Snippet #1826789

(Post written by Script)

Panic was rife in the air tonight, as the shouts and clatters of battle disturbed the forest’s slumber. Merethyl Starfall let out a vicious grunt as she thrust her sword into the throat of a sickly twisted creature, and kicked it backwards with a spray of black blood. The thing sunk to the ground and seemed to dissolve into nothingness.
All around her, her fellow rangers fought more of the creatures. They were vastly outnumbered, but they were rangers. They were the most skilled warriors of the wood elf peoples, capable of slaying ten times their own number before they even knew they were under attack.
But this time the enemy had had the drop on them, rather than the other way around. The creatures had come from nowhere, dropping from the trees, rising from the ground as Merethyl’s hunting party walked through the forest. They had been unprepared, and half of their number had fallen in the first seconds of combat. Now they were fighting a losing battle.
“Fall back!” Merethyl shouted, “Retreat to the city! Disengage and use speed to your advantage, scatter!”
With a final slash across the chest of an attacker, Merethyl turned and ran. Around her, her fellows broke from the battle and sprinted away, over trees and through undergrowth as if across an open plain. None cold match a ranger’s speed in the forest.
As she broke through the brush, Merethyl kept her swords drawn and ready. The sounds of pursuit were clear behind her, and a quick turn of her head confirmed her fears. All of the enemies were pursuing her, and not the others. They were after the artefact.
An abrupt roar to her left elicited a cry from the ranger, as she was forced to throw herself to the side to avoid the grasp of a large creature that had appeared from the night without warning or signal of its approach, as if it had quite literally appeared from thin air. Merethyl rolled as she hit the ground, and backed up against a tree to face the enemy. More creatures rose from the ground to encircle her, and they began to close in.
She was already murmuring a final prayer, prepared to die, when a flash of bright light scattered the creatures. Something burst from the forest and slammed into the chest of the larger creature, and following it was the form of Oron. The centaur laid about himself with his staff, bursts of magic scything through the demons’ ranks and the forest itself twisting to impede them.
“Merethyl, quickly, they will not be stopped for long!” the druid shouted. The ranger didn’t need telling twice, and sheathing her swords to allow for greater speed, she broke into a dash and darted from the clearing. After a moment she heard Oron’s hooves thundering behind her, and the pair were joined by the object that had slammed into the large creature’s chest – namely, Kaelan. The half-fae elf nodded to her as he ran, and she returned the gesture. Black blood coated his sword, and she didn’t have to wonder who had come out on top in that little confrontation.
“We run to Aurion’s stronghold.” He said as they moved, “We have horses waiting to outrun them with.”
Merethyl nodded, narrowing her eyes. So the time had come, and Aurion had not been being paranoid. She didn’t think that he’d be too pleased about being right, however... It wasn’t exactly an “I told you so” moment ...