Alassë Falassion walked carefully through the grey trunks of the ancient alders her feet gently touched the ground barely disturbing the fallen leaves. She exhaled gently keeping her bow in front of her crossing her chest the string pulled half way back and an arrow notched. Her brown eyes scanned the dimly lit nocturnal forests for signs of her 8 legged quarry; a tendency to moisten her lips was the only visible sign to the elf maiden’s anxiety. Her mind drifted from the task ahead as she fought down the urge to prove her self to her captain on her first excursion in to the more overrun areas of her home forest. Carcarassë forest was a massive realm and many different races called it many names, Alassë didn’t know no did she care for them she did care about the mutant spiders which had inhabited the depths of the woods for some centuries attacking travellers and occasionally villages, she had vowed even before her initiation to the rangers to return the forest to its original glory. Alassë continued her cautious advance confident that she was as well concealed as her grey cloaked brethren and that she would earn there respect.
Elerossë of Dorthonion was utterly unimpressed with being lumbered with a maiden, war and hunting were not the domains of woman and he pointedly ignored all female rangers were he could he didn’t even speak to the few maiden captains when it couldn’t be helped or would be seen as discourteous but he was lumbered with the child. He began to recite the patterns of search to his rangers as they walked back in to the clearing he ignored the looks in some of there eyes as he made sure each elf new the task he had given but moments before. His ignored the she elf to such an extent he didn’t notice she had missed the signal to regroup.
The ground was soft and spongy in places mosses and lichens sprouted amongst the sea of golden brown leaves. Alassë was less then a bow shot from the track but she consciously forced her self not to make a sound so not to show herself up to the others. ‘There cannot be any of the abominations within a half mile of the track’ she calmed her heart of the mix of nerves and excitement ‘they cannot hear a rangers footsteps, focus on what Yávlossë told you’ Alassë focused her eyes on the forest floor about her as the blond rangers captains words filled her head once more.
Alassë berated herself for losing her concentration even as far away from any nests as this. Despite the slight call of pride she wished the captain had spent more time with her and explained the meaning of her words. Continuing her silent advance she moved her head slowly to the right cursing silently as a strand of brown hair fell out from beneath her grey hood.
The beast waited it wasn’t hungry and it had other things lay cocooned but something had disturbed the strands beneath the leaves, one creature cautious and silent. The strands vibrated with increasing violence a bipedal creature and close. Letting slip the strands of gossamer webbing from its mouth it tensed six of its legs and waited a moment.
Alassë caught the movement out of the corner of her eye, she had enough time to turn her head back forward before she realised what she had seen. The abomination to Isha had appeared from know were and was charging her at breakneck speed. The grey haired creature was only 3 feet high at most but more then twice that in length, a shower of leaves trailed in its wake from a new hole in the forest floor not thirty feet ahead. She straighten her left arm a few inches before the beast slammed its front limbs into her shoulders knocking her to the floor. The pain of broken roots and discarded branches were forgotten before they could register in her mind, the feel of a moss covered stone bashing against her right shoulder broke through even the shock and adrenalin of the fall, despite the shock she clung to the bow and kept the arrow knocked. The abomination continued forward pushing forward its fangs eager to slide into her neck or through leather bodice into her chest. Its eagerness was mixed with pushed as the metal tip of her enchanted arrow bit into the chitin at the base of its head. A flood of thoughts and memories flooded into the back of Alassë mind the memory of a promise to her mother to use the expensive arrows was discarded to the hurried thought ‘Do I have my arm draw far back enough to push the arrow in?’ . Alassë managed a hurried swallow as she pulled the arrow back the fraction of an inch her position would allow and let go as the abominable creature pushed forward fangs wide.