Without realizing it, a game of catch and hide began between them who did not know each other.
"You and you, check behind the trees. You. check the bushes. We can't let this mission to be known." said their leader firmly.
The three soldiers carrying different weapons then entered the area of the trees where darkness reigned.
Step by step, they made their way through the leaves on the ground. The cracking sound of dry branches accompanied the tension.
The two warriors slowly examined one by one the trees near the outer circle of the forest darkness.
Occasionally, the sharp sounds and thuds of weapons hit behind the trees. It was as if there was no humanity between them.
One by one the trees were scratched and wounded in search of rats disguised in the forest.
Meanwhile, the girls who were hiding could only keep their mouths shut. Holding their breath and exhaling for a few seconds.
The other soldiers also continuously sounded the rustling of the bushes accompanied by arrows that shot lightning just like their previous companions.
The tension between the group continued to grow. Fewer and fewer trees remained until it reached them.
It was a miracle they had not been found until now but even miracles can run out in time.
But before the tension peaked, the sound of a wolf-like howl could be heard in the distance.
From a distance, the howl followed by another howl grew closer between their ears.
The previous form of the fire fairy began to appear among the darkness. They circled the space between the trees in addition to the hot sun.
And then from the mass of howls there was silence again. Increasing the alertness among them.
"Tch, they're coming. Defensive formation troops, prepare your weapons." their leader exasperatedly scoffed at the arrival of someone else, while warning her subordinates in a calm tone.
The group of soldiers began to gather like a small circular bunker. Showing their discipline in the face of enemies and trouble.
Meanwhile, the three soldiers left behind were still searching for the whereabouts of the scouts or whatever they deemed a threat earlier, the two hiding girls.
In the brief silence, the first two warriors in the darkness suddenly fell to the ground as if they had been hit by something hard despite in their full armor. The hunter's eyes were all that could be seen before the quick turn of events.
The other warriors did not fare any differently but rather the same thing happened sending them hurtling far back towards their reformed troops despite being knocked into some trees earlier.
The troops who saw this began to tense up at the presence of a visitor or perhaps they themselves were being greeted by something.
From within the hovering form of a fire elf, the figure of a pair of eyes spread out, surrounding them like a wolf hunt.
It was still daylight but that didn't matter to the wolf pack.
"Show yourselves, isn't it rude to greet us like this?" the squad leader said in a slightly bluff tone.
A firm and sure step, through the rustling bushes, revealed a large and stout human figure.
The figure wore the stitching of a wolf's quarry with a mouth decoration on top of its head. His muscular body was not completely covered by anything, his pants were covered with animal cloth similar to his fur coat.
His eyes, which were not so fierce and showed a strong intimidation, stared at the uninvited guests.
"Troop, leave." in a stiff voice while showing communicative hand gestures to the troops.
"We can't leave here, we have our reasons." the leader bluffed again.
"Reason, bad, intention, bad." while stomping his feet hard a few times and then groaning to intimidate them.
The others from the shadows also groaned adding to the tension between them.
The aura emitted by their leader also began to flare up adding to the aggressiveness of both sides.
"Once, go, now!"
With the tension increasing by the second, the leader of the army finally raised her hand signaling surrender to this confrontation.
"Okay, fine, we'll go. But I need a guarantee that you won't talk about this meeting to other parties or tribes. That makes sense, right?"
A bit of negotiation was thrown by the leader over this incident, making the other party finally comply as well.
"Go, now. Never, meet." said the barbarian as he tightened the grip on his weapon like a rope that was about to break ready to attack.
They hurriedly grabbed their equipment to quickly leave and get away from the horde.
One by one, they stepped into the dark forest from the other side.
The last of them, the leader of the soldiers, turned around.
"I know from among those of you who are hiding, regardless of your group, we will meet again soon. I hope you live until then. Hmph."
She elegantly turned back and flapped her cloak elegantly leaving and forgetting what happened in this place.
After some time, the two girls who were hiding let out a sigh of relief.
"Well, we survived Maid. I think we should be grateful for this."
"The one hiding. Come out."
Suddenly, two other barbarians surrounded the two girls behind the tree.
"Are are, please be... gentle sirs?"
The two were then separated, lifted like babies into the presence of their leader.
The two of them did not try to rebel because they knew this horde was full of people who were scary and muscular like in stories in general.
They were placed side by side, the maid started to fall down because she was so scared while the princess was in the mode of holding both sides of her waist like a smug little girl.
"Who?" was the leader's obvious question to both of them.
The maid who heard that word could only panic slightly as her back shook for an instant while still in a slumped state.
The princess saw that and immediately looked back at the leader boldly.
"We're not anyone hmph." the princess said as if she didn't want to explain herself.
Once again in a stern tone the barbarian leader asked as if he was a little angry at the behavior of the two girls.
"Who?" with a ferocious gaze that stabbed directly at the little girl.
The princess who was originally acting brave instantly collapsed into a frightened girl as if she was about to cry.
She immediately knelt down near the maid and started shaking the pretender's shoulders.
"Maid maid maid!!! Wake up oii wake up pleaseee aaahhh!"
The princess frantically did so while several times exchanging glances with the leader who was still glaring at them continuously.
The leader who could no longer stand this uncertain answer began to approach the princess and lift her up like a baby to look into her eyes.
"Aaahh let me go please! We're really not suspicious hueeee."
"Explain."
The leader asked again even though the girl was still squirming violently.
"We're... stranded. Our house are gone." the princess with the brief explanation slowly stopped wriggling in her hands. She looked down as if remembering what happened not long ago.
Without realizing it, the maid also began to hold the leader's leg as if begging him to stop.
The leader who saw these two pitiful girls then put the princess back down even though she was still downcast.
With a gesture of looking up, the sky began to lose its light, indicating that time would soon change.
"Time. Night. Girls. Follow."
The horde began to move. The princess was lifted onto one of the barbarian's shoulders, while the maid was dragged by two people through both hands.
The princess who had been sad, raised her head feeling something behind them.
There was a group of fairies or fire wisps surrounding the large tree that had been the target of destruction earlier.
They with a small, nosy voice like fairies swayed back and forth as if waving to them as they left.
The princess seeing that slowly regained her smile and greeted back in a quieter voice.
"Bye" while waving a small hand to them back.
The little fire fairy was getting happier and happier like a firefly in the twilight, illuminating the big tree up to the top of the leaves.