[center][b]The Kingdom of Taiire'Tal, The forest's edge,[/b][/center]

Draanuv listened to the sounds of the deceptively silent forests, his blade ready, and the steed on which he rode treading anxiously between the trees. The woods reminded him of days long ago, when he hunted goblins and their Barghest steeds through this realm of nature and earth. The sun was setting over the forest canopy, just as it had set on the short of stature green-skins that used to plague these woods. The night had long fallen on goblins, whatever was left of their number after the massacres having fled from the woods through which Draanuv rode. Unfortunately, the goblins did not take all of their beasts with them. The Barghest, fearsome wolf-like monsters of impressive size and awe-inspiring ferocity, had been trained in small numbers by the goblins shortly before their eviction. When Draanuv chased the goblins out, tearing down their villages to the last scrap of wood, and killing off whatever goblins refused to flee to the last man, most of their Barghest had chosen flight. They released themselves from their goblin bondage, helpfully taking more than a few of the weakened goblins with them, and retreated to the forests to be feral once more.

They had rarely been an issue in the past; Draanuv had made a concentrated effort to domesticate their kind during the consolidation of Taiirean power in the forests. More than a thousand of the beasts had been collared, tamed and trained by the Elves of Taln'e, to be used as beasts of war, or to eradicate other dangerous pests in the forests. A dozen Barghest were with Draanuv on this very expedition, accompanied by their keepers, as well as a regiment of Elven infantrymen, and another of Wild Elven rangers. The modest force seemed immense when compared to the emptiness of the woods. Two more military regiments: one of Elven rangers and one of Elven infantry, had been dispatched as guards to the towns and villages on the outskirts of the forests, those further away from the centre of Taiirean power in Taln'e. A mobilization of four hundred men may have seemed drastic to deal with mere beasts of the forest, but the nobles of Taln'e that judged Draanuv knew by now how often he liked to prove them wrong. The peasants of the outlying settlements, much more loyal to their King than the nobles were, had been told to remain near their homes for the time being. Draanuv hoped the increase guard would be enough to deter any beasts from assaulting the towns. Hopefully, this would prevent any further undo deaths. Hopefully.

Still striding forward, Draanuv heard a howl from a Barghest behind him. It did not unnerve him; the beast was one of his own, accompanied by trainers that interpreted the meaning of the beasts' howl. The Barghest accompanying the hunting regiments had smelled more of their own. Draanuv turned to his left, then right, giving the soldiers on either side of him knowing looks. They were Mages, some of the highest ranked members of the Taiirean military. Illyaa, a half-Eldar from the northern tundra, accompanied Draanuv to the right. To the left was Sinaur, a Wild Elf, and native of the forests. Draanuv had hoped that Sinaur would come in handy hunting down forest monsters, and that Illyaa might have something to learn from it. So far both of his hopes had started to come to fruition.

"So do we just chase them down and gut them, then?" Illyaa asked. She spoke curiously, with an eagerness not unlike a child learning from her mother. Her appearance helped cement her air of childishness; Ilyaa was easily the shortest Elf in the entire hunting formation, and her pale skin and bright white hair seemed entirely out of place in the forests. 

Sinaur nodded from Draanuv's opposite side, his darker toned skin and rough facial features helping him to look much more in place in his surroundings. His eyes never strayed from the path as he spoke, even as it adjusted when the Barghest led the formation in another direction, catching a more recent wiff of their untamed cousins. "We either gut them, fry them with magic, or make this much more of an effort than it needs to be and try to capture them. My vote's for the first... then the second. Barghest are delicious over a fire.", Sinaur said with a sly smirk.

Ilyaa nodded, her eyes rolling. Draanuv spoke up before she could vocalize her acceptance. "Stop!" he shouted, robotically, and at once the entire hunting formation stood in its tracks. They all listened carefully, and heard the distant sounds of howling. This time the beastly moans weren't from their own formation. Turning towards the direction of the sound, Draanuv allowed the tame Barghest and their keepers to take point, pin-pointing the position of the enemy Barghest as they prowled through the woods. The massive wolves were the only of their kind in this stretch of forest. The old goblin civilization here hunted wolves and most other animals of the forst to near extinction, leaving behind only the fiercest beasts. The Taiireans suspected that the Barghest had evolved out of the wolves that the goblin civilization failed to kill off during their first entry into the forests. The Barghest used to be solitarly among their own kind, usually living as the alpha males of packs of less powerful wolves. The goblins had changed them, forcing them to live in packs of their own kind. After the goblins were exterminated, and most of the Barghest were captured, the remainder existed as a single pack of several dozen beasts. Taiirean scouts discovered that the main pack broke into smaller portions when it went out hunting, then return together to feast. Judging by the scent of blood and flesh, and the mouthfuls of something being eaten by the Barghest, the hunting formation discerned that this was the main feral Barghest pack.

Once the formation was close enough for Draanuv's keen eyes to spy the Barghest in the distance, the formation stopped. They were silent by this point, motionless too, spare Draanuv's signal. With a raise of their King's hand, the best of the rangers in the hunting regiment walked carefully to the front of the formation, and readied their bows and arrows to fire upon the wolves. Adjusting their distances as necessary, it wasn't long before a volley of arrows was sent forth, and about half of the Barghest fell. A group of the survivors roared and charged at the rangers, but by the time they arrived, wounded and startled, the infantrymen in the formation easily finished them off. The few that weren't killed, perhaps as little as two dozen, fled in the opposite direction of the formation. The mightiest of beasts could take an arrow in their side without blinking, but even the Barghest suscepted either to death or fear when the quanity was increased enough. Draanuv pointed towards the carcasses of the beasts, ordering Sinaur and an accompaniment of infantrymen to check and make sure that they were dead. He returned wearing a grin, and rubbing his belly with exaggerated hunger. "Time to eat!".