Violet stalk over to behind Climber, clamp a big hand over his mouth, grab the thorn free end with the bundle of leaves and just yank the branch out of Climbers foot to muffled cries of protest followed by pain.

Big Archer wince but continue walking. I'm aiming at Violets big muscular and unprotected legs, as her head is a smaller target that moves more. In my periphery Big Archer look down and to the side as the sear snap away into the undergrowth, and I fire and hit Violets leg. YES! The stone weighted heavy dead drop frame with spikes swings down and hit Big Archer in the back and butt, who makes a high pitched scream as I start to quickly reload while keeping our enemies in my view. Two arrows have also hit Climber and Violet that cries out in pain along with Big Archer. More arrows from Bokyli and Reiley hit Climber and Big Archer as Violet roars "Ambush!" while using Climbers body as cover as she falls over, and Violet quickly scrambles into protection amongst the rocks. Reiley and Bokyli just continue to shoot arrows, and they don't seem to penetrate Violets armour, but Big Archer and Climbers bodies have a couple of arrows in the head each and more in their bodies. I have reloaded and cover when Bokyli charge forward and quickly stab Big Archer several times in throat, body and head before chopping him in the neck, with blood flying. I manage to not puke. Yeah, Bokyli is damn fast and vicious with blades.

I'm kneeing and have no good line of sight to shoot at Violet who have placed Climbers dead body on the rocks as protection and is quickly piling up more rocks to improve her cover. Shit. Well, Violet is trapped, and unless she can charge with badly wounded legs, Violet is in a bad position and a limited instant threat, but she have nothing to loose and we can flank her, so she need to act sooner or later. Four Arms is a bigger threat as we know he is armoured and tough, and I actually don't know where he is, so I just hope that Xuela flying high have some view of him. I don't think Four Arms is looking up right now. If you never had a threat from the sky before, why should you look up when you have enemies in front of you? Bokyli have separated Big Archers head from the body and comes sprinting towards me. Eyes literally glowing and with a smile on her blood splattered face, and her black striped naked body and tits are also splattered in blood. Shit, my mind need to focus on the situation. Reiley sign 'Kill' and point to Violet, and signal that she will cover us and try to spot Four Arms. Violet yells:

"Several enemies with bows in the jungle! Gjurl dead! Ylla dead! I am wounded in my legs! Beware of traps! Gjurl stepped on a thorny branch placed on the bottom, and Ylla was hit by another trap. They must have been watching us!"

Shit! Violet is a clever girl, and she have figured out a lot in a short time. There are two dead fall traps protecting our flank from their camp and also a few thorny branches that just happens to be hidden under leaves. Okay. Now what? Bokyli follows as I flank left towards the jungle edge and shore to see if we can hit Violet, but her cover is good enough, and I see moving shadow between small gaps in the rock. Shit! She can see us too. And I don't think the Number 3 smeared arrow and bolts tips work against her species. Movement in the sky draws my eyes, and I see Xuela going in a dive and throwing something toward the enemy camp before banking away. There is no flames or smoke from the molotov, so I guess she is Number 3 or sanctuary flower bombing Four Arms. Yeah, her smouldering coal pot might have gone out, and we did talk about avoiding starting a forest fire, but especially the nights rain should have made that less likely. The Number 3 dust or flowers might mess with Four Arms common sense it is probably not a terrible idea even though it might give away that we have a flyer. Now, what to do about Violet?! I could flank around through the water and try to hit her from the water. Or move over to the other side so she is down wind and throw a couple of Number 3 bags against her stone cover. I really wish I had some quick way to light a fire as I could have brought a molotov and fire bombed her, but Xuela have that, and Violet is practically in the water. Well, time to move around and use Number 3 bags, so I whisper to Bokyli, who nods and we start to make our way there.

A roar from the enemy camps direction draws our attention and we see Four Arms come charging out of the jungle and over the beach towards us. Shit! We're in the wrong location!

"Bokyli! Beach defence!"

Bokyli is already moving as I say it, obviously thinking the same thing, and I hurry after while keeping my eyes on both Violet and charging Four Arms. That is a big vicious looking club and metallic axe, and the big bastard even have a shield! Reiley heard my shout and moves out on the beach and start shooting arrows towards Four Arms, and so do Bokyli, but the arrows that isn't caught by the shield, Four Arms just deliberately bounce of his skin and head! Bad! Very bad! Reiley throw away her bow and raise Tiola's spear in a crouching position as Bokyli reach her, still shooting arrows towards Four Arms face but he keeps his head facing down as much as he can. This might end badly! Four Arms keeps charging towards them, and even an arrow bursting cloud of Number 3 powder on his chest doesn't slow him down! A couple of seconds before he reach them, Reiley pulls on the cord hidden in the sand, and in front of them pointed spears rise up from the sand, snapping against the cords preventing the spears from being raised too high by the forceful pull, and Four Arms run straight into them, impaling one of his thighs and falling forward over the spear trap from the force, and breaking it with force and impact. Reiley and Bokyli use the moment to quickly strike at softer spots at the back of his knees and groin, before jumping away and running back towards me, and I shoot a bolt into his side. Yes! It penetrated quite deep!

We regroup and I try to keep track of Violet as I reload and Four Arms stumbles back up, obviously wounded and bleeding from the wounds, but he is a tough and armoured son-of-a-bitch, just like Reiley warned us he is. Number 3 seem to at least irritate his senses but he might be drugged up on sanctuary flowers too. Yeah, that might be have been a bad move. Shit. I can still see occasional movement from Violet through the rocks, but this is a bit of a stand-off. Still, we obviously have to deal with Four Arms first.

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Four Arms roar out, and as my head snap back I see him doubling over grabbing his groin and side while dropping the axe, before dropping to his knees and falling over on the side. Oh, that is a roar of pain. I guess number three works in his wounds, but he is still defending and prepared to attack, with thick looking natural armour, and I shoot another bolt that penetrate into his hip. Eh, fuck it. He is out in the open and surrounded by sand. I raise my hand and signal 'Fire' while I say: "Xuela."

We can't use the word molotov or even fire as the DAB's translation might warn enemies, and the same with saying anything tactically out loud. The signs are really useful for covert communication, although quite a lot are fairly obvious. We back away while keeping our eyes on Four Arms and Violet, and we have Four Arms attention as I again signal 'Fire' as he pulls out both of my bolts and thrown them aside. Yeah, very though bastard, but at least he didn't try to snap my bolts, so I might reuse them. We avoid looking up so I don't know if Xuela have seen my signs or can actually light a molotov, but when we have reached about 20 meters away, Xuela comes swooping in from behind, a bottle falls from the sky and flames erupt out from Four Arms back. Fuck yeah! Death from above, bitch! Four Arms roars and roars but doesn't actually move much for several seconds before trying to roll in the sand, but the sticky fluid of high grade alcohol mixed with tree resin, tar and Number 3 sap is vicious and re-lights. Just the smoke the wind is carrying toward us is bad, and it makes us hurriedly flank around along the jungle edge, which makes it easier to keep both Four Arms and Violet in our field of view.

Four Arms tries to make it to the water and we rush after. I've warned them that Four Arms might be aquatic or semi-aquatic. The flames have mostly burned out as he makes it, but Four Arms is weak and hurt and cannot really defend against Reiley or Bokyli stabbing between the small less protected gaps in his natural armour, but they go for overkill and just continue stabbing. And stabbing. Four Arms have stopped moving and there is an increasing pool of red coloured water. Bokyli peel up the neck skin and eventually chop through Four Arms thick neck while we keep watch. Bokyli sure is a vicious vegetarian not minding getting bloody. She might feel bad about what she done after, but in the moment she is a killer.

"Violet is swimming under the surface towards the other side!"

Xuela's shout from above catch our attention and she is repeatedly pointing down halfway to the other side.

"Shit! We don't know how quickly she can heal!"

Swimming is no option, and we didn't really plan for this. Fuck! And Violet know most of our tricks, including Xuela. Shit! Reiley takes command and point:

"Bokyli, take my arrows and run around and meet Violet on the other side with arrows!"

"Will do!" Bokyli grabs the offered arrows and sprints off.

"Arne, we cannot fight her in the water. Violet is bigger and stronger!"

"She can hold her breath and swim a long distance while wounded. Her skin colour is violet. Her species might be adapted to moving in water and going deep. She might even be semi-aquatic like we feared Four Arms might be."

"Shit!"

"We must prevent her from going out to sea, or she might make her way back to the raiders camp by just swimming up Raider river."

Xuela have landed on the top of the break water cliff and keep pointing as I run towards the break water and rocks, and Reiley shout that she will just grab her bow and spare arrows before joining me. How the hell are we going to stop Violet from swimming through if she really is good in water? How well does arrows and bolts work through water? Why didn't Violet take the chance and headed out to sea instead of going to the other side? Bokyli have reached the other side of the cove and is sprinting along the beach and rocks there. Yeah, that way might be more cover and distance from arrows, and Violet might worry we have strung a net over the narrow inlet or something like that. We did ambush them with many traps in that location and we have a flyer too. I sure would try to leave the enemies chosen ambush point and place some distance between me and ambushers, and getting out of range of bows doesn't take long. Bokyli shoots an arrow as Violet breach the surface, but miss as Violet instantly dives again.

"Okay, that is good! Violet wouldn't have surfaced unless she needed too! Or had to take a quick look around to see where we are." I cup my hands and shout. "Bokyli! Try to keep her in the water! Save your arrows unless you're fairly sure of a hit!"

Bokyli sign understood as well as she shout it, as she keep moving along on the other side, but the damn Salt Boon spire blocks part of my view. Shit! I bet those damn alien bastards are loving this! Xuela keep pointing as Bokyli effortless keep pace with Violet that continue to do quick surfacing for air and a look around and I start to count seconds out loud to take time. Reiley get what I do. After the third time I'm fairly sure that Violet only can stay under for about 60-80 seconds, but she is swimming so she have a very impressive lung capacity, and she can swim far under water. But the battle has turned into a waiting game. At least Reiley have used the time to make sure that Climbers head is cut off while I keep watch. Shit! Climbers bandolier and quiver is gone! His bow!

"Xuela! Have Violet taken the bow Climber dropped in the water?!"

Reiley looks at me, and Climbers body and makes the same connection as Xuela shouts back.

"Sky reflections in the water makes it hard to see!"

"Bokyli! Assume Violet have Climbers bow and arrows! Move if she surface. Keep your distance and change position! Fetch Four Arms shield if you want it!"

Bokyli signals and shouts: "Understood!"

Yeah, Violet is clever and planning. I hate that in an enemy.

"Arne, a wet string and wet arrows will fly badly, but that was a powerful looking bow, so it should have plenty of range and power until the string will hardly work."

"I think it might be worse than that. I'm trying to think back to when Climber started out through the water. What did the bandolier and quiver look like? Leather or camouflage? Did his bow have a weird colour pattern, and a few arrows attached on the side? A bit like you hang your spear?"

"Now that you mention it; yes it did."

"Until proven otherwise, assume that bow is a red Star Fall with high performance material bow and arrows that might not care about being wet for weeks."

"Shit!"

Reiley have really adopted that phrase, and we did talk about that huge advantage with my Star Fall crossbow compared to their bows when it comes to weather and moisture. So what do we do now?