If someone was to ask Ethan when he began talking to himself in such a sarcastic manner during situations like the one he currently found himself in he wouldn't be able to answer. For as long as he could remember when he had been about to drop a stack of wood from tripping, or perhaps came running around a corner and seeing the head mistress down the hall, he had always said something out loud right before resulting incident. As he "grew up" sometimes the statements were replaced by audible gulps or simple "huhs" but for the most part he had some kind of reaction to the pending... pain. In this situation he had several minutes to keep the statements coming as he and the swarm of monsters rushing from the destroyed town continued to move toward one another.

"Huh... there sure is a lot of them..."

In addition to having issues understanding distance, he also seemed to be lacking in the ability of ascertaining numbers of a swarm. He wasn't sure just how far he was from the town but he was starting to have significant second thoughts about his current course of action. Without a doubt he would still be trying to save everyone he could, however, he may not have chosen to run headlong into the swarm after calling it right to him. With his limited options he finally decided to angle himself a bit more toward the direction of the mind, trying to give him at least a little more time before he came face to face with the biggest challenge of his life.

Meanwhile Sarah and the group of children moved away as quickly in possible in the opposite direction. Still rushing ahead of them was the wagon that had been carrying Ethan and some of the other children, the young woman finally having brought the horses to a walk to help them cool off. The sounds of combat and destruction had long been left behind and it had been some time since she heard any sound of conflict at all. It seemed everyone in the back of the wagon was now awake, but were remaining seated as they were still bound and blindfolded. When several of them began to call out, a few even starting to cry, she finally decided to call out to them.

"You're safe for now. We are going back to town, just sit tight."

There had been a chorus of questions and bluffs but they were all silenced by a loud and intense response from the girl.

"Be quiet! We are running from monsters, if you make too much noise they'll track us down."

Several wanted to point out that she had just been the loudest but thought better of it when the idea of being attacked by monsters sunk into their young minds. They had found the road a little bit ago and were now on well worn terrain so despite taking it easy on the horses they were still making decent time. In fact, the group of children left behind were about two hours from finding the same road. Thankfully, although they didn't know it, were heading away from the besieged mining town, and thus away from danger.

Before the end of the current day the wagon of orphans would meet up with the advancing force of adventurers that had been dispatched from Cloudcrest sent to assist the mining town. The young woman was taken into custody without any conflict other than some bad language and rude behavior. The children were carefully released from their bindings by a combination of adventurers, merchants, and supply wagoners before being taken near the back of the column to be fed and sheltered. The young woman was finally taken before three adventurers, two women and one male, though all three were clad from neck to foot in plate armor, obviously members of one of the knightly orders which trained adventurers. The one in the center, who also happened to be the shortest and youngest of the three, stepped forward, a massive shield that looked like it should be too heavy for her to carry hanging from her back, a sword of equal size attached to her waist, and a helmet with a multilayered visor tucked under her right arm.

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"Talk..."

Despite her young age and shorter stature the armored female projected an aura of authority and festering rage, the latter definitely not missed by the captured woman.

"What do you want me to say?"

The words were spoken with clear sarcasm and an obvious sneer before the girl spat at the ground before the knight.

"How dare yo...."

The other two knights reacted in unison, each beginning to pull their blades from their waists when they were stopped with the commander simply raising her arm silently.

"That's right you dogs, remember your pla.."

For someone who was captured, as well as all alone, this female surely had a mouth on her, fueled by some unknown courage. However, she never got to finish her mocking statement as the gloved fist of the commander came crashing down against her cheek from above. Before she even had time to register the punch she was sent in the opposite direction by a spinning kick against the arm opposite of her crushed cheek. With the world spinning she felt herself suddenly lifted from the ground by a firm grip on her clothing, the weight of her body pulling down against the armored knuckles digging into her neck. When she finally managed to crack open her eyes a bit she was staring at the completely blank and calm face of the commander, her raven black hair dancing in the evening wind as he vibrant green eyes seemingly looked into the prisoner's soul.

"Talk..."

She tried to reply twice, each time with no words emerging from her gasping mouth, and was about to pass out when she was released and allowed to crumble to the ground. Coughing violently for several seconds she finally managed to calm her body enough to breath somewhat normally. She spat once again, though this time it was to clear the blood from her mouth and she aimed the fluid at the ground in front of her knees.

"We were attacked by monsters a day from here. One of the... one of those that were captured turned out to be an adventurer and jumped from the wagon to prevent it from being attacked. There was at least five other wagons in the caravan, all equally sized. I'm pretty sure all of the others lost their horses in the initial attack. We were several hours from Coppershear, in the woods to the south, when we were hit."

While no one saw the commander's reaction upon hearing the description of the hidden adventure, as everyone's attention was on the prisoner as she spoke, her eyes widened and her jaw clenched with enough force she could hear her teeth grinding in her own ears. Finally she looked to her right, and then left, eyeing her two subordinates.

"Take her back to Cloudcrest immediately and deliver her to the town guards and then deliver the information she just gave us to the guild."

They were about to protest her commands but immediately stopped with one more look over her shoulder, she then took one step forward and leaned down to whisper into the prisoner's ear.

"If he dies, I'm coming for you, and when I find you..." She paused to bring herself under control with a deep breath before continuing, "what I do to you will be so violent and taboo they will strike my actions from the records of this world out of fear of what horrors the very description could spawn."

Not giving the prisoner time to respond the commander knight straightened and walked forward before calling out commands.

"Allow the horses to rest for two hours and then we continue. Be on the look out for wounded children on foot!"