Marcus kept to himself as the party of mercenaries came across the pile of corpses. His days in the legion, and more recently, his work as an operative of the Bloodlet throne had hardened him to such gruesome displays. That didn't stop him from feeling a twinge of righteous anger at their murderers, or sympathy for the young robed girl. The others inspected the bodies, and soon, the ranger set the corpses on fire. The smoke climbed into the sky, slightly hampered by the light rain. The Imperial bounty hunter was upset about that, and lead the others on their way.
They ended up in a ravine, with alarmingly high walls. It sloped enough for people who were familiar with the terrain, to have no trouble flooding into the passage the party occupied. From a military perspective, it was the perfect place for an ambush. As if this thought was a signal of sorts, Forsworn warriors spilled over the edge of ravine, charging down to engage the party. Marcus turned on his heel, and, unsurprisingly, more of them had blocked the either entrance.
He hesitated for an instant. His legion training had taught him to fight in a unit, each legionnaire watching one anothers back. But his companions were hardly imperial soldiers. On the other hand, in serving as an operative, he'd learnt to fight on his own. He turned and went to confront the warriors heading to the rear of the group. "Deal with the others, and I will hold off these." He called to the others.
He drew his sword, and faced the nearest of the approaching forsworn, two men, and a woman who wielding a pair of axes, attempted to circle around him. He kept the woman in his sight, even as he approached the pair of men. The man on the right made the first move, lunging forwards, sword leading, an axe in the other. Marcus parried the stab, and stepped back at the same time, avoiding the savage slash of the axe. Though he wore a shirt of mail, he wasn't about to take foolish chances.
He dispatched the first man with a quick thrust to the kidneys. Not a fatal blow, but it put him out of action for the time being. The second man arrived with a flurry of blades, attempting to drive the vampire back, into a position where his friend could land a potentially lethal blow. Marcus allowed the man to push him back, dodging or parrying every attack. When he noticed the woman moving towards him, he sidled to the side, forcing his current opponent to turn with him. Tired of waiting for her companion to finish him, she rushed at him. Aware of this, Marcus caught both the mans blades on his own weapon, near the crossguard. Drawing on his vampiric strength, he shoved the man, sending him stumbling backwards.
While the man regained his balance, Marcus spun back to the woman, slashing at her unarmoured midriff. She cried out and leapt away as a thin line of blood appeared on her stomach. Quickly, he turned back to the man, and finished him with a thrust to the side of mans neck. Then he was left with the wounded woman. For the first time since the confrontation had begun, he noticed a little uncertainty in her eyes. "I will make your death as swift and painless as I can." He promised, saluting her with his bloody blade. She engaged him again, one of her axes swinging in low.
That forced Marcus' blade down, to protect his legs, leaving him vulnerable to the second weapon. He saw the flash of triumph in her eyes, and she brought the second axe in to chop into his ribs. With his free hand, he reached down, and caught the haft of the weapon, just below the blade. He held the weapon an inch away from his side, holding it there despite the womans' best efforts. Her expression turned from triumph to confusion, then surprise as she spotted the pale hand holding her weapon back. Marcus struck then, slipping his blade down the haft of her left hand weapon, launching a stab at her leg.
She was forced off balance, and extended her left arm to regain it. Marcus swung his blade up and down, the keen blade slashing through the womans right wrist, before doing the same to the left. The woman held the bloody stumps up before her disbelieving eyes, and Marcus brought his blade around in a horizontal slash, taking her head clean off. He took a moment to kill the first man he'd stabbed, before turning to engage the others near him.