Arrows fell in a dark, deadly rain.

Cowering beneath the corpse of the guard who had died as he threw himself over her,feeling his still warm blood flowing down her neck, Anora was torn between fear and fury. She heard shouting in an unfamiliar male voice. At first she couldn't hear what was being said, then the man got closer and bellowed, "If any of you lackwits have injured, or worse yet killed the target, Maker save you from my wrath. Orders are to take her alive. Francois, take Jacques with you and go see if you can find her. She's just a pampered noble like what you're used to dealing with, not a wildcat like some of the noble-born Ferelden bitches can be."

The man was speaking in flawless Orlesian which chilled her. It also swung her into anger, though she was still frightened. She may not be a wildcat, but she was the daughter of Loghain Mac Tir. Her father saw to it that she knew how to wield a sword so that she could protect herself. Maybe she wasn't as skilled as some, but she could hold her own. Abyss take it, she was not going to let this scum take her for whatever reason. From where she was laying,she couldn't reach the guard's sword, but she could get his long knife. She had just slid it out of its sheath and tucked under herself when she heard the steady thumping of booted feet on the ground and the rattle of armor.

She could still hear in the distance the ring of weapons on shields and armor, the shouts of fury, defiance and pain, as the last of her guards tried to to fend off their unknown enemies.

When the body was rolled off of her, she remained unmoving where she was prone on her stomach, one arm curled under her with her face in the crook of her elbow, the other arm flung out. When she was thrown down by her erstwhile protector, her hair had come out of the tail it'd been bound in, and now part of it spilled over her face providing more concealment. Carefully peering through the veil of her hair, she saw that the armor on the man looking down at her was ill-fitting and poor quality. Only from a distance could they appear to be the Royal Guard. Her mouth tightened in a thin line. Anora may not like her king very much, but she was loyal. If only because he was far more magnanimous than she'd ever intended, albeit in a grudging manner.

He'd also proven to care about his duties and people in a way Cailen or their father never did.

So the fact that these Orlesian bastards were trying to make it seem like there was trouble between her and the crown... That was unacceptable. And it was time to show these arrogant interlopers just how displeased she was with their machinations.

One of the men leaned down to check on her. Seeing a gap between where the sleeve of the armor met the chest, Anora knew she had an opportunity she could take advantage of. She lept up with the blade leading the way. Even though she normally wasn't a bloodthirsty woman, she did derive a great deal of satisfaction at the flood of crimson that came gushing out from the wound she delivered. He fell backwards with a scream, dropping the sword he had been holding. Hoping for just the situation, Anora swiftly scooped up the blade as she started running towards the direction of the combat she'd heard.

If she could, the Teyrna was going to stand with her men.

Behind her were more startled yells as her would be abductors suddenly realized what had happened. A small, vicious smile curved the corners of her mouth and lit her eyes with fire. She may not be a wildcat, but that didn't mean she didn't have fangs and claws to defend herself with.

Fortunately, being smaller, lighter and not weighed down by heavy armor, Anora was able to outrun her pursuers on the way to the last of the guards with Rufus.

Seeing their quarry joining up with the men they were about to slaughter, the attackers fell back in surprised disarray, giving her defenders a chance to regain their breath. Rufus gave her a mournful look, "My lady, I am so very sorry -"

Anora shook her head stopping him in mid-apology. "There is no need for such, Rufus. None of us had any inkling this would occur. I didn't think any of my enemies would stoop so low as to use Orlesians to impersonate the Royal Guard."

The word Orlesians came out as a bitter curse causing the sorrow changed to one of anger, "Aye, My Lady. And scummy ones at that, even for those like them."

She hefted the blade and realized that it was good. No, better than good, it was clearly the make of a master weaponsmith, though she didn't recognize the maker's mark. Though it didn't look like a dwarven master, and she knew it wasn't Ferelden. But that was all she could think of as their enemies began to advance on them once again.

The guards circled around her, grim determination in their positioning, but the attackers didn't engage. Instead they parted to allow a man in a poor imitation of the armor worn by a Captain of the Royal Guard to approach. He spoke in Ferelden with such a heavy accent, that it was almost difficult to understand him, "Stand down, Teyrna, and your men will be spared."

"Do truly believe me to be such a fool as to think you'll let them go?"

"Let them go? Oh, no, not at all. But they could be spared much pain before the inevitable end, no?"

Fear and anger filled her again, and something of her late father's hate for this man's people stirred in her soul, "You're more than a fool to believe I'll just give myself over to you."

The fake Captain shrugged, "As you will, then. Your men will die cursing your name by the time we are done."

One of the guard rumbled quietly, "Think again, you Orlesian prick."

The Orlesian reddened and opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off as arrows came arcing out from the line of trees nearby to fell some of his men.

As the Orlesians began to turn to this new threat, eerie howls echoed out over the field. Howls from massive, dark shadows that came flowing over the ground, heading straight towards them.

Hefting the sword in hand, Anora braced herself for this new threat. While not actually a part of the Brecilian Forest, these woods had always had the reputation for being uncanny. She wondered what horrors the recent violence had awoken.

-oOo-

When he'd finally caught up to the unknown soldiers, he couldn't believe his eyes. Men dressed up in armor that was a very bad replica of that worn by the Royal Guard? He muttered to Dubh, "If they're the Royal Guard, I'm the Lady of the Forest."

Dubh's only response was a messy sneeze followed by a long, pink tongue snaking out to clean his nose.

Shaking his head, the ranger returned to studying the intruders in his forest. There were far too many for him to deal with alone. Even with the pack's assistance and his kin were too far away to call for assistance. At first he thought he was too far away to understand what they were saying. Then he realized they weren't speaking in Ferelden. He frowned a little, which elicited a concerned whine from his lupine friend.

"I think things are far worse than we realized, my friend. If I didn't know better, I'd say they're speaking in Orlesian. And no, I don't know that language." He grinned at his annoyed companion, "Fine then, you learn it and teach it to me."

The wolf just sniffed in disdain. Then all humor fled as he heard in their gabble, "Anora."

He needed to find a way to alert the Teyrna, since it seemed this involved her after all. And he strongly suspected that she was unaware of said involvement. "Well then, Dubh, it seems we have some running to do, if we're to warn the Teyrna in time. Though how I'll get her to listen to me, I'm not sure since I lack your amazing charm."

Only any attempt at planning at getting to the Teyrna went up in smoke as a small scouting party returned. Given the excitement in their voices and gestures, as well as how they began to divest themselves of everything but their arms and armor.

"Oh, this is very not good. Best get the pack, Dubh. I think we're going to have to come to someone's rescue."

A fierce light was in the wolf's eyes as he made an odd chuffing sound. From around them came other massive wolves with dark fur and golden eyes, one of which came over to Dubh to settle against his side. A mirthless smile graced the man's face for a moment, "As usual you are one step ahead of me, my friend. Are they aware of what's to be done?"

The annoyed whine came from Dubh's mate this time as she fixed her keen eyes on him. He raised his hands up defensively, "I just wanted to be sure you were fine with going to the rescue of some humans is all. I know why you put up with me, but I know how you feel about humans in general."

Another wolf made a rumbling sound and he nodded in response, eyes focused on the men heading towards the edge of the forest. "Aye, they do smell wrong, don't they? Well then, let us teach these intruders why the forest has the reputation it does. And this will certainly be a spectacular way of announcing your presence."

The toothy grins he got in return would have been chilling to anyone else. Instead he returned his own feral smile before they began their hunt.

First, they dealt with the small group left at the rough camp. It was ridiculously easy since their prey hadn't expected some of the dwellers in the forest to go after them. A few arrows from his bow took out two of them while some of the wolves pulled the rest down as easily as deer.

Probably even easier, the deer were usually aware they were being hunted unlike the nose-blind humans. The few females that were nursing were left behind to watch the area. Those that were pregnant had been left behind where they had made their dens.

Satisfied that there were no other guards left in the area, they continued on their way.

When they finally reached the edge of the area the false Guards had gone, he paused in horror. There were numerous bodies on the ground. Both Orlesian and guards bearing the Teyrna's coat of arms. In the center of a large group of the Orlesians stood the Teyrna herself, sword in hand and covered in blood. Her few remaining guards were in a bad way, but there was defiance in their eyes.

"Keep the talking Orlesian alive, she'll need answers." He didn't need to say anything else as Dubh closed his eyes and gave voice to that chilling howl for the hunt to begin its hunt in earnest.

The echoing howls rose in response, glee in their voices.

Exerting himself in the way he hadn't needed to, he began to smoothly draw and fire from his bow. Every arrow found its mark, dropping a man with each shot.

-oOo-

When the wolves went after the Orlesians only, Rufus cried out, "All right lads, let's get to it!"

It was Anora's captured blade that took out the first of the Orlesians as she swung the heavy weapon with both hands, slicing his skull in half. She yelled, "Take their leader! I want answers!"

The man in question gaped in fear as the wolves, larger even than the biggest mabari she'd ever seen, ran into their midst, savaging any Orlesian they could reach before dancing out of range of their weapons. He turned to flee, only to be brought down by one of those terrifying, dark beasts. She froze as she realized the beast hadn't killed the man, only hamstrung him before darting after another Orlesian.

She shook off that fear for the moment, it was clear that the wolves were aiding her for whatever reason and she wasn't going to turn away this gift. She would figure something out later, now that it looked like there was going to be later.

Now that they no longer had the element of surprise, the Orlesian forces proved to not be particularly skilled, even given the excellence of their weapons. With the arrows from the unknown archer helping to thin the numbers, not to mention the devastation wrought by the jaws of the great lupines, her men gleefully turned the battle against their foes.

Rufus had worked himself up into a fury, using his shield more as a battering ram than a means for protection, he sent men flying, even as he spun around sending his sword through a large gap in the armor of another attacker, taking out the man's throat.

A guard bashed in the helmet of another Orlesian, causing blood and brain matter to spray out from the sides. He shoved the body into the path of one of the dead man's cohorts who was about to attack one of the wolves. The wolf in turn took down his would be attacker by breaking the man's neck as he grabbed the head and shook the man like a ragdoll.

Then the arrows stopped and a strange man in mottled leathers joined the fray wielding a pair of long knives. He moved like one of the wolves, and while the knives couldn't pierce armor the way the longer, heavier swords could, he was able to find chinks in armor that didn't have any obvious flaws. His passage was marked by screams of pain that continued on even after he'd gone on to another victim.

The Teyrna remained with Rufus, like the stranger with the knives, she found it was easier to strike disabling blows with the sword, rather than going for killing blows since the sword was much heavier than what she was used to. Either Rufus, or another guard, would finish off the man if there was an opportunity to do so.

Finally, as the sun began to sink below the horizon, it was over. Most of the Orlesians were dead, but a few had fled with wolves howling at their heels. Feeling grateful beyond any words, Anora finally rested the blade point down as the stranger cautiously approached her. His blades were sheathed at his hips and his hands were held out to the sides to show he meant no harm. To either side were a pair of wolves, one of them seemed to be laughing with the way the tongue lolled out of the corner of his mouth and the eyes shined brightly. The second seemed to be rolling her eyes at the first.

Rufus sent two of his men to check to see if the Orlesian commander was still alive while he remained at her side. He eyed the man warily, but allowed the trio to approach. They stopped a respectful distance away and the man made an elaborate bow, something that should have seemed utterly ridiculous, yet wasn't. "Greetings, My Lady. I am Rafe Wolf. The clown to my left is my friend Dubh. The regal one to my right is his mate Amber."

Amber sat down with all the grace of a queen at court and did in deed incline her head in a regal greeting. Dubh plopped down and held out a paw to her causing Rafe to cover his eyes with one hand. He said exasperatedly, "Dubh."

Charmed despite herself, Anora left the sword where she planted it, carefully came over to the wolf and held out her hand to the large creature. The grin widened as the muddy paw planted itself in her palm. In quiet amazement, she shook hands with the wolf, feeling a moment of wonder. She wasn't surprised that a mabari would do such a thing, but a wolf? Yet, it was clear that these weren't the normal wolves she was used to dealing with. With a surprisingly delicacy, Dubh withdrew his paw once the shake was done. And in truth she didn't mind the mud, it was better than the other fluids covering her.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Ser Dubh and Lady Amber. And you as well, Ser Rafe. There are no words that can measure my gratitude for your actions this day."

Rafe looked embarrassed while the wolves seemed pleased. While they weren't dogs, there was still some relation between the two species, so she was going to take a chance on how she was reading them. That and they seemed to be making an effort for the humans to understand them. "It's just Rafe, My Lady, I'm no noble knight or anything."

Dubh made a snickering sound causing Amber to glare at him. Rafe just shrugged ruefully at her bemused expression. "Anyway, we're glad to have been able to help. I'm sorry that we couldn't get to you sooner. I, uh, don't speak Orlesian so wasn't sure what they were up to until they mentioned your name a couple of times. Even then, all we could do was follow to see what they were up to."

Rufus grunted, "Ya did what ya could, lad, which is more'n most. Though if you'll forgive an old man his curiosity, why did you help?"

"Ah, well, that's a bit complicated. Part of it was that the pack wasn't happy about this bunch being in their territory. The rest...well, perhaps now isn't the best time to discuss such matters. It's a bit involved."

When both wolves nodded their agreement, Anora rubbed her forehead, "Yes, I can well imagine that being the case."

Her guard captain spoke up, "My Lady, we should return to Gwaren so I can deal with the prisoner and send men out here to deal with the situation."

She nodded her tired agreement, "Indeed. Rafe, I hope you will join us as it seems there is much to talk about, but I am not sure about your companions."

"If you don't object, they'll come along, if only so Dubh can keep me in line and Amber can keep him in line."

Despite the grim brutality of the day, Anora found herself laughing along with a pair of wolves.