[gremlin]

This area had become too familiar for her it was rather odd how quickly she could move throughout this part of the forest. She no longer hesitated afraid of what lived here and she no longer stopped to make sure that she was going the correct way. She had memorized everything by now as she made her way through the forest. Her ears twitched as she heard a few birds above, it was early in the morning. An unusual time for her to be up, she had crept out of her home avoiding any contact with the others. She had a job to complete and had spent weeks waiting for the right moment to go through with her plans. Besides if anyone questioned where she had gone off to she could easily lie and tell them that she had gone off to hunt. Which would not be hard to believe seeing as she brought home most of the meat and herbs.

Nari'Quinn crept silently towards her destination. It was a rather large home with acres of land, land that use to have beautiful trees and creatures until some damn humans tore it all up to settle here. A woman in the clan had approached Nari and had told her of a friend who was being held captive here. It was not hard to believe, the humans always claimed what wasn't theirs as their property. It was not hard to believe that humans were keeping others as pets, especially the rich ones. These humans were rather wealthy. It was hard to over-look their preciously tended lawn, their pristine clothing and their personalities. They even had slaves working on the property and there were other creatures other than the one she was seeking now. Nari did not plan to leave without releasing each and every one of them.

Their entire lifestyle disgusted her and their behavior was absolutely repulsive. It made her curios though, how could they be so cruel to others? How could they hold them captive and treat them so poorly. Especially the little girl, she was so young but she was exactly like her father and mother. It was awful that a child was being raised by such people and being made to believe her behavior was acceptable. Of course... Not all humans are like them but it had always been hard for Nari to find any humans she liked or more like any humans who liked her. She too was hunted, many of her own had been killed for their precious antlers. Which for some odd reason were rather valuable and desirable. It was the reason for why her race was slowly dying off, only three major clans remained... The rest were survivors of older clans with no place to go or they preferred to be left alone.

Nari stopped knowing that she was close enough now, she found a tall enough tree that would also be strong enough to hold her weight. Then she began to climb it slowly and cautiously not wanting to bring any attention to herself. As she reached the top she lifted herself onto a branch then sat down, she flinched when the branches above exploded with birds. Leaves fell down as they flew off, she waited to see if this had caught the attention of anyone. When she could breath against she began to observe the home, of course it perhaps would have been smarter for here to come at night but there was an opportunity that she could not miss today!

The daughter would be left alone, a little girl who appeared to be no older than ten, yes of course there would be some guards left behind to ensure her safety but Nari didn't see a problem with that. She didn't even have to kill them, unless of course she had no choice but she preferred not to get her hands messy. Then she could get rid of the child, of course if the child didn't run off frightened by this unexpected intruder. Releasing the creatures would be easy, she doubted that would be a hassle. Then she could run away from here before the little girl brought back any friends.

It took a little longer than she had suspected but finally the mother and father were leaving the home. Nari perked up, her eyes flickered with interest and she listened carefully to try and pick up their words. They hugged their daughter and gave her kisses, how touching, then went off to a horse drawn carriage. As they pulled away from the home the little girl went off to the stables, perhaps to bother her pets and Nari noticed a bit more guards walking about than she had anticipated. She shrugged a little thinking to herself that it was not a big deal then she slowly stood on the branch, Nari held onto the trunk to balance herself.

Nari scanned the surrounding trees and thought carefully about jumped, then she found a good enough tree and jumped to it. She clawed at the trunk almost afraid that she would not get a good enough grip, then she repeated this until she was closer to the house. Each time she paused for a moment afraid that the tree swaying would attract the attention of the guards. She made one more jump bringing herself to stand on the roof of the home, then she lowered herself crouching. She was happy with her decision to leave her usual weapon at home. Instead she had brought with her a few small knives and a thin, light blade.

Before continuing she checked her weapons to make sure they were alright then she crept across the roof bringing herself to the edge. It was quite a drop but she could do it, hopefully she wouldn't break one of her legs or bother... It was possible and she hated the thought of becoming someone's little toy. Nari prepared herself then she jumped to the ground, though she did not hit the ground as quietly as she had planned to. She groaned a little at the pain that ran up her legs, she should have known better of course. At least she had not broken anything or sprained anything. Though she knew that someone had heard because she could hear footsteps.

There were only five guards, outside anyways, she didn't know if there were any others inside. Though most of the ones that lived in the home seemed to be slaves from what she gathered, they cooked and cleaned. She stood as the guard turned around the corner, she was surprised to see the face of such a young man. No older than eighteen, he looked at her confused then became frightened. Nari tore a knife from her side as he opened his mouth to scream, before he could a knife pierced his throat. She tackled him to the ground as he gurgled, she didn't want him to cry out and was not sure of how deep the knife had gone. She pushed the palm of her hands against his throat driving the knife deeper, his eyes rolled back into his head then his body went limp underneath her.

Nari hissed as she felt the warmth on her hands, she removed her hands from his throat then pulled the knife from his flesh. There was no point in leaving it, it would be a waste of supplies. Before she could lift herself from the dead guard a great force hit her. Nari let out a soft cry then slammed against the ground, for a moment she was confused then she realized that another guard had tackled her. Had he been there the entire time? She was being too damn reckless for such a simple task. She struggled with this man, he was much older and built like an ox. The weight on top of her made her gasp for air, his hands reached out and she knew he was trying to take hold of her neck.

Her mouth closed over the side of his left hand, the man cursed as he felt pain. She jerked her head away taking flesh as she did and she gagged at the taste of blood, then she swung her hand bringing the knife that she still held across his neck. Nari closed her eyes immediately afraid that his blood would temporarily blind her, the last thing that she needed was to not be able to see. She pushed with all of her strength to get him off of her, she waited making sure that he was dead. Then as she stood she carefully scanned the area, there were three of them left and she doubted that these two would not be discovered.

She took a moment to gather her thoughts then she continued to move. However it wasn't long until she was discovered by another guard, was the commotion really that loud? Nari cursed under her breath in her native tongue it seemed that her luck had run out today! She pulled her blade from her side as he swung his own, the sound of their blades meeting made her flinch. Nari's eyes grew wide and her ears went back as she saw another figure. This one held a bow and had it aimed at her, Nari took a step back avoiding the other's blade. The woman with the bow barked at her to remain still though she did the complete opposite of that. Recklessly she swung at the man only leaving a harmless scratch on him, when he laughed at her attempt she growled then struck him again. This time he stumbled back surprised at the wound she had given him, Nari flinched when she heard the woman release an arrow. She ducked barely missing it and felt her braid become loose.

Using all of her strength she pushed aside the man causing him to fall to the ground, then she charged at the woman. She saw the way she held her bow, her hands shook and Nari could guess that she had never held a bow before or perhaps she was frightened of death. Why did it matter if she killed them? They had killed so many of her own anyways... A few human deaths could never add up to the deaths of her own. She wasn't expecting much trouble with this woman and was surprised by her strength. Soon they were on the ground in what seemed to be an endless struggle. Nari managed to bring herself to sit on top of the woman, then she brought her hands to her face and held her down. "No, please!" She cried, Nari wondered how many of her own had begged for mercy.

Suddenly she became angry and drove her thumbs into the woman's eyes, her ears went back as she heard the woman let out a scream. Nari spat out a few words at the woman in her native language, telling her that she hoped her God would show her more mercy. Then she drew back her hands and took hold of her blade, Nari brought it across her throat quickly then stood leaving her to bleed out. She wondered how furious her father would be with her but how many times had these humans killed their own? Nari stood then took a moment to gather her thoughts, she had to make her way to the stables to release all of the creatures. She knew that there was one guard left outside, if others had not come out due to the commotions, so perhaps she would be lucky enough to avoid making any contact with that guard. She doubted it.