Ask A Journey in the Dark

[Ulfrik Wulfsbane]

Black Forest, Spintir​

Ulfrik did his best to fight against the hands that gripped at his shoulders, but the strength of his heart did not match the strength of his arms. "Let me go.." He muttered as he struggled, "I told you I'm supposed to be here." The two soldiers who dragged him along ignored every word he said, as they had since he had been caught. He wished he was he was on Ajan Kloss, or anywhere more advanced this Thor-forsaken planet, then he could have shown them his ID, or gotten some sort of reaction when he said he was a Jedi. Here he was just a kid in their eyes, one who had no business on the trek. If only they hadn't been such stubborn idiots, he might have had a chance at mind tricking them into letting him go. But no, they had to be as stubborn as a bantha. Which was probably for the best, Master Tadka would not have been pleased with such uses of the Force.

They dragged him through the woods to a small clearing that was acting as a staging point. The force should have made it through the forest path by now, it was supposed to be a shortcut after all. The main force had taken the longer road around the forest, with this small force taking the shorter but riskier path to offer some relief to the keep under assault. The Tof it seemed had a spy, because a harrying force had slowed their progress down to a crawl.

Only the best fighters had been allowed to accompany the relief force, so of course he had to sneak along. They couldn't really send him back by the time he was caught, and they hadn't really known what to do with him, so they had brought him here. When you can't solve a problem, let your superiors deal with it. He had hoped it wouldn't come to this, but as he was dragged into the clearing and left to wait for the three figures who were bent over a map to finish their discussion. At this point he just prepared himself for the worse, he'd happily take on all the raiders who stalked the forest, but this terrified him. As the tallest figure gave instructions to her companions and turned around to face him, he visibly and audibly gulped and put on a weak smile.

"Hello sister."

 

[Skade Wulfsbane]

Skade had been on the planet for a few weeks to help the local population against the Tof invasion. The invaders had been building up for years, and it wasn’t till many human settlements fell before word got out to the greater galaxy. No single human kingdom was strong enough to take on the Tof leader and his army. The humans would need to rally together to be able to take challenge the allegedly impenetrable fortress of the Tof.

She was deep in discussion with some of the local militia leaders when she was notified of a potential trespasser. Skade finished up the talks, giving the men clear instructions to send out scouting parties before she turned to look at the source of interruption. Though her face revealed initial surprise, her expression soon set into deep annoyance.

“By the Wolf’s fang, Frik, why do you always do this?” The tone of exasperation was clear in her voice. It was a good thing the men here followed her rules, or anyone caught like this would have been killed immediately.

Skade crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at him, “I’ll get you on a ship and have you sent back at once.”

 

[Ulfrik Wulfsbane]

One glance at Skade's face was all he needed to know he was in trouble. You didn't even need to know her as long as he had, even a stranger would have known that look was trouble. Even when they were children she could scare grown ups with that look. The other kids even had a name for it, Freya's fury. Not that he ever had the balls to tell her about it. So he was prepared for the worst, but he hadn't expected her to send him back. He wasn't that useless, was he?

He was about to protest when a sound from the side drew their attention, a loud thud coming from not too far off. And immediately after came the distinct sound of an arrow flying through the air, whizzing past the two of them and embedding itself in a tree. The next one slammed into the shoulder of one of the guards who had brought him there.

He immediately dropped to the ground, years of training taking over as he rolled behind the cover of a tree stump. "Up that tree!" He shouted out to Skade, pointing towards the direction the arrows had come from. Sounds of battle were breaking out all around them, whatever his sister might have wanted to do with him, it was too late now. There was no sending him away now.

He looked around and spotted the downed guard, still breathing, trying to crawl away. He acted on instinct, beaten into him as a child, and reinforced by the last five years spent with the Jedi. "Cover me!" He shouted at no one in particular, almost a prayer to the gods, and started springing towards the downed man.

 

[Skade Wulfsbane]

Skade whirled around towards the direction of the arrows, bringing up her hand to use the Force however she could. She hadn’t missed one of the soldiers taking a hit. He was an asset to the task force and a friend to Skade. However, she couldn’t focus on him now, following her brother’s direction and barely spotting a figure between the leaves. The Force coiled around them, dropping them to the ground.

Commotion erupted all around as more arrows shot out from trees. The soldiers had their shields up and Skade used the Force to send them off their trajectory. However, she could only do so much when they were well hidden, “Fall back towards the open roads!” She shouted, the thick cover here giving their attackers far too much opportunity. They were fish in a barrel. However, her quick maneuvers would at least buy Frik some time to assist the soldiers that needed help.

Skade had to jog her memory to recall who had suggested taking this path. It was clear the enemy knew their movements and had been expecting them. Even more concerning was the fact that these appeared to be human or other species that worked as mercenaries. The Tof were too large and bulky to have pulled off such an ambush.

The Deucalian was the last one to leave the clearing, taking a few grazes from the arrows before she rushed to join the group heading to the main road, “Frik!?” She called out, concern clear in her tone as she didn’t spot him immediately.

 

[Ulfrik Wulfsbane]

As Skade reached the group, she would find it hard to spot her brother, till she would pass someone who reached out and grabbed her arm to try and stop her. One of the very guards who had escorted Ulfrik earlier, he supported his companion, the one who Ulfrik had rushed to help, on a shoulder. He was patched up, barely conscious, but seemed to be holding on.

"Baingan ma'am, this here is Bharta." He nodded at his injured companion, who forced his eyes open at a nudge. "He saw what happened to your brother ma'am." Bharta took a deep breath, gathering his strength, before mustering up a whisper. "I sawr it I did. Was helping old Jaks he was when they jumped on him. They dragged him away they did." The last few words were almost inaudible as the man slumped on Baingan's shoulder. "They took the little one."

Not half a mile away Ulfrik was shocked back to consciousness as something slapped against his face. He tried to move, but found himself bound, something covering his mouth, and his hands tied behind his back. It took him a few minutes to come to his senses, realizing that he was being carried through the forest, it was probably a branch that had whacked him in the face and woken him up. He started to panic, his thoughts still a little hazy. He couldn't recall how they had sprung on him, but he was sure he would get a talking to from Skade for being careless. The thought of his sister though helped calm him, because he knew she would come for him. All he had to do was slow them down.

He tried reaching for the Force, but his mind wasn't clear enough, they had probably whacked him on the head, he was probably concussed. So with his mental faculties not at their best, he did the only thing he could, something stupid. He swung his head to the side and slammed it into the side of his captor's head with as much force as he could muster. It wasn't much, but it was enough to shock the figure into letting out a scream and dropping him. He fell to the floor, letting out a muffled grunt of pain. Moments later the figure running behind his captor tripped over his fallen form and crashed down on top of him. They might be smaller and more nimble than the Tof, but the path they had taken was little more than a goat track, and within moments the entire party was brought to a halt.

He had, for a few brief moments, bought himself some time.