There was a silence in the woods that only he believed he could admire, so much so, that any rustling twig, an ill attempted flight from a bird clumsily leaving it’s nest, or even the chattering and shaking from squirrels could be heard for what seemed liked miles. Marrok Darkhaven sat upon a tree top with his feet dangling in the air, wearing a black leather Jerkin and chainmail underneath it, a double sword belt, and an assortment of other throwing weaponry with a medium sized quiver that held numerous arrows, made to be used upon a re-curved bow made of Elvish oak bar, a strong but flexible wood with magical properties, given to him by the Parh’Thial clan deep in the woodlands to the west. His high boots were made from tanned deer skin and his trousers were that of a strider’s with internal pockets and hidden seams to hold and hide various items and salves.<br/><br/><br/>Marrok stood at the height of 5”11 in his humanoid form and was of the Tymber Wolf variety, his fur pattern seen as a thick grey and white maine with piercing blue eyes but was a more tougher version of his breed as some believe,<i>and so did he</i>, that he was a mixed species with another unknown race of lupine that no one could ever pin point. This was just one of the attributes unknown to him that probably set the course for his present situation. Marrok was a pack leader to a rebellious and independent clan, living deep within the Fjorn forests, a very old and dense valley that was often over looked by the Human Imperium and the Krandagar Mountain Dwarfs who often clashed over territory disputes and robbed each other’s trade wagons from time to time. Marrok had caught a woodland hare and had already paired it down to its tender necessities, about to bite into its flesh when he heard a noise that broke the peace but also alerted him to a sudden presence of danger and magic. It was strange --- sort of like a humming echo in his mind that made him stop and stand upon the large branch to scan the forest floor with his extra sensitive vision.<br/><br/><br/><i>… A woman….a…young woman. She is tired. Still in human form but the scent is something strange. Lilacs and moon flowers. A second presense – stronger. A male. One is in pursuit judging by the beats.</i><br/><br/><br/>Marrok had then pinched his two fingers and blew a whistle that made the birds in the trees scatter followed by a chorus of other whistles that soon answered his not more than a few moments from the first bursts of sound. There was something going on in their woods today and they would have to find out exactly what that might be. In the prime agility that most of his kind were known for, he used his fingerless gloved hands to swing from branch to branch, flipping and tossing himself in the air while using his weight and momentum to grapple on to the next branch as he zig and zagged towards the disturbance, picking up not one but several more invaders within his territory.<br/><br/><br/>* * *<br/><br/><br/>When Marrok got into swinging distance of the small hunting group, his other forward scouts had also joined, swinging and looping amongst the highest tree limbs before slightly stopping to gather quickly for an assessment on the situation.<br/><br/><br/>“It don’ look good at ta’ll sah,” said Miraland with her fiery orange hair, she was one of the best archers in the clan and was the patriarch of the Hunter’s Guild. “ I counted bout’ seven of the blokes joost edging ohver the cliff --- their Astraland Assasins. These are Patriarch Gal Fiear’s men. Bad business I tell you --- don’t know who thar chasen ahfter but I would be mindful of this lot,”<br/><br/><br/>“ Seven,” said Garmlin, a far more in your face strider who liked to duel wield two war axes as he was very much built for such herculean effort. “They may be dangerous but not dangerous enough --- I say we snuff them and bury their hides at the end of the forest”<br/><br/><br/>“ The girl has been maintaining a pretty good speed,” Said Arinel, more of an infiltrator than the others and he preferred the shadows for his battlefields, “ when I was at the mouth of the forest I saw her crest over the main hill and then tarry in the river to kill their scent tracking,”<br/><br/><br/>“It would be hard to kill a scent like that,” Marrok said slightly distracted by it, “Lilacs and Moon Flowers”<br/><br/><br/>“Liliacs and Moon Flowers?” Miraland questioned, “I don’t smell nuthin’ like that for miles --- have you hit your head Marrok?”<br/><br/><br/>“You all don’t smell the scent?” He said while raising an eye brow, “<i>I have no idea</i>…. She feels strange to me,”<br/><br/><br/>“Well regardless of what she smells like, she’ll smell like a rotting corpse if we don’t act or decide what we are going to do clan leader,” Garmlin cut in “Do we cut em down or is this any of our business?”<br/><br/><br/>“It was our business when they trampled into our home Gam,” Marrok replied, “ Very well --- take out five from the rear and we’ll hopefully render the other two to leave though I don’t think these fellows are going to go down without a violent fight,”<br/><br/><br/>“Are you afraid oh clan leader?” Miraland chided with a smile, “Maybe you’ve been hitting the hares n’ mead a little too much,”<br/><br/><br/>“Just… do what you do best would you?” Marrock replied to her teasing, “you’re lucky I’m not old man Brimwald or Duchory,”<br/><br/><br/><i>The group disbanded as some had shed their human forms and disappeared into the wooded thickets like predatory ghosts, their white tails vanishing into the dark thickets while Miraland took to the tops of the trees with her two sharpshooters. </i><br/><br/><br/>* * *<br/><br/><br/>If anyone was even beginning to pay attention, the invading Astraland assassins were failing to make the noises they were once Marrok’s band was in fluid motion. Miraland’s arrows were laced with the fine dust created from Elvish slate and then dipped in her own apothecary techniques, making her particular arrows silenced as they left her bow. The first shot reached clean through the ear canal of the most trailing Assassin as it crashed to the forest floor, instantly killing it in its tracks. The second assassin did not have time to react and perform a warning cry as its own throat was then slit by a quick movement, arms that fully snatched him right from where he had been, pinning him within a bush thicket and thus his days pursuing were at a bloody end. The third and fourth Assassin were taken out by a heavy thrown object, a spiraling throwing axe that cleaved their heads to the side and crushed their skulls against a tree before sagging to their rest.<br/><br/>There were three hunters left by the time it was all said and done as Marrok kept leaping from tree top to tree top, silently hovering above them as they cornered the girl by a large cliff face with a small water fall that ran into a fairly deep pond. Marrok scanned for the right moment and found a good cliff face that would provide the best spring board for a surprise attack<br/><br/><br/><i>Marrok withdrew his curved bow and readied one of his arrows as he saw the leader of the hunting party nock his own arrow, determined to either kill or hurt the girl as it was hard to judge. Marrok readied his shot as his eyes affixed to the hand balancing the bow and let loose as he pre-judged when the Assassin leader was about to make his own move.</i>