Noises danced around them. The scuffle of leaves and bushes, snaps of twigs,  the howls of wind starting to play through the forest and birthing more  confusion in the pit orchestra of nature…<br/><br/>Naeth ignored his assistant and Ahyen, not minding terribly if the spirit ceased to be. As cruel as it sounded it was a convenient solution to a heart breaking, terrible potential scenario. Perhaps it was meant to be, maybe it was in the divine plan for its heart to cease beating under the strain of shock and arakyn venom JUST after meeting its human familiar. The Gods did have a nasty, ironic sense of humour after all…<br/><br/>And Amora… she’d live.<br/><br/>No, his attention was on the abyss. The quiet space of his mind where he could touch base with the energies of the universe…. Well that and straining his ears for the first sign of immediate danger. THEN he’d unleash hell sure as shit….<br/><br/>A minute passed.<br/><br/>Ahyen had slipped into unconsciousness, going rag-doll limp in her arms, shivering and convulsing ever so slightly. His pulse raced, beads of sweat shone across his flesh and you could have fried an egg on any stretch of his skin; it was acting fast.<br/><br/>Nothing came.<br/><br/>But SOMETHING was out there. The noises intensified. Scuffling, hurried footfalls… then shrieks. More of those ear splitting goddamn arakyn howls. The echoes made them impossible to place and locate… they seemed to be coming from all around.<br/>Then… human shouts…<br/>Naeth ignored the chaos in the dark, drawing every scrap of loose, familiar energy his auras feelers could find. His skin practically glowed with it, taking on an ethereal shine as allowed his body to become a sponge for the stuff. He’d pay the price tomorrow, it was like getting drunk as hell, but on power, it came with the same hanging result…<br/><br/>Suddenly a vile scream ripped through the air nearby. A figure stumbled into view, crashing to the floor just beyond their circle of light.<br/>Neath leapt into action, darting forwards, but before he could reach them a loud whistle zipped through the air and an arrow planted itself into the figures head (probably arakyn judging by the shape) with a wet<span style="font-style: italic">thwluck</span>. The body twitched violently for one last time then sunk into the earth and Naeth back peddled, standing defensively over Amora.<br/><br/>“You move ya pale devil and da nex’ one’s goin’ in you brains—y’get meh?” a fierce female voice hollered from the dark.<br/><br/>The scuffle was fading down in the background and a clear, calmly paced set of footsteps crunched towards them, crossing the space between them in no time.<br/>A woman strode into view. A regular Amazonian woman, she was tall, fierce, strong and curvy with skin dark enough it scarcely stood out from the night, only the white skeletal themed paint across her skin and the long pale dreadlocks brought her forth from the dark. She wore furs and leathers and numerous wooden beads and charms.<br/><br/>“You is surrounded deee-mon!” she hissed, deep accent, and deeper voice (he’d once known a whore with a similar way with words, men would literally pay to listen to her, the fools!) and passion twisting the words into something both terrifying and alluring all at once, “One move and me boys fill you wicked black soul wid wicked black arras, y’hear meh?” She spat, eyes wild, approaching them cautiously like one might a cornered animal, her hands held aloof.<br/><br/>Naeth grit his teeth. THIS was one of the tribes of the forest and where there was one there were always more, like cockroaches! Problem was that this was THEIR home, they knew the turf while he did not and lord knew how many were out there. He was at a massive tactical disadvantage…<br/><br/>Again.<br/><br/>Oh come on! This shit was getting old already!<br/><br/>Tiny flares of magic sparked into life in the fist behind his back, but the amazon woman clocked it, “DON’T even t’ink about it!” she growled and a strange rope twisting noise, like the sounds at the docks, echoed from the dark, “Y’hear dat bitch? Dats da sound of bows bein’ drawn. Ya know how many, Devil?” she hissed coming to a halt a few feet from them now, folding her arms across her chest.<br/><br/>Naeth shook his head, “I don’t want to do this tonight, human. I have a headache,”<br/><br/>“YOU parasite on our land, ya<span style="font-style: italic">will</span>listen or ya<span style="font-style: italic">will</span>die!” she warned, teeth bore, gold glistening on a few of them, “Dis yo new girl?” she motioned at Amora, “Cause you gonna tell her to Give us our spirit…”<br/><br/>“He’s yours?!” Naeth interjected, eyes lighting up. Well that made things a hell of a lot easier! Maybe he was just a tamed specimen, not drawn to Amora at all and this whole evening spoiling affair could be done with!<br/><br/>The woman ignored him, eyeing Amora and Ahyen expectantly.