As if by magic, the forest came alive. Like parasites the savage, wretched creatures poured out from their hiding places in the ruins, from amongst the woods, caked in grime, blood and<i>fury…</i>yet somehow, Yslenor remained unseen, crouched beside an ancient half-wall and holding her breath.<i>'How did I not hear them?'</i>Something about the ruins had been queer, but to miss so many could only mean one thing… they knew she- and perhaps whomever she had heard before- was coming.<br/><br/>It was a trap. But why?<br/><br/>A question for later. Yslenor peeked over the wall to see an entire pack of the grey-skinned beasts flooding deeper into the ruins. There were sounds like a struggle...a small skirmish perhaps, not a<i>battle</i>, which meant whoever else the foul things were after were outnumbered. There was little time for caution. Waiting for a few beats longer, until the flow of invaders had slowed, Yslenor rose, bow drawn and arrow nocked.<br/><br/>Three<i>twangs</i>of her bowstring. Three whistles of her arrows cutting through air and...two cries of pain as a pair of the attackers hit the ground, one of her Everfrost arrowheads embedded between the slanted, sickly eyes of the first, the second creature fallen as her shot pierced his heart. The third arrow though… it struck true, sinking into the chest of her third target, and the comparatively bigger figure- a head taller at least than Yslenor, turned, brandishing his battleaxe, howling and setting off at a charge.<br/><br/>"Mistake!" she hissed, shouldering her bow and drawing the jagged blade from her side. "Let it be known that it was Yslenor of Esel Thalas that sent you to-" Her words were cut short into a grunt as the beast reached her and the Warden was forced to duck a vicious swing. A second lunge forced her back… and as she was recovering from that, a fierce kick knocked the wind from her chest and she collapsed onto the floor on her back, dazed as she scrabbled back from her attacker in a panic. In the distance, the sounds of more Orcs- as she would soon learn them to be- approached, and she fell back into a low stance to fight for her life.