“Well I mean if anyone is going to it might as well be you.” Vivian said blandly with a playful and familiar teasing light in her lovely emerald eyes. “You're the only one of the men who won't run off screaming when something squirmy pops out of her and lands on you.”
“You're not helping.” Micheal said to her as they lay in each other's arms after their nightly and occasional afternoon and sometimes before lunch ritual.
It wasn't really a bother or even close yet, but it was like he was slowly being wrung out. Vivian had an obvious appetite for it. The day she had taken him upstairs suddenly in the middle of their morning practice had been a surprise, but she had been weirdly irritable all morning until she had him put her over the end of the bed. After that she had been fine, and in similar instances that had happened before when the irritation was less pronounced. It didn't seem focused on him, and maybe could have been something going on with her, but after sex she was usually better, but today, or tonight rather, she was almost completely insatiable. She had been especially loud too making him glad for the magic sound proofing between the rooms. Even with that he was still a little worried someone would come knocking or pound on the ceiling below them with a broom like in old sitcoms.
Vivian gave a soft little chuckle and kissed him gently. And then again. She ran her hands through his dark hair and her green eyes shown in the moonlight pouring in from the window. Normally she stunned him, but right now she was something altogether more lovely. There was an energy about her. A way the moon showed off her skin in the still cloudy sky shining between the clouds as if to only shine upon her skin. And an edge somewhere hidden in all that. Though he felt again that it wasn't directed at him or caused by something he had control of.
He had confided in her what he had experienced today. Even mentioning the fact that Julia and Pel were in some sort of semi sexual relationship. It worried Vivian only in that unlike with Forgen dedicating himself to Lyanodred who seemed to have a much more open or at least more of a 'don't ask don't tell' policy that Olivarch took that kind of infidelity more seriously to her mind. She stood with Lyanodred as a Goddess of civilization, yes, but also held up tenants of being pillars of society and family; a certain social structure to be maintained. Being gay or switch hitting in Forgen's case didn't line up with the Goddess's views on expanding civilization. The talk from then had switched to what to do and how to talk to Leah about sexual relationships and if she could honestly even have them.
Vivian was certainly making that hard to think about just then even though she didn't appear to be trying very hard. She smiled at him as his gaze wandered her body and her fingers played along his cheek where she had shaved him several minutes before. She liked doing it for him now and he hardly got practice in using the straight razor himself any more. It was kind of a nice intimate thing to do too.
It was one of the things they looked forward to each night actually. They had fallen into a routine and things were very good. It was just how she sometimes seemed desperate for it at random times that bothered him a little. That somehow suddenly felt like it had faded, but Micheal couldn't put words as to why it did. She drew near and kissed him then for about all he was worth and his thoughts slipped from his mind.
When they parted he had to take a few moments to remember his own name. The kiss had been soft and gentle and full of heat. Actually...yeah there was heat, but it was strange he wasn't sweating much or feeling uncomfortable. Her eyes shone softly locked onto his and she pulled in again to kiss him lightly this time. They touched noses and put their heads softly against one another as she pulled her lips away.
“Sorry.” Vivian whispered. “I feel like I'm burning up inside and can't stop.”
“You're okay though right?” He asked. He felt at her forehead with his own trying to pick out if she had some kind of fever or something. “You don't feel all that hot or anything.”
She shook her head.
“I don't know. It's just this mission. I have a bad feeling and it's been making me agitated. Even with the Goddess's blessing its been driving my body mad.” She let that hang and they both cuddled each other a little more.
“I think I would have lost my mind or driven you away if I hadn't gotten that blessing.” She said softly. “I'm sorry if I'm being demanding.”
There was certainly part of him that agreed with some of that apology, but he shook that part off and would let it sit alone in his head somewhere. After a few years by itself that little voice could come back to try that approach again.
He loved Vivian in more than just one way. He loved how she went from cool and collected out in the sitting room to having her eyes blazing with lust when she got him back into the room. She teased him, and made him laugh all the time. She was caring and knew when he was thinking about his time in that camp and reminded him about how much of a better place he was now. He kept having dreams about her too.
Dreams about her somehow watching over him as they both slept. She slept soundly with him as far as he could tell. She never complained about him tossing or turning or even snoring. And she almost always woke up with him fully rested and alert, and usually ready for a morning round too, but that wasn't it. It made her feel like his partner or maybe just his keeper somehow.
Part of him right then knew how important it was that she be there as a balm for his mind and his thoughts. The long standing edge of loneliness he had felt for a good deal of his adult life was gone; her emotional and physical affection for him was a powerful relief among the myriad pains he had received in the way he had come to this place.
Vivian touched his hands as they rested on her hip and her shoulder as she rested her head on his arm. Only then did he notice he was shaking. Trembling actually. His breath picked up and his heart began to beat hard even though he wasn't really thinking or doing anything.
Vivian suddenly hugged him and pulled him tight. He suddenly remembered waking like this what felt like countless times. She cradled his head and latched her legs back around his knees to hold him close as he fought down the incredible anxiety that was suddenly in his chest and trying to tear its way out and into his mind. He was still lucid however, and part of him was completely separate from the pain in his body and mind keeping an odd and cold objectivity, but he knew it was there and all he could do was try not to hyperventilate.
Vivian held him and kissed his neck and cheek and stroked his hair for what seemed like hours until he was finally able to calm down some, but his hands still shook and his heart beat hard. He clung to her, scared to the bone of what had just happened. It was like he had momentarily been a passenger in control of only his own head, like the crew on the Enterprise running damage control as best they could from the safety of the bridge. His emotions seemed calm now, but what had that been? He couldn't stop the trembling. The anxiety washed over him again then like it was seeping back into his mind as if coming through cracks in the floor filled with feelings of terror and emotional anguish.
“I'm here.” Vivian whispered. “You're here with me. Not in that awful camp. You're not a slave to them any more. You're here and you're mine and I'm not going to let anything or anyone take you.” She whispered into his ear, her arms still wrapped around him.
“I love you Micheal.”
It sounded like he had heard that a dozen times every night. The words felt so familiar. All he could do for a very long moment was cling to her.
He listened to her and tension loosed all over his body that he was hardly aware of. Finally he began to actually relax. He laid there holding Vivian trying not to shake or tremble with the after effects of what had just happened, unable to speak or comment on what happened out of sheer shock more than anything else. She held him close until they both relaxed a little and the next thing he knew he was falling asleep in her arms. Somehow it was the best sleep he had managed in several days.
It was like he hadn't really been sleeping before. He had to pull himself from somewhere deep to fully come awake. It was hard coming up from that warmth; that lovely feeling of having Vivian there with him. He wanted nothing more than to lay in her arms and feel her skin against his, and to hear her soft breath, and the distant resting beats of her heart. She pulled him in as she too came awake and their noses touched. She rubbed hers gently against his and lay with her face near to flat against his for a long while. Their hands touched and each of them ran their fingers over the other's arm and then leaned into a deeper and closer embrace before they both came to wakefulness with the weak rising of the sun through the pale of weakened storms.
“Let's go.” Was all she said.
There wasn't really any need to say anything else. They helped each other dress, brushed their hair and teeth, and got their armor and equipment on with their packs set out and ready for what felt like more than the two days it had been. Micheal even thought he was getting the hang of braiding Vivian's hair. She had told him some nights before that if he was going to be shaved by her it was only fair that he learn to do up her braid at least. He didn't mind at all once he had the trick of it down.
She wore an enchanted silver circlet today that ran in branching patterns over her hair. It cast a medium level of protection on her making her resist to a certain number of blows based on the charges in the item that accrued over time. Other than that he had not seen her in full armor besides the day he had been rescued.
She wore leather bracers, gauntlets, pauldrons and even had on a leather tasset of sorts that lay over top her thighs from the armored belt about her hips. Each had small silver decorations and some sort of enchantment she had roughly gone over that gave her additional levels of protection from magic and slowing spells. There was even a small pair of silver boot covers that laced over top her boots to a perfect fit that let her run over water. It was light by necessity which is why it might have gone unnoticed by him in her pack for so long, but she looked more and more the mystical sort of Wood Elf of artful fantasy with each moment.
She wore her long green tunic under her woven leather cuirass like she had so many days before. With her pair of short swords belted on last she was short only a few colorful flowers from being some sort of warrior princess of some kind, but each piece was light and effective for her style of combat.
He felt a little heavy and out of place in his riveted chainmail hauberk, heavy sword staff, hardy broad bladed short sword, and thick leather boots and gauntlets. Like a mailed pit bull near a decorated leather armored swan. She checked his pack and the straps on the back of his armor and then handed him his helmet giving him a fond little smile and a tilt of her head as she did.
“What?” He asked, unable to do anything but give her a smile in turn.
“Nothing.” She said, reaching up and touching his face. “You just seem more...solid than you did yesterday.”
Her soft tone carried gallons more in weight than Micheal could have readily described. How to tell her that she was such an important part of the rock he had been able to build himself upon?
He leaned into her touch knowing exactly what she meant somewhere in his heart however. They held each other's eyes for a long moment before they both took up their polearms and headed out of their room.
Leah was flexing her hands into her gauntlets with her hammer leaning against her grip, and her helmet under her other arm. Julia was wearing a light mail shirt that was strapped tight to her with a leather harness. She had a bandolier with pouches strapped over her chest and a thick looking leather backpack held tight to her back over the linen cloaks they all wore. She grinned at him before she donned a steel plated leather helmet with a ventilated steel mask that made her look like a tiger with its armored ear cups. Then she slipped on her fighting gauntlets.
Pelanna looked like she was about to step in on a ceremonial service in all but where the mail peaked out from under her robes and stole down near her ankles. Her Chime Staff jingled gently, sounding something like a wind chime as she moved with it.
Lindsey wore a thick red and black robe that hung down to her knees where baggy trousers tucked into wide topped knee high turn down boots below the hem and best of all a wide red trimmed black wizard's hat complete with pointy tip and artfully crumpled bend in the middle of the cone. Her wand was strapped to her hip like a sword and she even had a few extra smaller wands with it. Her hair was tucked back tight and her bangs braided with red ribbons and held tight to her head with silver pins near her brow. She had on a small bandoleer over her chest too that held a number of little blue vials across the front.
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Mike looked to be wearing the same sort of half plate like he had during the raid against the foraging team of orcs. He had his sword at his belt along on one side and a small mace and long dagger on the other hip. His helmet was much like Leah's in design being some sort of barbute with visor though it looked considerably lighter. His shield was in his left hand held absently as it was strapped in place on his arm. The pointed oval kite was reinforced with steel banding and trim all the way down to the hand long spike at its tip. Naturally it was painted dark green with a lightning-like crack across the face done in black declaring him as a member of the Unbroken Guard. He had his visor up and was talking with Lindsey.
Forgen wore similar armor to Mikes' but he wore it like it was a light linen shirt instead of heavy riveted mail. His shield was slung over his back by its straps and lacked the vicious pavise spike Mike's had, and was a wide metal pentagon kite on top of that. Its face was emblazoned with the symbol of Lyanodred; A hammer and anvil set atop a silver coat of scales. Around and behind that holy symbol was the sign of the Unbroken Guard in enchanted silver mythril; A design that was duplicated in miniature on Forgen's right pauldron.
Eva had a long white staff in hand that seemed to have caught Vivian's eye. It curled around at the top like a shepherd's crook around a large sphere of red glass or cleverly worked crystal that hung in the crook, never wavering, regardless of its complete lack of support. That staff fit right in with the fantasy appeal Vivian was putting off already.
The Shrouded Kin woman wore leather gloves that ran up past her elbows to a small golden cusp on each arm that was very similar to her boots that ran up to a hand width of exposed thigh before meeting with her deep red tunic over a tight mail shirt and extremely well fitted gambeson. She, like Vivian wore a circlet, but of gold and it seemed to suggest thorns and spikes as it caught up and held her neatly braided hair. She jangled lightly as she moved, but every move in the outfit seemed to suggest a little something more than usual. She caught Vivian's gaze on the staff and nodded to her, taking it in both hands, both showing a small determined expression to the other before getting on with other tasks.
Dexter looked like he usually did, but had a proper mail shirt too now and his odd belted on over one shoulder cloak instead of the oil treated linen ones. In addition, he had on a heavy war quiver with maybe over sixty dark fletched arrows inside at his hip opposite his axe. His longbow wasn't with him, but instead he looked to have upgraded a very sturdy looking longbow sized steppe composite war bow like what the Mongols would have used if they were weightlifters trying to out shoot British longbows.
The strange dark steel of the axe head gleamed eagerly along its sharpened edge where it hung secured in the leather frog of Dexter's belt. Luna beside him was a bit of sight with her gold inlaid harp in hand as she wore a dull gold trimmed dark green gambeson doublet of some kind that opened to subdued cuffs of lace at her hands and at her throat. She wore heavy leather boots up to her thighs and trousers too from the look of it bunched up at the top of the boots. Her dark hair was up in an ornate bun and she had purposely dulled golden pins and ornaments placed just so throughout it. At her hip was her wands and flute sheath as well as a number of mythril pommeled daggers. She wore her pack and cloak easily as she held her harp close in one hand. She also wore a bag at her hip that he had seen once or twice and was sure it held potions and was enchanted for them not to break. It was the same bag she had once used to gather herbs and then thrown at goblins that attacked their little group so long ago.
The three Bunnary men, James, Fredrick, and Ted all wore pleated leather chain armor and open faced helms likewise of steel and leather construction. Each had a sword belted on with a heavy quiver and cased bow at their hips under their cloaks. In hand they each held a black tipped spear and buckler. Even their mail was darkened and subdued. They would blend in with whatever shadows they crept into.
The armor was more protective than cloth surely, but many who wore mail today wore the lighter varieties than the thick riveted mail Micheal wore. The variety might have fascinated a historical armorer or researcher. As Micheal had seen in Thadelus's shop there wasn't an armorer around who didn't have some back stock built up or patches and scraps kept ready to repair an adventurer's mail. That seemed to apply to the varieties of makes as well.
Mike, Forgen, Micheal himself, and Leah wore the serious kind meant to catch arrows, spearheads, bolts, and blades with equal ease. While the others wore what they could to offer whatever extra resistance could be had for the weight they were willing to give over to it.
Micheal went to Jack who waited near his little pallet and watched everyone with his tail wagging. He almost seemed to frown as Micheal picked up his mail barding, but bore it with patience as Micheal put it over him. Forgen came to assist with straps and belted them on while patting Jack and praising him for his good patience which he seemed to appreciate. At least until the packs were attached to his harness on his back. Jack looked unhappily at Micheal when they were put on, but it was a light load and Micheal just shook his head and scratched him under his chin where the mail didn't cover.
That didn't satisfy Jack for long though and Micheal got him a platter of fish from the food at the table. Everyone ate a little or not at all. They would snack at breaks throughout the day, but with expected fighting they had near to stuffed themselves last night and would eat little today.
Forgen moved them out into the hall once everyone had a little something to eat even if it was just a bite or two of toast, fork full of egg or a strip of bacon. Out in the main lobby they met with the waiting Brazen Boys who all wore medium armor and gear very similar to what their Bunnary trio of scouts wore. All except the man Trevor, who had been grabbed by the Swamp Troll, and their leader Darren. They wore half plate like that of Mike and Forgen.
Micheal had been surprised to learn that Darren and one of their number, a somewhat cowardly boy named Lucas actually belonged to Luna's family as branch members of the main Wildroot clan. They appeared not to be a rarity. Luna had explained that she had over seventy directly related cousins. Keeping track of second cousins and beyond was just more of a task than she cared to manage. SEVENTY!
Darren bowed to her all the same. It was clear enough by his focused gaze, though she was near the back of the group. Each of the scouts was wearing dark and shade blending greens and browns. All had their short bows and a pair of light quivers of twenty or so arrows in cases and balanced on one hip across from a sword or axe. More than half of them had shields too to go with their spears.
It only occurred to Micheal just then as Vivian came beside him as Darren and Forgen clasped forearms in a soldier's greeting that Vivian had given over command of the flank Darren was running to be beside him.
He thought of how she had held him, and almost seemed to have expected him to have some sort of anxiety attack or the like the night before. She breathed in a measured and practiced manner and watched the men exchange greetings and ask a few questions of each other before they lead the groups out.
The members of the Brazen Boys assigned to teams quickly made their way to them and were greeted and welcomed in. Mike got a fist bump from one of the half dozen humans in their rank and one from another who was a cat eared Fae Born like Julia. The two seemed eager beside their nervously sweating and gulping friend Lucas. The cat eared Fae Born David dared not look at Micheal which was funny enough on its own, but then tension was too high for Micheal to feel like further teasing the lad.
The way out of the south of the city was miserable even without the harsh storms of the days before. The roads weren't all that bad as they might have been since the attacking teams harassing the orc army were all on horseback, but not just to tramp through the mud on their mounts. There was a special somewhat expensive enchantment made in haste in large quantities by the local Mages Guild that gave all the horses 'Mire Walking' horse shoes.
For a portion of the cost the Adventure's Guild had paid the Mages Guild to make them en masse. The upside for the Mages Guild being not being burned down by orcs or flooded and getting to sell the enchanted horse shoes after the successful attack and then eventual hold out against the inevitable siege. Micheal was sure almost everyone in the group would have readily nailed a pair to their boots or even their feet before tramping out in this again by the time they first spotted a group of skirmishers firing spells in the pouring rain as their own group slogged through the thick mud.
Orcs were scattered about everywhere and every once in a while one of the scouts or Dexter would lose an arrow into the gray light of the storm outside the road. Most were goblins, but there were enough loose orcs about to be a concern. They fell into the march pin-cushioned by multiple arrows, or to a single deadly shot to the head from Dexter's new bow.
About four hours in they had their snack and watered. Not long after that they met with a scout from one of the other groups that told them what to expect ahead and where the location of the temple they were to raid was. And another after that who had been sent as a backup with the same information. The heavy rain and wind was not as bad as it could have been, but he and Vivian stayed close and held their cloaks shut in it most of the time as they walked through the mud.
So they found themselves in the relative shelter of a thicket as the army moved in reaction to probing and tempting strikes at its flanks and sides. They would have had a good view as the thicket was on a small hill and far out of the way of the camp but for the continued rain and storm that blurred all sight beyond forty yards or so. It was clear from just a little watching that the orcs would lose what remained of their tents and supplies if they did put together a coordinated effort.
Adventurers with magic did their best to set fires in the drizzling rain, which was to say only a little less quickly than they would otherwise. Speaking of otherwise, they blew holes in orcs at a distance before the orc army managed to react and chase them off with a show of force or rain of arrows while remaining in their raised camp. The attack with its magical focus was drawing out the shamans from deeper inside to fend them off too. That would mean less shamans for the group to face when they got inside.
The orcs learned not to send out their goblin archers the second time Micheal saw a group run down in the rain by mounted cavalry and sweeping combined area of effect spells. Being stomped into the muck was not a good way to go and neither was being swallowed by the earth, or struck dead by sudden storms of lightning, or being frozen into the swamp. He didn't manage much more than passing pity for the wretched little creatures however. It was sometime in the late afternoon when a scout finally came to their position to alert them as to the plan.
It was to be a mass attack and already in motion. A sort of full commitment to dragging the army's attention directly away from the entrance to the temple that either happened to be right under their feet or that they were guarding. That was their only opening and the group would have to get inside either undetected or hold the doors somehow while the others fought on inside. It made Forgen curse, but already across the field spells were firing off like fireworks tearing into the camp with organized efficiency.
The scout broke away back into the field and the group watched waiting for Forgens command to go ahead as the first orcs and goblins quailed and then rallied against the onslaught on the far side of the camp. There were shamans among them and great tall warriors in armor, and even a few hulking things that snorted and oinked and screamed like pigs as they were attacked loud enough to only be drowned out by the crash of lightning. Those last were the first to charge after their attackers. There were just so many. There had to be at least three thousand orcs up in that camp on this hill sat upon the old temple, more probably. And not easily forgotten by Micheal, the untold numbers of their horrible little inbred goblin spawn. And this was only one of the known camps.
Forgen sent James and Fredrick ahead to scout after what seemed like an eternity. Every once in a while the ring of steel or the great flash of a lightning bolt called from the sky would carry over to them on the wind from the far side. Then a combined orcish howl or horrible pig-like screams in great numbers. The sounds came faster and faster and then suddenly just as Forgen spotted it himself one of the scouts made their way back in to confirm what he had seen further ahead. It was Fredrick and Micheal thought he saw Forgen frown.
“The army is moving away from the entrance. The attack on the other side has set fire to a number of their supply dumps it seems and they are killing a lot of orcs, but it won't last long with the amount of magic they are using even if they're chugging potions. We have to get in and out in an hour or less.”
Forgen growled something, but Vivian touched his shoulder and Eva tapped his leg with her white staff. Forgen looked to the two of them and nodded.
The teams broke into threes and headed into the marsh once again. The scouts were out and every once in a while Micheal would spot one or another of them moving in on approaching goblin patrols and then disappear before them out with brutal efficiency. Dexter moved like he belonged out in the marsh like one of the many deadly creatures in it even with his heavy quiver at his hip. A goblin died under his axe while the other closer to him was held under the shallow water at their feet by the nomad man's heavy booted foot. Dexter then fired an arrow calmly after the last of the escaping patrol before it could the alarm. Fired from the new bow the arrow passed through the goblins' child sized skull without slowing down.
Micheal and Mike it seemed had the misfortune to find all of the deeper ruts and holes in the swamp while Vivian, Lindsey and Eva followed behind. Micheal thought of all the horrible things he had seen out the swamp taking him under at every step, but the orcs and the attacking small army of adventurers had driven most of them off or the orcish host had eaten many of them. Their kind would eat almost anything raw, with their cooking skills usually limited to stuffing a stolen cauldron full of whatever they could get their hands on.
It wasn't long before they arrived with their scouts and others very near the back of the camp with the battle raging loudly over the top of the small hill. There was a large marble arch laid into the stone that was overgrown with moss at the top and looked to have been recently excavated and largely washed out at the bottom. They all headed inside after the scouts and out of the rain.
Immediately something washed over Micheal as they went inside, an aura of some kind, twisted and warped in sensation like it was writhing in agony. He remembered maybe a dozen instances of being healed forcibly by the magic he felt in the air now. Vivian touched his arm and steadied him as they went down a shaft of wide stairs four people wide with a running line of water going down the center of them. It led to a pool and a round room with no doors leading further in. The scouts were there and the cowardly one, Lucas, was nervously stripping his armor and boots.
“This is our way in. It's a bit of a swim.” The cat-eared boy David said next to Luna's distant cousin. “Lucas is the best swimmer and we'll have him find the way.”
The human scout beside them clapped him on the back.
“You can do it Luke.”
Lucas nervously slipped into the water and felt his way down. He dove and found the bottom and came up giving a nervous report about it and then diving again. He came back what felt like hours later.
“It's there. There's orcs on the other side and lots and lots of goblins. They're all sleeping for now–heard one of the orcs say something about resting from the night shift, but they're right there. It's not a very long swim and only about ten feet deep.” Lucas explained in his quick voice.
“Armor and weapons on the orcs?” Darren asked.
Lucas nodded.
“Just like outside. I think they've been inside for a while. I listened to the ones awake talk about one of their leaders being angry with how long it was taking to convert the spirit of the temple too.”
“Other paths?” Darren asked.
“None really, maybe some old entrance that got buried a long time ago until the other side. There's a few hallways, but they look like they've been buried in silt. There's something howling deep inside like nothing I've ever heard.”
“Numbers?”
“Fifty to seventy orcs hard to tell with the length of that hall, but there's gotta be at least a hundred orcs inside with the ones I couldn't see if the temple goes on like that or repeats its pattern in other directions from this one. This isn't the only entrance and they must have cleared the others.” Lucas explained nervously.
Everyone shifted in place hearing that. This group had readily handled eighteen orcs and half as many goblins with traps and time to prepare an ambush. Could they really face seventy at once? Or a hundred?
“Choke points inside? Doors we can hold?” The older Bunnary asked.
“Plenty. Too many maybe. Everything is pretty overgrown. There's totems and stuff about too that I don't know anything about. Something to do with their misshapen god if I had to guess.”
Forgen put his fists together and Mike was pulling out a rope from James' bag. He handed it Forgen and Darren nodded to him.
“Can you run a rope to the other side? Is there something to tie it to so we can come over in armor?”
Lucas gulped looking at the rope and then at the small stone pollards that were around the pool he was still inside.
“Yeah, like these.” He said pointing to them.
“No time to waste. My guys will go first.” Darren said. “Forgen you and your heavy guys follow and leave one or two behind to alert us to something coming in from behind.”
Forgen nodded and James broke away to go back up the stairs with Ted.
“Lucas tie it off and give it a pull when you're ready. Then it's stealth until we have everyone on the other side. After that we make sure we can't be flanked by other paths before drawing them to us. We've got some hard hitters on our side so we'll make use of them.” Darren ordered.
Something, like a close lightning strike, shook the ground overhead and sent everyone into motion.