[Carrûn]

The blood in Awyrgan's head was pounding. As the battle raged, most of the fighters had moved out of the burning hall into the settlement. Awyrgan and a few others had stayed in an attempt to take out the giant who seemed to fear neither the flames nor the men. A final collapse of the hall's roof had knocked several of the Rangers unconscious, including Awyrgan, and as Sulenar and Alearindu dragged him out the hillman had made good his escape.

Pockets of fighting were still scattered all over the town, but most of the hillmen had been driven off or killed and it seemed like the entire populace was almost ready to breath again. The weathered man scratched at the bandage wrapped around his head where Alearindu had insisted on tying it. It irked Awrygan that if he had been several years younger he probably would have ducked faster and been able to avoid all injuries together. He smirked. Young was such a relative term - he was a father figure to many of the settlers but still a boy to many of the rangers.

Drawing a whetstone and towel from his pack he began to clean and re-sharpen his weapons. He glanced around briefly, noticing that many of the Rangers were making their way to the small group of them that was already formed on the outskirts of the town. Nearly all were bruised in bloody and many were still untreated. But they were all preparing to go back into battle, focused on completing whatever their next task might be. Awyrgan looked for Tane knowing he would be in the settlement soon, but could not pick him out of the masses as they moved about. Most of the six he had been left with originally were still there, but he was unable to locate Rherrin.

A part of Awyrgan wanted to pursue the hillmen immediately, track them back to their village and raise it to the ground. It was a part he recognized that needed to be controlled. First, the settlement needed to be secured and the dead and dying cared for. Then they would take the fight to the invaders. He counted his arrows as the flames from the settlement began to paint the nightime clouds. Most of them were there. It was a good night for hunting.