Forged Destiny [Book 6: Ch. 7]

Roman, on the other hand, was having a much worse time of it – utterly outnumbered, and by some enemies who were of a comparable level to his own. The Thief was wide-eyed and parrying madly, but he couldn't fend off everyone and cried out as Ruby managed to hamstring him. Watts cursed and extended a hand to heal him. He seemed surprised when I let him.

"Hm, do you believe you can wear me out through healing? That's certainly an interesting strategy." Watts chuckled, reversed his grip on the giant sword and swept it up. I was barely able to keep my grip as I was knocked back a good three paces. "Of course, that relies on the assumption you have any chance of holding me. A rather arrogant thing to believe."

It was, but I didn't think I could hold him at all. Not indefinitely. I also had no idea what reserves he'd be drawing from for his healing or whether they were finite. They had to be, but it could take hours to burn through them.

Watts sighed and healed Roman again as he was stabbed in the arm by Pyrrha and the shoulder by Blake. The second he was done, Roman yelped a third time – and a third time, Watts healed him, this time with a frown on his face.

When Roman was wounded again, almost immediately, our strategy became clearer.

[...]

"They are trying to separate us," Watts snarled, catching Roman's shoulder before the Thief could charge in. "Do not rush in alone or you'll just repeat the process."

I couldn't help but grin at the frustration in the Paladin's voice. We couldn't fight him, at least not fairly and without someone like Qrow or Cinder to back us up, but that was the beauty of the plan I'd come up with, that we didn't have to. A chain was only as strong as its weakest link, and right now Watts had two. To make matters worse, he had to keep them alive. Why else would he have demanded they come to Vacuo if he didn't need them in one way or another? He couldn't abandon them to fight us, because even if it only took him a minute to kill me, that same time would mean the death of Roman or Neo.

[...]

Watts charged into the melee with Neo, the combatants scattering again as Pyrrha called out a warning. They converged again on Roman, who let out a withering curse as he brought his cane up in a weak grip.

[...]

It was a deadly game of keep-away, but it looked to be working.

[...]

"Back away slowly," Watts told Roman and Neo. "Stay behind me. We are leaving." He kept his eyes on us, or on Blake specifically, having accurately pegged her the biggest threat. The Assassin made no move to follow, however. None of us did. As Watts slowly built more distance between us, we let them go.

Eventually, they were far enough away that Neo could re-apply an illusion. They vanished into the sands, though the lack of any footprints approaching showed that they were on the retreat.

"Is this a good idea?" Ruby asked nervously. "Should we really just let them go?"

"Roman and Neo are wounded," Ren said. "Even if Watts can heal them, he can't take away their exhaustion, nor can he give them back the blood they have lost. Their pace will be much slower as a result."

"There's no way they can escape us with the map," Blake added. "Sometimes it's best to bleed out a dangerous enemy and wear them down. Maybe we could beat Watts as a group, but it would almost certainly lead to some of us being killed. Better to wait for Cinder to arrive." She nodded to me at that, acknowledging the plan I'd come up with.

Not a brave one by any means, but something that would hopefully give us the best chance of staying alive. In a way, it was Sun that gave me the idea with his stories of how the tribes had to give up those who became infirm or too frail. Watts, Roman and Neo were already low on food and water, hence their desire to resupply by attacking a caravan or reaching Vacuo. There was no way they could go to the Roaming City now, not with Sun having alerted people and they covered in blood. People would ask questions. We'd find them easily.

Instead, they would have to carry on, except with no supplies to speak of and two of their party on the verge of collapse. They would have to rest and recover, giving Cinder time to catch up. Or, if they decided to push on, it would be at a much slower pace.

Either way, we had the advantage now. It was just a case of pushing it.

—Forged Destiny [Book 6: Ch. 7]