Rayann felt a wave of unease wash over her with Myth’s revelation he had more dreams since that first one. While she knew he didn’t want to worry her with them, she was glad he did level with her and let her know he had something. Knowing he would not deceive her in any way with the news, she trusted his visions and knew they were a warning to him that they had best keep moving onward.

As Kwin made his inquiry’s, Rayann let her eyes sty focused on Myth. When the mention of his companion was made, she wanted to see what his reaction was going to be. Since revealing their feeling for each other and spending time alone to explore them, they had not encountered anyone that made mention of their relationship. But now, as Kwinn brought up the obvious, Rayann was interested to see just how Myth handled such a thing.

It was no secret that Elves were of the mind set that each species should pair with their own and when an Elf reached beyond his or her own kind, it was almost blasphemous. Knowing Kwinn was merely speaking honestly, she knew he was not being ignorant or rude. He was merely stating the obvious truth they were going to have to deal with.

When she saw how Myth handled the topic, she felt a small smile tug at the corners of her mouth and felt her heart swell with pride and love. Of course that smile didn’t last long when he spoke his last sentence. How would his brethren treat him knowing who he used to be aligned with? THAT was the real concern they would have. Of course Kwinn was clueless as to Myth’s past and it was none of his business now so Rayann didn’t see any reason to bring it up.

She did, however, feel the need to change the subject.

”Well, now that we have all shared a nice breakfast, thanks to our new friends, I would say it’s time for us to be moving onward. Shall we?”

Tanjee, who was standing on the edge of the small camp, had turned her head to look at Myth when he made the comment about his human companion being the last of his people’s worries. Knowing, at least something, of the story behind the legend, she knew what he meant. While she was still uncertain if he and the human Mage were being completely truthful, she DID know the human woman wouldn’t be traipsing around in a robe of Solinari. So if that were the case, she knew Myth had turned a new leaf of some sort. How that would reflect on her people remained to be seen.

When Rayann suggested they be on their way, Tanjee chimed in then and nodded.

”Aye…..it’s best we leave here. We have lingered long enough. Kwinn? Would you be so kind as to make it look as though we were not even here?”

Looking over at Myth, she quirked her brow.

”If you would not mind, I would like to take the lead for now.”

Kwinn listened and finished eating without any more rude questions, the ranger was learning a good deal about his new friends, these travelers were unlike anyone he had encountered before.

Myth seemed completely without any fear, the Mage woman Rayaan was like a calming breeze with her quiet way and Tanjee well she was just downright intimidating with her many opinions, both spoken and unspoken.

When the she elf and Rayaan suggested that it was a good time to get moving Kwinn was grateful for the suggestion. Kwinn put the small fire out and buried it in a way that it was undetectable, the ranger buried the rabbit bones as well, he mixed a curious blend of soil and wild grass with them.

Kwinn could see Tanjee watching his efforts.
The earth and grasses will cover the smell of our fire and the rabbit, even a hound would have a time finding these once they are buried.

Kwinn walked the camp, he seemed to be walking in random circles but he was stamping out any bootprints (even the faint elf ones). His custom boots stamped down any disturbance in the soil around the camp, after a few minutes the ranger seemed satisfied.

Looks good to me friends, let us stretch our legs a bit.
The ranger walked on and he began to sing once again.

I am a rich man you women can see, which one of you ladies will come home with me...

As it turned out there were more than ten verses of this tune, each consecutive verse was more vulgar than the previous. Kwinn sang much quieter this time than before, at least his new companions could be thankful for that.

A slender hand slid beneath the bloom of a deep red rose and with the slightest of tugs pulled the bloom away from the rose bush. A pair of scarlet eyes peered down upon the rose as it was lifted to the delicate rose of a women. Ruby lips pulled back in a smile as she took in a deep breath. “Mmmmm.... so divine...” As the woman exhaled it was as if the rose had been put to flame as it quickly sizzled and turned to ash in the woman's grasp. She frowned slightly as she closed her hands upon the piled of ash and let it slide from her hand ever so slowly. She sighed and stood tall once more.

Dressed in robes of the deepest red she stood about average height for a human but upon close inspection of her ears one would see the points that would mark her as half-elven. Flame red hair was draped around her shoulders hanging mid length down her back. She was wearing a dark red cloak that hid away her form for the most part. Beneath that she wore a vibrant red robe and a bodice embroidered with black and silver arcane designs. Two rings adorned each hand with varying designs upon them and in her hand she walked with a staff that looked as if it had been charred in a fire.

Straightening her dress and her cloak the woman's eyes fell upon the path before her and she began to walk. She was traveling north upon this road skirting around the fabled witch wood. She feared nothing in that spirit monster infested place but she had and agreement to not enter with the spirits there in. It added a great deal of time to her travel but it also helped her avoid certain entanglements. All in all she was happy to be on the beaten path as she looked ahead of herself. She had awoken with a sense of purpose this day but she knew not what that purpose was.

((I just waned to get her out there. My brain just did not want to work with me on a good start))

Once again the human ranger surprised Tanjee with his forethought. Perhaps she was being a little too harsh on the man. But he was human. Weren’t they SUPPOSED to be harsh on them. No matter how well they had learned the Elven way? Her gaze strayed to Rayann and Myth as she watched them interact with each other. This mountain of an Elf had chosen a female human as his mate. Then again, he wasn’t exactly like the Elves of the Sylvanesti. The legend of his life was proof to that.

When the camp was secure and no evidence remained of their presence, Tanjee nodded to the others and started walking onward, leading the rag tag group forward, deeper into the Sylvanesti woods. It wouldn’t be long before the outer patrols picked up on their presence. Especially with Kwinn singing his vulgar song but this time, Tanjee welcomed the noise. This way, the patrol wouldn’t be taken by surprise.

They had been walking for about two hours when Tanjee brought them up short, holding her hand up in the universal sign for stop and quiet. The forest had grown especially quiet in this area. And there was a strange scent on the air. One she had never come across before. It was faint but there all the same. And it smelled of…..metal…..and sulfur….

Tanjee’s nose twitched slightly as she sniffed the air to try and determine what direction it was strongest in. She had just turned to the west when a strange whistling sound reached her ears. She had just enough time to yell at the others and drop to the ground before the bolt whizzed by her hit the trunk of the tree behind her with a solid THUD.

”GET DOWN!”

About that time a chorus of strange sounds could be heard as a group of about twenty Dretches, pale, squat, hairless humanoid creatures that stand about four feet tall, left their hiding places. Each Dretch was armed with some sort of weapon or two. Some had bows with arrows, others had pike looking weapons, and others had bolos. What made these creatures so bad to fight against was the fact they communicated telepathically with each other and worked like one big fighting unit as opposed to several single pieces.

Rayann walked along beside Myth as they headed out from the make shift breakfast camp. Tanjee was leading them on at a rather good pace and Rayann saw how light she was on her feet. What amazed her even more was how light Kwinn was as well. Even with his raucous song he didn’t leave much of a trail to follow, if he even left one at all.

As they walked on, Rayann talked to Myth with her mind and he did the same. They discussed what to possibly expect from the Elves with his return to their world after such a long absence and knowing his history. Of course they knew it wouldn’t be easy for either of them but with any luck and with blessing from Solinari, it wouldn’t be as difficult as the worse case scenario.

Just prior to Tanjee calling the group to a sudden halt, Rayann felt a strange buzzing in her head. It was like listening to a thousand voices talk at once. The sound was so deafening that she couldn’t hear anything else. As soon as Tanjee yelled and the bolt whizzed by the Elf and the Dretches showed themselves, that buzzing sound became louder and Rayann pulled her hands to her ears and bent over to try and stop the sound.

It was maddening. The voices were all talking at once about everything they were doing to the group and how they were going to round them all up and kill them all expect for the white robe. The voices were talking so quickly that Rayann couldn’t put her guards up fast enough to block out the sound. And it was so much information at once, her mind was trying to process it all so she could make sense of it only to find she simply couldn’t keep up with it all.

”By the Gods! Make them stop!”

She wanted to run. To get away from them as fast as she could but she didn’t dare leave Myth and the others. She HAD to find a way to stop them from getting into her mind herself. Concentrate, Rayann, she told herself. Concentrate. Force them out. Make them leave.

Kwinn had only just finished his raunchy song when Tanjee stopped walking and held up her hand. She watched the woods with her bright eyes and sniffed the air like a wild thing, her instincts seemed razor sharp.

Kwinn was lost for a second in admiration, this beautiful elf woman was a wild thing was she not? She was indeed a Sylvan elf, a member of a people that Kwinn held in the highest regard. Kwinn was again admiring her fine clothing (and it's close to the body fit) and her long shiny hair. He was imagining what her hair would smell like up close when her shouting brought him back to earth.

As the bolt struck a nearby tree Kwinn grabbed his fighting stick, he was ready for combat. Bolts, arrows and projectiles whizzed at them. A small arrow struck Kwinn in his thick leather knuckle guards, it pierced the cured leather and cut into his hand just breaking the skin. The ranger pulled the weapon from his glove and threw it to the ground. Another flew by his ear, pulling some of his knotted hair hair out as it just missed his head.

Kwinn was not yet close enough for hand to hand with the small creatures and their small ranged weapons were currently giving them a sizable advantage. This did not please the ranger at all, he gripped his stick with both hands and began to dig at the earth with the end of the tall staff like weapon. Kwinn then spoke a few quiet Elvish words and the soil he had just turned up was picked up in a small burst of wind and blew into the eyes and faces of some of the Dretch.

The dirt and sand irritated the small creatures, 3 or 4 of them clawed at their eyes and grunted in anger. Kwinn used this to get closer to the small beastlings. He gingerly sprinted closer to them and brought his heavy oak stick onto one of the thing's head.

Myth kept himself as they packed camp and made the preparations to move out. Already the day had been looking up as he and Rayann had come acro two new companions. At least the human he knew would be ready if a fight popped up. His mind focused on a myriad of subjects from the thoughts of brigands down to running into an elven patrol party. Hopefully they would be able to persuade whoever they met with words before swords. However he was not overly hopeful about the matter and kept it to himself.

Their presence cleared up Myth could only smile appreciating Tanjee's forethought in telling Kwinn to hide their presence. Myth was simply going to do it himself but upon observing how the man went about the task Myth once more remained silent and instead paid attention to the sounds around him. He held back a chuckle when Kwinn broke into song and only shook his head sparing Rayann a glance before smiling. She brought up the matter of what to expect as they drew closer and Myth was less than eager to respond but he knew it was necessary. We will definitely encounter a patrol of some kind but I am unsure if it will be the patrol itself we will deal with when we do finally make contact. Both your presence and Kwinn's is enough to warrant the attention of a simple scout. However with me present I can almost but that they will instead get other help. Two humans and the bastard prince is enough cause for concern considering the past few years..."

He eventually shifted thigns to a lighter tone and was regaling Rayann with tails of his youth when he became distracted. He smelled the beasts about the same time as Tanjee. He knew that smell all to well and was reaching for his dagger when Tanjee called for them to drop. Myth simply shifted to the side feeling the breezeof an arrow breaking the wind close to his face. On instinct he had drawn a dagger and flung it int he general direction the arrow had come. Twenty of the beasts appeared and that fast one dropped with a dagger in its head.

He saw Rayann grasp her head and go down but did not hesitate. He knew how these beasts spoke to one another and knew what was wrong he could do nothing save for call out to her hoping his voice would drown out theirs as he and his companions worked to dispatch their foe. His hand went to his sword hilt and he dashed like a bullet past Kwinn as the human engaged their foes. There was a flash as Myth drew his blade cleaving through his first Dretch and he planted his feat With his sword out and at the ready.

Tanjee had never been in a fight before. At least, not like this. The closest she ever came to such a thing was back in her youth with a bunch of other kids her age. It had something to do with the supposed affection of one of the males their age, Tanjee and another female her age. But this….this was life or death. Not some jealousy fueled confrontation.

When the Elf saw the way these creatures came out from hiding, she quickly got to her hands and knees and scrambled behind the tree that had the arrow protruding out of it as quickly as she could. She saw the way Kwinn quickly set to fighting the creatures, but not before she saw the bolt protrude from his hand and a cry of alarm slipped past her lips.

Her reward for her cry was another bolt sent flying her way that found the trunk of the tree she hid behind again. Daring to peer out from her hiding place, Tanjee watched, between dodging projectiles, at Kwinn and Myth as they took to trying to dispatch the Dretche’s.

But it was Rayann that she saw struggling the most. If the mage didn’t get to cover soon, she would quickly find herself a human pin cushion for the many arrows now sent volleying from the Dretche’s small bows. Looking at the men then darting her eyes to Rayann, Tanjee debated what to do, then, realizing she had to act, the Elf said a quick prayer to her Goddess and quickly got to her feet and took off after Rayann.

Arrows and other things whizzed by her as she ran as fast as she could for the mage. Just as she reached the woman, Tanjee’s feet suddenly quit working and she tumbled forward. Grabbing a hold of Rayann on her way down, the two women found themselves sprawled out on the forest floor.

Tanjee sat up as quickly as she could, brushing the hair from her face, and looked at her ankles. One of the creatures had been successful in using it’s bolo to bring her down like a crumbling statue. Furrowing her brows, she quickly untangled the rope from around her ankles and kicked her feet free.

Looking at the men, she saw how they were handing the creatures before she turned her attention to Rayann. The woman seemed to have snapped out of what ever had been bothering her and was now positioned with her lower legs tucked beneath her. Her lips were moving rapidly but Tanjee couldn’t hear anything coming from them. Blinking, Tanjee glanced at the mage’s hands and saw they were glowing a faint lavender color. Letting her gaze drift to the men, Tanjee saw Myth’s own blade glowing that same lavender color and blinked again. As her eyes darted from Rayann to Myth, Tanjee suddenly knew what they were doing.

Her thoughts were quickly interrupted by the sound of something to her right. Snapping her head in that direction, Tanjee saw a lone Dretch had broken through the line of defense and was headed right for her, holding his pike like weapon threateningly. Without thinking, Tanjee reached down, picked up the discarded bolo she had removed from her ankles and whirled it a few times before throwing it at the hateful creature.

The rope found its mark and quickly wrapped around the creatures throat. The two, round ends of the weapon picked up speed as the roped wrapped around the creatures neck and when they made contact with the things head, Tanjee heard the sickening, soft like thud they made. Quickly feeling remorse for doing what she did, she prayed her Goddess would forgive her for killing the creature.

Rayann knew she had to get a grip on things quickly or she was doomed. The sound in her head was so bad she couldn’t even concentrate to get up any kind of protection spell on her or anyone else for that matter. She was just thinking of turning to seek shelter when she was hit from the right and knocked down to the ground. And it was just what she needed.

As soon as the contact was made with her from Tanjee slamming into her, Rayann stopped hearing the sounds of the other voices in her head when she thought she was in grave danger. Her defenses quickly came up and she was able to push the others from her mind.

Seeing Tanjee was fine, she quickly righted herself to her knees and began working in conjunction with Myth the way they had practiced. Her eyes never left the tall Elf as he began working his way through the evil creatures. All Rayann knew was that they needed to gain the upper hand or they were all going to die and that was simply unacceptable.

Kwinn swung his fighting stick down on the dretch a second time, it's small but thick skull finally gave and it fell dead to the ground. With many arrows flying past Kwinn still pushed forward, he held his stick out longways and caught two more of the creatures at the throat, one was stunned by the blow and went down right away, the other got right back to it's feet and charged the ranger again.

Kwinn punched at the creature as it leaped at him, it sank it's teeth into his thick gloves and refused to let go. Kwinn lowered his arm to the ground, the vicious creature was still gnawing at his glove as Kwinn brought his boot down on it's head killing it.

Kwinn did not waste any time, he charged into the mass of small beasts again. Kwinn was holding his stick like a spear, he threw it with all his might, it struck another dretch in the mid section. The small humanoid fell on it's side clutching it's belly. The thick Oak stick had bounced off of the creature and right back into Kwinn's hands.

Kwinn gripped his weapon tightly and waited for more of the creatures to come at him when he felt a hot flash of pain in his right arm. A small arrow was jutting from the ranger's bicep. Kwinn knew enough about fighting to know that the pulling out of a barbed arrow was not an option.

The ranger glanced at the arrow and prepared to fight on.
It will have to wait... He thought as more of the creatures rushed at him.

Kwinn looked just over his shoulder, Tanjee had gotten to Rayann, a number of the beastlings were approaching the women. Kwinn kept his eyes forward as he tried to make his way closer to the women as the small things closed in.

Myth's mind remained blank and his features calm as he let the beasts close in with him. He remained aware that there were still a couple of the things still wielding bows and he was careful of keeping his gaze leveled in that direction when he could manage it. He stepped to the side, twisted, avoided, parried, and struck out. Every move was like part of a dance with a touch of elven grace that defied his appearance. He remained concerned for the safety of Tanjee and Rayann and worked in their direction. He had heard the feint sound of a body hitting another and it had drawn his attention for a moment. That moment of distraction was enough to let one dretch in through his defenses. A blade skidded across his armored forearm and bit into his bicep. Myth grimaced snapping his attention front and center once more before his free arm snaked out grabbing the creature that drew to close. He smiled noting the surprise and pulled it close to his person and heard the thunk of several arrows puncturing the thing. Its friends had made a calculated move but Myth had seen these things in a fight before and knew their archers were opportunists because their aim was not nearly as acute as an elf's. Grabbing the dead dretch he cast its arrow filled corpse in the direction of the archers.

His sword was coming down again and them he felt the magic enter into his blade as it cleaved through the dretch before him. A familiar lavender glow was wrapped around the blade and Myth began his assault anew. Rayann had overcome the voices of the dretches mind. He was aware however of the beasts now trying to out maneuver both himself and Kwinn. He shifted his attention to cleaving his way to the women now. Their safety was now his primary concern. He noted the arrow in Kwinn's arm but commended the human's ability to press on. There was a dull ache in his own from the wound he had taken.

Tanjee saw the beasts pressing forward and even breaking through some of the defenses Kwinn and Myth had made. As Rayann continued to aid Myth, Tanjee did what she could to hold the beasties at bay by kicking out at them when she could. Of course her reward was a few cuts and scrapes form their weapons, but nothing like what Kwinn and Myth had suffered thus far.

”OH! Go away you filthy beasts! Back to what ever hole you crawled out of! OW! That hurt!”

As the Dretches kept advancing, Tanjee felt like the walls were closing in on her. Even as Kwinn and Myth were handling them well, she knew they wouldn’t be able to get to all of them before some significant damage was done to her and Rayann. And just when it looked as though they were about to e overcome, she saw several of the beasts fall with large bolts sticking out of their prone bodies.

Snapping her eyes to the forest around them, Tanjee saw movement and knew her kin had arrived just in the knick of time. Some were in trees while others were on the ground. All around her she began to hear the tell tale sound of arrows gliding effortlessly through the air as the Dretches began to fall like leaves from the trees.

”Thank you, Goddess. I knew you wouldn’t let us down.”

As the patrol gathered around the group, the one who appeared to be a leader, a strawberry blond hair male with piercing hazel eyes, regarded the group with suspicion and just a hint of distaste. His eyes settled on Tanjee and he gave her a rather hard look before speaking to her in an authoritative tone using their native language.



”You, of all people, should know better than to be traveling with the likes of these intruders. What have you to say for yourself, sister?”

Tanjee’s cheeks colored brightly but she stood proudly, squaring her shoulders and even raising her chin defiantly. Her eyes settled on the males and she answered his question.

”Who I choose to associate myself with is none of your concern, Aeolis.”

The male furrowed his brow and clenched his jaw as he glanced around at the strangers his sister was traveling with. In particular the mountain of an Elf, Myth. He knew the story behind the Elf and didn’t trust him one bit. Even if he did appear to be traveling with a White Robe. His eyes strayed to Kwinn then and he saw the arrow protruding from his arm. Snapping at Tanjee, he gestured to Myth and Kwinn.

”We shall discuss this later, in private. For now, do your Goddess' bidding and tend to their wounds.”

Tanjee clenched her jaw in kind but she merely nodded. Walking, stiff backed, to Kwinn, she set her pack on the ground next to him then reached out, gently taking his arm in her hands and began to examine the injury. She would have to push it all the way through then after that, she would need to make sure he was bandaged well with a healing salve to insure he didn’t suffer infection.

As Tanjee moved to Kwinn, the male let his hard gaze settle on Myth’s form once more. There was no welcome in his gaze and when he saw how Rayann moved closer to Myth, the Elf quickly deducted the relationship and gave a disapproving snort.

Rayann saw the creatures advancing like Tanjee did. While she knew she could easily dispatch them, to do so would take her concentration away from Myth and right now, he was in the middle of a particular band of Dretches that were giving him a good work out.

Of course she couldn’t ignore the fact Tanjee was doing her best to fight of the little bastards that had broke through the line of defense and were coming for both her and the Elf. She was just getting ready to let Myth handle things on his own and dispatch the whole lot of them when, like Tanjee, she saw several of the beasts fall with well aimed bolts protruding from their hides.

As the beasts began to fall faster than snow flakes during a blizzard, Rayann dropped her spell and blinked as she looked around. All around her the forest seemed to be moving with life. While she couldn’t SEE the Elves, she could sense their presence. Slowly getting to her feet, she kept looking around as she cautiously made her way to Myth.

~I would say we’ve been discovered by a patrol.~

As Rayann stood watching the forest around them, the forms of the patrol began to come more into focus. Dressed in earth tone colors to blend in with their surroundings, the patrol slowly closed ranks around the four travelers.

As the male addressed Tanjee in the Elven tongue, Rayann furrowed her brows. She didn’t like it when they spoke in their native tongue but she knew there was nothing she could do about it. It was, after all, their language and they had every right to speak it freely in their own lands.

As she watched the male after Tanjee moved to Kwinn, she saw the way he regarded Myth and herself and knew this was the first of many trials they were going to face in this land of the Elves.

~Well, no need to ask what he’s thinking. Glad to know he doesn’t hide what’s on his mind.”~

As the Sylvan Elves revealed themselves Kwinn was very grateful, he let his weapons fall from his hands and supported his injured arm with his other. The ranger new what Tanjee had probably figured out, the arrow was going to have to be pushed through to be removed.

Kwinn sat down on some fallen tree trunks and did his best to hold his arm still. Tanjee came to his side and began to prepare her Elvish medicine.

The ranger took a full breath of her fine smelling hair as she took his arm in her hands to examine his injury. It was a rare thing for Kwinn to worry about his bathing habits but in this moment, with an arrow in his arm and the she elf so near he wished he had taken the time to rinse off when he could have.

His arm was aching something fierce as Tanjee straightened it to have a look.

"I do not believe it struck the bone..." He grit his teeth as she examined the wound.

Kwinn looked away from his arm and over at the newly arrived Elves, they seemed very displeased to see Kwinn and the others. The ranger wondered if any of the elves would recognize him from his previous visits although it had been a few seasons and he wondered if it would make a difference if they did.