Sun, sand, surf and... battle?

[Northen Light36]

"Feels like old times."

"What?" Only half hearing his friend, Shadow looked questioningly over at Flash as they lead the army towards Merkata.

"Said it feels like old times," Flash replied. "I'm getting too old for this sort of excitement." He grinned as he spoke though, revealing the arendilin rush of battle was starting to make its self known.

Shadow just chuckled and signaled to the army for a halt. When everone had stopped, Shadow and Flash rode towards a clifftop that overlooked the village to try and get an idea of what the situation was below. It was always best to have an idea of what to expect, after all.

[Kender Bard]

Not much lay below, in truth.

There were still some little pockets where fire smoke hung about, like a pall, smoldering on some remains. Other areas were scorched black and contained nothing but the cinders and ash of what was once a building or structure of some kind. Not all of the town had been razed; it seemed as though there had been some haphazard burning or perhaps the collateral damage of battle where Fires and Storms were present. The place was horribly quiet, overall, and not many people were about. Those that were, were either busy rummaging around collapsed or burnt areas, or tending to others who huddled in small groups together, and still there was the odd person who just walked around, as though in a daze. There was no sign of ships, only the aftermath of what surely had to have been a very quick but violent skirmish.

[Northen Light36]

Flash and Shadow both swore as they looked down at the village. "Too late," Shadow sighed, feeling a stab of guilt.

"There was almost no chance we'd make it in time," Flash pointed out, knowing the words were no comfort at all to his friend.

"Come on, let's go see what we can do for people," Shadow replied simply and signalled the army to follow him away from the cliff and down into the village. The sound of the horses' hooves on the dirt was the only noise from the army or their leaders.

[Kender Bard]

It wasn't until they were nearly on top of the village did people begin to notice their approach. People reacted with excitement, perhaps even a touch of fear, and most began to run into the largest building still standing. From there came where most of the people had been hiding, and the building fairly erupted with a mass of humanity that came pouring out. Leading them was a man in armor, who looked terribly tired. Lord Xanxus Fortis, the lord of the area. He came to a halt before Shadow and bowed. "My King," he responded. "It is good to see you've answer our call for help."

[Northen Light36]

"I only regret that we could not be here sooner," Shadow replied simply. "Still, we will give you what aid we can. Tell me, Xanxus, how is the situation at the moment? I can see there's rebuilding to do, but what about the people? Are there injuries that haven't been treated?"

[Kender Bard]

"We're treating everyone as best as we can but there's one or two individuals with very bad burns we're not able to treat at this time," Xanxus reported.

[Northen Light36]

Shadow looked at Flash who nodded in understanding.

"Show me to them and I'll see what I can do," Flash said.

[Kender Bard]

Xanxus snapped his fingers and one of the people behind him stepped forward, bowed deeply to the two men, and then gestured to Flash while heading back to the large building.

Xanxus remained to speak with Shadow. "My lord, allow me to invite you into my personal home so that we may speak of what transgressed here?"

[Northen Light36]

"Of course," Shadow agrees as Flash goes off to see what can be done for the burn victims.

[Kender Bard]

Once settled in the noble's home, Xanxus recounted what had happened, though he didn't have much to add. "There came sails on the horizon, unfamiliar to us. We don't see much strange traffic here, you understand. I don't think I need to go into details on what happened when they landed; you can see for yourself. They did steal and abduct some individuals, presumably for slavery or hostage, but for the most part they were interested in ransacking homes. They grabbed whatever they could, some of it not even making a great deal of sense, and ran off with it to their ships. Once the town had been quickly run over in this manner, they sailed off. Didn't seem to care about finishing us all off. It was like they were nothing more than a bunch of bloody thieves and slavers rather than an invading force. No demands, no attempts at reasoning...."