<div class="floatright">(http://i.imgur.com/nWBsR5f.jpg)</div><br/>The trio made haste through the woods, and with every few dozen yards, the sounds of undead screams could be heard in the distance, and there was little doubt they were getting closer.  Lunari, leading the trio now, abandoned the speedy, but cautious pace as the sounds of the ghouls began to give way to their position.<strong> "Quickly, they aren't ahead of us, but behind us.  The longer we can outpace them, the better a chance we have of making it to the small stream ahead!"</strong><br/><br/>Mara didn't need any encouragement more than that, and easing back on the draw on her bow, she poured on a bit more speed.  The trio crashed through thick underbrush and veered around trees large and small, their haste being driven on by the sounds of pursuit that seemed to gain on them.  Finally the sunlight streaming through the thick forest canopy seemed to grow lighter just before Lunari lept over a fallen log.  Her powerful violet legs tensing and heaving launching her into the air, shimmering slightly with sweat as she broke through bushes with her scimitar spinning and her feet kicking a path for her two companions.  Nirael and Mara following her trail crashed down onto the muddy bank of a small stream, no more than a few feet deep and no more than six feet wide.<br/><br/>The trio took a moment to catch their breath, the two women' bosom's heaving from the extended sprint, readied their weapons and looked at the path they'd just made into the darker woods.  It was Mara who spoke as she drew breath in heavily and knocked an arrow,<strong>"We can't out run the undead, but at least here, we have a clear sightline...."</strong><br/><br/>It was then that a screech echoed from behind them, and turning, three ghouls appeared out of the woods on the opposite bank only moments before four more appeared on the path that the trio had taken to get to this stream.  Lunari cursed softly in elvish as she spun her scimitar into a whirl and reached for her loin cloth, preparing to wrap the magical inky black material around her wrist.  Nirael spoke elvish, but wasn't familiar with the curse, but her words afterwards were chilling as she muttered,<em><strong>"They were herding us into a trap."</strong></em>