OOC: I almost missed this after waiting what felt like ages
@ Icy: Since Xeno hasn't confirmed it happened, I'm going to act as if there was only one arrow.
IC: Alyssa stood a half-step behind Jamas and Yume and the others in an attempt to shield herself from the clouds of sand and dust that blew over them like waves, getting in her eyes, mouth, and nose, and blowing stray wisps of her hair across her line of vision.
With a muffled ****** she kneeled down behind them, and, spitting in the palm of one hand, tried to clean her face slightly. With the other hand, she pulled out her short sword, to ensure that no sand had got in its scabbard.
The wind was truly howling today, as if protesting the bloodshed that would soon occur here. Alyssa listened for a moment, and thought she could almost hear voices in it.
Have there been battles here before?, she wondered.
How many have died here, fighting, like I might today.
She shrugged, and grinned slightly.
No, this is to the end now. Not for the damn Union. I care nothing for it. This is about repaying blood shed, and about ensuring that when things settle again, I have a place in the world. I've seen what happens to people like me, old women living in alleyways going mad from neglect, or young women dying from illness or helpless at the hands of some bastard.
Her smile faded in a moment as she saw Yume fall to the ground, screaming. As she rolled onto her other side, Alyssa saw the black shaft sticking out of her, and hissed between her teeth. Scrambling forward, she tried to hold Yume down, whispering comforting words that she couldn't remember the moment they left her mouth.
"Is there a medic here?" she yelled back at Dolosus, "It doesn't look like it's gone deep, but I don't want to cripple her pulling it out."