An arrow is knocked and the bow is raised.  Ashford yanks Mher back and yells, “Run!” at them.  Mher darts behind the trees as the arrow’s loosed.  Ashford pulls out his dagger and commands the rest, “Kill all of them.”  Both sides have weapons drawn and charge down the riverbank.

The Misthen archer is attempting to split off from the group when Foxyn fires a shot in his direction preventing him from chasing Mher.  Both duck into cover; Foxyn’s reluctant to fire at the enemies engaged with his unit and waits for their archer to poke his head out.

The captain raises his sword leaving an opening for Ashford to tackle him and knock the blade from his hand.  He tries to pin him down, but a Misthen with long, wild-hair brings his sword down.  Ashford lifts his dagger to intercept it, and the captain kicks him off from beneath.  Seton slips in with fluid movement to take a swipe at the wild-haired one.  The captain reclaims his sword as Ashford lunges forward to pierce with his dagger.  The captain deflects and grabs Ashford’s shirt with his free hand; Ashford uses his weight to force the captain onto his back.  He tries to block the downwards swing by grabbing at his wrist but is cut across his forearm.  He drops his dagger to wrangle the sword out of his opponent's hand.

Opposing arrows go whizzing by over him causing him to hesitate; one by the Misthen archer aimed at him the other from Foxyn at their archer.  The captain moves his hand to his throat and Ashford pulls back instinctively.  He slips from his grasp, but he takes another swing.  Ashford kicks back off from him and manages to keep his footing.  The captain is pushing himself up with his sword out in front of him; Ashford spots his dagger past him on the pebbles.

In his peripherals, Ashford spots the backswing from the wild-haired man and leaps away.  Seton takes the opportunity of the man looking away to knick his eye.  As the man turns his attention back to Seton, Ashford kicks him in the back of his knee to knock him off balance.  The captain has gotten back to his feet and forces Ashford to back up defensively, but he sees Seton swipe the man’s neck causing him to drop to his knees.

On Ashford’s left, Emmett takes mighty swings at an agile Misthen and a similarly muscular Misthen.  To his right, Seton nimbly dodges a skilled dual wielder while the wild-haired man clutches his throat.  Ashford can tell by the captain’s footwork that he’s about to lunge at him.

An arrow cuts in front of the captain startling him long enough for Ashford to retrieve the weapon the wild-haired one dropped.  Foxyn cries out- Ashford wants to look back, but the captain advances more confidently.  He grips the sword with both hands and prepares for the captain's swing.  The sword comes down heavy and forces him back.

Half his unit come into view: Seton still searches for a safe attack on the dual wielder and Emmett struggles against two opponents, who have scratched up his arms and sides.  Past the captain, Ashford sees their archer coming out from cover glance between their fight and the woods where Mher ran off to.  Hoping to steal back the archer’s attention, Ashford goes on the attack.  He doesn’t let up with frequent light swings intended to push him back.  He’s not trying to land a hit, just occupy the captain’s attention and keep him from planning a coordinated attack.  Seeing the archer still hovering, arrow knocked, Ashford forces the captain to guard high then kicks him in the stomach.  The force pushes him far enough back that the archer seizes the opportunity.  Instead of stabbing at the captain, like he projected to the archer, he dives for his dagger as the arrow zips past.  The captain wheezes, tear-pricked eyes; in his off-hand, Ashford holds his dagger defensively across his chest and swings the stolen sword diagonally.  The cross of the swords recoil with a ringing clang.  They exchange blows of equal force, dancing around each other.

The captain swings the back of the blade heavily forcing both swords up, and Ashford drags his dagger down across his chest.  The captain staggers back, blood spilling, eyes wide, and sword held vertical.  Ashford gives a horizontal slash- forcing the captain’s blade away- and jabs his dagger into his hip.  The captain yells anguished and gasps as the dagger’s pulled out.  An arrow goes wide over both their heads, a weak deterrent by the Misthen archer.  Ashford plunges the sword into the captain’s chest and lets him collapse, still skewered.

Taking advantage of the archer’s shock, Ashford assesses Seton and Emmett’s fights: Emmett’s slowed down and significantly gored while Seton continues to play it safe.  He joins Seton in order to quickly dispatch his foe and turn the tides of Emmett’s fight together.  Quickly pouncing on the dual wielder, he hopes to also draw the archer’s attention back to them and use his fear of losing comrades against him.

An arrow rips out, piercing the Misthen archer’s calf, relieving Ashford.  He takes light swipes at the dual wielder, catching the archer duck back into cover out of the corner of his eye.  The dual wielder- with longer reach- pokes and jabs at Ashford to keep his distance, but is never unguarded.  Ashford positions himself to be opposite of Seton in order to split his attention, but he pulls away with a flourish repositioning both in front of him.  Ashford intends to distract the dual wielder to give Seton an opportunity to strike, but the dual wielder is equally careful.

There’s a thud from out of his line of sight and a growling scuffle ensues.  Pressure mounting, Ashford advances more recklessly toward the dual wielder.  He clenches his teeth prepared to use his injured arm as a shield to get in his face.  There’s stunned apprehension in the dual wielder split second decision to bring his sword down.  He’s forced to defend Ashford’s dagger with his offhand sword.  Ashford watches the dual wielder’s expression twist as Seton sticks him in the gut.  Ashford hadn’t expected Seton to slip in from behind him acting as an extra set of arms, but he backs up with him attached like a shadow.  The dual wielder’s expression is grim with a darting glance at his teammates, but his confidence isn’t shaken as far as his stance is concerned.

“Use this.”  Seton passes a knife to Ashford, who grips it though his fingers are cold and unfeeling.  He adjusts it to use it defensively and prepares another attack.

Pale but determined, the dual wielder strikes first bringing down both swords.  Seton assists him in defending from the left and takes an experimental stab at the dual wielder, who easily hops back.  An arrow harmlessly whiffs by the dual wielder unable to break his focus.  An arrow is returned but seems to embed itself in the bark of a tree.  Seton tosses a knife.  The dual wielder effortlessly dodges and slaps it away with his sword then drags the swords parallel to each other across Ashford’s weak arm.  His dagger and Seton’s knife struggle to hold them both back.  He suddenly lets up and thrusts a blade at Ashford’s torso.  Ashford elbows Seton back and manages to only be narrowly sliced.  He swipes his offhand blade in front of the dual wielder to keep him from closing in.  The dual wielder goes for another slash while Ashford’s awkwardly positioned, but Seton manages to parry it.  Ashford breaks away from Seton, kicking at the dual weileder’s ankle to trip him up.  While startled, the dual wielder keeps composure still as his blades collide with Ashford’s who focuses them on defense.  Seton successfully lands a couple light pokes in his shoulder, but the annoyance doesn’t deter him.  At this point, the dual wielder seems most distracted by the prospect of Ashford’s kicks, so Ashford forces his attention and earns a few extra scrapes along his arms for the trouble.  The dual wielder fully extends his arm catching Ashford’s brow, but allowing Seton to strike uninhibited and slit his wrist.  The dual wielder’s grip slackens; he hisses in pain and desperately clings to the blade, but it slips to the ground.  Together, Ashford and Seton press him, the river coming up on him, disrupting his footwork.  Ashford swings both blades inward for his legs and Seton simultaneously brandishes his knives taking aim at his head.  Fearfully, he makes a wild and desperate slash upwards and fails to stop them.  Seton takes a chunk out of his neck and Ashford’s dagger sinks deep in his thigh, gushing blood when pulled free.

Ashford turns his back, certain the dual wielder would bleed out, and races over to Emmett who rolls in the mud with the muscular one and taking jabs from the agile one.  The agile one stops him from getting to Emmett, but Seton had been close on his heels and glides past to her irritation.  Whenever Ashford tries to advance or make light swipes she bounces away, but when Ashford tries to go to Emmett she hops in front of him.  He snatches the first idea that pops in his head and starts corralling her.  Fortunately Foxyn reads his intent and an arrow lands in her side allowing Ashford to stab her heart.

Ashford’s about to rush over to Emmett, but sees that Emmett holds the muscular one in place as Seton thrusts both blades through his back.  Emmett throws him aside and lies on his back out of breath.  He glances at Foxyn, who’s come out of cover with his bow drawn, and hears the branches snapping from the fleeing Misthen archer.  The arrow lodges in his shoulder.

“I’ll take care of him, so you can stop your guys’ bleeding,” Seton says before taking off.

Ashford wants to bandage Emmett - who’s bruised and beaten - but Emmett and Foxyn insist on wrapping himself first.  Ashford hastily wraps his arm, belly, and head then works on Emmett.  Foxyn’s face is wet with tears while the arrow hangs out of his shoulder.  He muses about Mher’s return and is surprised when they turn up.  All of the unit have returned and are bandaged, and the Mesthens’ bodies scavenged.

Foxyn makes a comment and Mher says, “I don’t have a choice.  Your commander has my source sachet.  I don’t know what lies they’ve spewed, but I’m not a willing participant in this war.”