Teaser. . .
He could feel it as it cut past the side of his face - arousing silken blonde strands of hair, cutting slightly but not enough to bother. He could hear the wind whistling in its onslaught and the air parting and closing in its wake. And he could see it as it flew past him. In an instant, his hand lashed out, grabbing the arrow from its flight and he swiftly cocked it in his bow,barely looking at what his hands were doing - he was well trained in the almost now automatic process.
Arthanas took aim upon the winged horror that lurked in the tree boughs, and narrowed his eyes, adjusting his aim to hit right in between it's glaring defiant scarlet gaze. The beast squaked, feathers rustling, and snapped it's blood-streaked beak in an effort to intimidate him, but it was found futile. He released the arrow, and it hit right on target. The oddity swayed, screeched, and was blinded by the seemingly endless flow of it's own blood before tumbling to a bloody mass of feathers on the moss-covered forest floor.
He sighed, loweing the bow to his side and walnut eyes gazed warily through the myriad trees in search of another enemy. They had been good at hiding themselves, but they used only the weaker creatures - most of which did not even belong for a forested type of battlefield.
But that was now.
Arthanas had come well accustomed to the tactics used by the enemy of the Elves. Send out a seemingly endless wave of small, pathetic enemies to use up arrows and tire his kind out, and then send out vicious and deadly creatures and warriors.
But that tactic failed to work now.
And he turned to see his childhood friend, Damarian, leaping across tree boughs from a rather strong yet unattractive creature. It was well-built, resembling a large wolf with the exception of a spiked back and long, curved teeth that dripped with blood and saliva in it's rippling mouth. It was fast, even by Elven standards.
The creature leapt forward onto Damarian, the younger Elf losing his balance and falling from the heights, the beast on top of him all the way. He hit the ground hard, the beast's claws that dug mercilessly into his chest and peircing the skin not helping his chances. The monstrosity was heavy, beyond belief, and he found it more and more difficult to breathe.
Arthanas moved quickly, slipping two arrows this time into his bow, and even though he aimed for the beasts, as Damarian futiley struggled against it it made it a rather hard target. But suddenly the beast snapped it's head back, and dug down teeth first into Damarian's exposed neck.