Guardians fight for freedom chapter nine

Meanwhile the sky was still lit up from the radiating glow of the sign, which shone brighter than any star and even cancelled out the moon. Its light washed over the land and everyone gazed up at its beauty, and knew exactly what it was. They all felt hope again. 
Haaris leader of the Blood wardens, an organisation that combats evil was leading his team on an expedition into Darkened forest in search of the old abandoned base that once belonged to their order. Haaris a large man in his mid-thirties, hiked up to where his team had camped. 
Two men and a woman sat around the open fire. Haaris watched as he approached and sat next to the woman and poked the flame with a stick. The flames flickered in the moonlight, the smell of wood burning and the smoke hovered over the campsite as if it was a toxic cloud. 
One of the men, an elf with long black hair whispered over in Haaris’ direction “so which way do we travel?” Haaris looked up at the elf “Leuan, we go east, when we have reclaimed the base, we will head north to the Darklands, and hopefully on the way we can gain allies to help build the army”
Leuan watched the flames and thought for a moment “So while we are on our travels we have to pick up hitchhikers…great”
“Leuan, we all have to do our bit,” Said the woman
“Tania is right, Barerin has to die, no matter the cost,” said the other man. 
“We head out at dawn, and travel light” ordered Haaris.
“Taran, you and your sister head out and gather some more firewood “
They both stood up and headed out. Leuan was playing with his magic and creating fantastical creatures out of the flames. Haaris watched with a hard stare, which made Leuan uncomfortable; he continued and created a majestic horse that danced around the camp. Haaris shook his head is disapproval, “You should be saving your strength, or have you forgotten we are in the Darkened forest. Evil lurks in every shadow. We must be alert,” he muttered. Leuan sighed heavily and replied with a humorous tone “Can’t we just have a few moments of peace and not having to search and fight, every minute of the day”
“We are Blood wardens; we do not have the luxury of days off”
“So what are our objectives?”
“First we must find the old base and root out the bandits that have made it their home, second we must seek aid from the shaman-
“Hang on, you mean that whacko that lives in this forest, you’re kidding”
“He is a powerful shaman, we could use-
“But the dude has a screw loose”
“He may have…lost part of his mind, but he is still a valuable ally”
“But he is nuts”
“Are you going to keep on with this?”
“I ain't coming along when you go find him; you’ve heard the rumours, what he does to elves”
“They are just rumours”
“Hey I don’t want my ears cut off and hanged around his hut, thank you very much”
“I am sure he does not do that, and besides you have to come along”
“Why do I?”
“Because you swore an oath”
“Damn it, lose one lousy bet with someone and it haunts you for the rest of your life,” Leuan muttered under his breath.
“What was that?”
“Nothing… and is there anything else we have to do”
“Besides finding as many allies as possible I do not think so”
However, Taran and Tania were deeper into the forest, the thick slime made it incredibly hard to walk, every step took some effort. Taran gave out his hand for Tania to grab hold of, and he guided her over the rotten logs. Tania crouched down and noticed a small cave; she looked inside and noticed a little elven girl no more than ten. Tania moved closer and reached out. The girl flinched.
“It’s alright. My name is Tania, I am not going to hurt you,” she whispered softly, Taran moved over to Tania and bent down, Tania continued “This is my brother Taran, what’s your name”. The girl crawled out the cave slowly and spoke “…my name is Ariana”
“Nice to meet you Ariana what are you doing in the Darkened forest?” Taran added.
“Me, my big sister Kiara and our dog Axel were on our way to the Darklands, to help with the army”
“But you’re like ten” Taran replied. Ariana laughed and glowed bright with energy, Tania gasped, “You’re a mage”
“Yes, I work with healing”
“So does our friend Leuan”
“Where is your sister now” Taran spoke more seriously.
“We got separated; when the mean people came and attacked”
“What mean people? You mean Barbarians”
“Yes, they came with spears and fire. Kiara told me to run and I did”
“Don’t worry sweetie, we will find them”
Taran shot a glance over to Tania, and she shrugged in response, Taran picked up the firewood he had gathered. Tania held Ariana’s hand on the way back. When they came through the clearing, Leuan noticed the child and watched Haaris “So we are picking up stray elven kids now”
“Why have you brought this child with you?” Haaris ordered
“Because she got separated from her sister and they were on their way to the Darklands to aid them,” Tania answered.
“How is this child supposed to help in a battle?” Ariana looked at Tania and rushed forward, she glowed with magic.
“Well I’ll be damned, the kid can do magic, welcome to the club” Leuan laughed.
“I see…but we are on an important mission” Haaris proceeded
“And the kid could help and we can’t just abandon her back in the forest, you know what’s lingering out there” Taran yelled.
“Fine the child comes, we will search for your sister and then for the base” Haaris finally agreed, Ariana slept soundly next to Tania. Tania pulled the blanket over her and tucked her in.
Dawn broke in over the treetops, Haaris was already up and packed and eager to get going. He pulled out a flask and to a swig of water before pouring the rest onto the campfire.
Taran gradually woke up and Tania was already on her feet, she looked over to Ariana who was still fast asleep, then staggered over to him. She look down at him, then kicked him, he rolled over and pulled the cover over his head. Then she kicked a little harder “ah what…just a…few more…hours” he mumbled.
“Get up…you lazy bum,” She yelled. Ariana awoke and stretched her arms, she looked over to Tania, who was still trying to get Taran out of bed and then looked across to Leuan who was also asleep. She crawled out of the blanket and stood over Leuan. Then she whispered “Mister Mage, I think we are leaving soon”, he did not answer.
“Sorry mister mage, this is for your own good” she replied while glowing with an amazing amber colour. Then sparks flew out of her hands and jolted Leuan, he immediately jumped up and shrieked in pain “AHH what the hell was that”
“You weren’t listening”
“I was asleep”
“Yes, I know, that’s why I did it”
“You didn’t need to shock me though”
“Tania had to kick Taran to get him up”
“So you thought you’ll do one better…and shock me”
“Mister grumpy, is packing everything up”
“Err whose mister grumpy”
“You know, the bossy grumpy man”
“HA you mean Haaris…nice one”
All were up and ready to leave Taran remembered when he was younger. He had nice warm bed and a cosy chair in front of the fire, his family all siting happily together. Nevertheless, that was all gone now. Taran stared at Leuan “Ha, nice hair Leuan”
“Blame the kid”
“Why?”
“She shocked me”
“Haha you’re kidding”
“Do I look like I am kidding” He exploded.
“No, sorry” 
They travelled east up the black hills that had formed over the years, Haaris carried Ariana, for they were steep and large; the black grass covered every bit of ground.
Ariana discovered smoke in the distance; Haaris put Ariana down and drew his sword and shield, and signalled to his team to do the same. They surrounded the camp were the smoke was.
Ariana ran forward and searched around, Tania chased after her “Ariana wait, be careful”, then two trees awoke and swung round, they towered over all and stood there watching. 
Taran sprinted and stood firmly in front of Tania and Ariana, his blade gleaming in the sun “Back the hell off now” He roared. One of the trees bellowed and behind the other, a blonde haired elven woman and a black dog appeared. The woman looked over to the trees and spoke “Please, this is my sister, don’t hurt them” The trees stepped back and Ariana ran to her “Kiara, these are my friends, there called blood wardens”
“Blood wardens, I’ve heard of them”
“Well…these are my friends, there…ents, or tree folk, the one with the scar on his face is Aspen and the other is Isaiah. They helped me when the barbarians attacked” Kiara replied. Axel licked Ariana and run around her “Haha Axel” as she hugged him, he was a large bear of a dog, and twice as furry.
Leuan approached along with Haaris, he could not take his eyes off the ents, and Aspen stared back. “Err guys, am I drunk…because I see trees… with faces”  
“Not now Leuan” Haaris barked.
“We mean no harm,” Aspen muttered.
“You speak” Taran snarled
“Watch your tone human, and yes we speak” Isaiah butted in  
“We’ll we best be off, we have find our base” Leuan urged
“Of course, Aspen and Isaiah have decided to join the army at the Darklands”
“Good we will need every abled…body, in this war” Haaris replied.
“Then we shall meet you at the Darklands, good luck to you Blood wardens”
“Thank you Kiara and peace be with you on your travels, and to you Aspen and Isaiah” The ents nodded back in response. Kiara, Axel and Ariana travelled on Aspen and Isaiah, for it would be much quicker to travel then by foot. Axel did not like heights certainly not travelling on a trees shoulder. Ariana sat next to him and Kiara behind them both to keep them safe, they turned north and travelled slowly, but an Ent’s stride is five times bigger than a humans.