Long Lost Leaves - part II

[feawen]

Nami looked behind her through the quickly raising nets. "Not a friendly looking brunch are they!" The collection of rafts were steadly getting closer. Nami reached around in her belongings for her own bow and quiver. Postioning her self next to one of the raft elves she stood with her bow hanging loosely at her side, ready for when the orders to fire came, though she hoped they would just float on by.

[Coffeehouse]

Quickleaf looked with disgust to the West, from whence they'd come and the direction from which the many canoes now we're coming.

"Let the stealing filth approach! I have plenty of arrows eager to make an appointment in their black hearts.. ", and he pulled out his bow and skipped lightly to one of the backmost rafts where his cousins were standing guard.

[Varnafindë]

Silently Barufiniel thanked the Valar for the archery training she had had at Rivendell over the last few years. She was a far better archer now than when she had arrived there three hundred years ago.

After the Nine Walkers had left with the Ring, Elrond had called together the inhabitants of Rivendell and told them that with the war brewing, it would be advisable for everyone who was wielding a weapon to hone his - or her - skills. Barufiniel had only kept up her archery skills for hunting, but now she started to practise in earnest. Ainon, her kinsman and an old friend of her father's, taught her. He had been very pleased with her, telling her that he could see that her father had given her very good basic training.

"You haven't reached his level yet," he said, "but then again, few could match Rameldir as an archer."

The women of Rivendell were not called upon to go to the battles of Mirkwood or Dale - but they knew that if the worst came to the worst, they would be defending Rivendell itself against the enemy forces.

The worst never happened, though - the Ring was destroyed and the enemy was cast down. But Barufiniel had decided that she might just as well keep up her new level of skill, she didn't want to neglect it again, and Ainon had continued to teach her.

So now, with potential danger in the boats behind them, she got her bow out and readied it, and then went over to Sirandion.

"I'm a competent archer," she said. "But as you say, I have no experience with battle on water. I put myself at your disposal. Command me."

[Acalewia]

Aelfwine readied her own bow. Her father had taught her to use the bow and had proven herself earlier in the quest against the spiders. Now as the canoes came closer, she drew an arrow and held it. She found herself standing next to Barufiniel. If all else failed she could use her knife. Hopefully.

[Willow Oran]

Haldis hesitated for a moment, loosening her knife in its sheath, then moved to the center of the rafts. If it came to close combat, she would end up fighting there anyway. Best to stay out of the way for now.

She found a spot where she could see through the closing line of archers to the approaching raiders and knelt, drawing her knife and laying it across her knees and fingering the carved bear she wore thoughtfully. Truor was staying in his human form, she noticed, taking his place among the archers, though he was wielding a sling. He might scare the raiders away altogether if he changed. Haldis had heard that the men in these parts regarded bears with much superstition. It would be to their advantage, were this a fight on land, on the water such a sudden change in weight could be too dangerous.

Haldis did not like this fighting on water, she decided, it was plain to see that they were outnumbered, and that the raiders' boats were faster. Haldis hoped the elves were as good of archers as reputed, or that some among them could conjure something to repel these enemies, for separated from the land as they were, Haldis' power would be of little help. In this environment she could manage only small things. But perhaps... many small things could be of use.

Haldis watched as the first arrows were loosed, then entrusted herself to the skill of the archers and cast her mind towards the land in search of bees.

[Earniel]

Sirandion gave Barufiniel a grateful nod and pointed her to a place among the archers. He then surveyed the situation. The horse-rafts were in the lead now, and the Raft-Elves on them quickly ferried them farther, out of harm's way. Otherwise any horse could easily be hit by a stray arrow and upset the entire raft.

The other rafts, now firmly anchored together, were readied too. Archers knelt behind the reed coverings, both Raft-Elves and guests, while the more vulnerable travellers were crouched well defended in the middle.

Sirandion turned to the approaching canoes. His sharp Elven-eyes could see the raiders too were preparing for battle. They had wooden shields on the side of the canoes, which was a sturdier protection than the reed-mats on the rafts, but the number of shields was limited. And Sirandion counted less enemy archers, and those could only possess skills inferior to his own archers. So the raiders had no choice but to opt for close combat if they wanted to defeat their opponents, while Sirandion's company had more advantage at longer distances. He would have to strike first as soon as they were within range.

"Keep behind the barrier as much as you can!" He ordered. "They have us outnumbered, but we have more archers. So make each arrow count! Keep firing as much as you can before they come too close. Stand ready!"

He looked at the canoes. They were almost within range now. One of the raiders fired first, but the arrow splashed harmlessly in the river, yet far from the rafts. Sirandion smiled, the Elven-bows had a greater range.

"Fire!" He yelled.

[Coffeehouse]

"Death to our foes!" exclaimed Quickleaf and steadied his feet on the raft, before releasing his first arrow. It's arch was high and it shot into the distance, well 200 yards, before plummeting into the river between two of the enemy's canoes.

The enemy seemed nowhere near firing-range from their current positions, they'd had to come closer. Intent on not letting that happen Quickleaf sent arrow after arrow in short succession, and soon enough as the Company's barrages rained down, a throng of arrows a minute, screams of agony erupted amidst their foes.

"Fools! Thieves! We must show no mercy" Quickleaf shouted venomiously.

[Varnafindë]

It was three hundred years since the last time Barufiniel had had to shoot to kill. The situation had been more chaotic then, with Dunlending soldiers ambushing her small group of travellers. They might not have made it at all, if not for the Rider of Rohan who was part of her group. She remembered him fondly, and wondered what had become of him - hopefully he would have made it safely back to Rohan after they parted in Tharbad.

This was more cold-blooded, more calculated. And that had been exactly what had been part of her training at Rivendell - mentally preparing herself for the possible necessity of having to strike first, in order to be able to strike at all.

On the command to fire, she let her arrow off, and as she was making ready for the next, she noticed with a mixture of satisfaction and horror that an archer in one of the canoes flung out his arms and fell backwards.

[Mari]

Ellysa sat crosslegged and closed her eyes. She did not need to see as she was not able to change what was going now. Not until the canoes got close enough for her to push them away with her bo, or to push the men off.
So for the moment she sat and listened while waiting, hoping that should the time come for her to fight, she'd have enough space to move her weapon around sufficiently.

[feawen]

Finding that she could not keep a steady stance standing up on the unsteady raft, Nami knelt down, found her centre of balance and raised her bow. Nami's sharp eyes picked out her first target, one canoe about three from her own raft seemed to be laying lower in the water than the others. The owner of the raft seemed to be carrying more weight than his fellows and seemed to trust in his weight to protect him, his canoe had little protection but was heading straight for raft in behind of her. With his weight she guessed he would quickly upset the balance of the raft if he was to get on it. She took steady aim and waited for Sirandion's order.

The order came and the twange of arrows being released reached her ears at the same time she loosed her own. Unused to fighting on water her first shot when slightly wide, lodging its self deep into the canoes side. Nami cursed and quickly loosed another arrow as her target turned to investagate the arrow in his canoe. Again the arrow missed its true mark but hit the man in the shoulder, causing the canoe to upset as he was forced back by the force of the shot. The canoe shifted its course now traveling horizonital along the river. Nami's third arrow found its mark, the man slumpt his weight back, the now back heavy craft started taking on water, and quickly capsized, creating a kind of bottle neck of canoes behind it, slowing their progress slightly, but not much. Nami had already moved on it her next target.

[me9996]

Ferrus didn't carry a bow, he had a bow but that was back in the misty mountians somewhere, better just duck and hope the raiders are lousy shots.

Maybe throwing something... "something" good grief, he'd better come up with "something" quick.

[Acalewia]

Aelfwine narrowed her eyes as the canoes came closer. She placed the arrow she was holding against the string and drew it back as far as it would go.
"Fire!" Sirandion shouted. Aelfwine arched her arrow and it hit its intended target. She did the same with the next two, only one hitting its mark. Aelfwine growled to herself. She let loose arrow after arrow, her stomach lurched once she realized she was killing men.
They will kill you if you don't kill them she kept telling herself. That worked for now.

[Varnafindë]

Cold-blooded. Calculated. Those became Barufiniel's main emotions as she let loose arrow after arrow. It became a rythm as well. Place arrow. Pull back. Aim. Release.

And she realised that her satisfaction grew and her horror subsided as her arrows hit their marks again and again. Once she missed when the raft's movement surprised her, but she soon got used to it. She aimed always for the archers - the others could wait. It was most important to incapacitate as many of their archers as possible while they were still out of their range.

She felt no battle-lust, though. Just the cold-blooded satisfaction. She was doing this because it had to be done. She was defending herself and her friends. If the other archers got a chance to shoot, they would be shooting to kill as well. So they must not get that chance.

[Willow Oran]

Haldis' mind was humming by the time she looked back up at the battle. It had not taken her as long as she'd feared after all, to reach the many, tiny minds she had been searching for, and now the creatures they belonged to were a buzzing eagerness in her conciousness.

Not yet, she told them, Just a moment more.

Haldis squinted at the canoes visible through the gap between the elves, gauging the distance. The raiders were closing in on the rafts, undeterred even by the accuracy of the archers and the strangness of the elves. When it seemed that the rafts were about to come into the range of the raiders' archers, then Haldis said to them:

Now, friends! But only the wasp-boats. They are parasites who would prey on our hives. Blind them. Cripple their stings.

And the humming in her mind grew and became humming in her ears as the swarm descended on the raiders.

[Earniel]

A veritable scene of chaos followed next as the bees descended on the raiders' boats while the Raft-Elves and the adventurers stood by, gaping in surprise of this strange and sudden change in events.

Some of the canoes became steerless as the raiders furiously tried to rid themselves of the little flying and stinging insects. They soon drifted transverse on the river, accidentally blocking the path of the canoes behind them. The other canoes that could not correct their path quickly enough crashed into them with the sound of breaking wood, spilling men at all sides in the water.

But large as though the swarm was, it could not take out all the raiders. Some of the more quick-thinking raiders steered their canoes away from the entangled canoes as fast as they could, and towards the rafts, now driven to rash fury at all the unexpected opposition they encountered, only more determined to draw blood themselves.

Before Sirandion could give the order to move the rafts away from the bee-covered canoes, two smaller canoes reached the left raft and boarded.

[Coffeehouse]

The first of the canoes rammed into the raft and Quickleaf momentarily lost his balance, losing precious seconds! The most ferocious of the thieves cast himself onto the raft in one impressive leap. He seemed heavy but the ease at which he got to his feet on the raft made Quickleaf think this man had probably done this a few times before.

In any case there was no time for dwelling! And Quickleaf cast his bow across onto his back and unsheated his watered-steel blade and in one swift move hacked from right to left, down and up towards the thief. But he was too slow and the man stepped backwards in time, and at the same time the second thief jumped onto the raft! Yet just as he had landed an arrow hit him squarely in the thigh and he crouched in pain. "Too bad!" Quickleaf exclaimed and kicked him in the other leg sending the thief crashing into the water which by now had long, slivers of blood streaming through the water.

Quickleaf now stood between the thief and a few Raft-Elves behind him who were sending volleys of arrows into the second canoe, and quickly glancing in their direction Quickleaf saw that few had any proper blade to wield and so he decided that it was best that he take care of the boarding thieves.

Three more from the first canoe were now standing, getting ready to board, and the thief already on the raft was cutting air like mad, trying to maim Quickleaf while his companions got onboard. It wasn't working very well though!

Yet seeing that the thief lacked both precision and timing Quickleaf flexed his arms to one side to send his heavy sword violently toward the man. The thief had to jump some steps backwards making it hard for his companions to do anything. Quickleaf cut towards the man again, but he was distracted as an arrow came shooting by hitting one of the thief's companions inbetween the eyes. Quickleaf had enough time to smile coldly, but soon his focus was back on the thief onboard.

The heavy thief had come dangerously close to the edge and made a leap towards the other corner of the raft in a bid to distabilize Quickleaf's light body. It worked. The raft's one side was thrust suddenly and broke the water surface, and Quickleaf lost his balance and fell towards the thief! He tried to cut his sword towards the thief as he fell but the thief was quicker than him and skipped sideways again.. and suddenly there was nothing but air between Quickleaf and the river.. splash

[feawen]

Nami was now steady with her balance, used to the motion of the water she sent quick arrows to there targets. But still they came closer. Some they would be too close to fire her arrows without a risk of hitting her fellows soon. Nami's mind reminded her of the knife at her side, not very practical but it would have to do if it came to that.
It was quickly becoming evident that she would need her knift soon. Her arrows were growing thin in her quiver. A slash to her left side draw her attention. She saw Quickleafs head bob in the water, the river quickly sending him closer to the raft she was on. She appeared to not be the only one to have noticed his fall. One of the raiders turned his bow in Quickleafs direction. Nami quickly sent and arrow in the raiders direction, not waiting to see if the arrow hit its mark she knelt down at the edge of the raft, hand out in the direction of the Quickleafs travel.

[Coffeehouse]

As soon as Quickleaf hit the cold water he lost hold of his sword and it dove straight down into the depths below. Holding his head aboe water he saw that he was floating quickly along the river and just in front of him Nami held her hand out. He wanted to take hold of it, be he couldn't. He had to get the sword, a gift from his father from over 1,000 years ago. It was the one remainding family heirloom he possessed..

Looking down to get a view of the riverbed below he saw in the dark water a glinting light far below. He raised his head above water again and looked at Nami, "Well I can't leave it!" An arrow sped towards him and he had to duck again, "Don't wait around for me!".. he ducked beneath the surface yet another time, came up and ended "Good luck!" and with that Quickleaf took a great heave of air and swam with all the effort he had in him into the deep where somewhere his watered-steel blade lay.

[feawen]

"What?" Nami stammered as Quickleaf dissappeared back under the water. An arrow wizzed pass her ear being her back to the here and now. Leave him think of those here with you. Nami turned her attension back to the fighting at hand.

[me9996]

Ferrus didn't hesitate, as soon as a raider got close enough he ran the raider through with his sword, was that the chainmail breaking I heard wondered Ferrus, what seemed like an age on a mountian top had not slowed or weakened Ferrus it seemed as he fought the raiders singlemindedly and well to boot.

"What on middle earth is that elf doing in the water?"