Nik stood beside Eclipse, fighting. "We need to move." he said through gritted teeth. "The smoke will take us down if we don't." His father was faltering, but still fighting as well as he could. Nik glanced at the old king, then to Eclipse.
Eclipse nodded, "Agreed" he said, coughing, "But how do we get away without getting killed?" he cut down two more soldiers, dodging a projectile as he slashed down a third, sending out another magic blast, seeming to tire more after that.
"I…I don't know." Nik replied. There was a tearing sound as a sword caught the sleeve of his shirt and ripped it open. He stabbed through the man, his cane flashing out and breaking bones, slamming into skulls and shattering them. "But we need to go." he coughed in the smoke. His father cleared his throat. "You two go." he said, his voice hoarse from the smoke. "I'll fend them off."
Eclipse faltered a little at that, barely dodging another sword, "But…" he tried to think of a reason not to, looking back to the old king, "We can't just leave you…" he coughed some more, his guard dropping long enough for an attacker to cut his arm open, a light cut, but still, one that drew blood.
"Wrong. You can." the king replied. "I'm an old man. You two need to get out of here. You're the heirs of the countries." he coughed, faltering for a moment. Nik swallowed. "No. No, I…I can't leave you here." he said, glancing at his father as he kept fighting. "I don't…I can't!"
Eclipse tensed at his words, before nodding and grabbing Nik, pulling him away. P.lease forgive me… he thought, pulling the other towards the edge of camp, only slowing to that the other wouldn't trip and fall.
Nik pulled at Eclipse's hands. "No! No I can't let him die too!" He shouted, struggling against the other's grip. The king watched them go for a moment. "I love you, son." he said softly, knowing Nik probably wouldn't hear. Then he turned to fight.
Eclipse didn't let go, cutting down attackers as they ran before ducking into a tent. "Listen, I don't care if you hate me for this, I don't care if this ruins us forever, I can't lose you." he said quickly, before taking a deep breath, "I already saw my father die in a skirmish moments before I joined the fight with yours, More like I killed him….. he thought, "Your father's right, we're the heirs to the kingdoms. Without us, everything goes to shit. If we don't survive this, our people will each assume the other country murdered us, and this war will never stop. More kids will be left orphans, more young men will lose their lives and futures. We can't let that happen, even if it hurts."
Nik was shaking a little. "I know…but I…I…" he shook his head again, golden eyes flickering with pain. "He's my father…" he said softly. For a moment his face screwed up like he was about to cry, then it was gone again. His hands were trembling a little.
"I know… just be glad you have something to mourn for if he doesn't make it out.." he said softly, holding his hands in his own. "Now how about we get out before the tent catches fire?"
Nik bit his lip. "Okay." he replied slowly, eyes flicking away. He pulled away from Eclipse, and left the tent. He was using his sword and cane as weapons again, stabbing and slaughtering without caring. Or at least, he didn't look like he did. The shadows around him bent and morphed, holding men immobile or strangling them, or hiding Nik from view for just a few seconds.
Eclipse followed him, noting how the other manipulated the shadows as they tried to fight their way out of camp. But unfortunately it wasn't going to be that easy as the numbers of attackers seemed to grow as night fell, the blaing fires lighting the campsite, but the smoke making it harder to see.
As the hours wore on, Nik grew more and more tired, his limp becoming worse and worse. Aron, Lieze, Errol, and Ryker had left as Nik had ordered, to bring news of the attack back to the capital. Help would not arrive in time. Nik backed up a little, coughing and gasping for breath as the smoke thickened the air.
Eclipse was almost exhausted, having dared to use his powers twice more, as night fell, "Nik…." he coughed some more, his voice hoarse from breathing smoke, "I don't think we're making it out…" he coughed some more, dodging another sword, and cutting down another attacker.
(Sorry for taking so long, was busy!)
"Don't care." Nik growled, voice strained and hoarse from all the smoke. His cane was spattered in blood and bits of bone, as was his sword. He kept fighting. His body was covered in blood; a mix of his own, and other people's. At this point, he didn't know how many wounds he did or didn't have.
(Don't worry about it!)
Eclipse was injured to, I mean, how could he not be, having been fighting for his life for hours on end. It was probably close to midnight, and he was so tired that it was by sheer willpower that he kept going. "Nik…." he called hoarsely, "We can't keep going like this!" he called, ending up in another coughing fit, taking another, much deeper wound in his side.
Nik shook his head a little. He could feel the monster roaring inside of him, itching to get out and kill and kill and kill. But he couldn't let it. "We have to! They'll kill us!" he replied. The fire was dying down, running out of fuel. There weren't many soldiers from either side left, and for every man Nik and Eclipse killed, two more took his place.
Eclipse coughed some more, before calling back, "I know!" he called, before shifting to his wolf form, having gotten surrounded by too many for his human side to take as he used his fangs and claws to take down as many as possible, too tired to care much about how his fur was soaked in blood, both his and other's, and how his fnags dripped with blood after a few seconds.
Nik blinked in surprise at the wolf. But he couldn't let the monster out. Wouldn't let the monster out. Because the monster would kill Eclipse too, and he didn't want his soulmate's blood on his hands. He already had his mother's blood there. So he kept fighting. But every time he moved his left leg, he nearly fell, pain thrumming through him.
Eclipse moved back, killing every attacker he saw, focusing his attacks to defend Nik. He wasn't about to lose his soulmate here, not within twenty four hours of finding him. Kevran or not they were in this together, fighting till the end.
(Are they going to get captured? Or just kill everyone and be left alone and injured in the wood for awhile, and then have idk assassins after them?)
Nik sighed softly. He kept fighting, but he was stumbling and exhausted, the smoke making it ever harder to breathe, and his leg hurting more and more by the second, making it nearly impossible to continue fighting. Or at least, to fight well.
(captured)
Eclipse eventually shifted back after getting slashed from behind, opening a new wound on his back as he continued to try and defend Nik, "We're….. we're fighting…. a losing…. battle.." he panted, his jaw and hands covered in blood from fighting in wolf form.
"I know." Nik rasped, his voice nearly gone from the smoke. He cleared his throat, not daring to even glance at Eclipse. "At least we're making a stand for the ages, though. Maybe they'll sing about it someday." he coughed, body shaking with the effort to get enough air.
Eclipse nodded, reaching out to take his hand, not even bothering with the fact that his was sticy with blood as he cut down another soldier. "Yeah" he said, coughing as his strained lungs tried to find oxygen.
Nik squeezed Eclipse's hand gently, then let go. He needed both hands to wield his cane and sword. He let out a cry as a sword slashed into his left leg, tearing through the still healing scar, and he went to his knees, unable to remain standing. He fought as well as he could from a kneeling position, but it wasn't long before first his cane was torn from his hands, then his sword, leaving him defenseless.