//When Immortals Fall// //Characters involved(in order of appearance): Augustus, Drais(boooooo), Kevarr(yaaaaay), Spiritpaw, Atma, Ramadi, Cassite// //Edited by Drais// //Special thanks to the find list, and to the radio, for making this roleplay more than an in and out capture job!//

Augustus was crouched by a large grave, his head down and tears falling down his snout. The reason for the mouse's tears were not obvious emotionally... but it could be his completely bandaged tail, or the large purple lump on his head and a missing tooth. In all reality the mouse looks like he's been roughed up pretty bad. Augy simply sits there, trying to keep in his own warmth with his wrapped up habit. He leans up against the rough stone, a small sniffle escaping his nose.

What luck... All that sobbing has caught Drais's attention, and sure enough, he peers from the undergrowth to the graveyard to see... a mouse from the abbey, wearing glasses, and of short stature... That's gotta be him. He stands, walking into the graveyard clearing looking businesslike. "Augustus?"

Augustus turns at the voice saying his name. Augy stares for a moment, blinking at the ferret. The mouse gasps, sinking below the grave at the site. The mouse digs his claws in the rivets on the gravestone, his eyes wide. How did this ferret know his name? "W-who are you?" He asks in a squeak.

Drais grins, his cruel smile spreading wide over his features. "That's not important, Augustus. What -is- important is that I'm not here to hurt you." He holds up his paws disarmingly. "That is, unless you're going to resist. I am being paid to bring you to somebeast. Will you cooperate?"

Augustus cowers back, his eyes wide. "I'm... not Augustus." He finally says, trying to look like he wasn't lying. "Augustus... he's, dead. I'm his brother, Rupert." The mouse stammers with a nod, his mind flashing back to his closest brother. "Who... are you working with?" He asks again, inching backwards very slowly. "Why would you want... m-Augustus."

Drais frowns. "Augustus, I'm not stupid. You look exactly like what was described to me. I'm not here to hurt you, and I'm not at liberty to tell you who I'm working for. Not with, for." He takes a few steps closer. "If you continue to lie, I'll have to get violent."

Augustus scoots a few more steps back on all fours. "Leave me alone." He says in a hushed voice, looking completely terrified. "You might not hurt me... but the beast you bring me to probably will." Still, he backs up on all fours, getting ready to dash in a split second... he would be hindered, however, by the broken tail. "I'm not going. Just leave me alone."

Drais sighs. "You see, I'd -love- to work with you, here." Drais looks like he's getting a little flustered, his mouth and eyes twitching. "I'm not going to hurt you. That's not what I'm here to do. That's not what I'm getting paid to do. If you'd just settle down, this would be so much easier..."

Augustus settles on his haunches. His broken tail twanged with a good deal of pain... enough to make the mouse mouse cry out. Augy leans back to take it in his paws. He looks up, still looking frightened. "If you wont tell me who needs me or why... I'm not going /anywhere/."

Drais grits his teeth. He will -not- hurt an abbeybeast. "Okay, how's this? I give you a cut of the pay. Just... cooperate, please. Please." He actually seems like he's begging, his voice cracking and waving a little bit. Twitch.

A rustle in the trees announces Kevarr's arrival. Apparently she decided to take the arboreal route today, and a moment after the rustle, she rather ungracefully drops the short distance from the bottom branches of a large oak to the forest floor. Her ears are raised, and her fur is already hackling at Drais' familiar smell.

Augustus shakes his head, his bulk cowering down as low to the ground as it possibly could. "i have no need for money." He says with a frown, his eyes falling to his bandaged tail. "If you wont tell me who, then /no/." Augy repeats then turns to see something fall from the trees. He squeaks, thinking it's yet another vermin... but no... just... "Kevarr?"

Drais bites his lip as he hears something hit the ground. He turns around and sees Kevarr, there... The other one... "Ah, hello, Kevarr. Finally learned your name, you know." He steps back, looking between Augustus and Kevarr. Well, this is gonna be tough. "I just need one of you to come with me."

Kevarr straightens, though her eyes are slightly narrower now that she's got a good look at the scene. "Hello, ferret," she growls lowly. "I've got a far better proposition for you. You can tell me who hired you, and I won't pluck your ribcage like a xylophone."

Drais slumps his shoulders. "Why does everybeast have to bring -violence- into it?" he sighs to himself, shaking his head. "It's terribly bad form to tell you who hired me. What, do you want me to never be hired again? I have to make a living." He turns to Augustus. "From what I heard on your walltops last night, I wouldn't think this mouse here would even want to return."

Augustus watches them, he scoots back still, while the ferret is preoccupied. The mouse wilts at the words. "I... I..." The mouse snuffles, a tear rolling down his snout again. "That's just the way she is..." He protests weakly.

Kevarr snorts at Augustus. Her main focus however, remains on Drais. "Regardless, he clearly does not want to go with you." She begins walking towards the ferret; careful, slow steps, in an effort to hide her limp. "Violence is a risk in your line of work. Specifically, I remember detailing to you the last time we talked exactly how irritated I would be if you came near a Redwaller or one of my children."

Drais rolls his eyes. "Well, I'm pretty sure -nobeast- would be happy. As it turns out, you'll do just fine, my employer was looking for you, as well. From the looks of Augustus, he won't be able to run, and if it comes to it, I -will- kill him. The way I see it..." He takes steps away from Kevarr, towards Augustus, closing some distance between himself and the mouse. "Only one of you is coming away from this with your lives if nobeast is willing to cooperate. Now, which of you would like to come with me?"

The growling undertone to Kevarr's voice remains, even though she says nothing further. As Drais steps, so does she--a normal step, a normal step, and then a spring--the latter of which looks amazingly ungainly as she both launches and lands mainly from the same leg, but it's not meant to look pretty, it's meant to close the distance between them. At the same time, her single paw slips under her vest and out, emerging with a rather plain looking knife with a slightly longer blade than is standard.

Augustus squeaks and scrambles backwards, right into a head stone. The mouse is stopped and he sits right on his tail. Augy yelps and freezes up, the pain locking his joints. He couldn't move anyways, however... with the ferret right before him and a stone right behind him. The Novice could only stare with wide eyes.

Drais spots the leap towards him, and mirrors it, only backwards, bringing him that much closer to Augustus. "If you'd just come with me, then I'd be glad to not bring this to violence..." He reaches in his vest and pulls out both his dirks, just to be ready. He notices the awkwardness of the jump, but thinks nothing of it at the immediate moment. He sees Augustus's proximity out of the corner of his eye, and grins. "Last chance, Kevarr..."

Kevarr wastes no more time with words. The mirrored spring backwards frustrates her, but she darts--or rather hops, as is more accurate--towards Drais. She brings the knife in low, at level with his groin, with the force of the stab angling upward.

Augustus breaths out heavily, trying to hunker as close to the ground as he could. He looks left... and right... but there was no escape now. The ferret was too close. There was nothing he could do except whimper.

Drais mirrors the dash towards him with a spring towards Augustus, making to actually roll over him and put one dirk to his neck and the other to his back, shifting the mouse's body towards the marten. "STOP! Stop, Kevarr, right now, or this one's had it!" His eyes flicker, his self-inflicted mouth spreading wide across his face, showing an evil grin.

Augustus squawks out in fear, his eyes going down to the silvery knife at his neck. The mouse trembles. "Kevarr! Kev... please... no! I'll go! I'll go... just don't kill me... please..." He babbles, his fur on end and his pupils as big as dinner plates. "I'll go..." Augy finally whimpers with a strict nod, trying to avoid the blade.

Kevarr was prepared for that, given the last few of Drais' actions. She springs as he springs, so that by the time he tells her to stop--she's pretty much on top of them both. The trials of having only one paw--she drops the knife as she springs, in favor of snatching at the front of Augustus' habit and yanking him to the side, while at the same time she levers the heaviest blow she can with her wooden paw towards the wrist of the paw holding the knife to the mouse's throat.

Drais snarls, taking both his knives and thrusting them inward, the yank to the side offsetting the one in his back, but the blade of the knife to his neck actually pushing right into the mouse's throat, aided by the yank to the side. As he does this, he leaps backwards, dragging the mouse with him, this time digging his knife straight into the mouse's kidney, but the extra weight throws him off balance, and he lands on his rump... Still holding the mouse in front of him, he attempts to get to his footpaws.

Kevarr is still clinging to Augustus, and thus to Drais. As the ferret's rump hits the ground, she kicks both footpaws into the loam with savage force. Her aim is to pin Drais against the very headstone Augustus was cowering under. She releases her hold on the mouse in favor of reaching for the ferret directly--specifically whichever part of him is easiest to grab and squeeze.

Augustus ducks down, clawing into the the vest of Kevarr's as he's dragged away. The mouse squirms and wiggles, the blades cutting him at odd places. He turns his head, catching shallowly in the side of the neck, the other digging into his skin a good way before he's able to buck out of the position. Augy snarls suddenly, gnashing his mouse teeth at the legs of the ferret. This last attempt at protecting himself in the marten is actually not such a bad attempt, his claws out, and bandaged tail stuck in the air at an awkward position. The mouse feel as if he's about the blank out, this last bit of effort being his last bit of energy as the blood soaks into his torn habit.

Drais growls lowly, turning it into a loud bark as he's pinned against the gravestone. Lucky for him, he's got padding between himself and the marten, plus two strong arms versus one weaker one. He pushes the body of the mouse forward, attempting to shove the clawing beast away from himself, the mouse having clawed his arms several times, nothing deep, fortunately. Having shoved Augustus away, he brings one of his dirks away from the mouse's throat, and slams it down at an angle towards the meat of Kevarr's shoulder, the angle pushing inward towards her neck.

Kevarr makes an effort with her wooden paw to also push Augustus out from between them. Drais' stab connects fully, though the look that enters the jill's eyes as the blade penetrates her is...mad. Absolute madness. She thrusts again with her footpaws against the ground, as heavy as before, to keep Drais pinned where he is. Her claws and teeth both rake for the softest, most vulnerable part of him she can reach--his throat and face.

Augustus tumbles away as the wooden paw comes in contact with his chest, tail over feet. The mouse looks like a ball of fur, waiving paws, and a long bandaged looking-tube. After a few paces the mouse rams right into a gravestone, his eyes falling shut with a muffle groan. The mouse is out like a light, slumping to the ground in a heap of fur and habit.

Drais can hardly believe this marten is keeping him pinned against the gravestone... He twists the knife inside the marten, giving it a tug one way, using her forward momentum to try and toss her to the side, right into the gravestone. Meanwhile, his other dirk moves at a rapid pace towards her gut, looking to pierce through the marten as her single paw reaches for his face, and scores a long scratch across his cheek and the front of his muzzle.

Kevarr gives a feral snap of her neck forward, following the mustelid instincts to bite for the throat and then...not let go. Her claws continue to maul at Drais' face, and her wooden paw has taken to beating at one of his shoulders. She's in a frenzy--but this also means that while she's likely striking some vicious damage, she's taking it as well. The dagger in her gut is successful, though it has to go through three layers of cloth, as is the one twisting around in the inner part of her shoulder near her neck. And somehow she's managed to brace herself against the ground and lock her knees, making her very difficult to throw, even though she's likely going to be weakening very fast.

The marten's teeth come within millimeters of his throat, but the ferret's reflexes straighten out his arms, keeping the marten's jaws away... Drais is forced to lower his head and take the claws to his brow, and, in his insistence to not let go of the knife in her shoulder, he takes every last hit to his shoulder from the wooden paw. Fortunately, he himself has a lot of padding as well, so these strikes are barely noticed in comparison to the claws to his face. Drais tries to throw Kevarr again, this time starting to tug to the right, then putting all his strength into a throw to the left, the dirk in the marten's gut twisting now as he tries to ram the crazed marten's head into the gravestone.

Kevarr is thrown this time, and she takes a rather painful knock to the head. However, this frees up her legs--and she almost immediately brings them up and takes to kicking Drais' lower stomach and abdomen. She's barepawed, thanks to the warming weather, so this also means her footclaws are out and ripping. Her upper half continues its previous efforts; namely to get her jaws around the ferret's throat. Her remaining paw stops clawing, and instead digs into cloth and flesh--and tries to drag him closer. Kevarr is also leaking fluids all over. o.o

Augustus groans as his mind yells at him to get up. Augy turns his head to the side, trying to shut his thoughts off. It's a failed attempt, however, as the voice just gets loud for him to wake. "M'right." He mumbles, his throbbing head feeling as if another beast is taking a hammer to his brow. Augy lifts his head heavily and sways like a snake popping up from a basket. "Stop." He croaks, sliding a paw across the ground, his legs and arms pushing up as best they can. All his movements are slow and lazy looking. "Leave her... 'lone." The mouse grumbles, his eyes shut and his snout angling towards the ground. "Take me... and... leave her. You'll... still get... paid." He scoots slowly towards the ferret. Ugh, he looks /bad/.

Drais's face is a clawed, bloody mess. As if his scarred mouth wasn't enough, Kevarr. Jeeze. He keeps his hold on the dirks, baring his teeth in a growl as he feels footclaws scratching at his clothing and padding he has equipped... Not wanting to move his paws, he uses one of Kevarr's lashes forward with her head to slam his own head forward, meeting his forehead with hers... He's obviously trying to get her unconscious, so he doesn't have to kill her. And Augustus? Ha. He's not even -heard.- Feeling a bit of relief at not being clawed in the face anymore, he tries to slam Kevarr's head into the gravestone again (no respect for the dead...). "Go to -SLEEP!-"

Spiritpaw makes his way quietly through the brush of the forest, nostrils twitching, and ears swiveled forward. He smells something delicious.

The headbutt strikes her, causing her to go cross-eyed for a moment. Doesn't have to kill her? Ah, she's already dying. There's blood in her mouth that isn't his, and there's a small but growing pool of red soaking the ground beneath both of them. Kevarr seems to enter new heights of frenzied, berserking madness. She drags Drais closer, giving up on her kicking to try and wrap her legs around the ferret's body. And her attempts to bite his neck are all the more furious--because her time is rapidly running out, and some part of her seems aware of it. The wooden paw's barrage moves upward, to hit at his eyes.

Spiritpaw tilts his head, licking his fangs.

Augustus continues his plight forward, slow but steady. Soon he's right next up to the martens grounded body. He mouth angles a very sad look up to Drais and lays himself across the marten as best he can, in an attempt to shield her from him. "Go 'way..." He sobs, burying his face into the marten. "You're killing her... go 'way." His voice is muffled now, but loud enough to hear.

This marten is definitely INSANE. Drais growls quite loudly, his own body starting to feel the pain from the clawing and thrashing of Kevarr. He has -never- left a job unfinished(except that one time when Kevarr paid him better money to switch sides, oh the irony), and he doesn't plan to start now. But.. he's locked to the vixen, her legs wrapped around him. Amazed at how much strength the older beast has left, Drais starts frantically thrashing around as well, just for survival. The dirks are pushed in harder and twisted again, and the ferret throws his head forward to try and slam into the marten's again.

Kevarr is utterly unaware of Augustus. It might be argued she's also unaware of Drais--except as the target of her frenzy. Her throat gives an odd little bob as the dirks are pushed in further, and more blood escapes on either side of her mouth. As he tries to headbutt her again, she's ready this time--with a headbutt of her own, and snapping jaws angled for the underside of his jaw.

Spiritpaw moves forward slowly, rubbing his muzzle, and raising a brow. He raises himself to full height, staring down at the combating beasts. "Well good luck interrupting 'em, Spirit, you old fool." He rubs the back of his neck, licking his fangs again. "...Hey!" He growls suddenly. "That's Kestrel's mother! That's JArsune's mother, too! You're killing lots of beast's mother!"

Drais is oblivious to the wolf behind him, intent on the marten... Because he's got her teeth lodged in his jaw. Drais cries out in pain, pulling the dirk in her gut out and inserting it in a new place, a little higher, with a wild ferocity, pushing the blade in as deep as he can get it, then giving a twist... She needs to die, QUICK. Blood falls from Drais's muzzle and down his face on top of the marten's. Eeuch. Having lost movement of his head, the ferret's hope of knocking the marten out are gone, so he continues to perforate the marten's gut and chest with his lower knife, while applying constant hard pressure down into the knife in her shoulder, wedging it back and forth.

Kevarr's strategy is simple. She clamps her teeth down, as hard and as deep as she can manage, working to get past the flesh part of the underjaw and to the jugular beneath. The knife strokes have varied results--some strike true, some skitter off of her clavicle or ribs. She puts her last forceful effort into twisting her head and violently ripping out of whatever part of Drais she's managed to chew into. And then her claws release, and her leghold loosens.

Spiritpaw quickly maneuvers around to get a better idea of how exactly he's going to stop Drais... his expression becomes forlorn when he finds out exactly how in-depth it is. "Well of COURSE you'd have already inflicted fatal wounds. UGH. That's gonna make things messy..." He extends one of his long, lanky paws for the neck of Drais.

Drais snarls in agony with the deeper the teeth go, knowing he's just a flick of the neck away from death. But maybe he can stop her... He yanks the knife out of her shoulder, and moves to ram it into the side of her skull, to try and pin the marten's head against his neck with all his strength. Apparently, he still hasn't noticed the wolf behind him.

Spiritpaw growls, kicking at Augustus. "What in the hell are you waiting for? Get out of here and go get some help if you wanna be useful. You just sit there crying, and I'm eating -YOU-. I was REALLY hoping for lunch, here!" He looks back at Drais, and fixes his paws into the fur of the other beast, pulling back as hard as he can to get Drais away from the mangled marten beneath him.

Augustus cowers and holds onto the marten, his broken tail and the fact he's still halfway unconscious doesn't not at all seem to go well with the prospect of running back to the Abbey. Augy squeals out of habit from the kick, his from curling gently into the marten as a reflex.

Drais feels himself yanked away from the marten, and his knives... He is... surprised, to say the least, and turns his head over his shoulder to stare down... a wolf! No... he is -not- gonna die... he's come too close to surviving this to give up now... He reaches down to his side to grab his hand axe, swinging his paw forward and then back, trying to bury the blade of the weapon into the side of the wolf's rib cage... at the very least to get him to drop him.

Spiritpaw is...unamused. As Drais swings the axe at his ribs, Spiritpaw extends his free paw to snatch the wrist of the ferret. He sighs heavily. "Just stop struggling. Had I intended to kill you HERE, I'd just use my TEETH. I'm taking you to the woodlanders, comrade.." He grins. "Kestrel and Atma, specifically."

Kevarr just sort of...relaxes, as Drais is pulled away from her. At this point, maybe that's just as good to her mind as killing him. Or maybe she's too far gone to register it. Her breathing is coming in noisy, liquid sounding gasps, and blood continues to leak from her wounds, and in greater quantities from her mouth.

Augustus breathes heavily, trying his best to stop the bleeding. "Kev.... Kevarr..." He whispers, though he couldn't at all remember thinking to do so. But the words are keeping him calm, and maybe Kevarr, too. "Kevarr..." He just says her name over and over again, trying his best to keep her warm and stop too much blood from leaving her. This was very hard, however, as the mouse felt as half of him was asleep, and the other half in horrible, horrible pain.

Drais curses himself, really hoping to have been able to strike the wolf with his axe... Still not willing to give up, he gives a loud snarl and swings his footpaw backwards, aiming for the spot right beneath the wolf's ribcage, the solar plexus... Desperation's got this ferret furious, so the kick's got some pun-... punch... the kick's got some KICK to it!

Kevarr's ears twitch slightly in response. Kevarr's eyes are mostly shut, and what can be seen of them are rather glazed and unfocused. Her lips close, and then she whispers, "...Get...Redwall...idiot. Run."

The kick lands solidly in Spiritpaw's solar plexus. His muscles spasm, his holds on Drais' neckfur and wrist become EXTREMELY tight for a moment, before releasing completely, at the same time as all of the air escapes Spiritpaw's lungs. The wolf drops to one knee, gripping his chest, and snarling/wretching at the ground, letting Drais fall before him. He hasn't even the fortitude to curse at Drais.

Drais can't believe that worked... o.o Run, Drais, run. As soon as he hits the ground, his footpaws start moving around as fast as he can manage, carrying him away from the place... Blood still drips from his face and his neck as he goes off in the woods, trying to focus on keeping conscious until he can see somebeast about fixing him up...

Spiritpaw digs angry, powerful fingers into the dirt, clenching it tightly, as he rises to his feet. "Rotten.... dirty....tricks..."

Augustus doesn't say another word, instead just nuzzling his nose into the martens side before staggering up, his eyes crossed and his legs as wobbly as fresh cheese. The mouse turns, unseeing eyes leading his feet towards the Abbey. It must be a miracle... or just pure luck. Augy exits, the martens blood mixing with his own as he goes.

Spiritpaw merely heaves breaths as he watches Drais disappear. A moment passes, before he bends over, and murmurs. "I'm throwing up... I'm going to throw up..." A moment of tenseness from Spiritpaw, before his breaths become easier.. "...I'm not throwing up.... I'm not.... Ugh... Huh..." He looks down at Kevarr, frowning. "...Do... erh... do you want..."

Kevarr hisses briefly through her teeth, though it's more an exhale than any conscious effort. She's looking upward through the tracery of branches overhead, as though it were the most fascinating thing in existence. "Rrr'dwall," she repeats to Spiritpaw's inquiry. "Go."

Atma walk/runs into the graveyard, breathing heavily, and holding his chest. He looks around the graveyard for a moment, before he spots Kevarr and Spiritpaw. His ears go flat against his head, and he wordlessly moves to Kevarr's position, kneeling before her. "...You foolish, wretched beast.." He whispers, putting his paws to her forehead. "I had always warned you, but you never listened..."

Kevarr hasn't moved. Moving would require more energy than she's able to expend, at this point. Thus she's still laying beneath the gravestone, sucking in liquidy, gurgling breaths. Atma's arrival seems to compound them, as they come heavier and faster for a moment. "...I can't feel anything," she murmurs in response.

Atma nods slowly. "I'd rather you feel nothing..." The hob's eyes close, and he gives a shaking sigh. The only sign of shattered nerves on his part. "... I... don't think we can help you..." He draws his paws down along her neck slowly. "...Tell me, love... who is responsible for this..."

Moments after Atma's arrival, the knight arrives as well - though, immediately upon laying eyes upon the pair, he pulls up short, a short distance away, gaze training to the bloodied marten. Pausing there, he doesn't move, keeping a distance away from the two.

Kevarr lifts her fingers to Atma's paw, and touches it lightly. Something in her seems to relax, though Atma's words bring something else to her expression--after all, that's the first time anyone has ever said things weren't going to be alright with her injuries. She's afraid, and it's showing. "...Ferret," she whispers. "Ferret I sent after slavers. Said..." she swallows with some effort. "Said employed...get me or Augustus."

Atma sighs, nodding slowly. "I'll... take care of everything, then... I'll take care of EVERYTHING..." He puts his forehead to Kevarrs. "...I'm... not going to move you. It's better if the beasts at Redwall didn't see you this way. But Cassite's on his way, if Nagia didn't ignore me.."

Kevarr swallows again, and her muscles seize. For a moment she seems unable to do anything but grimace, and then she gradually relaxes once more. "S'a book. Under the mattress. Book. Don't follow me, Atma."

Atma nods slowly. "Alright... I'm going to put you next to... to your brother. And I'm torn between going back to Redwall, or finding everybeast responsible, and sending them to hellgates... With your name carved into their skulls."

Ramadi flicks his ears back quietly, an indiscernable expression on his features. The sword - which he had drawn upon entry - slowly dips down to touch the earth, and he leans on it quietly, ever silent.

Kevarr nods very slightly, running her fingers over Atma's paw with light, jerky movements. "...I'm very sorry," she says finally.

Kevarr says, "I've been...such a pain..."

Footfalls crunching amid the dead leaves of the previous fall, Cassite walks slowly to the graveyard, his paws tucked into his pockets ever still. What he sees first is not Kevarr, not Atma, but rather Ramadi, who manages to be standing with his back acting as a block to the scene. Cassite approaches, shaking his head. "Hmph... So Atma called you here too? Hope it's important." He closes his eyes and sidle alongside Ramadi, yawning.

Atma sighs, keeping a level head about himself. Barely. "...Well, would you have rather left an old rickety bitter jill, anyway?" His ears twitch. "Cassite. Come here."

Kevarr smiles very faintly, and very briefly. She doesn't reply.

Cassite is still in mid-yawn - Atma is offered a dismissing wave of his paw. Obviously, whatever is going on can wait for him to finish said yawn.

Atma peers over his head, seeing this, he growls. "Cassite!" He rumbles. "If you don't get over here and talk to Kevarr, so help me, I'm going to stab you DIRECTLY in that paw. You don't have time!"

The horseknight's ear flicks slightly as Cassite approaches - and once he turns, the darksquirrel would be easily able to tell something's quite wrong. The knight's voice is low, and quiet, and with a level of somber distance. His features are softened for once, showing his age a little more keenly

and, lifting a heavy hand, he alights it upon the squirrel's back, near the nape of his neck, and presses him forward a little, toward the bloody scene. ".. keep your wits about you, lad."

It is in the middle of Atma's rant that Ramadi nudges him forward and startles him out of his yawn. He drops his paw immediately, stunned at the scene that lies before him. The squirrel can only stand in stunned silence as he appraises Kevarr's injuries. Little by little, the squirrel's ears slowly lop back, and he takes a halted step backwards. "R--Ramadi... g-go get help. Get her help!" His voice is cracked with desperation at the plea. His shoulders sink, and he moves forwards. "...no..."

Kevarr's right ear swivels with a groggy motion. However, she's not responding to the situation around her. It's much, much easier right now to just lay here, and focus on dragging in each breath, and then letting it out.

Though, the horse only ducks his head a little, looking away, back to Atma. ".. It's too late. Her wounds are grave. There's no one who can help her now." His voice is quiet, and at length he nudges Cassite forward again. ".. speak with her while you still can."

Atma sighs, looking at Cassite.

Cassite advances, his ears slicked completely back, fists clenching and unclenching in anxiety. His vision is fast blurring with moisture. Unlike the others assembled - Cassite cannot bring himself to keep a clear head about this. Atma and Ramadi's solemn expressions only cause the squirrel to try to do the same - which leads to his entire face twitching between solemnity and grieving. Grieving eventually wins out. He crashes down to his knees at Kevarr's side, bursting into sobs. "No! Don't you do it, too!"

Kevarr's eyes flicker. Oi? She turns her head towards him as minutely as she can get away with and still have Cassite partially in her line of vision. "Hnn." Her throat bulges for a moment as she tries to swallow again, and fails, a thing which results in a sudden burst of gasping and heaving. A look of terror crosses her face for a moment.

...And then it passes. Kevarr's limbs relax again, and her eyes unfocus. She continues to struggle to breathe, a sound which is increasingly gurgling and liquid. "...I did alright..." she whispers. "Didn't I? I did alright in the end..." Ramadi only watches for now, turning back and leaning on his sword, wincing as Kevarr speaks, a twinge of sorrow briefly tracing across his features - but, he returns to silence, not wishing to intrude.

(Thankfully, Martin's Ghost isn't around to see everyone acting like idiots. He's taking a nap.)

Cassite hangs his head and tries to force a smile onto his features - the fur of his muzzle is quickly beocming matted with tears. "Y-yes.. of course you did..." He strains to speak, his words choked out amidst sobs. He lowers a paw to squeeze Kevarr's comfortingly. "You'll .. you'll be just fine, just... just hang on... please. Please hang on. Please, I'm n--" He squeezes his eyes tightly closed. "Don't leave. Not here. Not like this. You'll die old, surrounded by everyone who cares for you..."

Kevarr's fingers curl lightly around Cassite's. For a few moments, things stay like this--gasping breaths, but otherwise no changes. And then a rare expression touches her muzzle--it's a smile, a small but genuine one, and with it is a look of sudden...something. Contentment? Peace? Realization? That's up to the observer. "...Oh..." Her word trails into one final, rasping exhale. She does not breathe in again. Her eyes remain partially open, unfocused.

Atma seems to be made of solid stone at this point. He turns his head to look at Cassite, very quiet.

Cassite's body trembles - a mixture of grief and disbelief as he haltingly forces the name out from his lips, "Ph..Phoenix." His shoulders hunch, and he squeezes Kevarr's paw tighter, his tears coming freely now, "Don't leave. Don't leave... Please, gods... don't leave. Phoenix.. please!" He fruitlessly repeats the name over and over, each time that he utters it his voice becoming more faint. With a shaky paw, he reaches up and closes Kevarr's eyes - a peaceful expression present on her features that has not been seen in too many seasons. It makes the squirrel cry even harder, crumpling forward and resting his head against the marten's bloodied torso, sobbing.

Atma puts a paw on Cassite's back, his voice barely even a whisper. "We bury her with Saiph... and then we go back to the abbey... and we explain...everything. I know exactly who did this. And it's my... INTENT... to let him die by my own paw. But all things considered, there will be many beasts seeking revenge.."

As the marten fails to draw another breath, the horseknight's head bows, watching the pair. He has no place here. Fingers tightening around his sword hilt, he backs away, slipping through the trees, back toward the abbey, silently.

Cassite shakes off Atma's shoulder, roughly rising and flashing his arm across his eyes to brush away the tears. He moves immediately for the fleeing horseknight - and his wrist. The squirrel grabs out at the horseknight and firmly plants his footpaws, breathing hard and trying his best to stem the flow of his tears. "Don't. LEAVE. Please." The younger beast is shaking.

Atma slowly stands up. "We need to get her cleaned up and presentable..." His ears flatten. "I need to check...something." Atma rubs his chin, his paws are shaking. He's unable to keep his cool for much longer. "Can you stay with her...?"

The horseknight's brows arch slightly as the squirrel latches on to him, and he smiles lightly, tugging his hand free and placing it on top of the squirrel's head, before giving a glance back at the marten. A moment of silence, of hesitation. Slowly, the hand slides off the squirrel's ears, and he moves toward the fallen, dropping to a crouch with a slight wince beside her. A slight smile touches his muzzle, and the knight reaches forward, almost absently drawing a circle around her right eye and touching her under the chin. "La kahle, Kevarr. Godspeed." His voice is quiet, the tongue most likely unrecognizable. And with that, he straightens, regarding her for a moment, before silently rising, clearing his throat. ".. we will stay, yes."

Atma nods, slowly walking away. He passes Ramadi, and looks up at the horse. "If... if the best who did this to her comes back... a ferret..." His eyes literally shake. "Crush. Him." Cassite follows Ramadi's movements back towards Kevarr and bows his head, his eyes forced closed and fists clenched. This is a loss he was not prepared for - and a loss that he will not be able to accept. Moisture continues to accumulate in the squirrel's eyes; he leans weakly into Ramadi for need of physical closeness, and hugs the horse's side, weeping.

The horse looks to Atma and simply nods once, though in truth at the moment vengeance isn't the first thing on his mind. As Cassite latches onto him, he blinks a little, and looks down to the squirrel, and the slightest of a sad smile touches his muzzle, and he places a hand upon his back. "Such is life when you surround yourself with those whose lives are equally as fragile as our own .. and though life is given and taken, the only thing you can do is allow them to touch your life as best they can - and when it is time for them to go, remember them." He looks to the fallen with a vague smile. ".. to be remembered is one of the greatest gifts one can recieve in the afterlife."

Cassite's head bows deeply, his shoulders rising as his sobs begin to taper off. His blunted claws grasp at the back of Ramadi's garb, and he merely remains silent for a long while, seeming intent to hide from the sight that is only a few feet away from him. Finally, he manages to draw away from Ramadi, eyes red with irritation and glimmering with tears. "...at least... at least maybe..." He glances towards Kevarr, suppressing the strong desire to break into sobs again, "...she's happy, now."

".. she is, lad. She is." He smiles slightly, and places his hand on top of the squirrel's head. He shifts slightly, returning his sword to its sheath, and sighs, glancing back to the walls, regarding them silently for a long moment, contemplative. At length, however, he breaks the gaze to look back down to Kevarr, ever silent.

The squirrel seems to at the very least take comfort in this - and merely stands with Ramadi, his head bowed in sorrow. The crisp air is threatening to give way into spring, and the dusk will be approaching soon. Cassite whispers under his breath, "Run with Aksha, Phoenix."