Interlude: The girl in the forest

*whoosh*

A calm breeze passed, and for a short moment, it drowned out the other sounds that filled her ear. Then, they all came rushing back again. Far off, birds were singing in harmonic tunes, making the nature's music she was so used to. Nearby, an insect was beating its small wings so that it created a soft humming sound. To an ordinary human, the sound would be too quiet and too far away for them to notice, but she was different. Her hearing was leagues better than anyone she knew, which made sense. For one, although she regularly spoke to them, she was not human, at least not entirely. Even for her own race, she was not ordinary.

The flapping of wings above made her pointed ears twitch in reaction. For a short moment, the silhouette of a large bird blocked the sun from casting its light upon her, before it came into view again. The bright sun rays that now beamed down on her through the leaves warmed her skin and gave it a slight glow. Though she was very fond of the sun and its warmth, she couldn't let it distract her from her target. Her eyes were fixated on a golden brown, furred creature in the far, far distance. Another sound joined in, though this one didn't make her react at all, for she was expecting it.

Breathing. Her breathing. It was slow, and consistent, around ten breaths per minute. After a little while, one more sound was created. This one was also created by her, or at least, it was created because of her. It was slow, and smooth. The sound was of something small and wooden sliding out of a container of sorts. Then, the sound stopped, and not too long after, the same wooden object softly hit another, larger one. Then the sound of a string being drawn, slowly and carefully. The breathing slowed, and the sound of string stopped.

The noises came so slowly and so quietly, you could hardly tell they were connected. Yet if you had eyes to see, instead of ears to hear, you would see that it all came in one, fluid motion so elegant that the one performing it had undoubtedly done this motion countless times.

Using the divine powers The Huntress had bestowed upon her, her vision closed in on the object that was so far away no normal person would be able to spot it with the naked eye. When she had locked onto her prey with her vision, her breath stopped, before she broke all possible silence by letting go of the small wooden object, sending it flying with a quick motion. It entered her vision, and became smaller and smaller, closing in on its mark.

The arrow flew so quickly, the deer didn't even have time to notice what was going on before it fell to the ground, dead. Its life fading away, soon to join others who had fallen before it, and although it didn't know it, its soul would soon be reborn into another deer, in an endless cycle for the sole purpose of bringing food to beings that mattered more to the gods than it did.

With a satisfied exhale, the girl stood up and scanned the surrounding area. With the motion, her long, ivory hair gleamed in the sunlight, her pointy ears poking out to the sides. She made a mental note on where the deer had fallen, before looking down on the ground beneath her. Looking for a clear path towards her fallen prey, she jumped down from the branch she had been standing on, landing elegantly on the grass below, her bow still in hand.

Once she had stood up again, she started making her way along her planned route, when suddenly, she stopped. Her left ear twitched, and she could hear an unusual, sharp noise in the far distance. It was not a noise that belonged to where it came from, and it was not a noise that came from nature. Though she was already deep in the forest, this noise came from even further in. The sound was that of a little girl, screaming.

Without hesitation, the ivory-haired one sprinted towards the sound at a speed that would suggest she had never been there in the first place. Charging between trees and bushes, she eventually jumped up into the trees and began leaping between branches, gaining height, yet not slowing down in the slightest. The screaming getting closer, other sounds started fading in as well. Barking, the kind that belonged to Feral beasts. Readying one arrow while still sprinting, the ivory-haired girl eventually landed on one branch that looked over the area the noises were coming from.

True enough, there was a human child, cowering in fear towards the wall of a large rock. She looked to be around the human age of seven or eight, and she was surrounded by five hooded figures. Two of them were holding steel daggers that didn't look especially sharp. The three others were holding leashes, and attached to those leashes were direwolves, all of them twice the size of the girl. The beasts were snarling and growling, and seemed unnaturally thin, as if they had been starved. Their eyes screamed hostility and hunger, and they were all locked onto the child.

Though the wolves were on leashes and seemed to be under the control of the hooded ones, they didn't look like they had a shred of loyalty towards their masters. Therefore, if one of them were to fall, they might just forget about the child, and instead go for the meal ready to eat instead, which meant, the ivory-haired one had already decided who she would shoot first.

Aiming her bow at one of the hooded figures with a leash, her breathing slowed like before. She would take down one of the keepers, distracting the rest of the hooded figures, and giving the direwolves an incentive to turn on their masters. Then, she would swoop in, grab the child, and get out of the forest. Her breathing stopped, and all she had to do, was release her grip on the arrow in her hand.

However, just before she did so, she was caught off guard as her ear twitched again. Another sound could be heard, this one loud enough for even the hooded figures to hear. It was another scream, no, a yell! It did not come from either the figures nor the child. Turning her head, she saw a boy running towards the scene before her. He was not wielding any weapons, yet he stretched out one arm, pointing it forward. Seconds later, all the hooded figures, as well as their wolves, lost their footing and stumbled to the ground.