The elf king Savawisda's surprise attack on the army of goblins marching through the elf wood was executed with perfection. With the able assistance of the horde of human barbarians from the north, the two allied forces almost completely decimated the goblins. If it had not been the untimely appearance of the mountain trolls coming to the aid of the goblins the elf victory would have been complete. The elves had just begun to celebrate when the trolls crashed into them, scattering the short-statured elves and their human friends all about.
Lady Feymina, daughter of the king, found herself being pursued through the forest by a particularly nasty troll that would not give up the chase. It had been almost an hour before she was able to pause for more than a moment and listen for signs of pursuit. She cursed herself for being foolish enough to think she could take on a mountain troll single-handed. At almost twice her height and many times stronger, it was only Feymina's considerable speed and agility that had kept her alive this long. Somehow she had lost her sword in the chase and was now armed only with her family dagger and a long bow. This was bad enough, but only six arrows remained her in quiver. She paused with her back against a tree. In the distance she could hear the heavy tramping of the troll. It had caught her scent and would now not give up until it or she was dead. Relying only on her bow and speed would now save her.
She closed her eyes and nocked an arrow on the string. The troll's thick hide would protect it from most normal injury. Its eyes were its weakest spot and she would need to land an arrow there if she wanted to live. Taking a deep breath Feymina stepped out from behind her tree to let the monster see her in the dim afternoon light. Its yellow eyes light up with delight once he spotted her. In an instant it fell into a long loping run. Calming herself she allowed the monster to cross half the forest clearing before firing her first shaft. It flew true and would have slayed the monster if it had not ducked its head a the last moment when something else flew out of the wood at the monster. The arrow glanced off the troll's thick bony skull. She cursed and started firing the other five arrows out of her quiver, but the monster was so close now and its head was moving to spoil her aim.
The last arrow remained on the string until the troll was close enough for her to see the bits of metal it had embedded in its hide to prove its courage and bravery. It opened its hideous maw to bite her and she let loose the last arrow. It sprouted from the creature's left eye socket and the troll tumbled to the ground, coming to a rest at her feet, dead. A smile of relief and satisfaction crossed her face, but was tempered a moment later when she saw a heavy axe protruding from the troll's back.
Feymina's hand went to her quiver, but found it empty. Another curse escape her lips and she pulled the dagger from her belt and waited for an attack.
"If I had wanted you dead, I would have let the troll kill you," came the voice of one of the barbarians who had assisted the elves in their attack on the goblins.
"What are you doing here!" she demanded of him.
"Killing trolls," he said simply. He was a tall man with a scraggly beard and shaggy hair. She had only rarely seen humans during her lifetime but knew enough about them to see he was fairly young for one of his race and if he wasn't filthy with sweat, blood and dirt he would have been almost attractive by elven standards. Typical of his race and brethren he wore leather pants and no shirt. A small wooden shield was buckled to his arm and a sling was stuffed into his belt. He walked up to the troll and yanked his axe out of the bloody carcass. Up close he was no better looking than at a distance. Brown hair covered his chest and matched that on his head. How unlike elves humans were. She herself was fine figured and slender, a shower of golden hair tumbled down her back. No elf grew hair on their faces or bodies like a human. Spying the sling in his belt a realization came over her.
"It was you who caused the troll to duck and my shot to go awry," she cried in anger.
He touched his forehead in an act of contrition. "My apologies. But I did make up for it by killing the creature for you."
"You did not! I fired the shot that killed the beast." She kicked the monster's head indicating the arrow that now protruded both fore and aft of the troll's skull.
He opened his mouth to disagree, but then they both heard more footsteps from where they had fled.
"Quickly," she commanded. "Back into the wood. Follow me."
The barbarian wanted to make the point he had done just as much as her to kill their enemy, but both her lacking any effective missile weapons—he knew that if the troll had not been fixated on her he never would have been able to sink his axe into its back—that were best to use against trolls so he decided to flee with her. Hopefully the trolls would soon give up the chase.
It was late into the evening before Feymina judged they were safe again. This was a part of the wood she had never been to before, though it was still territory protected by her father's rule. "Do you know where we are?" the barbarian puffed as they took a moment's rest.
"No," she replied hazily. Although elves' endurance was much greater than that of humans even she was now becoming tired after a day of fighting and running. "But we are still in my family's wood. We will be safe shortly. See that mark?" she asked, pointing to a tiny rune carved into an oak tree.
The barbarian glanced at it and nodded. "Yeah?"
Her lips curled back at his crudity. "It shows me where there is shelter. It's not far. Come!" she commanded and slipped into the forest again.
He pushed himself up off the ground where he had thrown himself and followed her. It wasn't so bad, running after her, he thought. Although more slender than he liked and barely four feet tall, the ass of the elf maiden was a joy to watch as she walked and ran over the forest floor.
They hadn't traveled far before she announced they had arrived, pushed aside some branches and promptly disappeared.
"Where are you?" he called out.
"Just push the leaves aside, you'll see."
Mimicking her motions he pushed aside the leave and was suddenly inside a small space hidden from the rest of the forest. Even for one as skilled in forest lore as himself, he would have missed the hidden room. It wasn't a cave, but an open air chamber concealed by carefully grown trees, bushes and vines: an elf circle.