The Trap

It didn't take long for Dathelor to show up, I could see him as a slightly darker shadow along the bottom of the opposing cliff. If I wasn't specifcally watching for him I know I wouldn't have seen him coming. The tension in my shoulders increased as I waited and waited, trying to imagine what he was thinking, holding my breath to see if he would notice my tracks abruptly ending. Hoping against hope that if he did (because he would) that he would assume I'd leapt over the barrier, not onto it and to the side.

He was being more cautious than I'd seen him be before, I narrowed my eyes and looked beyond the barrier to see what might be slowing him down. It took a moment but I finally spotted the three Krom'gar infantry, drowsy but awake. How they had missed my approach, I'll never know. I turned my attention back to Dathelor, smiling when I saw him approaching the barracade, stopping where I'd crouched. I nocked an arrow and drew, releasing almost the moment my hand touched my cheek, firing right at my trap. It worked! A loud alarm went off, announcing Dathelor's presence. At the same time a frosty mist spread out over the ground chilling the druid, keeping him from escaping in a timely fashion.

Several Stardust Archers hurried up behind me, but I stopped them. This was Dathelor's fight. The four of us watched while the orcs advanced on the half frozen druid. Okay, I'll admit a certain amount of glee. Sure, I was causing trouble, possibly even increasing the tension between the Krom'gar and the Sentinels, but he DESERVED this. The orcs wasted no time attacking, at least I could count on them for "attack first, ask questions never" tactics. Dathelor snarled and turned to face them, crouching low as if he thought he could leap over their heads. In a puff of smoke he changed into a bear and I had to stifle a laugh. He'd only shift out of his cat form if he was actually worried.

The orcs struck first. The two of them were no match, really, for a bear like Dathelor. But before he could overcome the two of them, four more ran up the road, shouting in orcish. I stifled a curse, I didn't want him dead afterall. Still I held back the archers. I watched like I was in a trance, even as his bear self I could see the power that had originally drawn me to him. One of the archers had to nudge me to draw me out of my distraction, by then three of the orcs were dead but the remaining three were starting to wear Dathelor down. I nodded to the man who'd nudged me and he turned to the others. Arrows were fired at the orcs, just enough to distract them. Dathelor stepped back, melding with the shadows, I could barely make out his elven form and the sparkle of spell casting... the son of a worg was escaping to Moonglade!

I let out a shout of excitement, the tables were turned and now I was the hunter. Take THAT Dathelor! The archers were looking kind of unamused by this point so I beat a hasty retreat. It was time to find my way to Moonglade. The smile on my face... might as well have been permanent!