At a glance it would look like Calf had only the one assailant coming at him from the front. The hog exuded an antagonistic aura that would've had Calf on the edge on any other day, but today he was in a more contemplative mood. Though the display of such an aura could be misconstrued as eagerness or an inability towards aura control, Calf wasn't so easily fooled.

Despite the brute's attempts at capturing all his attention with the exaggerated aura, Calf could still sense all of his assailants, specifically the two moving to flank him from behind. Their auras were tempered to a sheen, and they avoided footsteps, sweeping their hooves and paws across the floor to stifle the sound of their movements instead.

They maintained cover throughout their advance and Calf couldn't help but acknowledge their skills. These were definitely stealth specialists. Though Calf couldn't tell what forms their attacks would come in, he resolved to play along for a bit longer by pretending he'd only noticed the obvious brute attacking him head-on.

The brute grinned as he slowly advanced on him, his knuckles grating on the ground with each hunched step he took towards Calf. When he was within 15 of Calf's steps, he lowered his head and pawed the ground thrice before rushing towards Calf. Calf watched the head, paying close attention to the tusks that curved out of the brute's mouth.

When the head was a few inches from him, he ducked underneath the rising headbutt and grabbed onto its chest hair. He pulled his body underneath it, rolling to face the back before pushing off the chest with both feet. This propelled him towards the hog's hind limbs, where he swiped up with the broadhead in an attempt to hamstring the beast's left leg. He succeeded, and the beast briefly went to a knee on the way down before slipping onto its back. It gripped the bleeding stump that had housed a hoofed foot seconds ago. Though he'd meant to do damage, he tried to avoid killing by all means as that would likely invite reproach from the Taurs.

As Calf was working towards crippling the hog, the hidden assailants made their move. The taller of the two, a centaur, wielded a bow so long it would've been a challenge for Calf to draw it even once, let alone continuously as his attacker did. The arrows it loosed flew towards him, chasing his tail as he circled behind trees towards the bowman.

The other assailant of a slighter build ran for Calf's sleigh instead and Calf ignored this, thinking it an effort towards denying Calf the use of his other tools. He'd just circled halfway towards the archer when he noticed the smaller being's plan. To his surprise, the smaller assailant went straight for his long spear and upon retrieving it, they ignored all else and instead turned tail for the woods.

Anger overwhelmed Calf and the archer took advantage of that brief pause to strike his weapon arm thrice in an effort to pin him to the ground. Though the arrows stung, they failed to pierce Calf’s skin. Calf did not wait to check on his arm before beelining towards the thief. The gap between them continued to grow despite his best efforts to catch up.

Out of options, he decided to go for a ranged attack, betting everything on one shot. He slid as he approached the sleigh, picking up his knobkerrie along with a sharp stone. Rolling once and settling in a kneeling position, he placed the stone in the slight crook below the knob. With a three-quarter swing that started slow and accelerated towards the release, he loosed the missile towards the escaping thief's legs. The stone impacted the ankle with a wet, cracking sound, throwing the thief off balance. The thief’s momentum did the rest as it carried them forward onto the injured ankle. The ankle twisted, unable to support their weight and they fell into an involuntary roll.

⯁⯁⯁

The masters all watched this from their vantage. They'd noticed the moment Calf crossed the threshold, and in response they'd immediately moved their observations to the viewing window. The Warden and the Master Archivist maintained stoic expressions despite the ambush, but the Combat Master and the Master of Crafts couldn't school their reactions.

The Master of Crafts looked livid and ready to intervene whilst the Combat master held an expression of both anger and dread. The assailants had been chosen by him for the combat trial and had been asked to rejoin the others indoors the moment Calf had started the Extended Rites.

They'd offered to wait for the completion of the rites at the border instead. Their justification for this was to act as escorts for the prince. This would be in line with their duties as the prince would be expected to make a trip to the all-seeing tower for judgment upon his return.

The Combat Master doubted their sincerity though given most of the Taurs' usual disdain for the prince. Add to that their eagerness at the news of the Extended Rites, he'd chosen caution over all else and insisted they leave off of the Rites from now on. His worries were now manifesting in the form of the current ambush, and the masters were powerless to stop this due to the rule of none-interference on their part.

⯁⯁⯁

The struggle continued as the masters watched the conflict from the tower. Calf had been so absorbed with pursuing the thief that everything else had faded to the background. He was brought back to reality by consecutive sharp blows to his back. Though he'd presented a smaller target while on his knees, the archer was skilled enough to make the shots count. The moment he'd noticed the peculiar toughness of Calf's tattooed skin, he'd adjusted his shots lower and to the right till the last arrow glanced past the ribs, leaving a deep graze on the way past.

Calf winced at this but avoided turning lest he present his chest as a target instead. He reached for his shield and brought it up for cover, weathering the blows that peppered its bulk in his retreat. He moved towards the downed thief, whose hood had moved aside in their tumble to reveal a gaunt monkey's face. The monkey threw Calf a victorious grin before pricking its palm with the spear tip.

Confusion flashed on Calf's face before recognition dawned on him. From the monkey's expressions and actions, it had to have known what the spear head was made of, leading him to conclude this whole sequence was an effort to steal and bind the spear. He stalked angrily towards the downed thief, who upon seeing his expression began to panic at the thought of Calf’s intentions.

"Stop! Yy- Yo- You- You can't do that! Your kind isn't allowed to slaughter any of us inside this valley. Not even you, princeling!" came the feeble cries of self-preservation.

The monkey had thought itself triumphant in binding the spear as the only way to release it would be to slay its current owner. Calf understood this, and in a rare malicious display, he grinned menacingly at the monkey, suggesting he meant to do just that. The monkey took this sign as was intended, and this sunk him further into his panicked state. Though he meant to torment the monkey in retaliation, Calf's primary reason for continuing the farce was to see how the whole ambush would play out.

Now that the monkey had seemingly succeeded in stealing the spear from Calf, he was curious to see whether someone would step in to save the monkey, or discard the cat's paw they’d used to swipe his prize.

By now he was within a few meters of the monkey, who was now hurriedly shuffling back with one functional leg. The archer had begun circling in an attempt to find a better angle to get at Calf. As Calf leaned towards the monkey, he glanced movement under its cloak.

He deliberately fell to the left in time to avoid the knife-wielding appendage that shot from a slit in the cloak. It passed were his figure stood a split-second before, piercing the air where his heart was supposed to be. From that killing blow it seemed self-preservation had won over the need to stick to the mission parameters, and yet, no one deemed it fit to step in.

Calf severed veins on the hand from the extended arm and grabbed onto the tail that had been snaking towards his ankle. He pulled the assailant towards him, watching for any other sneak attacks but it seemed the monkey was preoccupied with the limp hand. Once the monkey was close enough, he brought the broadhead to the neck of the monkey's cloak and ripped it open with one smooth, downward stroke before stepping back.

He inspected the now exposed appearance of the monkey, noting its classification and all its peculiar features. It was a variant spider monkey with the usual 2 arms and a set of 8 legs. The peculiarities were its tail, which wasn't expected in monkey Taur variants, as well as the pair of legs that were second in order from the front.

The pair was built different. Literally. They looked like they belonged on a more muscular creature of a different species from the skinny monkey. The legs had thick quads and defined calves that promised quite the jump should they be put to such a task. They had the widest pair of feet/hands on them, easily double the size of the rest of its appendages. As he was noting all this, the wails from the monkey suddenly stopped, and the monkey stared into his eyes in defiance.

"Kill me!!" it hissed through clenched teeth; the hatred so apparent in its glare.

Calf switched from the broadhead to the knobkerrie and as he did so, the monkey adjusted its peculiar legs to point away from it in a display reminiscent of a grasshopper. It pushed off the ground, darting forward in his direction, picking up the long spear in the lunge and aiming it for Calf’s chest.

With little space to maneuver and unable to use the shield for fear of exposing himself to the archer, he let the monkey approach. Shock registered on the monkey's face as the tip failed to breach his skin at his chest. The force of the blow bent the shaft upwards, and Calf took advantage of this. He dropped the knobkerrie, grabbed onto the spear's head with both hands and stepped aside, resulting in a rebounding effect that pounded the dumbfounded monkey into ground below, knocking him out.

"Aah!" screamed Calf suddenly.

Two arrows thumped into his left calf and as a consequence of his reaction to the first two, the third glanced past his ankle, drawing a thin line of blood. He dragged the shield to cover himself in time to block 3 more arrows that thumbed pretty close to his right ankle.

He stopped to strategize, looking for even the slightest advantage he could get. Now that he was handicapped by the arrows, he couldn't advance fast enough to catch the archer. With no viable way of attacking, his best bet would be to fend off the arrows while beating a retreat to the all-seeing tower. He adjusted the harness and began the hobble to the tower. It would have been short work had it not been for his load and the arrow tips still lodged in his left leg. The archer circled him continuously, looking for a clearer shot, and failing time and time again due to Calf's vigilant weaving.

The archer's movements became increasingly desperate as Calf got closer to the tower. As he was about to breach the tower's pavement, a barrage of arrows peppered the shield like a salvo, forcing him to dig in till it passed.

His feet trembled at the strain to the point he missed the hog barreling towards him till it was too late for him to completely evade. He leaned forward to take the headbutt on his shoulder and extended his arm, twisting the flat of the broadhead to arrest his movement upward.

Arrows whizzed past where he would've been had he continued upward. He weathered the force of the swing, adding twist to his drop under gravity and landing on bent knee on the lips of the hog. He twisted the broadhead and pulled it towards his chest, severing one the tusks. He then rolled backwards into a crouch the moment he hit the ground, severing the veins on its arm to complete the impairment on the left side.

As the hog thrashed in pain, he retrieved his shield and brought it back up. He approached the sleigh and fastened the shield upright. Grabbing the harness, he pulled his load towards the tower entrance, finally managing to cross the threshold. The pelt of arrows on his shield slowed down not long after he crossed, coming to a complete stop once he was halfway to the entrance.

As he got to the entrance, he felt sharp pains in his feet and the lower shin of his extended right leg. Pinned to the ground on the left, he tried to spot the archers on the left and right while weaving to make himself a harder target.

An angled arrow thudded off the glass a few meters above him and this provided the answer to the mysterious shots. A moving veil was reflected on the glass above, curving towards his position. Calf grabbed the shield and pulled it over him at a slant, catching the arrows that were raining down on him. Though he'd survived, he'd been outsmarted using a shot he'd used on the rooster during the Wily Old Hare's trial. This barrage was more than he could've managed though as the impacting arrows persisted for close to a full second. Once they’d stopped raining down on him, he made to get up but a loud scream sounded from just behind his position, arresting any thoughts of making a run for it.