Ridahne had a fierce gleam in her eyes as she looked around them, searching for any sign, any movement, any new noise. Nothing. When they had encountered Mark, she had been rather cavalier about him. At least, until he approached them and then she was downright sour. But he had not seemed so much of a monster then as Darin had said he was. Besides, there were few humans that could match her skill with a blade, as the fact was that anyone who'd held a blade for as long as she had could no longer lift one. But this was different. For one, she had seen and  touched the Tree. She was Seed Chained and therefore bound to it, and that sharpened a sense in her she didn't even know she had until now. But she had it. What was more, these were possibly Eluri, and that shifted the odds a bit. While the Eluri as a whole were never known for their skills in combat, that did not mean that no individuals studied the craft. 

"Yes. I remember." Her words were so soft, barely audible and yet they were harder and sharper than broken glass. "I feel it too." Differently of course, but she did feel it. There was a wrongness she could not ignore, something that made her teeth itch. "I don't think we'll get to camp tonight. We will make a stand one way or another." Ridahne sidled Tsura directly beside Darin so she could lean in close. "You may command me, Seed Bearer, but this is my territory here. If I tell you to run, you run. No questions asked. No matter what. If you can, you will take Talbot with you." It was beginning to darken in earnest, even more so under the leaves. "If that happens, and we're separated, meet back here, but be sure they've gone first. For now we--"

Something tightened in her stomach as the feeling of unease intensified. "We make our stand right here. They're coming."

It was not an immediate thing. They did not burst out of the gloom as soon as she'd spoken. Instead, the two had time to prepare themselves a little. Ridahne dismounted and removed one knife from its sheath with her left hand. The right, her sword-arm, she kept empty...for now. Timing was everything. Mitaja sat with her back facing her handler, yellow eyes shining in the darkness, tail twitching. And there was at once a breath of unbearable tension, immediately broken by the sound of approaching feet.

There were four. They were all tall and slim and light on their feet, but none had the dark skin of the Orosi or the tattoos of the Azurei. Eluri. There were three men and a woman, though the woman was taller and broader than any of the men. She had a very large broadsword across her back. One man had a strung bow in his hands; he hung near the back. The other two had curved, naked swords. Aside from their weapons, they did not look like a malevolent bunch at first glance. Like Mark and his gang, they looked relatively inconspicuous, but they were unmistakably unwholesome. One of the sword bearing men held a lantern; he held it high.

"Is this the one they call Torzinei?" The woman lifted her chin, inspecting Ridahne, then nodded. Clearly, she knew something of Azurian customs. "Ah, the Azurei traitor. We've heard news of you, murderer, but we have waited a long time to meet you. Very long. It's a pleasure to see you in the flesh." 
Ridahne felt a chill. They hadn't just heard of her, they'd [I]seen[/I] her. "You sound disappointed," she sneered. "Do I not live up to the rumors?"
The elf's eyes drifted to Darin knowingly. "No. You don't. And neither does your....friend. But I'm far from disappointed, Torzinei. You've done just as I hoped you would. Just as I saw you would."

Mitaja, who had once been by her master's side, was gone. She had slunk away out of the light and had melted into the nearby shadows. Ridahne gave her knife a twirl in her hand, letting the light catch on its surface and glint menacingly.

The man grinned. "Come now, are we savages?" He laughed, but there was no joy in it. "We have not introduced ourselves!"
"No need. You already know me."
"Yes, we do. Let me introduce myself, I am Hrendi of the Red Hand, and these are my associates. But tell me, who is this friend of yours, Torzinei?" It was a rhetorical question; by his tone, he already knew, but he just wanted to squeeze it out of them.
Ridahne sneered, showing teeth. And with disdain she said, "my [I]associate[/I]." 
Hrendi laughed mirthlessly. "How ungracious to your host. You are a a guest here, both of you, and you ought to have better manners. Though I'm not sure what I expected from the sand rat who killed her own Sol." He really was disappointed then when he didn't get a rise out of Ridahne. So he turned his attention to Darin again and smiled cloyingly. "I'm not sure what I expected from the Seed Bearer, either, but I did expect...more."

"Enough!" Ridahne's voice was a clap of thunder in the silence. "You already know how this is going to end, so why don't we finish it? Come here, if any of you are brave enough to face me. I will show you Azurei steel." Ridahne reached behind her and drew her falchion with slow relish, letting the soft whisper of the leather against the steel fill the air between them. Ridahne spared only a second to look at Darin, and to throw them off, she spoke in poorly accented Siren. [I]"Go! NOW."[/I] Ridahne took a breath, adjusted her grip on both her blades, and dropped into a fighting stance. But as she did, a sleek arrow came forth from the darkness and struck her in the right thigh with a wet thump. Ridahne howled, but it was more a war cry than a shout of pain, and with a heavy swipe of her knife she cut the remaining shaft, leaving only a broken, bloodied nub. Furious, she charged Hrendi but he stepped back and let the other swordsman engage her first, along with the broadsword-bearing woman. His prize was not the elf. 

The wood, once quiet with the emptiness of unnatural silence, was now filled with grunts and growls and the ring of steel on steel in the darkness.