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-----A look of anger comes over the face of Heiros. He glares around at everyone and the name, "Rand" hisses from between his teeth. He stands in front of Raven and quickly grabs up the long sword of the dead woman.
-----At Dreda's betrayal a smirk slithers across Thalog's face but is chiseled away. Then Thalog quickly sneaks behind the dark lady and prepares to swing at her head with the mightiest blow he can muster from his staff.
-----As the Dark Mistress and Gabe struggle with each other, the old man steps forward and draws a short sword. With a quick motion, surprisingly fast for the old one, he stabs Gabe below the rib cage, mortally wounding the charmed bandit. Gabe falls slowly in front of Sarah, his arms still up as if warding off Dreda.
-----Sarah shakes her head, she can't believe this is happening. When she sees Gabe get stabbed, she whimpers, "No....Gabe, not you."
-----At that moment, Thalog swings, but his staff swoops over Dreda’s head as she pushes the dying Gabe off her.
-----Behind Raven, Thalog, Rand, and Sarah, a yell full of rage and fury splits the air. Running from behind them, Sol charges back!
-----Moving at a dead run, Sol heads straight towards Dreda. Both of the warrior's hands are clasped around the hilt of his longsword, and as he nears the Dark Mistress, he pulls the blade back behind his head for a heavy two-handed strike. The look on his face is far beyond any anger Sol has shown before. The rage and passion evident at the moment looks somewhat strained on his face.
-----Mistress Dreda grabs down at Sarah and liberates her pouch that contains her dark amulet. A look of triumph beams on her face. With the sound of Sol’s magnificent blade clearing its scabbard, she suddenly looks up. The look of conquest quickly changes to one of shock as Sol runs his sword through her abdomen. The enraged young man violently pulls his blade from her body with an ear-splitting war cry. Swinging his sword high, he decapitates the Dark Mistress with a blow that sends her separated head and body back a few feet.
-----Raven seeing Heiros bending down to grab a weapon, Raven brings both weapons down on Heiros. Raven says as he chops, "Forget Rand, worry about me." The blades smack down around Heiros’s head and shoulders. Rand’s brother then falls to his knees and although the blow does not render him unconscious, he is badly dazed.
-----Raven then sees the old man stab Gabe. Raven yells at the old man, "Try that on me you piece of dung, if you dare!!!..."
-----Suddenly the party sees the old man has a scroll and reads from it in low strange sounding tones. In the wink of an eye, his form begins to darken until he resembles a mere shadow. With a puff of black smoke, the form vanishes into nothingness.
-----Sol stands seething, his teeth clenched, breathing heavily with a wild look in his eyes. He then sees the fallen girl who Thalog had put to sleep with a spell lying by the cottage door.
-----All suddenly becomes quiet as Gabe lies dying in Sarah’s arms. He bleeds heavily from his wound delivered by the old one. As Sarah feels the terror leave her, the feeling is replaced by a sense of hopelessness as Gabe’s breathing becomes shallow.
-----Weakly turning his face toward Sarah, Gabe looks up into her eyes. A small smile finds his lips and he softly whispers, "Ah me blessed Angel Sarah! You have saved me wretched soul in more than one way. I pray you give me leave to walk among the blessed fields of Elysium." With that his smile falters and his body relaxes.
-----The wind whispers among the branches overhead and the gloom of the sky does not break.
-----Raven roughly throws Heiros to the ground and starts to tie-up and gag him. With that done, Raven walks over to Sarah. Raven says, "You okay?" Raven looks down at Gabe, "He proved to be a good man, something he might not have discovered if not for you." Raven pauses as if to say more, but instead just puts a hand on Sarah's shoulder. Raven looks over to Sol, "They might come back to finish the job. I'll tie those two up." Raven starts toward the two sleeping foes.
-----"I hope you do, Gabe." Sarah says, before bursting into tears. She stays cradling his body in her arms for quite awhile, every once in awhile a tearful sob coming from her. "No, I'm not okay." She says to Raven.
-----Raven says to Sarah, "Are you hurt bad?" Raven then sees that Sarah is crying over Gabe, "Oh..." Raven pauses, "I don't know what to say Sarah. He's in a better place..." Realizing he is out of his league, he says, "I better get to work on those two over there..."
-----Sol hasn't registered the end of conflict yet. Nor has he registered Sarah, Raven or any of his companions. Sword still in hand and a dangerous glint in his eye, he advances on the sleeping girl. As he nears her, he reverses his hold on the hilt. Sol then raises the sword above his head, preparing to end the girl's life.
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