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Victory, but at what price?
Nytia delivered a furious blow, striking the bridge of the bandit leader's nose. Blood spurted from the shattered nose as the man stumbled backwards, and fell to the ground in a crumpled heap, clearly unconscious. Blood still flowed from his nose, threatening to suffocate him if he was not moved. Machaon had thus been deprived of his target, and suddenly had no one to attack.
The sound of an approaching horse broke the concentration of the bandit fighting Armus. Atop his steed, Aneuhl, an arrow notched in his bow approached the combatants, but firing the arrow was not needed, for Armus, using his opponents momentary lapse of concentration, delivered a fierce blow, which cleaved the bandit's helmet in two, and almost seperated the upper right upper half of his head from the rest.
Meanwhile, Rastheme had his own battle to fight. The rider rushing at him had murder in his eyes, and looked ready to charge down the dwarf with his horse, until the axes of the deftly sidestepping dwarf caught him in the chest. Given the speed of the horse, the axes were wrenched from Rastheme's hands. Unguided, the horse stopped about a hundred yards later, its rider slumped unmoving in the saddle.
It seemed as though the battle had been won, but as evidenced by the numerous dead druids on the ground, victory had had a high cost.
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