30 Ashan 721
"Nevermind, come on!" Balthazar let go of Silk and helped Ronan the rest of the way onto his feet before shoving them slightly towards the northern side of the settlement. "Get cover as quickly as you can."
"What about you?" Silk asked as her wings fluttered against her back.
"I'm going to make sure the logging team made it back." Balthazar shouted over a clap of thunder.
"We can go with you." Ronan suggested before a flash of lightning seemed to steal his focus.
"No, the storm's getting worse, take cover and wait it out. Protect whoever you end up with- that's an order." He didn't give them a chance to argue with him on it. Balthazar began to jog down the street with Miranda, Tib'ron, and Trean trailing behind him (because they did not take orders from him) while Silk and Ronan peeled off to buildings on the side of the street. They banged on the door and were swiftly let in by the villagers inside while the team of three and a half Flame Troopers advanced down the street for a few more feet before ducking into an alleyway and using the overhang of the two buildings as cover from the chunks of ice beating down against the street. They all took a few deep breaths and Balthazar peered down both ends of the alleyway while trying to come up with a plan to get further through the storm.
"Where are we going?" Trean asked Balthazar the third time the former mage peered out the way they'd come. Balthazar held up a finger as if telling Trean to be quiet and he tried to listen for any remarkable sounds to give him some guidance but the storm was far louder than a rowdy tavern.
"On three we are going to push through the street from this overhang to that one," Balthazar pointed across the street to the porch of another house in the village. "I'll figure out the next step once we get there but I can't see anything from this alley."
"We should get inside, it's getting too dangerous outside." Tib'ron said as they prepared to rush across the street through the ever growing hail and rain of lightning.
"Exactly, and every settler in Haven is less fit to manage it than you and I so we are going to make sure they're all safe, then we can take cover." Balthazar explained before Miranda flanked him from the left.
"What are we looking for?" She asked.
"Balder's and his builders, everyone else should have had enough time to get inside." Balthazar explained before giving the countdown and leading the charge across the street. He regret it almost immediately. It would have been better if they had all been using shields. They could hold the shield above their heads and it would take the brunt of the damage. However with the lack of shields, they had to endure the hail with their bodies. As a Fire Forged, Balthazar was resistant to both the cold temperature and the blunt damage of the ice but that didn't change that it impeded all three and a half Flame Troopers as they moved across the street. "Everyone alright?" Balthazar asked as the group reached their second cover and he began looking around for any sign of Balder.
"How do you know they aren't inside already?" Tib'ron asked with some irritation in his voice while rubbing his arms and shoulder where the hail struck him. The answer came in the form of a cry on the wind that the guards seemed like they might have heard just a few trills before Balthazar. It sounded like a call for help.
"Good memory, a little bit of timing, and eighteen trials of walking around the settlement." Balthazar replied to Tib'ron in a dismissive way as he began looking around for the source of the cry. Trean put a hand on Balthazar's shoulder and pointed a little down the road.
"I heard it over there." He said, prompting a small nod from Balthazar.
"On three, we move again." Balthazar looked around and while Tib'ron didn't seem particularly pleased with it, he was willing. None of them could fully justify ignoring what sounded like a call for help in this storm. Balthazar began his countdown silently, lifting his hand into the air and slowly lowering his fingers to save some of his breath. Three, two- and before he reached one, the source of the cry for help came around the corner of a building into view. It was a woman, probably middle aged, blonde, and struggling to drag Balder into cover. Upon seeing the unconscious guard in the storm, Balthazar abandoned his countdown and surged forward out of cover- subjecting himself immediately to the pelting of large hailstones. He raised an arm over his head to help block some but they were relentless. He moved across the street quickly, hearing three sets of boots trotting on the ground behind him, and reached the woman within a dozen trills. "I've got him, get inside," Balthazar said as he took the mass of Balder's weight from the woman dragging him. Trean came around and lifted Balder's feet while Miranda and Tib'ron protected the blonde to the best of their abilities. The group shuffled over to the nearest door and Tib'ron banged on it.
"Did you see anyone else?" Balthazar asked the blonde woman with a small grunt. Balder was heavier than he expected but he could manage it. The woman shook her head.
"Just him, a few men from the Ashwoods came in and said he'd been knocked unconscious by a large chunk of ice." Confirming her story, the door to her house swung open and Balthazar immediately recognized the faces of the crew he'd been working with before the storm him. They all shuffled quickly into the building, then Balthazar and Trean lifted Balder by his arms and legs and set him onto the bed.
Thunder clapped and the flash of lightning startled one of the woodcutters for the last time because as suddenly as the storm began, the storm passed. It was gone in an instant, replaced with what grew quickly into a chilling freeze. The bewildered former mage moved outside the building slowly to find that much of the settlement was doing the same. Weather in Scalvoris was never the most predictable but this? This was insane. Snow was draped across the ground again and the air was crisp. Balthazar did not feel the bite of the cold but he saw it on the faces of his settlers who turned and quickly went back into their homes only to return with more clothing on over what they'd been wearing before. Those who'd been caught in the rain didn't come out because they were changing so that a thin layer of ice didn't trap them in their clothes.
"Everyone back inside your homes! Do what you can to get and stay warm. I'll be by shortly to try and explain what is happening." That was far more optimism than he'd shown lately. He didn't think he would really find out, but he knew the people were going to need an answer. "I think this justifies an urgent message to the Albarech, would you agree?" He asked, turning to the three Flame Troopers assigned to him. They held the echo scroll linked to Kura so it was ultimately up to them what was reported, but he was sure if he wrote something they'd pass it along. They passed everything else he wrote along to her.
So... how did one tactfully ask what in the Beneath was going on?
