We had left the place of our first grand fight behind and were on the way back to our camp. Every once in a while I looked back. So did the others. Except possibly for Eld'tide. She was scouting ahead as usual. I wasn't quite sure, but I had the impression that she was keeping a little more distance than usual though. Maybe because we were still reeking of death? Could the smell of that rotten beast really cling to us like that? And here we had gone to that spot to clean up a little and take a nice bath in the first place. Well, that effort had probably been in vain.

That we were carrying the scales of the beast probably didn't help either. By myself I was wondering how Khuzan put up with it. He was an elf after all. They were know for their sharp senses, including, supposedly, their sense of smell. Or was Eld'tide just affected to a greater degree because she was a girl of nature, shying away from civilization and its odors whenever she could? Well, I had no idea. I only knew that I was looking forward to handing off our booty to the village's armorers. They probably knew how to deal with these things. I was looking forward to taking a real bath as well. In warm water.

I kind of missed my bed as well. Especially after last night. Sleeping in the tent at our campsite would already be a vast improvement compared to that but it still was no comparison to a real bed. I was still fantasizing about my bed when Eld'tide returned, appearing out of the underbrush right in front of us. She had a finger over her lips, urging us to be silent and she looked as if something had spooked her. Yes, she looked spooked. I wasn't used to see that kind of expression on her face. Not only did it not suit her, it didn't bode well for us either. Whatever was the cause, it probably meant trouble for us.

Great. As if we hadn't had enough of that already. She didn't speak up. Instead she gestured at our packs, urging us to drop them and to duck out of sight at the side of the game trail we had been following. “Humans.”, she mouthed barely audible. I frowned. That alone was no explanation for her state of mind. Sure, they weren't the most common sight around here, but some even lived in our home village. “Bearing steel and wearing red and blue. The colors of Gothol'uin in the east. Armed to the teeth.” She paused briefly to let these news hit home before continuing. “And they have two headhunters with them.”

Now that had me swallowing hard. It had me frowning as well. That didn't sound like a group of bandits. We got those every once in a while. The outcasts of the realms of council of kings crossed the mountains separating their realms from ours at times. Usually they did so to evade the authorities of the realm where they did their banditry. No clue why they would expect to get away with their ways here though. In the end we usually hunted them down as soon as we became aware of them. It didn't really sound like this was the case this time though. “How many?”, I asked in a whisper.

Eld'tide bit her lips before replying. She must have guessed what was on my mind. “Two elven headhunters. Five humans. One of them either a priest or a wizard of some sort.” She looked uncertain and at least my sister mirrored that look. Khuzan on the other hand looked ready to go, his hand already on the hilt of his weapon. Understandable. There was a lot of bad blood between his people and the elves of the east who drove them from their forests. The Gorgon ranger draw my attention to herself again. “Are we really going to do that? After all we have already gone through?”

I only nodded in reply. This would be no easy fight. Quite possibly it would be more dangerous than the fight against the Wyvern. “We need to get the drop on them and we need to go all out.” I waited until they all nodded, signaling that they understood. “I will go for the headhunters first, with Khuzan on my heels. Eld'tide, go invisible and take out their caster the moment they spot me. After that snipe at whichever target seems opportune. Kaele, keep your distance and stay hidden at first. If either of the headhunters seems to get away or if the spellcaster doesn't go down in the initial attack, focus on them. Otherwise go for the other humans. Use your deadliest spells.”

I tightened the belts of my armor and loosened my hunting knife in its sheath a little. Then I started to focus on my spells. I cast Cat's grace first, putting more Mana than usual into it, to make sure it would last awhile. Then I cast Blur. Khuzan cast his spells as well. He cast both Mage Armor and Shield. Curiously enough Kaele cast these spells as well. We didn't call out the spells' names though. In the meantime Eld'tide slipped out of her clothes to cast Invisibility. Even knowing she was there and still able to see bow and quiver, I was barely able to keep track of her. “Good luck. May the Maidens watch your steps and guide your blows.”

I took one last deep breath, then we were off, stalking through the woods in the direction of our camp. We didn't exchange any more words. If the Moon Maidens smiled upon us there would be time for words once we were done spilling blood. That left me with entirely too much time to think though. Had my decision to attack these intruders been the right one? Or should we have avoided them instead? No. That wasn't really an option. That would have left us without a camp and with an unknown foe in our backs. Inaction never was the better course of action. I was pretty sure that mother had said that or something to that effect at some time. Or had it been Khuzan's mother Uzzana? Ah, never mind.

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Were the others having second thoughts as well? Were they questioning my leadership? I forced my self to abandon this useless train of thought. It wouldn't do me any good anyway. Instead I focused on my senses. I could still smell the smoke of the Wyvern's pyre and not because it was clinging to us. That was good. The acrid smell would mask our own smell. I could hear people talking as well, as if they had no care. Good. They probably would not near us coming either. They probably would not see us coming either. Not until it was too late anyway. Not until we were in striking range. The headhunters probably were the only ones I had to worry about.

“Something is coming!” As those words reached my ears I put one hand on the grip of my knife, pulling it from its sheath. So they had heard us after all. Never mind. The next moment I broke through the underbrush around our camp on the side that was facing away from the creek. It had been one of the headhunters that had noticed us. She stood almost exactly opposite from me, on the other side of the camp. The second headhunter was busy examining our fire pit and the pit we had dug for the remains of our second meal here. I ignored him and threw my knife at the female headhunter instead.

She had her hair in a handful of braids with various small bones woven into them. Finger bones I realized. A handful of heads, some still bloody, dangled from the belt that was the only thing she wore. The same was true for the other one as well. Maybe the two headhunters were a couple. Not that I cared. The only thing I cared for was that the blade of my knife sunk into her pale flesh, in between her ribs all the way to the hilt. She tumbled and fell over backwards, her last breath escaping her in a wordless scream that barely amounted to a whisper as the knife had gone through her lung. One down.

The humans had barely even registered my presence. They only now began to realize that death was dancing among them. None of them stood nearly as tall as me. Miserable little wretches! I gripped my glaive with both hands again, turning in the direction of the second head hunter. An arrow hit the human in the dirty brown robe, the one we presumed to be a spellcaster, in the back, quickly followed by a second. The second arrow sank in deep. It left the man sprawled on the ground, coughing up blood. He wasn't dead yet, but as far as I was concerned he was out of the fight for the time being. Even if he knew a spell of healing he would have to get the arrows out of his back first.

Before I could actually take a step towards the second headhunter though, an arrow whizzed past me. No, that hadn't been an arrow, It had been a quarrel and it hadn't come from the headhunter either. One of the humans had a crossbow and he was now scrabbling to reload it. I ignored him for now. Those things took a little while to reload. Especially for someone who was in a panic, like that guy. The second headhunter hadn't bothered with his bow. Instead he had drawn a hatchet. The thing he probably used to collect his trophies. No he was charging my way. He was almost as fast as me. If not for the Cat's Grace spell he probably would have outmatched me.

I could have sidestepped his clumsy attack. An attack fueled by rage, going by his distorted face. That woman must have really been close to him. Instead I had him impale himself on my weapon with his own momentum. The blade entered his body easy enough. I adjusted the angle slightly and it opened his belly wide before hitting his spine. Still he tried to chop at me although his guts were already spilling all over the ground in between us. The blow glanced of the scales of my armor. Still I could something in my shoulder give. I screamed and kicked him off my weapon to leave him dying on the ground lying in his own blood and guts.

Pain made me almost stumble as I tried to grab the shaft of my weapon with both hands again. It sure made me scream again. I didn't bother to try again, keeping my right arm pressed close to my side instead. I whirled the polearm around in a one handed grip. That might be showy, but I would have a tough time dealing any damage like that, I most certainly wouldn't be able to block any decent blows with a weak grip like that. I hurried to get a grasp of the situation. Lack of situational awareness was what got most people killed. That was most certainly something Uzzana had beaten into me.

Khuzan had taken care of the man with the crossbow while I had been busy otherwise. That was good. I had been a bit worried about that one. If he were to actually hit those quarrels could kill any one of us. Armor or no armor. Magical or otherwise. That left us with three human opponents in their colorful tabards. Despite the surprise attack and the bloodshed they kept good order. Unlike the crossbowman they were not panicking. Those were most certainly no bandits. Those were soldiers used to this kind of bloody work. Two of them were flanking the third, providing him cover with their shields and bodies. And it was that man in their middle who brought his long sword down in a heavy two handed chop upon Khuzan right now.

Khuzan had just struck down the crossbowman and was in no position to evade. An arrow shattered against the shield of the man to the attacker's left. Khuzan got his shield arm up to block the strike. The shield arm without a shield. I was about to panic myself now until I saw a disc of otherwise invisible force spray sparks as the heavy blow hit it. Oh dear Maidens! That had almost been too much for my heart. I really needed to get used to that. He better get a grip though, I wasn't sure if the Shield spell could take another blow like that. Another arrow skimmed across the edge of a shield, sinking into the armor of the man wearing it. It didn't sink into his flesh very deeply though. If it had at all. Of course. Eld'tide was using hunting arrows after all.

I threw my weapon like a javelin. It wasn't designed for that. Considering the short distance it flew well enough though. One of the flanking warriors brought his shield up to deflect the improvised throwing weapon. Eld'tide took that chance to put an arrow in his knee. Hah! Take that! I didn't have time to enjoy this little victory though. Instead I made for the crossbowman's weapon. I could hear Khuzan exchange blows with two opponents. They would overwhelm him if we didn't do something soon. I grabbed the crossbow and stepped into the stirrup and pulled the string back with one hand. It worked well enough. Obviously the weapon was designed for someone smaller and weaker than me.

Before I could put a quarrel to the tiller Kaeles first spell hit. A barrage of magic missiles blew into the human warriors from behind. One for each of them. They were barely phased by the spell. Their armor must have protected them from the worst. It gave me a chance to shoot though. I aimed at the remaining shield bearer. And where Eld'tides arrow was barely able to penetrate the quarrel launched from the crossbow sunk in deep. Khuzan finished off the man that had taken an arrow to the knee in the meantime, taking another blow from the two handed sword, which sent him reeling, in exchange. That left the man with the two handed sword. At least for a brief moment. Then Kaele lit him up from behind, screaming the name of the spell she had used to ignite the Wyvern's pyre. “Burning Hands!” For a brief moments the flames roared. Then silence fell over our devastated camp.