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"The bridge should be coming up any time now," Faroth answered, scratching his head. He hadn't gotten lost, that'd just be silly. No, they were still on the path, or at least the slightly-worn hint of a path formed by the recent travel to and from the Great Tree.

Ahead of the pair of grey Fauns, a similarly grey dappled wolf padded silently. Unseen by her bonded or the female they were escorting, she rolled her eyes in exasperation, continuing along the path. Even if Faroth had no idea where he was going, Raina did. The fool just needed to stop pretending he knew what he was doing and just follow her as usual. Less chatter that way.

Trusting his canine companion to keep them from wandering astray, Faroth cleared his throat and turned back to Belvah. "So, uh...I suppose you've settled in by now Bel--uh...Chief---um...ma'am?" He smiled sheepishly, realizing he had no idea how he was supposed to address the Chieftain's wife. Not that he had always addressed Rais in the proper manner either.

Faroth chuckled, relaxing a bit. "Thanks...Belvah. I'm not really good with proper etiquette and all that. Just as long as you're not offended or something." She really was nice; he wasn't sure why he was so nervous about this outing. It wasn't like he didn't say dumb things all the time. And, if Chieftain Rais had put up with him this long, surely his wife could tolerate him for a day. Maybe it was just the knowledge that he was her escort for the day, and he wasn't used to being the sole company of someone so important. Maybe that was it?

"Oh, I'm sorry!" he blurted, eyes wide. "I forget sometimes to introduce her properly! This is my spirit wolf familiar, Raina." He paused, realizing how that all sounded. "Err...it's a long story," he offered with a sheepish smile and shrug.

Raina paused and rolled her eyes again. That done, she turned to face the two Faun. She tilted her head, surveying Belvah for a moment, then locking eyes with her, seemed to finish her appraisal. There was intelligence there; this was no mere animal, that much was certain. Raina let out a brief barking sound, nodded her head politely, then seemed satisfied with her own greeting.

Faroth stifled a chuckle.

Raina shot a pointed look at Faroth, tail swishing, her jaws hanging open in a wolfish grin. Now it was the Faun's turn to roll his eyes. "Oh great, as if your head wasn't big enough, you spotlight-stealing mutt," he grumbled, hiding a grin. Raina took the bait, tackling her bonded with a playful growl. Normally quite steady, Faroth rolled with the motion instead, laughing as he and the wolf tumbled in a tangle of fur and hooves through the grass.





"I swear, by the Light, the little monster went this way!" Lailah grumbled, pushing her way through the forest, pausing just long enough to look back over her shoulder at her fellow Squire. "I was tracking it all the way from that dark forest in the south, but it...it got away again. Something must have distracted me," she trailed off, muttering.

Keep calm, not the time to get angry...count to four...one, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. She continued the soothing mantra in her head, taking deep breaths in and out with each count of four. Eventually, her stance relaxed, but just a bit. She was still hunting.

"Harveer," she hissed all of a sudden, ducking low behind some foliage. "You hear that?" Her golden eyes scanned the area, ears tuned for some sound indicating another sign of life. Was it her prey?

No, no such luck. She noted a pair of those heretics with the sticks growing out of their heads, one of them on the ground with a...wolf? How odd. Maybe it would eat the heretic. That might be entertaining.

"Not what we were looking for," she commented idlly, "but, perhaps something interesting nonetheless."

Faroth looked up from ruffling the fur on Raina's head in all directions, the wolf looking very displeased at somehow being trapped in a headlock by her bonded. The Faun laughed, both at Raina's irritation and Belvah's amusement, and winked as if sharing a secret. "Yeah, but don't tell her that. It makes her impossible to live with."

Raina stilled, ears twitching, nose testing the air, then started to growl, low and soft. Startled by her sudden change of demeanor, Faroth released her, eyes wide. His voice dropped in volume. "Raina? What is it?" Two pairs of mirrored blue orbs swept the area, and a voice in his head answered, 'Someone's near. Two of them. Unfamiliar. Scent of blood.' Tense, the Faun looked towards Belvah, already moving in her direction. "Belvah? Stay close; we're not alone."

"Well, I guess the wolf's not going to eat him afterall," Lailah commented idly, almost sounding disappointed. Shame. Could have been entertaining. Ah well.

"You have?" she questioned. So, the two had a history? She wondered what else the other Squire might know about these two. She'd met one of these creatures before, yes...and it wasn't her favorite memory. Perhaps, it had been a one-off experience though. She was about to ask if Harveer thought the two might have special mind-reading powers when the tension in the air changed.

s**t, they'd been spotted! Well, noticed at least. Either way, the trio now knew they were being watched. She hissed in frustration, weighing their options. Should they flee? She'd rather not. They couldn't continue pretending not to be there, that was out. Besides, they had other concerns right now, like their quarry. "So? What do we do?"

Lailah didn't particularly like 'making nice' with the heathens, but...they had a more important mission to complete that rose above all else. They were doing the Guardians' work. Scouring the land of evil. Converting...or destroying...the rebels and non-believers would have to wait.

"Alright, fine," she acquiesced with a curt nod. "Maybe they've seen that thing around here somewhere. Remember, our mission comes first." Taking a deep, calming breath, then letting it out slowly, Lailah stepped from the foliage in plain sight of the stick-headed savages. "Greetings and well-met," she answered the gray female, demonstrating that she could be civil, if she set her mind to it. "I apologize; our intention was not to alarm you."

'Our?' Did the angel have an invisible mouse on her shoulder? Faroth relaxed slightly, glancing around to see if she had some friend out of sight. "Sorry, just a bit jumpy today, I guess," he answered, smiling back at the winged Pae. "No harm done though."

'...I don't like her. She smells,' Raina growled softly at his side, her eyes never leaving the winged female in front of them.

"Raina! That's not nice!" Faroth chided, forgetting for a moment that only he could understand her growls, snarls, and barks. At least, when she intended to say something other than a growl in its purest form.

'She smells of blood. And death. And...something else,' the spirit wolf grumbled, falling silent, but not letting her hostile posture go. She wasn't leaving her bonded's side. Or that female's, since she was in their care.

Faroth looked back apologetically. "I'm sorry, don't know what's gotten into her. Try not to mind her. Is there something we can help you with?"

Interesting. Lailah considered the beast's reaction curiously. Then, almost unconsciously, laid her hand over her upper arm. Pulling her fingers away, she looked at the blood. She'd been injured earlier when tracking their quarry. Not many would notice, considering the way the blood mingled with her natural markings, but the beast didn't just use her eyes, like many Pae. She must smell it.

"I'm afraid I was injured earlier," she began, seeming rather calm about the whole thing. "She must smell the blood. Most animals react strongly to the scent. You see, we're tracking something. None of you have seen anything...'strange' in the area lately, have you?"

"It's nothing major," Lailah objected. "I didn't even notice I was injured." It was true enough. She'd felt a light scrape earlier, when she'd momentarily cornered the pest, before it'd escaped, but she didn't think it'd been a deep enough cut to bleed. On closer inspection, it was a long, but shallow cut, and fortunately, clean as well. Not really a problem, but since the hunt was still on, perhaps it was better to go ahead and take care of it.

Sighing with resignation, she held her arm out towards Harveer. She could, of course, fix it herself. She'd just rather keep her attention on alert for trouble. Yeah, that was it. Not that she had any trouble with healing magics or anything. Noting that neither of the creatures had answered her question, she asked again, "So yeah, we're looking for something dangerous. I take it you've not seen anything strange then?"

Faroth blinked at the appearance of the second teen, recognition dawning in his gaze. "Harveer, right? Good to see you too," he chuckled, seeming to relax a bit more. He turned, adding an explanation for Belvah, "We met not long ago. He gave us a hand during the clean-up in the area surrounding the Great Tree."

While Faroth seemed more at ease, Raina wasn't. She remained tense, her hackles raised, though she stayed silent. Something wasn't right...something was very, very wrong...something in the area...

Faroth seemed concerned by the cream and red angel's plight, stepping nearer to see. "What happened? And what's this about a hunt? What are you hunting?" Kane hunted all the time, but he didn't recall seeing the tiger demon return with wounds...at least, not like that one.

Wrapped up in the concern of something dangerous in the area, he was taken aback by Harveer's sudden question. "Why? Why not? With the way that Raina was acting, I thought maybe we had another wild boar in the area or something equally as dangerous. And it's a man's job to protect a lady from any danger," he answered defensively. Nevermind that he wasn't exactly a trained warrior, or even armed if they had run into a boar or other beast out here. It was simply something ingrained in Faroth's thinking: a man protected a woman from any danger, no matter what. That's just how things were.

"Anyway," he continued, shaking his head. "If you're hunting something out here, then I'm guessing it's no time to relax, and that you're not what Raina was getting her fur into a bunch about."

Harveer was a healer? Faroth hadn't known that, but it did make sense. It was a handy skill to have. Especially on a hunting trip. Yet, his line of questioning... "It's not like that. It has nothing to do with fur color, Harveer. That's just silly. To be quite honest, and no offense or anything, but you and Eli didn't exactly strike me as the most threatening individuals I've ever met. But now, if Raina says something is wrong, I'm going to take her seriously. She's a faithful companion, yes. She's also insightful and wise, and more observant than me most of the time. If you're hunting something Dragnid, then there's something seriously bad here. That much is certain," he finished, any trace of amusement from his speech leaving his face. Of what little he knew of the dark forest, he'd never heard of anything actually leaving it before. What did that mean?

Lailah gave her arm a brief, appraising glance, then deciding she was fit to fight again, gave Harveer a slight nod. Back to business. "He's right," than angel admitted reluctantly, gesturing towards the faun giving his speech. Much as she hated to agree with one of the heretics. "It is something bad, but nothing we can't take care of. At least, if we can find it again. But if neither of you have seen anything, then it must not be here. We should keep mo--"

The angel was interrupted as a loud buzzing sound filled the air, loud and harsh, like the sound of cicadas. It seemed to come from all directions, echoing off the trees, bouncing around until one couldn't tell where it'd started. With a whirr of insectoid wings, something the size of a housecat zipped into the clearing and landed amidst the Pae. Once still, it was revealed to be an insect of some kind, but it looked more like someone had experimented with putting various parts together to create some sort of nightmarish creature. Segmented eyes surveyed the group, mantis-like claws clacking menacingly. A tail like a scorpion swayed back and forth, then the creature focused on Lailah as if in recognition. With a screech, the beast took to the air, on a beeline for the angel's face.

That's when the other two attacked from either side.