WOT Adv 84

--- The Wheel Turns ---
You let loose, and the arrow skims through the struggling bodies and flies true, knocking the enemy Wise One back a step as the shaft settles deep into her chest.

She gasps in pain and right left hand clutches at the end of the shaft. But she still remains standing, supported by another woman at her side. Is she too a Wise One you wonder?

A blade slashes out at you, but you duck under it, searching for another weapon. There at you feet is the flail.

Then there's a shout and you see the Wise One's head swing to look right at you, her left hand pointing at you, her right still holding her chest.

There's no sound, just a streaming bead of fire that zips towards you.

"Move!" you shout a warning to the villager standing next to you. The bead hits the ground behind you and then all you see are orange flames and you hear a roar in your ears and the flame envelops you. Your clothes, previously sodden from the rain boil for an instant causing you to scream in pain. The flame ends as soon as it hit you. You survived. Somehow survived. The villager next to you did not.

You bow isn't in your hands anymore, you wonder if it has been completely consumed or not. The air remains heated for a few seconds as you struggle to your feet and the air you gulp in is a searing desert wind. Your bow is on the ground, the string completely gone. The rope is also gone to your 'flail' and all that is rest is the grappling hook that lies in the sad grass. No weapons within reach. None but the sword of the dead enemy at your feet.

"By the light," you cough, blood coming from your mouth, and you finally managing to stand. "Sightblinder take you!" You curse weakly at the enemy Wise One. "Sightblinder take---"

"Die!" you hear a woman's voice cry out from behind you. Turning your head you can see another bead of light from behind, from another Wise One speed towards you.

"No..." you whisper.

But this one skims past you and hits the enemy Wise One. Another inferno of flame shoots up into the night sky, and after the fire dissipates, and the last of the light fades from your eyes, the enemy Wise One lies still.

"The Damane!" A woman's voice cries out shrilly in the Seanchan accent. "Aid the Damane! Take her to the inn! You others," she orders the soldiers and points to the Wise One behind you, "Capture her!"

Soldiers start to peel off from the Seanchan line and run to the aid of the enemy Wise One. Others begin to move around you towards Maeslyn.

"Maer!" Over the rain and pounding in your ears, you hear a woman's shout behind you. It's Maeslyn. "Maer! We have leave! We must leave before they are reinforced!" You glance behind you and can see that Maeslyn stands with her blue cloak wrapped tightly about her but the hood is thrown back and her hair glistens in the rain as the firelight from the stables plays upon it.

Althair, the woodsman, stands next to her and stooping picks up a scimitar from the fallen bodies near the stable's back side.