts a bunch of arrows downrange at hunter #1.
After firing her last three arrows randomly into the wilderness, she calls "ATTACK!" to Trjega.
"F@!#. Trjega, come!" Freyja bolts toward the sound of Randall's voice. Once she gets close enough to see how many big, big boys they are up against, she casts gravity bow and orders Trjega to protect Randall.
As they resume their journey north, Freyja walks beside Katia. After a few minutes of silence, she pulls Katia into a half-hug. "I'm glad you are okay. I'm sorry I couldn't bring it down faster. I thought I was watching you die."
Shit! "TRJEGA! COME!" Freyja nearly freezes in place. Should she chase or should she shoot? She agonizes for an eternity, then finally decides that they have no hope of keeping up with these birds and their only hope is to take them down now. Trjega could keep pace with them, but then she'd be alone and easy prey. Shit!
This is bad. This is really bad. She is thankful that V found his bow but she is not sure if even the two of them together can take the bird down fast enough. Reluctantly, she aims for center mass instead of shooting for vital spots like she normally does. Maybe she can knock it down if she hits it with enough arrows.
JESUS.
"Two A-10 Warthogs inbound!" She somehow doesn't know what these things are, but she knows they mean them harm, so she levels her bow at #1.
Knowing that there is nothing Trjega to do here, and still wary from seeing her so near death at Kosseruk's camp, she yells "TRJEGA, RUN!"
Freyja nods and smiles at V. Once she is fully ready to go, she casts greater magic fang on Trjega, then waits for Katia to dismiss the shelter.
"Well, there's been a war on." As she loads her pack and readies for the day ahead, Freyja approaches V. "Hey, good morning. I am sorry I was rude last night. I would like to hear about the Wardens today while we walk if you wouldn't mind." She forces herself to look the big man in the eyes.
"Well, there's been a war on." As soon as it escapes her mouth, she regrets it. She didn't intend to be so snide. For what seems like the thirtieth time today, she feels her face go beet red. She looks away from V, then back at him, then over at Katia (who thankfully seems to be directing the servant to clean some imagined thing off the ground near Trjega), then down at the floor. "Um. Sorry. I just mean, it just so happened that I was the only one who could hit it while it was flying. And the others were busy keeping its minions away from me. And I had dragon-bane arrows." She stares at a knot in the wood floor. The magic that made this place was pretty thorough! "We, um... we got lucky. The dragon was arrogant and thought it could toy with us. If we fight that battle ten more times, we probably lose all ten." She feels tears welling up in her eyes and blinks them away. "I'm sorry, can we not talk about this right now?" Without waiting for an answer, she lies down on the bed and turns her back, desperately trying not to break down in front of their new companions.
Freyja can't help but grin. Now this is camping. She flops down on one of the bunks. "Katia, can the servant keep watch for us? Or do we still need to split it up?" Please say it can do it, please say it can do it, pleasesayitca...
Freyja thinks for a moment. "If we just go laterally along the mountain, we probably wouldn't need to go further than half a mile, especially if the light of the fire will be contained."
"We're going to have to deal with this fog every day. It should diminish at night but we won't be able to see very far in the daytime."
Freyja only thinks for a few seconds. Though she spent most of her time before the war in the forest, this is still her territory. "It's only about 20 miles, so we could take your magic horses 19 miles and go stealthy from there. I'm pretty sure Kosseruk threw everything she had at us, so I wouldn't expect more than a token force still in the Valley; but there are still morlocks and probably wild beasts to deal with, so stealthy is probably the way to go. Little reason to think we'd run into trouble in transit, though."
Freyja has definitely never heard of an irlgaunt, but it sounds impressive. Especially if killing it granted him the title of Chernesardo Warden. She tries to hide her fangirling at being in the same room as a Warden, but, as usual, she can't keep her emotions off her face. She figures she might as well lean into it, and responds to Katia, "If he is a Warden, and he is the Warden's chosen companion, then we are in better shape than we could have possibly hoped for." She stands up and, surprising even herself, hugs both men. "We have been through a lot to get to this point. We have suffered too much loss. Thank you for volunteering to help." Then she sits back down, her face as red as Katia has ever seen it.
Freyja feels a sudden pang of jealousy that Catie is leaving the fight. She immediately flushes red, and then curses her damn face for making her emotions so obvious all the time. But she can't help it: this war has taken so much from her. Oona, Mac, Grevayne, very nearly Katia, and now Sarge (but at least he still lives). She would love nothing more than to stop fighting. But... the war isn't over. If she stops fighting, others still will. And she will still lose people close to her. At least if she is fighting too, she can try to protect those she loves. She doesn't feel like she has done a great job so far, but if she is honest with herself, she actually kind of has. She killed that dragon by herself. Also, if she keeps fighting... maybe she will meet her end. She doesn't want to leave Trjega, and she doesn't feel suicidal, but she has to admit that it would be nice for it all to be over. But now she is getting morbid, and she realizes that the room has been silent for a few long seconds. She gets up and hugs Catie. "I understand. Sarge is in good hands." She is surprised to have to wipe away a tear -- she doesn't know Catie that well -- but she supposes that nothing bonds two people faster than fighting a battle side by side. She sits back down. "And thank you, Mayor Crawbert. I am glad that we were able to help. I am sorry we couldn't save more than we did."
Freyja dreams of Grevayne. Somewhat miraculously, the dream is a pleasant one; although they spend very few moments of actual peace and quiet together in real life, her mind graciously spares her the pain of reminding her how he spent his last hours. Instead, they are hunting together, though their conversation is loud enough that they wouldn't be making any kills on this hunt. The dream seems to last for hours, and they speak of many things, but hobgoblins, the Ironfang Legion, and the war never come up. It is the most pleasant few hours she has had in she doesn't know how long. And then it's over. She awakens with a start, and the first thing that goes through her mind is Grevayne is dead. The second thing is the agony that her body is in: as if fighting a battle nonstop for 36 hours wasn't taxing enough, she decided to cap it all off by sleeping in her armor on a stone floor. She winces and suppresses a cry of pain as she gets to her feet. Trjega isn't beside her anymore, but she can hear people in the next room talking to her, so she doesn't immediately panic. She gingerly walks into the next room and can't help but smile at the sight of Trjega comforting a young child who has lost an arm. The cleric delivers Aubrin's message and shares directions to the mayor's house. Freyja thanks him and gathers her things. On her way out the door, she starts to call Trjega to her side, but stops herself. She turns to one of the clerics. "Can I leave her here for a while? She seems to have found her calling as a nurse." The cleric smiles and nods. Freyja rubs Trjega's ears, gives her a kiss, and leaves the temple.
Freyja nods at the cleric and fast-walks to the room he indicated. She sees Trjega the moment she passes through the door: the lynx is casually lying in a corner of the room, grooming the blood and mats out of her fur. She looks up when Freyja enters, slow blinks once at her master, and returns to her bath. Freyja could wring Trjega's neck, but instead she rushes to her side. She interrupts Trjega's bath (much to the lynx's chagrin) to check her for injuries. She still has several; the clerics must have not had much healing to spare. Freyja pulls out her wand, finishes the job, then collapses on the stone floor next to Trjega.
Freyja is in a full sprint before the word "there" has even escaped Elise's lips. She feels an immediate pang of guilt for not thanking Elise, but it doesn't slow her pace at all. Plenty of time to thank her later. After a few minutes, she arrives at the temple, her normally pale-skinned face fully flushed with red. She bursts through the door, immediately realizes she shouldn't sprint in a temple in the best of circumstances, and forces herself to slow to a walk.
Freyja is clearly fighting tears, but she looks at the rest of the party. "Is there anything else you want to do here first?"
"TRJEGA!" Freyja's outburst startles everyone and her face flushes red. "Sorry. Have any of you seen Trjega? I had to send her away." The worry and desperation are written all over her face.
Suddenly a myriad of faces -- of every Phaendarian man, woman, and child killed or enslaved by the initial attack; of Oona, of Mac, of Grevayne; of the guards and militia of Longshadow; of all the brave Chernasardo that died protecting their way of life against a remorseless and merciless enemy; of Trjega -- flash past Freyja's eyes. She always wonders if the constant fury she feels toward this enemy will become so commonplace that it will fade, but if that is the case, it is not happening today. She fires five arrows with blinding speed, screaming at the top of her lungs all the while.
Freyja ignores the spiritual flail in her face, soars into the room, and takes a single shot at the hob.
Freyja, clearly unfamiliar with flying, "stumbles" a little trying to maintain her altitude, but she does manage to stablize herself. She unleashes hell on caster #1.
Freyja drinks the potion of and flies up to get a better vantage. She spots the hobs cowering behind Kosseruk and grins.
Freyja suddenly has an idea. She digs in the party pack and pulls out a potion.
F!@+! As far as Freyja can tell, she is doing absolutely nothing to Kosseruk. Her arrows should at least hurt! Being a one trick pony, however, she just does her one trick and hopes it works out a little better this time.
"Katia! Can you make me fly?!" Freyja really does not like this angle she is forced to fire at, but she can't afford to stop supporting Sarge with bow fire long enough to get up the stairs. Without another option, she fires five more arrows at Kosseruk.
Freyja sees how Sarge is dwarfed by the massive minotaur next to him and she feels panic well up in her throat. She needs to take this thing down, and fast. She pulls her magic arrows from her quiver and fires away.
Freyja let out the breath she didn't realize she was holding when the phalanx disperses. She takes one last worried look in the direction of the tunnel, then turns and runs as fast as she can toward the others. As she clears the last tent, she suddenly sees what can only be Kosseruk in the tower doorway. She has apparently just finished giving a speech, but Freyja has no idea what was said. She looks at the others expectantly.
Freyja moves another step closer and tries to end this.
Freyja waves a hand at Katia. "I'm fine! Help them!" Then she moves another step closer and fires another volley. Given the troop's defensive position, she sacrifices her pinpoint accuracy in favor of just getting some arrows through the shields.
Freyja barely even reacts to Katia's healing, especially after seeing the barrage that Sarge and Catie just took. It's pretty clear that she has more range than they do, so she takes a quick step forward and rains down hell.
"Thank you, Katia," Freyja says absentmindedly, her eyes fixed on the tunnel to the south of the party. Is Trjega okay? Will she be okay? It is killing Freyja to have no idea.
"They aren't going to attack us until Kosseruk gets here." The longer she stares at the hobs in the distance (but not too far...), the more angry she gets. The worry on her face is replaced with hate and fury. "F%*% THAT." She levels her bow and fires long distance shots into the nearest troop with its collective thumb up its ass.
Freyja sees the troop's weakness for the first time and goes for the kill. She aims for center mass rather than going for killshots, knowing that it won't take much to disperse the stragglers.
Trjega will die if she stays here. Freyja freezes for a moment, knowing what she has to do but really really not wanting to do it. Another glance at Trjega's bloody and broken body makes the decision for her. She points in the direction of the tunnel and screams, "TRJEGA, RUN!" She can only hope that Trjega will find her way back to Longshadow. The agony on her face is quickly replaced by rage, which she turns on the minotaurs .
Freyja immediately regrets her decision to leave Trjega in the fight and screams, "TRJEGA NO!"
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