Celandine was no warrior - she was a young scholar, a wealth of knowledge and recently a sneaky sneak. But not a warrior. Wisdom told her she would be nothing but a hindrance in this fight.

After scrabbling to her hooves she briefly looked for a last time at him. Locked into a vicious duel Vanimar was waging his own battle against the demon, striking when he could and defending where was needed. With sabre and long dagger in hand he was equally matched - for now.

A whistle and another arrow landed in the dirt at Celandine's feet. Fine. Fine. She was going.

Her hooves skittered on the looser rocks as she turned literal tail, pulling her knitted jacket around her tightly and again feeling the hardness of the sheath and blade. A comfort, if anything. Racing towards the cliffside she moved towards the straggling tents which had not yet burnt down. If she was to make this last stretch on her own she needed her satchel. After all, she had borrowed books from the Sanctuary library and -

"Wha' are yeh doin'?" came a surprised but appalled cry.

Celandine had just been at the fold of her and Vanimar's tent flap, her hand pulling it away. Twisting she was faced with the stocky and wide-eyed figure of Steadfast, his ginger beard streaked with blood.

"Ge' ou' of here, girl!" he roared. "Ge' yoursel' and tha' sword to Sanctuary! Yeh hear?"

"I was just getting …"

"Now!" the lead dwarf roared, turning around to batter a tiny but precise flying imp darting towards them, sharp fangs bared.

"Drys," Celandine cursed. But Steadfast was just as right as Vanimar. Grabbing the closest thing she could see - her oilskin wrapped books which at least had some of her precious manuals. Close by was also a small pouch of basic supplies +
- spark rocks, dry rations, a skin of water.

As she came out of the tent Steadfast pressed a hand at her shoulder and pushed her sharply towards the cliffside. There a goat had been tethered, partly up the slope and pulling desperately at the end of his rope with utter fear in its eyes. It was the runt of the bunch, but it was all she had.

Running over to it she was briefly reminded of the pygmy goat, Renegade, she had made friends with back in the woods of Corone, yet this beast was bigger and stronger. Her own hooves helped as she struggled up the slate and shale, to the feverishly petrified goat. Placing out her hands before her she begged it with a cry to calm down but it seemed to not hear her. The nosies of fighting, the fire raging, the whistling of deadly arrows seemed too much - and Celandine could honestly understand. Running forwards she aimed to grab it by the harness but as she did it fearfully thrashed, causing a wide and dangerous swing of its horns.

"Drys!" she cried again. She knew she needed to get out of here as others fought for her own freedom. Gave their lives for her potential. Umbrian. Steadfast. Vanimar.

Gritting her teeth the faun who's lonely birthday celebration seemed just a fantasy moved around and up the steep slope to get a good hoof above the mount. As she watched it continue to moan and thrust she calculated a position and distance above it, shaking herself to try to ignore the other sounds and -

Jump. Leaping through the air she crossed her fingers and prayed hard. But as a faun her skills and performance with climbing and leaping were higher than other mortals. Quite neatly she landed into the saddle of the goat, and though she slipped to the side a little as it reared she managed to hold on, gripping with knees and onto the harness directly. Then, grabbing her pocket knife she defiantly slashed down to break the rope that kept them attached to the cliffside.

Without hesitation the riding goat launched itself into the air. The rest of the flock had by now fled into the night, and she and her beast would join them. As the camp began to brighten with the spreading fire Celandine made her goat race away, faster and faster and more desperately as they took each hoofstep. Faster and faster, further away from the demon attack none of them had expected, away from the blood and heading back towards where this had all begun.

Sanctuary.