Irzen and Serna shook their heads and waited to see what the others would ask if anything.

"Teehee! Like this?" The fairy disappeared from view of the party except to Serna.

"Nice! Very nice!" The Shield Maiden smiled.

"Be back in a flash," The fairy said from nowhere.

"Okay," Serna waved good-bye to her friend as she flew off.

"Quietly." Alyson whispered moving forward a little. She noticed that Willow seemed to be out of touch with his home land. Was he not a ranger of the woodlands? ~ Has he forgotten how to look for signs of trouble in his favored terrain? ~

The bronze man said nothing when he agreed to the ranger's plan of advancement ushering him and Serna to start walking. "It is unwise to linger here for any length of time."

"Agreed!" The Prince moved forward cautiously.

*****

The fairy buzzed through the woodland shrubs and low lying dense brush on the steep hill side to see roughly a dozen elves trying desperately to hide anywhere among the trees or up in them without making any noise. Some of them were bruised and bloodied, and the rest comprised of families with children. They went quiet suddenly to the loud crashing sounds to the south followed by a harsh guttural sounds of some horrible language that hurt Caliaphy's ears.

********

She backed away behind a thick tree and teleported back to the party reappearing. "There's some elven people up ahead. Mostly families. They're really, really scared, and I heard something REALLY BIG smashing its way towards them!"

"How far off was this thing smashing its way towards them?" The Prince asked earnestly.

"REALLY CLOSE! WE HAVE TO--MMPH!!" Caliaphy got too excited and silenced suddenly by the hand of the elementalist over her mouth.

"I said quietly," Alyson whispered.

Irzen came to a stop and advised Alyson to do the same as they awaited Caliaphy's assessment of the situation.

In the distance the party clearly heard a tree falling down followed by the thunderous foot steps of something big and ugly singing a horrible rendition of Elmer Fudd, "Hehehe! I'M HUNTING ELVES TODAY! HAR! HAR! HAR!"

"That sounds like an ogre!" The Bronze Man hissed to Willow. "We need to intercept it before it finds your kin!"

"It is and we will," The Prince hissed back to The Bronze Man as he waved everyone back to him. When he got them together into a huddle, Irzen asked, "Okay, Willow, this is your home field. What's the play?"

"Intercept and eliminate," Willow replied, "Irzen, Caliaphy and Alyson, I want you three with me. We're going to cut off that ogre and cut him down before he can reach my people. Serna and Lazheros, race towards my kin, set up a defensive perimeter and stand ready to protect them if we should fail. Let's go! We have no time to waste."

Willow took off at a trot towards the direction of the ogre with Irzen by his side. Serna took the lead in heading towards the elves being hunted by the ogre.