Branches slapped at her face, leaving their welts as if to remind Nerylana what had been done to the forest. She stumbled over a dead log. This managed to save her from an arrow that whizzed past her head. Up again, she managed to break through the valley and into forest which was more dense. She knew the ruins would soon be near her. A figure matched her, stride for stride. She glanced to her right in time to see an ebon-faced figure levitate to a nearby branch, grinning with ivory teeth at her current situation.

Jererrarric!

Now Scion join the hunt.

She rounded a bend towards the ash and smoke that was rising from the northern end of the forest. The ruins were in sight.

The earth around her feet gave way, sending the bardess sprawling into watery sand that sucked at the soles of her boots. She was in quicksand, with her enemies close behind her. Managing to embed her fingers onto a nearby bank, Nerylana quickly shrugged off her backpack and threw her drums to the sand. She continued to sink yet noticed the frame of a small svirbnebli at the gates of the ruins.

“Ralgor! I need a branch!” The dimunitive figure lifted his head and nodded towards Nerylana while rushing towards the stunted forest.

“Bicho Fiata Lothreles Kumbar!” From the grouned sprouted a massive geyser, further drowning Nerylana and spraying her with more water. Lightning struck causing the banks of quicksand to quickly turn to glass. At that moment, Ralgor arrived, extending the branch to Nerylana and dragging her out. More chanting left the area engulfed in blistering waves of heat, yet Nerylana evaded it by stumbling into the ruins. She stumbled against an abandoned shop, fumbling around for bandages to place over her blistering skin. At that moment a shadow fell over her.

Nerylana glanced up and saw an enormous figure. In one arm he held a frost-covered axe, the other hand held the body of a slain lumberjack. With a snarl, he heaved the lumberjack toward her, the head richocheting off the ground as the giant leapt toward her. An axe cleaved into her thigh, splitting her leg completely open. She struggled to get away, the sound of roaring following her. The axe once again bit into her shoulder, numbing the right side of her body. She no longer clawed at the ground, content with the fact that she would die this day. She heard the whistle of the axe and sucked in deeply, expecting to feel the cold bite of death…

The axe struck two inches from her head.

There was a gurgling sound coming from above the bardess. She turned over and saw the end of a black blade protruding from the chest of the warder Captain, blood stains trickled down his lips and his eyes were wide with terror. Slowly, the blood drained from the face of the Captain and he was laid down softly by an ebon-skinned assassin. The drow quickly sheathed his blade and knelt down beside the ranger.

Jererraric whispered, “What makes the grass grow?”

A gurgling sound escaped the lips of the Captain.

The drow whispered, “You should have stayed in the woods.”

Nerylana blacked out.