Jaqueline's stomach seemed to drop just a few seconds before they appeared. She hated that this sense of danger was so unpredictable - sometimes she had minutes, sometimes no warning at all. This time...it was just long enough to don her gloves.
She didn't tense - she knew better than that. Instead, she moved quickly and silently. She focused on the area around them, her senses alert so she could track everything that moved around her. Of course, as her focus shifted, the glamour hiding the blades she carried fell away. There just was no time to worry about that right now.
She drew a dagger from the now-visible sheath strapped to her leg, her protected fingers trained to avoid the sticky black substance that coated the edge like tar. She backed into the shadows and they seemed to wrap around her and swallow her completely. It wasn't that they were alive - that was one of Julian's tricks. No, this was more that she knew exactly how to use what was there in order to disappear. Of course, she had learned from experience that the dark didn't lend as much help as much as she wanted against darkspawn, but she'd take whatever assistance she could get.
A dagger seemed to fly out of the shadows, landing and sticking in the branch of a tree some distance away with a dull thud. Faster than should have been possible, two more daggers sliced through the air, finding purchase just as a previously unseen darkspawn became visible. The blades seemed to find just the right spots, causing it to falter and drop to a knee, halting its violent dash toward Morrigan. It wasn't dead, but its deranged rush had been stopped.
Nearby, Jaq seemed to drop out of a tree just behind another creature, landing on her feet with unimaginable quiet. She stepped toward its back and suddenly the tip of a blade emerged from its neck. The darkspawn seemed to stiffen for a moment, frozen in time as the ichor that spilled from its mouth and wound seemed to continue dripping on the ground beneath him. But then the world seemed to speed up again as the blade disappeared, pulled out as Jaq retreated back into the shadows.
Suddenly, there was a loud snap. The branch that had held her dagger fast seemed to crack, splintering and breaking at the joint to fall on the ground below. It was loud and, as planned, distracting to their enemies.
She didn't tense - she knew better than that. Instead, she moved quickly and silently. She focused on the area around them, her senses alert so she could track everything that moved around her. Of course, as her focus shifted, the glamour hiding the blades she carried fell away. There just was no time to worry about that right now.
She drew a dagger from the now-visible sheath strapped to her leg, her protected fingers trained to avoid the sticky black substance that coated the edge like tar. She backed into the shadows and they seemed to wrap around her and swallow her completely. It wasn't that they were alive - that was one of Julian's tricks. No, this was more that she knew exactly how to use what was there in order to disappear. Of course, she had learned from experience that the dark didn't lend as much help as much as she wanted against darkspawn, but she'd take whatever assistance she could get.
A dagger seemed to fly out of the shadows, landing and sticking in the branch of a tree some distance away with a dull thud. Faster than should have been possible, two more daggers sliced through the air, finding purchase just as a previously unseen darkspawn became visible. The blades seemed to find just the right spots, causing it to falter and drop to a knee, halting its violent dash toward Morrigan. It wasn't dead, but its deranged rush had been stopped.
Nearby, Jaq seemed to drop out of a tree just behind another creature, landing on her feet with unimaginable quiet. She stepped toward its back and suddenly the tip of a blade emerged from its neck. The darkspawn seemed to stiffen for a moment, frozen in time as the ichor that spilled from its mouth and wound seemed to continue dripping on the ground beneath him. But then the world seemed to speed up again as the blade disappeared, pulled out as Jaq retreated back into the shadows.
Suddenly, there was a loud snap. The branch that had held her dagger fast seemed to crack, splintering and breaking at the joint to fall on the ground below. It was loud and, as planned, distracting to their enemies.
01-13-2023, 05:28 PM
