Assult of the carpenters shop

Sarnith sits in a chair near the recently reinforced door way putting a fresh edge on the blade of his spear wondering if he made the preparations he had in vain, maybe that Tristan did get the job done. The hob has been wearing the crude armor since yesterday to help acquaint himself with its extra weight, and it is heavy, at least it wasn't overly expensive. All of the windows are already bared shut and the door is closed, allowing little light beyond the fire place into the shop. Pausing briefly from his work the hob retrieves his corn cob pipe then lights it with a twig from a fire. With a small cloud of bracken smoke starting to form in the shop the hob resumes his seat near the door.

Due to the fact that if Sarnith should see him he would quickly send him packing back to Redwall, Zocalo has spent the last TWO DAYS or so hiding out in various places around Ferravale. Fortunately, it being a vermin village, most beasts did not give him a sideways glance as he slinked his way around town. Now, armed with a staff he's crudely constructed out of some hard stick he found and his daggers, he waits, hidden within eyesight of the front of the shop, waiting to see what is going to happen.

Outside, four vermin move as quietly as they can. The band consists of an ermine, who seems to be the leader, a thin, wiry stoat, a rat, and a ferret. All of them are armed, and as they creep up against the carpenter's shop, they communicate with gestures and hushed tones. After the resolution of a brief argument, likely about entry routes, the ermine leaves the group, circling out of sight around the back of the building. Satisfied that she is in place, the stoat goes the other direction, and inspects one of the boarded windows. He motions to the other two, who, abandoning stealth, walk straight up to the door, the rat testing it, and finding it locked, shrugs to the stoat.

Sarnith sits up from his revere momentarily startled as the doors handle is tested, then silently curses himself for not doing the obvious and installing a peep hole or shutter on the door. With all the caution that one can use wearing heavy armor, almost none, the ferret gets to his feet and heads to the door then forgoes his own bad attempt at stealth calling out " I's close' fer's der's next' few days, wha'cher's wan? " as the hob speaks he tries to see if he had left a space anywhere in the door uncovered so that he might be able to see who is out there.

The hair on the back of Z's neck raises as he sees the vermin moving around in front of the shop. He swallows hard as he realizes exactly what he's gotten himself into. Then, with fresh resolve, he grips the staff and touches the pommel of one of his daggers for security. He's here now, and he's not leaving. Quietly he watches, waiting for the right time.

The two vermin look at each other as they hear Sarnith's muffled voice, then glance over at the stoat, who nods, and motions them onwards. He himself seems to be trying to climb up the wall, using the sill of the boarded up window as a paw hold. The rat steps forwards again, calling through the door, "Aye, Nikita tol' us to come an' have a liddle chat wit's ya! Yer, s'all we want." the ermine has not come back into sight yet, she is presumably still in the back of the shop, maybe searching for a back door.

Sarnith nods silently to himself then moves over to where he was sitting in the chair and picks up the helmet from the floor. He calls back " I's ain' got nuttin else ter's say ter's yer's lot, yer's know wha' 'appened der las' time yer's came 'ere so clear off! " as the hob speaks he kicks the chair away from the vicinity of the door way and dons the crude skull cap helmet. After straightening the crude armor the ferret picks his spear up with one paw and waits to hear the reply.

The rat slams his shield against the door roughly, bouncing right off, the barricaded door not budging at all, "Oh yer, well what if we's got somethin' so say to you?" he yells, slashing at the door with his sword now. The stoat ignores them for the most part, and as he crawls onto the roof of the building he's not really sure where to go from there, so he sits and watches the two at the door's progress. Still no sign of the ermine.

Sarnith Steps to one side of the doorway after the thump of the slam, then calls back " Den say et from der yer idjit!, I's not lettin yer's in 'ere! " but even as he speaks the hob puts his free paw on one of the three braces that holds the door secure and prepares to lift it away. One thing the carpenter hopes is that Nikita's brood won't resort to fire, not only would the hob be hard pressed to get away from the blaze, it would probably draw attention from other beasts around town.

Zocalo shifts slightly from his uncomfortable hiding place and realizes that he's been clenching his staff way too hard. His paw is stiff and he massages it with the other one while he grows more and more impatient.

Luckily the slavers have decided that fire would draw too much attention, so they just try and break the door down, the rat's companion begins to hack at the door as well, though the wood is thick and it's fairly unlikely they'll get through it anytime soon. The stoat pokes around on the roof, looking for a weak spot in the shingles, and finding none, heads back towards the edge of the roof, going to try the window again.

Sarnith sets his spear aside against the wall then gets his other paw on the brace then removes it as best he can between the impacts, once the first is free the hob sets the wooden bar aside and removes the second in much the same manner as the first. Once only the lowest bar holds the door the hob has a thought and heads over to one of his displays and pulls down an unstrung bow. After a few attempts he finally gets the bow strung and grabs a paw full of sharpened wooden arrows. Knocking an arrow he heads towards the side of the door where his spear resides.

"Ha, Yeris, dis door is breakin' I kin feel it," the rat comments, slamming his full weight against the door and then hacking at it as he feels the resistance lessen, not knowing that someone on the inside is simply removing bars. Yeris, for his part, says nothing back to the rat, just stabbing at the hinges diligently. The stoat jumps down, grabbing hold of the window and looking it over, seeing if there's any entrance that way. He knocks his dagger against the window, and shatters the glass, reaching in to try to push the shutters back.

Sarnith only catches some of the rats words between the splintering of wood, but he already knows what they are up to anyway, he does spare a moment to frown at the thought of having to replace the door then shakes his head as he prepares his next move. Half drawing the bow as best he can in the heavy armor the hob shifts all his weight to one foot paw and gets ready to kick the last bar out of its holders calling out " I's told's yer's ter's get! now leave affore I's add anutter one o yer's ter der's groun'! "

The rat stops hacking at the door for a second, "Ha, dat's funny ferret! Dere's Fou..." he stops at an angry glance from the stoat as he almost gives away their true number, "Dere's two a' us an' one a' yew! Yer gonna die!" as he boasts, the stoat bashes through more of the glass and pushes aside more of the wood barricading the window, at the cost of a few slashes on his arms. He's obviously trying to make an opening large enough for him to squeeze through. A loud thunk is heard from around back, the only indication that the ermine is still around.

Sarnith hears some of the other noise and knows that he is going to have to make his move soon or possibly be surrounded, so he draws the bow back as far as the heavy armor will allow then kicks the last bar out of its holders, it hits the ground with a thud, now the only thing holding the door shut is the simple metal mechanism that holds most any door shut. He calls out " Den et's almos' fair fer yew's dis time ya bloody idjit! " all the hob waits for now is the door to spring inward, then he will let the arrow fly and make a grab for his spear.

The rat cackles madly as he bashes the door with his shield one final time, the door giving this time and falling inwards, he tumbles into the room awkwardly after it. He struggles to get to his foot paws and get his eyes adjusted to the lower light of the room. Yeris waits to see what will happen to his companion before he tries to make it inside. The stoat has almost smashed a hole large enough for his small form to fit into, and as he widens the hole light comes into the shop from outside. He knows he's fairly exposed, but hopes the distraction at the door is enough to keep the ferret away from him until he gets in.

Zocalo's heart is beating madly and his mouth is dry. He watches anxiously, almost standing up but forcing himself to remain hidden for a few moments longer, no point in showing all the cards at once. "C'mon Sarn..." He whispers.

Sarnith inexpertly lets the arrow fly at the rats chest then flings the bow aside reaching for his spear. It takes Sarnith longer than he had thought to complete the motion thanks to the armor, but with spear in paw he sees not only the pair in the door way, but the stoat starting to pile in through the window, time to move back he thinks so the hob backs towards the staircase to the upper floor. The hob moves easily backwards, having memorized where all of his wares are and where to go to avoid tripping over them in the low light.

A cry of pain is heard as the arrow sticks in the rat's chest, halting his progress at rising and sending him back onto the floor, "Yew lousy scum, yew sh.. sh.. shot me!" he has a hard time getting the thought through his thick head as he reaches towards his sword, which is inches out of his grasp. Yeris slowly comes in, not as careless as his partner, his two short swords up and ready to strike or parry an attack. The stoat slips through the window finally, a few cuts dripping blood here and there. "Tanks fer joinin' us, Sorp," Yeris says sarcastically. Sorp growls and pulls a long thin dagger from his belt, the two of them proceeding to advance on Sarnith, leaving the rat wounded in the doorway, "Ah, yew'll be fine Pordis," one of them calls in answer to his pain-laden groans.

Sarnith quickens his backward retreat to the stairs, bringing his spear up to thrust should either of the beasts get within the weapons reach. As his foot paws reach the stairs the hob mounts the first step still facing the duo and pulls his spear back slightly and points it at a downward angle, then tries a bluff saying " I's warned yer's! if yer's get out now I's won' 'ave ter drag yer's corpses out of I's shop! Dis is yer's las' chance afore I'sll stick yer's all! "

Zocalo decides to move now, before they can get too far inside. Standing up, he sprints towards the front of the shop in a no-holds-barred effort to get there as quickly but as quietly as possible. Since they're already in close quarters, he drops the staff outside as he runs and draws the daggers. Leaping in through the doorway, he narrowly avoids tripping over the fallen rat and slides to a halt behind the two vermin, almost losing his balance but remaining upright in the end. He is fairly surprised at his success and shouts, "Hey! You!"

Sorp spares the new otter only a quick glance over his shoulder, keeping focused on the ferret, who he considers to be the more threatening target, but at Zocalo's words Yeris spins around, weapons up to block the otter, but his back fully exposed to the ferret. Even though it takes him a few vital seconds to react, Sorp attempts a lunge with his dagger to keep Sarnith from stabbing Yeris in the back, but it's likely that he's too late, if you ferret reacts faster than him the blow will likely land.

Sarnith decides to go for Sorp, the open back is tempting, but will render his spear useless if he lands the blow, since Sorp will be on top of him in moments. So the armored ferret meets the lunge by stepping forward off of the stairs and feints a high stab, really meaning to cross check the stoat in the neck with his spear haft. This tactic leaves little room to dodge or parry the dagger, the hob is relying on his new armor to stop the attack, or at least keep it from hitting anything important.

Zocalo doesn't lunge. He prefers to let the attack come to him so he can parry. This is due in part to the short-range weapons he has opted to use. He meets Yeris' eyes and steps into a defensive position, both daggers raised, waiting for the ferret to come at him.

Unaware that he was split seconds away from getting a spear in his back, Yeris advances on the otter, his own two daggers raised. The two combatants use the same weaponry, so neither has an obvious advantage over the other. Yeris makes a quick lunge, stabbing one dagger towards the otter's left shoulder. Sorp has worse luck, his dagger point glancing off the ferret's armor, and the heavy wooden spear haft hitting him right in to throat, knocking him down. He agilely rolls back to his feet, rubbing his neck with his empty paw. He circles the ferret, not making a move yet. Back by the door, a snap is heard as Pordis breaks off the arrow and begins to crawl towards his sword.

Sarnith pulls the spear back and releases it with his left paw after the impact, and chokes up on the spear with his right paw to make it easier to use with just one paw. The left paw goes down to draw the short blade as the right keeps the reduced reach of the spear as a menace to hopefully stop the stoat from advancing until the maneuver is complete. With the knowledge that Zocalo, the idiot in this ferrets opinion, is here Sarnith has decided to try and end this quickly instead of cautiously, once he has the sword fully drawn he takes a quick one armed stab at the stoat with his spear.

Zocalo had his left foot forward so he quickly swings it around behind his right, completely reversing his position and moving him backwards a step, narrowly missing the attack on his shoulder by swinging his left arm out to hit Yeris' arm and throw the dagger off course. He follows this up with a swinging, clenched right fist to Yeris' face, dagger pointing upright in the air, aiming to hit the ferret's eye or cheek.

Yeris stumbles back as the fist connects with his face, holding a paw to his face. He takes the blow well though, recovering quickly and stabbing twice at the otter, two quick thrusts, one with each dagger. Sorp barely dodges Sarnith's spear, the point slicing his sleeve some. He backs off and holds his dagger out in front of him. It's obvious that's he's not used to a one on one fight, likely more of the backstabbing type.

Sarnith has been involved in his own fair share of killing in his earlier days, and even while not being an expert at the art, he still knows an advantage when he sees one. As best as he can manage in the heavy armor the hob moves forward and makes an intentionally slow higher chest level thrust with the spear. What the ferret has in mind with the slow thrust is that the stoat might take the bait and either lunge forward or try to grab the spear, in either case a quick swing or thrust of the short blade in Sarnith's left paw will follow.

Zocalo wasn't expecting the stabs and takes one to the right shoulder, which shocks him enough to get out of the way of the other one but the damage is done. Fortunately, adrenaline has kicked in and he's good and mad now. Baring his teeth, he growls and quickly slams his head forward, aiming to take advantage of the ferret's relative closeness. This is followed up by a quick uppercut by his strong arm, the left one.

Yeris sees stars as the otter's head collides with his own, and the punch, while it does not fully hit him as he stumbles back, is enough to send him staggering into one of the shop's shelves of merchandise. He goes toppling over with the shelf and quickly struggles to get back up so the otter can't take advantage of him being down. Sarnith's attack almost works, but Sorp, while may not be much of a fighter, can read beasts, and can tell a bluff or a faint when he sees one, so he just steps back, letting the spear point harmlessly cut the air before him. He will strike as the ferret pulls the spear back towards him, lunging forwards the slice at the ferret, aiming for the neck. In the doorway, a single beast appears, the ermine, seemingly having exhausted all of her options out back, has returned. She steps over the struggling Pordis, pulling a throwing dagger from it's sheath and flinging it at Zocalo's back, following up by drawing her sword.

In a rage, Zocalo flings himself at the shelved Yeris in a glorious full-body tackle which turns out to be his saving grace as it causes him to avoid being caught by the ermine's flying dagger. Out in front of him during his short flight is his left arm with fingers splayed (he's dropped his dagger) seeking to grab hold of anything it can, clothes, fur, arms, throat, in an attempt to prevent Yeris from rising again. His right arm drags along behind, weak but ready to stab if and when he manages to grab the ferret.

Sarnith pivots on his left foot paw as the slash comes, throwing his right side forward while the spear turns slightly with its holders body so that its back in front of the hob, and he elevates tip of the spear upwards attempting to block the slash. With his short blade in the left paw the hob will attempt to stab at the stoats abdomen as it closes the distance to make its slash with its much shorter weapon. The hobs eyes stay glued to the stoat as its dagger nicks his right paw comes within a hair of the ferrets neck, and puts a fresh gouge in his spears haft.

Yeris forgets any fighting method he's learned and just wildly slaps at the enraged otter on top of him with one paw, the other, with one dagger still held in a loose grip, stabs upwards weakly at the otter. He yells out various unintelligible threats, insults, and pleas for help. The white-furred female frowns as her dagger misses, but she steps forwards and swings her sword downwards at the otter's exposed back. Sorp is really having trouble dealing with this ferret, and is driven back by his attacks, the ferret's stab to his abdomen even lands, the short blade stabbing him, leaving a shallow wound as he backs away.

Sarnith presses forward as the stoat backs away, he needs to finish this fight now, this armor is getting heavy and that fool Zocalo is going to get seriously injured if something isn't done soon. The hob hunches his head down into his shoulders so that his neck presents less of a target then he tries to move into closer range of the stoat so that he can make more effective use of his short blade while intending to use the spear haft to parry and club with. Once the hob gets in closer he turns again so that he is full on facing the stoat, he makes a low upwards slash with the blade on the left while swinging the spear haft high and to the right.

The sword slices into Zocalo's right side as he struggles to hold the ferret down enough to pummel him severely. Now bleeding in two places, the otter endures the slapping long enough to attempt to roll over onto his not-bleeding side, thereby presenting a smaller target to anyone attacking from above. He's still got a dagger in his right paw and brings it in close to his body where, despite the close quarters, he attempts to stab Yeris in the chest area. Because they are so close, there is very little likelihood that he'll be able to actually get a stab in but a few deep slices are nothing to complain about.

Despite the fact that the otter is a little bit larger than her, the ermine grabs him and attempts to forcibly pull Zocalo off of Yeris, who is yelps out in pain as he receives two slices from the dagger. Sorp ducks the spear blow and start to stab at Sarnith's armpit, where his armor does not cover as well, when the short blade catches him in the right side, causing him to freeze and his mouth to open in surprise. He looks up to the ferret before he falls backwards off of the blade, blood already flowing down his side and starting to pool on the floor.

Zocalo is in a full-on fury and merely redirects his rage at the individual who has taken him away from its previous recipient. He isn't quite pulled off his feet and into the air but he is pulled upright enough to swing his muscular tail around in an attempt to floor the ermine. He quickly follows his tail with a fierce yank to release himself and, switching the remaining dagger from his right paw to his stronger left paw, sets himself upon her with a slice at her throat.

Sarnith takes no time to see if the stoat will get back up, instead he quickly looks over to see Zocalo's plight, with a curse the hob seathes the short blade and charges at the tangle of beasts. The ferret dares not use his spear for fear of hitting the otter, so instead he makes use of his increased armored mass to attempt to flatten the beast that had a grip on the otter. But on seeing Zocalo start to regain his feet the hob skews to the side slightly and tries to slow down before he aims a heavy kick at the floored ferrets ribs as he turns the spear around, intending to use the haft of the weapon to crack the ermine in the spine, if he can stop.

Zocalo's attack is a little counterproductive, because while the tail swing knocks the ermine away, it also causes the slice at her throat to miss. She takes a fighting stance, blade raised and ready to take on two beasts. Yeris gasps as the air is knocked from his lungs and any attempt to get up is halted. The white ermine spins to keep from getting hit with the spear haft. This one is quick, and it would seem a considerable amount more skilled than the others.

Zocalo uses the momentary pause in the fighting to press his left paw against his side. When he pulls it back it is coated in sticky, salty blood. His gaze narrows as he re-focuses on the ermine and wipes his paw off on the front of his tunic leaving a dramatic bloody smear halfway across his front. Repositioning the dagger in his sweaty, sticky left paw, he moves into a more defensive stance with his left foot forward and his right foot back and several degrees out of line. He's out-armed now, the ermine being equipped with a sword and he with a dagger, but he'll still have at this for as long as he possibly can.

Sarnith skids to a halt as his swing goes wide of the ermine, he then takes a precious second to check over the situation of the other beasts, that done the hob menaces the ermine with his spear and tries to circle around towards the wounded otter saying " Didn' I's tell yer's ter keep yer's stoopid self away from 'ere? yer's darn idjit! now yer's bleedin all over me shop an I's 'ave ter's watch out fer yer's, now can yer's use a spear or are yer's to daft? " as the ferret speaks he begins to draw the bloody short blade again with his left paw, keeping the spear held with his right and aimed at the ermine.

"I knew you were crazy but I didn't think you were /idiotic/." Zocalo says, breathing heavily. His eyes stay locked on the vermin. "How'd you expect to beat them all on your own?" He asks, practically fuming. "Keep your spear! I'll be fine! And stay over there!" He gestures with his right paw towards a random area close to where Sarnith is.

The ermine watches with a fair amount of patience, keeping on her guard with her sword up. "You two done talking?" she asks, her voice stern, but softer than the other slavers.

Sarnith calls back to Zocalo " Because I's 'ave done dis kind o work 'affore yer's darn idijit! an yer's needs ter get yer's self behind me an this armor an take dis spear NOW before yer's get kilt ya hear!? " as he speaks he finishes pulling the short blade from its scabbard. While still keeping the spear pointed at the ermine, he lifts the haft away from his armored side so that Zocalo could grab onto it, if the otter decides to do so. The hob gives the ermine a final comment " Yer's one pal over der's is probably dead, der one at der door is probably gonna die, an yer pal on der floor der probably 'as broked ribs, et's yer's last chance ter's get affore yer's nex'. "

Zocalo. Doesn't. Move. The way he sees it, it is much more beneficial to have the ermine covered on both sides as opposed to just one. So he ignores Sarnith and waits for her response, still in his original position, still ready to see what she'll do.

"They're all idiots, that's the main problem dey had. Unfortunately for you, I'm not." she says, not making an attack yet, but still staying ready.

Veins begin to pop out on Sarnith's neck and arms, the hob is getting very very angry, this is reminding him of some things he had hoped to of kept behind himself and neatly tucked away where he wouldn't have to think about them. The ferret says one last thing " Den I's gonna bury yer's, don' expec' any quarter, even if yer's a she. " Then he springs forward as best he can with the restrictive weight of the armor, swinging the spear haft at the ermines legs and keeping the short blade ready for a quick slash if need be, but not throwing it right away as it would over tax his balance.

Zocalo takes a few steps back to avoid Sarnith's violent attack and as he does so, manages to kick the dagger he dropped which he carefully and quickly grabs off the floor. All the bleeding his side and shoulder are doing are starting to take their toll and as he stands back up all the blood rushes to his head leaving his vision black for a few seconds. He manages to hide it though, and quickly regains his stance, ready should Sarnith's attack fail.

The ermine barely dodges the ferret's swing, the haft brushing against her shin. She stabs forwards quickly, aiming for his neck with the tip of the blade. Despite her boasting she knows if her companions are to survive she needs to get out soon.

Sarnith jukes to the right as he sees the blade thrusting towards his neck, the side step robs the hob his balance though, and his lack of speed also casts the hob a nasty gash that comes within millimeters of being deadly. As he stumbles and flails with the spear the ferret throws a hasty horizontal swing towards the ermine with his short blade, which moves at a decent speed, but lacks any real power and only serves to throw him further off balance.

Zocalo dives for the ermine's relatively unprotected back since he's there and since Sarnith apparently needs the help. He's got two daggers now and he's fairly well rested considering. With strength born of desperation he flies through the air, right hand reaching out to grab the ermine around the throat, left ready to bring the knife up to her throat, not to kill her but to stop her from attacking (but to slice her open if necessary, y'know how it is).

She sidesteps the slice, the blade only cutting her tunic and leaving an extremely shallow slice on her arm. But she is caught by surprise as the otter lunges at her, bowling her over, though she still keeps a tight grip on her sword. She struggles with the otter, who despite being weakened by blood loss, is still a little stronger than her it seems. Across the room, Sorp groans and seems to be trying to regain his feet.

Sarnith Stumbles a few more paces and comes perilously close to tripping over the ferret on the floor before regaining his balance. As he starts back over towards the struggle Sarnith kicks the ferret in the ribs again before he starts picking up speed. The hob grips the spear with both paws only with a slight touch of awkwardness to the grip as he still holds the short blade in his paws as well, this time he intends to knock the ermine senseless with the butt of his spear, by first thrusting the blunt end of the weapon at the ermines chest, then clubbing her with her with the pommel of his blade.

Well that's probably the end of Zocalo for a bit. As he goes flying to the ground with the ermine he inadvertently lands on his injured side and stars explode everywhere. The wind is knocked out of him and it's all he can do to roll away from the fight leaving a rather dramatic smear of blood on the floor.

The ermine rolls to one side as she sees the spear haft coming down towards her. She rolls again and gets to her feet quickly, tunic stained with the otter's blood. She glances at Sorp across the room, as he gets up and holds a paw to his wound. He stumbles towards Yeris, who is still laying on the collapsed shelf, moaning about his likely broken ribs. Pordis has stopped making noise. She decides to give them some cover, lunging at Sarnith, stabbing at one of the chain mail spots in his armor, hoping her sword tip will pierce.

Sarnith grunts as the blade pushes through and parts a few of the rings guarding the left side of his chest, luckily the chain mail slows the blade and it does not go very deep, but the pain coming from the wound makes it feel otherwise. With fresh blood oozing from his side the ferret takes a quick upward swing with his short blade to the ermines right as he steps further in on her and stabs single pawed downwards at her legs with his spear.

The ermine pulls her sword back quickly to block the upward swing, grinning slightly as she sees blood, fresh and crimson red, on the tip of her blade. Her brief celebration is interrupted as the spear slices into her calf, causing her to jump back reflexively, crouching down some, she draws two more throwing knifes, throwing the sharp projectiles at the ferret, one over pawed towards his chest, the other under pawed towards his legs. She knows they will likely do little more than annoy him, but they are merely distractions. Behind Sarnith, the wounded aids the wounded, as Sorp attempts to pick up Yeris to get them out of the shop.

The first dagger bounces harmlessly away after hitting the crude iron breastplate that Sarnith wears, the second however manages to land its point in the center of a ring, pushing it apart enough to gouge the hob in his left thigh before the blade falls away, another painful wound, but nothing to serious. On seeing that the ermine is attempting to cover for the wounded Sarnith quickly circles so that Zocalo's prone form is behind him, then gets both paws on his spear. Using his left paw which still holds his short blade to steady the spear the hob uses his right to thrust the spear towards the ermine in an attempt to make better use of the weapons range whilst keeping himself between Zocalo and the rest of the vermin.

She seems to have no real intention of going after the otter. He was not her mission, it seems, just a beast that got in the way. She jerks to one side quickly to avoid the spear, the tip leaving another slice in her tunic, this one on her shoulder, along with another thin red line. She makes a two quick slashes at his foot paws, pushing forwards in an attempt to get him to give up ground, maybe even trip over the otter laying behind him. After a failed first attempt, the wiry stoat gets Yeris to grab onto him, and they struggle towards the door, where Pordis still lays face down, either unconscious or dead, Which one is unclear.

Sarnith hops backwards as the slashes come, the reach his spear affords giving him plenty of time to react, that is until his heels come into contact with Zocalo. The hob teeters for a brief moment then takes a step forward thrusting his spear forward once, then twice both shots aimed low. The carpenter ferret worries about Zocalo, but is slightly torn, he had intended to kill the four beasts that were sent against him, but if they get away he knows that the next time they might come back with a force much larger than he could deal with.

The ermine winces and backs off some as the second thrust makes contact, grazing against her stomach and leaving a bleeding slash, not too serious, but something that will certainly slow her down. She glances over at the doorway, gritting her teeth as she sees that Sorp and Yeris are nearly out the door now, the stoat giving Pordis a weak kick in the ribs, though he does not react to it. She swings high and Sarnith's head, then spins and directs another swing at his left thigh in a quick follow-up stroke.

Sarnith ducks his head backwards to evade the swing aimed at his head, the swing at his legs connects however. The chain mail that covers the hobs legs saves him form a nasty wound, but not from the impact, that is going to leave a painful bruise. The weight of his armor and the fresh stinging sensation combined with the shallow stab wound from the thrown dagger to the ferrets left thigh seriously hampers the hobs movements as he lashes out with his spear again, still aiming low he tries for a leg sweep after he starts to pull the weapon back.

The ermine is caught up in the task of monitoring the injured's progress, and she only realizes the blow is coming at the last second, the tip of the spear nicking her upper shin, blood flowing down already. She grimaces and jumps forwards, delivering a speedy succession of blows, high low, from the left, high again, coming up from the right, finishing with a spin and a thrust at his face. None of the stokes are overly committed, except for the last one, and could be blocked or leave only a light wound if they land, but she puts her remaining strength into this flurry of attacks as the other two slavers stumble out the door, Pordis suddenly opening his eyes and looking around, reaching instinctively for his sword, which is even farther away since Sorp knocked it aside as he came past.

Sarnith pulls his spear back in time to bat aside a few of the strikes with the weapons haft, earning it a few fresh notches in the process, most of the other strikes will leave light bruises from where they impact with his armor. The thrust at his face however comes in when the hob was expecting another low thrust, he barely has time to release his spear with his right paw and throw it in front of the blade. The ermines sword runs through Sarnith's right paw, causing a great deal of pain but the move stops the sword from reaching his unprotected face. With his right paw currently acting as a shishkebob the hob lets his spear clatter to the floor from the weak grip that his left paw held it in and he takes a hard swing with his short blade that it also held, aiming at the ermines sword arm.

The blade slashes across the ermine's forearm as she exhales quickly. She draws her sword back, twisting it so to maybe do some more damage as she pulls it free. She stops, glaring at the ferret for a moment, blood dripping from her injured arm as crimson stains her ivory fur. Then she runs, her arm injured and her strength spent. She takes a running leap over Pordis, who is struggling to rise and get to his sword, a broken off arrow still sticking out of his chest. Though the ermine and the others are quickly gone, Pordis looks up nervously at the ferret, judging that he will be able to reach him before he gets to his sword.

Sarnith grimaces as the sword is wrenched free from his paw, that will leave a nasty mark, but atleast now his left paw will match the right, once it heals, it might take a while longer though as that last twist of the sword feels like it might of broken something. The ferret watches the others hasty retreat with some relief the takes a quick glance at Zocalo, yep looks like the daft otter is still breathing. With his paw bleeding profusely the hob painfully moves over to the wounded rat and stabs the point of his blade down into the wooden floor right in front of the rats nose in warning saying " An now wha' will I's dew wit yer's eh? "

Pordis makes an attempt to crawl backwards, but the pain from the arrow stops him. He quickly babbles out something, the only decipherable words being something along the lines of "Don't kill me." he otherwise just cowers at the sight of the wounded ferret.

Sarnith yanks his blade free from the floor saying " I's got somethin else in mind fer yer's carcass rat. " with that the ferret turns his short blade wide side on and beats the rat over the head with the flat of the blade several times, just to make sure that it goes under. The hob then throws off the skull cap helmet and goes to get a length of rope from under one of his work benches thinking that a prisoner might well be useful to bargain with at the least, especially if this is one of Nikita's brothers.

Zocalo stirs finally. He coughs slightly, shakes his head a little but stays on the ground, flat on his back. He's aware enough to see that most of the fighting seems to have ended but can't see Sarnith which causes him to panic. "Hey! Sarnith! Sarnith!" He struggles to prop himself up on his elbows and strains his neck, trying to get a better view of the shop. "Sarnith!"

The rat is knocked unconscious with an audible "Oof," as the blade hits his head.

Sarnith very tightly binds all of the rats paws together as best as he can with one paw then drags the heap into the shop and out of the way as he hears Zocalo, he calls back " I's over 'ere yer's darn idjit! " the hobs paw is still bleeding freely, not to mention the gash in his neck and side. Once that's done the hob starts over to where he had last seen the otter laying.

Though they leave a fairly obvious trail of blood in the dirt behind them, the slavers are long gone, the trail no longer visible when they enter the forest on the edge to the village.

Zocalo is sitting up, paw pressed against his right side which seems to be staunching the major flow of blood. His tunic has also aided in this endeavor by sticking to the wound. The blood on his shoulder has already stopped flowing and now just needs cleaned off. "Hey! You'd be dead if I hadn't come back!" He glares at the ferret.

Sarnith shakes his head and scowls as he comes over to the otter replying " I's would a been fine if yer's woulden' a barged in 'ere yers dunder 'ead! I's 'ad dis planed ou' and yer's threw all o dem plans amiss by bargain in like dat, but I'sll tell yer's off proper later Yer's goin to der infirm righ' now, can yer's walk? or is I's gonna 'ave ter lug yer's worthless carcass over thur? " the hobs last words are followed by him seathing his still bloody short blade.

"I can walk." Zocalo mutters insolently as he does indeed make it to his feet. He looks Sarnith up and down, taking in all of the ferret's wounds, then turns away, obviously angry that Sarnith is angry. He doesn't say anything, just pushes his way towards the door. Bugger the inferm, he's going to go lick his wounds elsewhere.

Sarnith follows closely on the otters heels, if nothing else the ferret is going to do his best to haul Zocalo to the infirm, weather the otter likes it or not. Moving with some pain and still in his cumbersome armor the hob says " Yer's goin straight der wit I's den, I's gonna need's ter's get a few tings done up meself, an seein as yer's ain' been paid yet some beast 'ill 'ave ter cover fer yer's so get ter movin. "

"You don't want to take that armor off first?" Z asks half-heartedly. "Might help." He's standing in the doorway revealing in the fresh outside air which has calmed him down some. All of a sudden he's just /tired/.

Sarnith steps up behind the otter and lays his non bleeding paw on the otters shoulder saying " Don' think I's could righ' now and yer's don' look like yer'sll be much 'elp, now les' get ter movein Zocalo, I's not bleedin so bad, but yer's is, an I's ain' got much 'ere ter's staunch et wit. " The comment about himself not bleeding so bad is an obvious lie, none the less he tries to turn the otter towards the infirm, its going to be a long short walk.

Zocalo reluctantly allows the hob to accompany him to the infirm knowing that the ferret needs looking-at just as much as he does. He modifies his pace to allow for Sarnith's clunky, armor-reduced speed and slowly they make their way through the still evening.

Sarnith clunks along casting the occasional glance around the town looking for the slavers or any that might be working for them in case they were just waiting for a chance to catch the ferret out in the open. But not seeing anything to suspicious, just the stares from other occasional passing beast, the walk to the infirm is fairly uneventful.