Tarin was doomed. Her primary weapon was lodged into a log and she had already wasted a throwing knife earlier. To top it all off, she was injured, poisoned and surrounded by a horde of enemies, each one poised to fire at any moment. But why didn't they kill her already? Were they waiting for something? It was strange; they stared at her as if they were evaluating her. This was her only chance. If she waited any longer, she'd be killed or taken hostage. Tarin stared at the assassin in front of her while inconspicuously reaching for her dagger. The assassin sighed before giving a nod to an archer on his right.
Arrows were immediately sent into her left leg, causing Tarin to stumble backwards. Unfortunately, the tree branch she was on wasn't very thick, so her stumble quickly became a fall. Her back smashed harshly onto the ground, sending a wave of pain all throughout her body. Tarin immediately shut her eyes and held her breath in an attempt to make them think that the fall killed her. She could hear them land all around her, but there was something else too. Small gusts of wind brushed past Tarin's hair as the sound of flapping quickly got louder.
Tarin briefly opened her eyes to see a dragon fly directly above her, which then smashed into a couple of bandits. Pained moans drifted through the air as the dragon caught more enemies in his ram. A gust of cold wind went over her head and froze a bandit who was near her. However, the Manakete was unable to hit everything. A few archers managed to avoid its attacks, instead firing arrow after arrow at the monster. She had to help it, even if it were possible that the dragon wanted to eat her or something.
But how? Tarin only had a single throwing knife, it'd be impossible to kill them with only that. However, Tarin realised that she was covered in 'weapons,' the only problem was that she'd have to pull them out. She carefully moved her hand onto the arrow that was lodged into her left leg and... "ARRRGH!" Tarin screamed, biting onto her lip as the arrow ripped out of her leg. She quickly did the same to another arrow stuck on her right arm, before standing up. Tarin started to feel a little woozy, but she managed to force her body over to the archers.
They had yet to notice her, as they were focused on taking out the dragon. She grasped one of her arrows tightly, before shoving it directly into an archer's neck. He fell, landing lifeless beneath her feet. Neither of the remaining archers noticed (or cared) that their comrade had just died, still focused on firing arrows at the manakete. Tarin limped behind the second archer, sweeping her right leg underneath them. The archer fell to the ground and before being able to react, Tarin drove an arrow straight through his throat.
"Two down, one to go." She thought, positioning herself behind the last archer. Tarin quickly pulled her last throwing knife out of its holster, sticking a thumb out to more easily line up her shot. However, just as she was about to launch the knife, a sharp pain entered her left leg. Her leg started to throb intensely, forcing her to fall back onto the ground. It felt like there was a fire burning inside her leg, causing her to squeal in agony.
Unfortunately, her squeal finally alerted the Assassin to her presence. She turned around, glaring at Tarin before smirking. The archer could tell that Tarin was injured and would be an easy kill. "Think of this as a mercy killing." She sneered, pulling her bowstring back firmly. "Yeah... You should." Tarin immediately flung her knife at the archer, striking her in the chest. The archer wavered, falling to the ground. Tarin smiled briefly, but the pain in her leg started to intensify.
She held her hand over the wound as the dragon landed in front of her. "Thanks, I guess..." Tarin hesitantly said, attempting to pick herself off of the ground. However, someone had jumped between the dragon and herself, looking down at her with a heroic smile. "Don't worry, m'lady. I'll protect you." Protection from what? They weren't under attack right now and the Manakete was already doing a fine job at protecting her anyway. He turned around, facing the manakete head on. "Shinji Chozu. Dragon Slayer extraordinaire. Best fighter in the Shepherds."
"Why would a shepherd, kill a shepherd whose protecting a shepherd?" Tarin muttered, watching as the 'dragon slayer' advanced on him. However, the Manakete quickly turned into a young boy, immediately waving his hands around like mad. "No! No, wait! I'm Lutaro! A Shepherd! I'm on your side! I'm protecting her! Please don't hurt me!!!" Lutaro rapidly said, causing Shinji to lower his weapon. Out of nowhere, two arrows struck Shinji's shield, prompting him to throw it in the direction the arrows were fired from.
The two eventually started fighting the bandits, but Tarin completely ignored everything happening around her. Instead she was focused on a very hairy man talking to one of the bandits. "Let's take them out!" A familiar voice shouted, filling the Assassin's with a lust for blood. Her eyes widened when she discovered who was the one speaking. Cloff. "So the idiot's actually a traitor..." Tarin said, thinking about what she should do next.
On one hand, if she let Cloff and his assassin followers kill Nokam, she would be free of this stupid army and able to go back to her old life. On the other, this could be her only chance to justifiably get revenge on the idiot (and possibly earn a pay raise). She knew that she didn't have much time to decide, she had to react now. A gust of wind hit a nearby tree, knocking the log out of the tree. "I'm going to regret this..." Tarin thought, forcing her body to stand. She painfully walked to the log, picking it up by her dagger's hilt.
The poison tried its best to make her get back onto the ground, but Tarin wasn't going to let it win. She forced her legs to start running, trying to get to Nokam before he could be swarmed by the bandits and Cloff. When she could finally see Nokam, Tarin realised how bad an idea this was. They would be greatly outnumbered and she wasn't exactly in the best shape right now. But, it was too late to turn back, too late to change her mind. "NOKAM," She shouted, hopefully gaining his attention.