The Unknown RP

Chapter 67 - Rahne

I was only half-conscious for the longest time, refusing to go deep into thought about anything, when a voice snapped me out of it suddenly. It took me a moment to notice who had spoken, a horse-man, and another to notice the archers standing on either side. Slowly, it processed what the horse-man had said.

"I'll tell you once, move aside." Gil did not sound like he was in the mood to deal with anyone.

The horse-man made a strange movement with his hand, not looking Gil in the eye, but instead looking at the plant. "I can't, I can't, no, Twig wouldn't like that..." The horse-man finally looked up at Gil, a bizarre smile on his face. "Mustn't get away this time, silly fleshlings."

"What the hell..." Celaena muttered, gripping her swords tightly.

Before I could process what had happened, I was on the ground as Gil pushed past Celaena while drawing his sword. "I said move aside..."

The horse-man's face dissolved into confusion. "No..?" The smile returned as another figure stepped out from the trees next to the horse-man. Now extremely uncomfortable, and feeling as though there were more unseen things hiding in the trees, I glanced around. Completely on edge, I jumped as Charlie's feet dropped down from nowhere while Connall let go of her. Too uneasy to wonder why I hadn't noticed he was carrying her before, I glanced back at the figure next to the horse-man, nearly jumping again when Connall drew his sword.

Meanwhile, Gil seemed to be struggling to keep his temper in check, gripping the hilt of his sword tightly. "I am only going to repeat myself so much; get out of the way now."

"Or what?" the man said, ignoring the distracted, mumbled ramblings of the horse-man as he talked to the plant in his hands.

Without missing a beat, Gil raised his sword so it was pointed right between the man's eyes and muttered a word.

A visible, but translucent, swirling mass of something erupted from the tip of the sword and flew like a spear towards the man, hitting him square in the forehead and sending him flying backwards. The man didn't move after he hit the ground, unconscious.

Paused only a moment, one of the archers loosed an arrow at Gil as the other, only slightly more distracted than the other, did the same. In a single swift movement, Gil had batted both arrows out of the air before either Celaena or Connall even had the chance to react. Unsure of quite what to do, both archers nocked another arrow after pausing for what seemed like a long while. As if on cue, three soldiers appeared from nowhere, swords raised and ready to fight; it seemed Gil was ready for them as well.

Mouth barred in a snarl, Gil was charging towards them in an instant, an act which scared the horse-man and caused him to run off and disappear into the forest. As Gil blocked the sword of one soldier, he quickly danced out of the way of another, twisting the blade out of the hand of the first soldier simultaneously. Blocking the second soldier, Gil shoved the man away just in time to block the third soldier's blade, falling into a rhythm of blocking the two with ease before the first found his sword and charged at Gil. Before the soldier could get to him, however, he muttered something, causing an explosion to erupt from where Gil was standing.

Instinctively, I threw up an arm to protect my face from the blast, fighting desperately against the memories the explosion had shaken loose. As the air settled, I put my arm back down somewhat carefully.

Gil stood at the center of the explosion, tiny flecks of ash settling in his hair as he carefully controlled his breathing; his anger seemed to have been spent completely in the blast. All three soldiers were on the ground, whether dead or unconscious I couldn't tell, and the archers were nowhere to be seen. Sheathing his sword, Gil crouched down to examine one of the soldiers while Connall walked over.