I would have liked to say that everything went off without a hitch, but that wouldn't be true. Not quite. We got close enough, even if just barely, to fire some makeshift fire arrows, curtsy to some tree sap and a few scraps of cloth torn from my tunic at the camp we presumed to belong to the enemy commander. We had expected that we would have to run afterwards. We hadn't expected we would have to run right away though. A handful of arrows fired at us in return and the howls of the head hunters who had fired them got us going fast though. These first arrows had flown wide, only coming down in our general vicinity. We had no reason to stick around long enough for them to actually hit us though, thus we ran. Plenty of angry shouts from the camp only had us running faster.

It was a good thing that I had decided to leave Kaele behind, hidden at the line where she was supposed to start her part of the fire once we had lured our pursuers beyond it. That run would have killed her. For that matter I wasn't quite certain yet that the rest of us would survive it, especially as we couldn't exactly run in a straight line. At the foot of the hill where the undergrowth was dense we had to force our way through it. Further up where it become light and lighter we had to dodge left and right in an attempt to always keep a tree or two in between us and the bow of the next head hunter. Thankfully there weren't a lot of them. Not as far as I could tell just counting the arrows they fired at our retreating backs. That would have to do as I had no plans to stop and turn around for an accurate head count.

Even stopping for just one moment to catch my breath almost got my hand nailed to the tree I had been bracing myself against. My eyes widened in shock as I saw the quivering shaft of the arrow in between my fingers. That shock wore of quickly though and I got going again with fresh vigor. Nothing like a near death experience to reawaken your spirits. The frequency at which arrows flew past us, or at least me, had reduced though. Maybe they were running out of ammunition? I could only hope that that was the case. The hilltop wasn't that far off anymore, if memory served me right. I decided to take a little risk and stopped briefly after getting one of the more sturdy trees between me and the head hunters, while the others kept going. “You are never going to get me like that, you pale skinned mongrel elf.”

My taunts weren't original but in the end that didn't really matter. I was running again by the time an arrow almost split the tree in half. Judging by the angry scream that followed, it had to be the same goddess cursed cannibal bitch that had taken Kor'za's head last night. “No more trophies for you!” I screamed at the top of my lungs as I fought for breath. I would have to practice my aggro talk some more once I had a little time. That thought had me furrow my brows for a moment. What was aggro talk? The thought was only fleeting though. The next moment something else occupied my mind. There was smoke on the air and plenty of it. Was the fire catching up to us? Or was it getting out of control?

Either possibility was a little worrying. If the wind fanned it into a real firestorm our little clearing wouldn't be big enough to see us through it. Especially not with the pyre at its center. I grasped at the ambient Mana, desperately visualizing the spell matrix of the Produce Flame spell, as I built it while running. A moment later a first flame dropped from my hand to the dry needles on the ground. They caught on fire almost immediately. It was only a small fire at first. I could have stomped it out with my foot it I had wanted to. I didn't though. Instead I kept casting, throwing more little flames left and right as I kept running, the process of spell casting only slowing me down a little. It was one of the easiest and most convenient spells of household magic after all.

A few moments later I burst out into the open clearing we had created. Everything here was as we had left it. Good. Kivilan and Khuzan should be somewhere to my right. Thus I turned left and set a few more little fires among the piles of branches and needles we had piled up here at the edge of the clearing. There were no more arrows flying my way. For a moment I was worried that the head hunters might have turned tail and ran, although it probably was already too late for that, but then I could hear them coming again. I hurried to the pyre where we had left one of the remaining crossbows. The next moment my darkelf companions burst from the treeline as well. They headed my way, to take up position at my side. Khuzan's eyes were wide. He smelled of smoke. “Are you ...” He had to fight for breath as he addressed me. “... trying to … kill us?”

I shook my head and handed the crossbow to him, to ready my glaive instead. “I think Eld'tide and especially Kaele might have been a little too successful setting the forest on fire.” I gazed downhill. Thick columns of smoke obscured much of the sky. And the fire was indeed roaring like a hungry beast as it climbed the hill, advancing in our direction. The two paled a little. “The open space we cleared out might be too small to get us through this. Decided to set a second fire up here, to eat up some of the fuel. I hope that will be enough to make sure we don't get smoked and roasted alive. Either way, any humans that followed us up the hill should be trapped. As for the head hunters … they are here.”

Just as I finished speaking they burst from the treeline as well. There were five of them. Only one of them still had a bow in hand and an arrow knocked though. Khuzan quickly put a bolt in that one, sending him stumbling back into the quickly growing flames. Four of them against three of us. Well, the odds could be better but we would manage somehow. Khuzan threw the spent crossbow at one of them, then we split up. Two head hunters split off their group to face the two darkelves. One to my right, tho other to my left. The left me with the two at the center. One of them was the young woman who had killed Kor'za. Our friend's head at the bitch's belt left no doubt in that regard. The other one was an older woman, maybe the other one's mother and the fattest elf I had ever seen. The sight was disturbing.

Elves, neither those living among us nor the ones from the forests in the east, tended to grow fat. Until right now I would have thought it impossible. The sight of her more than abundant pale flesh wasn't the worst about it though. The worst part was, that I was all to aware that she had grown fat like this, eating other people. Well, I would have to put an end to that. I bared my teeth, growling at them, as they prepared to flank me, while the others fought their own fights at knife's range. I had an advantage in that regard with my weapon providing superior reach. Still, it would be better if I didn't have to fight them both at once.

I turned to the fat one. “The young one seems angry. Did you send her to bed hungry last night for not bringing home her kill?” She only scowled, but the taunt didn't fail to provoke the younger woman. She screamed and launched herself at me. She was fast. I brought the glaive down on her and promptly had to take a step back as she slipped past my blade. She was reckless as well. I tripped her up with the butt of my weapon. It wasn't enough to send her to the ground but it was enough to give me the time to send her stumbling back with a powerful kick to her abdomen. She already sported two big bruises there from our encounter last night. Before long there would be a third.

No, actually, as far as I was concerned she wouldn't live long enough to develop a new bruise. I pondered if I should improve my chances by casting my usual spells. No, I had been casting spells a lot already while on the run earlier. The little spell that set the wood on fire as well as the Cat's Grace spell every once in a while ever since our little death race had started at the bottom of the hill. Any more and the mental fatigue it caused might do me in. I didn't have a lot of time to think on that problem anyway, as the fat one was coming at me now. She took me by surprise. I hadn't expected her to move with such speed. My eyes widened as I realized that she had to be using Cat's Grace or a similar spell. Curses! I had probably given her just enough time to cast the spell by focusing on the other crazy cannibal first.

I was grinning anyway. If the younger one had used that spell I would have been in serious trouble. With her though, the spell barely made up for her physical shortcomings. Sure, she had to have been a good hunter at some point to grow fat like this but now she wasn't anymore. Now she was as good as dead. I swung my glaive and the heavy steel blade that had been part of a butchers cleaver only a few days ago opened her up almost completely from collar bone to crotch. Her momentum alone kept her going for another second as her torn guts spilled all over the ground. Even as she hit the ground, she just kept crawling in my direction, knife in hand. Damn, was she too stubborn to die? I took a few steps away from her, to keep some distance between me and her just in case.

Meanwhile Kor'za's murderer had gotten back to her feet. She was trembling with anger now and sweat was pouring down her body. The latter was true for me as well. We were both gasping for breath too. The fire had spread around the circumference of the clearing by now. I could only hope that it would burn itself out before the larger blaze from downhill could merge with it otherwise the firestorm would kill us for sure. The young head hunter took a step toward me before stopping again. She raised her knife in my direction. “You killed my father. You killed my mother. I will feast on your flesh and I will wear your head as a trophy.” She paused and grinned, baring teeth that had been filed to needlepoint sharpness. “I wont wear it on my belt. I will carve a helmet from it. Your horns will be a marvelous trophy this way!”

Whatever. I had no intention to waste any more time on her and her sick ideas. I didn't wait for her to charge me again. Instead I charged past her and before she could get her act together I swung the blade of my weapon at the back of her ankles. She tried to dodge, but she only got one foot out of the way. The heavy blade bit deep into the other. I could hear bone break and tendons snap. I also heard her scream, as she went to the ground hamstrung. My attention was already elsewhere though. Kivilan was in trouble. He was on the ground with his opponent standing over him. I swung my weapon around once more, taking off the head of the gloating head hunter.

I helped Kivilan back to his feet and while he was still wiping some of his opponents blood from his face I handed him the knife he had dropped. I pointed at the whimpering pile of misery still clutching her leg. I could have killed her. I wanted to kill her. In the end though, it would be better if he did. “End it. She is still wearing Kor'za's head on her belt. Take it back. Don't fool around.” He nodded and did just that. Two quick jabs has the cannibal woman drown in her own blood and a quick cut freed Kor'za's head from the monster's belt. He had tears in his eyes as he carried it over to the body resting on the pyre we had built. Gingerly he placed it, closing her eyes in the process.

Khuzan joined him there. It seemed he had won his own fight as well. He looked exhausted but otherwise unhurt. He turned in my direction while Kivilan got a burning branch to light the pyre. “Is this it? Is it over?” I wanted to nod but before I could a slow clapping sound stopped me cold in my tracks.