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Morrigan heard the little child shriek something as she charged, but she was far too consumed by rage at the attacking humans to pay attention to its tone. She reared back onto her two legs and let her staff fly- it cracking across the face of one of the humans, who dropped to the ground with a spurting nose.

Some of them dropped their torches in fear, but others rushed at her. Morrigan tossed the first batch off as if they were nothing but sheep. These men hadn't truly fought gargoyles, while Morrigan's life had been hand-to-hand combat against their kind.

But there were a larger group than she expected. She would not be able to hold them off for long.

A familiar whistling sound greeted ears, and she half-turned watching an arrow seem to appear from darkness, and sink into the chest of a man who had gotten past her. The man gasped and fell. Was it the other female gargoyle? Whomever it was, they had superior aim.

Another shriek greeted her ears, and she half turned, looking into the darkness. That scream had sounded fearful. Morrigan's eyes lit as she smacked a man in the torso with her tail, slamming him into dirt. She had to get over there, but there were too many humans!

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw the girl dive away. But he didn't bother trying to look for her. What caught his attention more was the gargoyle looking in his direction, eyes glowing red through the darkness. Bryant didn't have a chance to take another shot at the mob in the distance as he saw the female gargoyle bounding straight for him.

He knew he was putting himself at risk by joining in on this. Not just because of the humans, but the fact that the gargoyles may be a little wary of a lone and armed stranger.

Lowering his bow, he turned towards her and leaped backwards. It would do him little good if she was really determined to get him, but it'd at least buy him a little more time.

"I'm not here to threaten your kind or the girl," he said softly, hoping that enough would at least keep the female from knocking his head off of his shoulders with a powerful clawed swipe.

Dwenna was careening on adrenaline, finally let free, and barely heard the words the newcomer spoke, determined to get answers out of him other than what he was telling her. Any spy would say the same - he'd need to do better than that.

"Then why are you --" She was cut off by the sound of Ariana's panicked screams. Dwenna couldn't stop herself, couldn't turn and didn't dare let her back show to a possible enemy, but...she couldn't leave the girl be. Her snarls ripped her throat til it felt raw.

"Pray you are right, human," was all she said before finding her new target a better fit. Her shriek echoed in the night at having been made a fool of, and vowed that it would go no further. Whatever her desire, she would have to find Ariana a new sort of safety.

But now, it seemed, she would be too late. Dwenna would never forgive herself if she failed. She took off to where she'd last known Ariana to hide, noting footprints and signs of a sturggle. She was a hunter; she knew how to track.

And tonight, her prey would be human.

Before he could reply, Bryant heard a number of things in the surrounding darkness. The first being the cries for help from the child, and the second being what sounded like a bear off towards the fray. How peculiar, seeing how a bear would most likely stay away from the commotion and flames, or so he thought at least.

Leaving the gargoyle to hunt down the one that had gone after the girl, he turned his attention back towards the blazing area. This was not what he wanted, but the fire was already beyond anything he could do. Gritting his teeth together, he quickly readied another arrow, releasing it towards one of the stragglers who hadn't fled the scene.

It seemed that soon, he'd have to try and see if he could track down where the child had been taken though. Seeing how the mob was quickly dispersing as the fire grew.

With little wind and so much chaos, Dwenna found she'd have to give up on flight and quickly dropped to the ground, nose flaring at the acrid scent of smoke. The blaze had grown out of control, and she briefly wondered how disastrous things would be before it could be tamed. Would her other charge be alright? She hoped in her gut that it was so, because right now, that thrice-cursed bandit was still running. She didn't understand why Ariana had been kidnapped when her kin had been killed, but there was little time for speculation. With other humans darting about the forest in order to evade the fire and the strange gargoyle, it was not surprising that she'd been knocked into a couple of times by anyone or thing trying to find safety. She swatted at a couple humans as they bolted right into her, barely feeling anything when they did and seeing it more as swatting at an annoying insect. Another time, perhaps, her reaction would have been different. Another time.

Flaming bits of the trees fell around her as she ran on all fours, igniting the ground as they hit and illuminating everything in a freak, almost nightmarish light. Perhaps it was this same light that led Dwenna to believe she saw a bear attacking a tree, though she could have sworn she'd heard one roar not so long ago...it did not matter. She was already torn in her decision between her charge and a fellow gargoyle. If she thought on it much longer, she might regret it or change her mind again.

Dwenna hissed and fumbled for a brief moment as something hit her in the eye, the pain fierce and blinding. Sparks from above had accompanied ash on the way down, and she'd been unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place at the worst second. She knew she was still following the signs of the human who had taken Ariana, but now even his footprints seemed impossible to discern, trampled over by many others. Cursing her ill luck, all she could do was continue in the direction that Ariana had said she'd been running from and hope to find something of use that way. She cried out the child's name a few times, but so far, there was no answer.

At this point, the mob was no longer of his concern. The other humans had already dispersed, and he didn't want to spill more blood than he had to. So that left the problems of the fire and whatever was going on with the child that seemed to be the center of all this commotion. Bryant couldn't help but wonder just what all of this was for, but he didn't have time to theorize on the possibilities.

For a moment, he watched the growing blaze and shook his head slowly. It no doubt would wreck a decent portion of the forest. And while he wished he could stop it from spreading, there was nothing he could do. After giving the flames a final glance, he headed off towards the area where he last heard the child's voice. He would have to move quickly, lest he'd be suffocated from the smoke blowing around from the nearby fire.

Slinging his bow over his shoulder for the time being, he knelt down to search for any signs of the girl or the one that may have abducted her. He also shot a quick glance to the sky in case he could spot any of the gargoyles that had been in the area. It was a time like this that he wished he had Kera with him so that he may have her scout from the skies, but that was really only possibly during daylight.

After finding some tracks, he began to follow them to where he noticed an area where it seemed that a small body may have been placed for a time. Coughing lightly from the smoke, he looked around this spot to see if he could find any indicator as to what may have happened to the one placed down. It wasn't much longer before he noticed the imprints in the ground, resembling that of a gargoyle's claws. There was also a continuation of the human tracks he had followed to this location.

So one of them found her... but why did the man just leave the girl here? Doesn't seem to be any signs of struggle...

Thinking there may be something up with this, Bryant went and sprinted to follow the human tracks. The girl should be safe in the hands of the gargoyle. As for himself, he was going to see what was going on with this whole scene.

Before he could start following the tracks, Bryant heard something coming up from behind, followed by a semi familiar voice snapping at him. Turning around, he saw that it was the gargoyle that had charged him before the fire broke out. Narrowing his eyes a bit with frustration, he let out a sigh and shook his head.

"I don't flee because I'm not one of them. I'm here because I'm trying to find out what happened to the girl."

Quickly he pointed at the spot where the girl was most likely placed down then at the tracks.

"I think the other gargoyle has her. But there aren't any signs of a struggle... and yet the human that took her just ran off. I'm going to find out why," he muttered, "Now if you don't mind, I better hurry before he gets too far ahead. The fire's catching up too for that matter...."

With his voice trailing off, he turned away and started to run along the human tracks, hoping to catch up with the bandit. It may have been a bad idea to turn his back to an angry gargoyle, but he hoped he wouldn't have to fight with someone that was potentially an ally.

While he heard the gargoyle's warning, Bryant simply shrugged it off for now. He knew better than to get on the bad side of a gargoyle, but he didn't have many problems with them on a normal basis anyway.

Following the tracks, he tried to move as quickly as he could. It wasn't easy, considering he had to keep moving. The fire behind him provided some light, but in general it was still a bit dark to be able to see things clearly. In any case, it seemed that the bandit was headed out of the forest, so he at least had a general direction in mind. Still, he did what he could to follow the footprints as closely as possible. Surely the man couldn't have gotten too far off.