With all the selfishness in Boravia, Valery Bucren was surprised when one of the young women, Katya he thought, offered up an apology for her actions. Being accountable? This was certainly a day of firsts for many things. He gave the woman a solemn nod in response to her own. Honestly, he felt more wrecked by survivor’s guilt than anything. Xavier had been the one to hold the line and give them the precious seconds they needed to escape. But he was gone now. There was a reason selfishness was so abundant around here. It kept one alive. Maybe things might change. Or this will be a one-off like almost every other event around this dismal place.<br/><br/>The others seemed to discuss something personal and intimate amongst themselves, especially the two young women who were new to the village and Lady Ireena. For now, Bucren lingered apart, giving them some privacy. Teo responded to his remarks and Bucren agreed with her to a great extent. Old to them, maybe, the ruse employed. But for the newcomers, they were getting a very hard education on what it means to live around here. Bucren could only hope they lived long enough to profit from the lessons learned, which might be a duration of some hours given their current plight.<br/><br/>Ismark took charge of the situation. Now he was forthcoming with some information, once the drunk had worn off from the chase and running battle. Still, with all that was said, Bucren didn’t feel too safe or assured in that knowledge. The bottle was indeed fetched but when there was mention of weapons, including not a few arrows but quivers of them, along with bows and string, Bucren’s attention was grasped away. “It’ll be my pleasure.” He said with some deadly relish to the prospect of shooting from the higher ground. Any archer’s ideal dream scenario.<br/><br/>Xavier, Ismark then said, might be alive, taken as livestock and worse back to the castle for who knows what perils and tortures then. That was worse than a flat out butchery outside the door and it quickly over shadowed the prospect of rearming himself. No pleasure now, just gritty soldier’s work to be done. He followed the one called Andrei into the other room where there were empty weapon racks and a few lonesome devices left. Halbreds? Not for their close quarters combat inside of homes or in the streets. Too heavy to move quickly with anyways. He did find the quivers that Ismark mentioned, pulling out the arrows and examining them intently.<br/><br/>“Well met to you. Bucren. Was a mercenary for some years. I know how to use a bow and hunt in the wilds, or at least I did before I came here. And I can handle myself with a sword.” He explained rather dully about himself, before dropping his own cracked quiver to take one of the more pristine one quivers in the master bedroom, at least in comparison to his gear. He kept his own bow though, as he rather not waste time acquainting himself with a new weapon. It might be all the difference between life or death, using a bow he was not fully accustomed to, with the draw and the weight and the like.<br/><br/>When the one called Esperanza mentioned her willingness to go to the castle to look for Xavier, Bucren was somewhat astonished by her declaration. Brave, certainly foolish, but very brave. Sort of how he used to be as a young man. What had happened to him? He came to this place and prematurely got old, at least in mind if not body. Lady Ireena, who was apparently the two girl’s mother, was against such a plan. But she was right in a way. They had to do something. Just…what?<br/><br/>“Teo.” Bucren said to the gypsy girl who accompanied them. “You need a weapon. Come get a cudgel or bow.” He suggested, though he didn’t press her anymore after that. Having rearmed himself with a quiver full of arrows, some twenty-two of them, he went over to the bottle that Ismark put aside and finally had himself a swig. “I’m going to have a gander upstairs and see what it looks like outside. Try and not leave without me, eh?” He smiled ruefully, before heading up the narrow stairs to the top floor. Orientating himself briefly with directions, he went to the window that faced the same direction as the street they had come in, above the doorway. He could hear the groaning of the beasts outside and standing next to the window, practically hugging the wall, he peeped it open a slight ways to have a look outside.<br/><br/>At once he was assailed by the smell. Rotting corpses certainly had them. Through the narrow crack, he first espied the tops of those gathered outside the door, before looking down the street before him, seeing if he might get a glimpse of their fallen comrade, or some sign of what might have happened to him, if he was indeed butchered on the spot…or dragged off.<i>Then maybe there was cause enough to go looking after him, when the sun rose.</i>