[Flashback] The Cold Touch of Winter (Nustril, Cypress)

[Cypress]

With her eyes on the road before them, Cy kept watch for any of the foes that may have thought to circle around. It didn't seem likely, but better to be safe in what you know that be surprised by what you do not.

She watched Nustril out of the corner of her eye and when his tail began to flick more erratically she turned Dolanne, side stepping as they walked so she might look back to the source of that flicker.

For the first time she saw the Yukman, it seemed to have a tentative focus on Nustril. The blowing snow offered him some amount of camouflage, but not nearly enough. Her initial instinct was to get a closer look at the man, but she'd learned to trust her partner and he said go. Perhaps it was a break in the snow or the image of the tiger may just have snapped into focus, but the Yukman jolted as if jumping into action and began to rush toward what he thought he saw. She turned Dolanne and continued to move away from the Yukman, keeping the wagon moving as well. She slipped the bow from her shoulder and notched an arrow, just in case.

[Nustril]

The tiger was not looking forward to this fight. In all probability he was going to die here. His mistress was an archer, and archers don't fight well in storms. She would have to get frightfully close to the Yukman in order to kill it. Fortunately for them both the creatures were not an organized unit. Though they turned to follow their companion, the one who had spotted the tiger was far ahead of the rest before they considered it worth doing so.

Luck was on their side! The Yukman found himself in the same predicament as the cat had been earlier. Upon reaching the lip of the valley he slipped and plummeted to the bottom. He appeared to be lightly armored and composed entirely of dirt and rocks. Fortunately his sword had flown free of his hand in the fall. As the warrior turned to retrieve it he left his back exposed to the tiger.

Nustril would normally have pounced on his enemy's back and raked it with his claws, but the armor he wore bore him down heavily. Instead he stepped forward swiftly and hooked a claw in the creature's ankle. Yanking fiercely he destroyed what passed for a tendon made of dirt. Once the Yukman was on his stomach Nustril stepped forward and placed his paws on its back, weighing it down with all the weight of his combined body and armor. Reaching down he gripped the neck in his mouth and snapped it to the side.

That had been too easy. It always worked out in your favor when the enemy literally laid down and died. Leaving the corpse where it lay Nustril trotted back to the wagon. He would at least make them come to him. You never know, Cypress might even get in a lucky shot.

[Cypress]

Crunchcrunchcrunch She heard the noise from on the ridge once more and turned her attention upward. They were close enough to the valley wall to be out of sight of anyone looking over the ledge, but when Nustril bounded forward to deal with the downed Yukman, his companion on the ridge was witness to the whole thing.

They were very near the exit mouth of the valley and if she was right, the Yukman was unaware of her presence. She readied her arrow and motioned to the ridge as Nustril returned. With vigorous movement, the Yukman began to run around to the exit of the valley. He was easy enough to track by the simple sounds of his footfalls and she took aim at the mouth of the valley, waiting for him to show his face.

He leapt into the opening of the valley and began to rush toward them, if he was surprised at her presence it did not show on his rocky face. The deep snow slowed his approach somewhat, but he still seemed to be racing toward them. She pushed out her breath and waited until she thought he was close enough. Her arrow flew and bit into his shoulder, sticking there like a tree limb. He stumbled back dropping his sword, but not falling. With his opposite hand he reached up and broke the arrow off at the base, tossing the shaft onto the ground. His focus locked on Cy as she fumbled with freezing hands to notch another arrow. The man let out a long howling growl and rushed toward her.

[Nustril]

Hopefully Cypress could take care of herself because Nustril had bigger fish to fry. Three bigger fish to be exact. The other five had chosen to circle around and find an easier way down, but three had climbed down the same way that their companion had tumbled to his death. They opened their mouth and exclaimed with the high-pitched shrills of their kind. These three were ready for him.

Waiting for them to bunch up at the bottom Nustril threw himself at them sideways. He was worried that he would hurt his back, but he hoped that the armor would support his spine along its length. The shining scales clattered loudly as the Yukmen slashed at him and tried to find skin with their blades. His body slapped into their chests and all eight hundred pounds, plus armor, flattened them against the snowdrift. While it looked impressive it did little more than daze them.

All four of them flailed violently on the ground, tangled and caught up in each other like strings left lying together in a box. While it was hard to get hold of them in this position it did eliminate some of their advantage of numbers. The first one stabbed the second one while trying to slip his longsword along Nustril's scale armor. The third was the smarter, drawing a knife from his boot and stabbing the tiger in the shoulder between the straps in his armor.

Releasing a roar Nustril kicked with his back legs, shredding the first, and propelling himself away from the tangle. The second was bleeding out from the wound his companion had dealt him as the third regained his feet and his weapon. Five more were sure to be joining them in the valley within minutes, if not sooner. What a mess. Rather than show his fear Nustril bared his fangs and roared!

[Cypress]

She could only spare a quick glance to see Nustril's predicament, but in that moment she got the second arrow notched and let it fly at her attacker. It slipped between two rocks on its shoulder and stuck there. As with the last, he reached up and broke off the shaft discarding it with an angry toss.

"Stop breaking my arrows!" She shouted. He charged her, taking a swipe with his rocky fist. She felt it connect with her ribs, swearing she heard the sound of cracking bone. A moaning scream echoed in her ears as it left her lips and before he could take another swing she constricted her knees and pulled out another arrow. Dolanne lifted her front hooves from the ground, rearing up in the face of the Yukman. With hooves flailing the mare staved off the attacker by knocking him to the snowy ground with the force of her hooves. Cy relaxed her legs and the mare dropped back to the ground stomping mightily on the chest on the Yukman.

Finally, she'd gotten the third arrow notched and with the man on the ground he was an easy target. She drew her bowstring to her ear and shot him straight through, sinking the arrow through his heart and into the snow beneath.

Her body was running on adrenaline and she spun Dolanne around to check on Nustril.

[Nustril]

If Nustril's roar meant anything in human speech, it would most closely resembled Ohmygoshwearebothgoingtodieohmygoshwearebothgoingtodie! Knowing that he could not allow the Yukmen to descend upon him in force he took a desperate rush at the lone remaining warrior just as his five compatriots began to enter the valley.

Even a mutated parody of man will be good at using a sword occasionally, especially if you make enough of them. As Nustril lunged forward his prey lashed out with the tip of his sword and marked a diagonal slash over the face of the tiger. Blood arced toward the snow and marked it in a semi-circle as it slipped from the blade like rain.

Catching his claws in the thing's shoulder he yanked it to the ground and clawed at its chest, ripped and gouging and tearing. As it died it continued to slash at him, but it could not bring the sword to bear in such tight quarters. Metal bounced off metal as the weakly swung and poorly angled blade was deflected by shimmering scales.

It was then that Nustril saw a glimmer of hope. The five remaining were not armed with swords. It appears that there had not been enough to go around, and the creatures were wielding sticks and clubs. There was a chance, albeit a small one, that Cypress and her companion would survive this. Rushing forward he put himself between them and the weapons which littered the ground. Blood seeped from his face wound through his fur, and dripped quickly into the snow below.

Pawing at them whenever one came close, he hoped to hold them at bay until Cypress could come to his aid.

[Cypress]

The spray of blood fanning out from her beloved was the sight that greeted her when she turned, and as if there was not enough driving her before, her protective instinct kicked in, making her relentless. She growled, her heart threatening to pound right out of her chest.

Loading her arrows one after the other without hesitation, she let them fly at the Yukman. Though she had purpose and her passion was unleashed, it did not increase the accuracy of her bowwork . Quantity won out over quality in this case, with as many arrows finding their target as finding the ground, but her position allowed her the opportunity to reload at will.

Soon, the Yukmen began to look like walking pincushions, and while her arrows were not enough to bring them down, her hope was that as a team, she and Nustril would defeat them. So with that thought she continued her borage of arrows, whether they hit or missed.

[Nustril]

Nustril crouched low to avoid getting caught in the barrage of arrows. As the Yukmen charge forward, pelted with arrows, he dug his hind legs into the ground and rose up on them to meet the enemy. Standing on his back legs for a moment he reared up to slash out with his claws. He did little more than keep them at bay for a moment, but that bought Cypress some time to shoot.

One of them circled around to the left and another circled to the right. The one on the right rushed toward Cypress with his club raised high, and the one on the left abandoned his club in favor of a sword which was laying on the ground. It gripped the handle of the longsword in both hands and raised it high above Nustril's head.

Batting at his opponents with his paws was not as effective as his other tactics, but there were too many for him to just pile onto them all. Finally his claw found purchase in the shoulder of a Yukman, throwing it to the ground with bone crushing force. As he hit the ground the sword above his head slashed down. Inexpertly aimed, and swung as Nustril was reaching down to maul the neck of his prey, it missed the tiger's exposed neck and sliced the tip from his ear.

[Cypress]

As the man approached, Cy loaded an arrow and pulled her knees in, Dolanne was up once more, hooves striking out at the Yukman. In one sweep the club was knocked from his hand but only after it bashed against Dolanne's shoulder.
The blow made her more aggressive toward him and hooves lashed out, connecting with his head, knocking it back to loll awkwardly as he fell to the ground dead.

Cypress shot the arrow at one of the remaining Yukmen, sinking the barbed point into his throat. So shocked by the luck of the shot, she paused, losing her rhythm.

When the Yukman she thought dead lifted his head from the ground, it was Dolanne that responded, lifting one hoof, she drove it onto the man's head, crushing it into the snow.

[Nustril]

Nustril roared in pain and lashed out at the sword wielding Yukman with the side of his head. Catching the attacker under his arm, he flung him back several steps. This gave him a moment to focus on the two remaining monsters in front of him. They lashed out at his face with their clubs. Each blow left behind bruises beneath the fur which ached to the bone. A split opened along his jawline which seeped blood.

Circling around to keep his back away from his opponents was his first action. That sword would cut deep if it found an unarmored section of his body. Keeping his head low he allowed the clubs to deflect off his shoulders. Though the impact was painful it was muffled by the scales on his armor. Keeping their attention and allowing them to wear down was his goal. Each time one attempted to circle around him or change course for Cypress he would lash out with a flurry of claws and teeth.