As Nimue stealthily made her way to Rolph, Varatt did as good of a job as he could to be a distraction. It was not something he was exactly used to be doing on purpose. However, being a mountain of a man usually helped him gain attention whether he liked it or not.<br/><br/>Though he lasted a few minutes deflecting Rolph's arrows, he knew that he would not be able to keep it up for long. The old man could feel the dull ache in his knee, and could tell it would give way at any moment.<br/>And that is exactly what it did.<br/><br/>The nerves in his leg suddenly screamed out in excruciating pain as he took a step towards his attacker. Varatt hollered like a wounded bear, and his concentration faltered. Now that he was no longer able to protect himself with magic, an arrow loosed from Rolph's bow and struck the paladin in the chest, causing him to momentarily black out from the pain.<br/><br/>When he awoke, Varatt's hand went to his chest, where he could feel the pain from the arrow. The hand came away slick with blood, but he could tell it was not to bad. It seemed as if he got lucky, and the arrow glanced off of a metal stud before hitting the tough leather of his armor, causing the wound to be surprisingly shallow.<br/><br/>As he looked up however, his heart was filled with dread. Varatt could see Nimue standing not far away from Rolph, their attacker pointing his bow at her heart. He tried to call out, but it hurt to much to speak. And as much as he tried, his leg would not allow him to get up. So the old man watched helplessly on the sidelines, thinking that he had failed his pupil.<br/><br/>When Rolph fell over the cliff, he breathed a great sigh of relief. He should have known Nimue had something up her sleeve with that dragon of hers.<br/>Now that he was at ease, Varatt suddenly realized how tired he was. His arms began to shake weakly, and he just managed to roll onto his back and avoid pushing the arrow deeper. His eyes drooped, as if weighted. Perhaps he should rest. From seeing others in his position countless times, he knew it was a bad idea. But it was so tempting...