Chapter 14: To the Tower
-----Rand takes a step back and blinks, but otherwise stands his ground. His brother’s face reflects a look of surprise and reddens a bit more. Quickly stepping back himself, the young man shouts to the hooded men, "Hold them back!" while, dropping his sword, he reaches for something within his leather vest.
-----Sol quickly moves to stand between Rand and his crazed brother. His sword is also lowered, but the arm holding it is tensed.
-----Raven drives his horse forward through the men in front of Rand's brother. At first, the hooded men hesitate as if confused by the present situation. Suddenly they raise their swords and stop Raven’s horse in its path. The horse stamps the ground and whinnies.
-----Zentil readies an arrow and draws his bow, waiting to see who makes the first move.
-----Rand stares at Heiros in shock, his eyes blazing. "Magic! You practice the very magic you preach against! And you accuse me of being a devil worshipper???! I told you Solarius would protect me, I will not fall to your demonic magic!"
-----Sarah has been looking back and forth between Rand and his brother, unable to tell who to back. Now she looks at Rand’s brother with disgust. "You preach against magic? What kind of a barbarian are you?" She glares at him.
-----Suddenly the young man draws a small palm-sized dark disk from his vest. He quickly holds it out in front of him and glares at the adventurers. The hooded men stand their ground, trying to keep the party from advancing.
-----Looking at Rand's brother, Sol calms his tone, "Now why don't we all calm down, before a lot of innocent people get hurt...and yourself of course."
-----Cursing, Raven leaps off his horse and draws his longsword and shortsword. He turns to the men in front of him, "I've had enough of this brat, out of my way or die!" Raven advances with swords raised.
-----Heiros al’ Thor stands before the assembled party of adventurers with his arm extended holding the dark disk in their direction. He begins to chant lowly, a sound similar to what the party has heard before!
-----Suddenly within each of the adventurers a deep sense of dread begins to well up from inside. One of the horses begins to nervously whinny and another actually screams in fright. Immediately the hooded men who stood with Rand’s brother begin to run with panic-stricken looks on their faces.
-----Thalog and Sarah with her charmed bandit had remained on their horses and now the horses begin charging off to the east. The riders frantically hang on, in their own state of fright. The rest of the horses likewise bolt away from the young man.
-----Zentil drops his bow and Rand drops his staff as their run as quickly as they can. Raven and Sol run fearfully behind them although they somehow manage to hang on to their weapons.
-----The whole progression of frightened people and horses flee in an eastern direction for about a minute. Slowly but surely, the feeling of fear begins to ebb away and the fast movement slows. Although the adventurers are scattered they can see each other as they recover from their enspelled state. They also see the four hooded men looking back toward the village with bewildered looks on their faces.
-----"The bastard!" Sol swears. He seems a little flustered, embarrassed perhaps, as he checks if everyone is ok. "No offense Rand, but your brother has some serious problems," He quickly intakes a breath and begins to sprint back towards the village, eyes searching for Heiros.
-----Raven stops in his tracks and then slowly turns around back towards the town. Raven face is like stone, showing no emotion. Raven calmly puts away his swords and pulls out his bow. Raven notches an arrow and starts running towards the town, trying to stay near possible cover in case Heiros has more tricks in his hat.
-----Rand turns and immediately starts running back toward the town, his head up eyes glancing around for his brother.
-----Sarah is very thankful that she and the bandit have remained on her horse. Sarah tethers her horse, and tells the bandit, "Kill anyone who tries to take it, guard it with your life." Then she rushes back into town with her darts looking for Heiros.
-----Sol is the first one to make it back in the vicinity of the small tavern. He carefully crosses the muddy road while Raven takes cover behind a small building housing a trader. A couple of people stand outside the tavern looking around as a result of the excitement, but there is no sign of Heiros.
-----The rest of the party begins to catch up with the first two. Zentil recovers his bow where he dropped it and Rand quickly grabs up his staff, his eyes glancing all about for his brother. Thalog glumly rides up on his horse.
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