"Good luck." Nodded Hwinion, letting loose another arrow as his companion burst out of the door, sword raised and gleaming in the sunlight.
"Thank you!" Replied Codin, charging off towards the undergrowth. The warrior sprinted east, along the bank of the shallow lake, and headed towards the woods that clung to the edge of the foothills that divided Northshire from Greater Elwynn which naturally overlooked his cabin. He pumped his legs as fast as he could to keep himself a hard target for the concealed bowman, panting heavily to draw in as much oxygen as his lungs could hold. The soldier kept his eyes fixed firmly on the treeline as he ran, hoping to the Holy Light that his assailant would reveal his position. His prayers were answered sooner than expected.
Out from a narrow gap in the bushes, off to his high-left, a black-fletched arrow sliced through the air with the speed of a daggergap hawk, bearing down on him furiously. However, unburdened by armour and with his shield slung and secured tightly to his back, the bounding soldier proved to be too arduous a mark for the once-hidden assassin, and the arrow flew past Codin's back and landed in the calm lapping waters of the lake, missing the Warrior by a good few feet. Realising the first stage of their hastily-assembled plan had been executed, Codin immediately skidded to a halt and dived behind the cover of a nearby tree trunk, whilst Hwinion, who had been watching the whole ordeal from the cabin's veranda, rose up from behind the upturned table, and wasting no time at all, loosed a well aimed arrow at the mysterious bowman's newly revealed whereabouts. It departed with the bowstring with a satisfying twang and disappeared into the brush in the blink of an eye, a gut-wrenching yowl echoing through the air a split-second later.

The Elf allowed a slight grin to grow on his face as he admired his precise and off-the-cuff shot, before setting his eyes on his human companion, who was busy freeing the heater shield from his back and readying himself for the second part of the plan. Codin's eyes met Hwinion's steely gaze as he was preparing for the next assault, and the veteran warrior gave the hunter a curt nod, an adrenaline-fuelled smirk spreading across his face, before he charged off into the unknown yet again. They both knew what next had to be done. Taking a deep breath to calm his battle-starved nerves, Codin tightened his grip on both his shield and blade, and upon the internal count of three the warrior would storm forwards to clear the uphill position.

One... Two... Oh Bugger... Three. Phase Two began. The Warrior rose out of cover, swiftly vaulted over the tree trunk, raised his shield and sword and charged forward towards the bushes, scrambling up the shallow dirt slope as he ran. What he would find on the other side of the brush was unknown to Codin, so speed and violence of action would be his main advantage. 'The bastard won't be expecting this' he thought, weaving from tree to tree and bouncing from cover to cover, advancing upon the assailant's position at a furious pace until he found himself diving shield-first through the undergrowth and emerging in a small forest clearing on the other side. He found his sure footing after executing the swift dive-roll through the bushes, and intuitively raised his weapon and shield into a guard position as he rose to his feet. However, as his eyes glanced up to survey the surroundings, he found himself staring at a sight that made his stomach turn.
Occupying the small woodland clearing was a fair-sized band of rogues, bandits, ruffians and vagabonds, all clad in rough leather doublets as black as the fletchings of their arrows and iron kettles-helms that adorned their bandana-shrouded faces, all toting vicious arms and weapons, ranging from clubs and staves to swords, maces and daggers. Codin immediately regretted his decision to pass on the armour, but after seeing that he had somehow gone unnoticed to half of the footpads, who were tending to their wounded comrade laying on the floor, and observing the startled demeanour of the remaining bandits, who were taken completely by surprise, the warrior acknowledged that he still had a chance. Outnumbered? Yes. But outfought? That remained to be seen. Acting solely on his old soldier's intuition, Codin instinctively let out a blood-curdling war cry that split the air and charged forward into the fray, sword and shield raised, ready to do some damage.

"CHAAARGE!" He yelled, barrelling towards his first target like a feral beast. The man in question, a skinny and shifty-looking longbowman who was kneeling down next to his wounded companion, spun around to face the charging Warrior, a look of pure horror and fear spreading instantly across his face. Codin planted his boot dead in his chest, sending the rogue flying backwards to land in a sprawling heap, then immediately brought his blade down on the axe-wielding bandit kneeling next to him, the honed steel blade slicing through the rough leather doublet with ease. Blood spurted out of the man's wound, who let out a chilling cry of pain as he, too, was sent sprawling to the floor. This without a doubt drew everyone's attention to the ragged, bearded, tunic-clad veteran soldier bearing down on their once hidden encampment.
"To arms, lads!" Barked a heavily-set, club wielding brute at the back of the clearing, ushering his men to battle. "Get that Bastar-"
A steel-tipped arrow whistled through the air and embedded itself deep into the brute's throat, interrupting him mid-bellow, causing the lout to drop his weapon to the ground and fall to his knees, clutching his impaled neck feebly as the life faded from his eyes. The band of thugs immediately spun round to face their deceased leader, finding him laying dead on the floor with no threat in sight. Little did they know, Hwinion had perched himself high in the branches of a nearby oak and was ready to rain down projectiles onto the clearing below.

Executing the final stage of the assault, Codin stormed into the cluster of ruffians and went to work. His shield collided with the spine of the nearest thug, a stout dwarf with a broad battle axe, and sent him rocketing face-first into the bushes. The bandits spun round to face the warrior, raised their weapons and bore down on the veteran. Codin spun round, evaded a wild sword slash, blocked another with his shield and thrust his blade deep into the abdomen of a polearm-toting elf. Up above, the Hunter notched an arrow onto his bowstring, took careful aim, snatched a quick breath and loosed the projectile into the fray, which found itself embedded in the back of one of Codin's assailants.
Back on the ground, Codin was keeping himself busy, to say the least, and after felling a couple more of his attackers with deadly-accurate slashes from his longsword, the playing field began to look more even. The thugs had banded together in a staggered crescent around the lone warrior, drawing in closer and attempting to encircled him. However, even outnumbered as he was, the veteran planted his heels in the dirt, gritted his teeth and held his ground.
"Come on, you buggers!" Codin taunted, a cocksure grin on his face. "Do we plan on doing some fighting today, or are we just going to stand around and stare at each other?"
A thug to his left, happily answering his query, raised his quarter-staff into the air and brought it down with speed, the thick ash pole swiftly careering towards the Soldier's head. Quick to answer, Codin angled his shield high and braced his arm, the blow from the stave glancing cleanly off the targe. The warrior then thrust his sword under his shield, hard. The blade punctured through the assassin's leather cuirass and tore into the man himself. He dropped to his knees, clutching his stomach, his quarter-staff resting on the dirt besides him. He was swiftly finished off with an arrow to the back of the neck from the Hunter perched high in the trees. One down.

Codin pressed his attack, driving forward into the crescent. A dual-headed battle axe bore down on him from his right. The warrior took a half step to the rear, parried the weapon forwards with his blade and slashed the dwarvern footpad's unarmoured neck with lethal accuracy. The dwarf fell. A wiry and lean rogue with a shrouded face lunged at Codin's midriff with a serrated dirk. The thrust was parried with the soldier's heater shield, and in the blink of an eye, two arrows were planted firmly in his back in quick succession. He, too, fell. Two more to go: A tall and slender bandit with an arming sword at his side and a fleck of blonde hair protruding from his black hood; flanked closely by a burly, muscle-bound thug armed with a stout flanged mace. Before Codin could dart in for the next bout of killing, the two assailants seized the moment and made the first move. Blade and mace rained down on the warrior in synchrony, forcing him to block with both sword and shield whilst swiftly move rearwards in a desperate effort to create space. The thugs kept their tempo, pushing forwards and raining down brutal blow after blow onto the soldier, who was being rammed back towards the hedgerow which he had previously burst through. Though, in an effort to catch the assassins off guard and regain the advantage, Codin determined in a split second to stop dead in his tracks, shelter behind his shield, tuck his chin to his chest and launch himself forwards. With teeth gritted and howling a fierce war cry, the warrior planted his heater shield firmly in the bandits' torsos as he drove forward like a charging oxen. The thugs, finding themselves off balance after throwing another volley of blows at the soldier, were taken wholly by surprise. The violence and brute strength of Codin's shield bash sent the duo skidding backwards, only just managing to find their footing. For the warrior, that was just what he had required. He retook a strong and grounded stance, flicked the blood off his blade and raised his iron-faced shield, nodding smugly at his two assailants and beckoning them on once again.    

Meanwhile, high in the oaken branches, Hwinion had lost his line of sight on the skirmish through the angle of the leafy canopy, and so dropped to the forest floor like a Darnassian saber cat to render his assistance. The Elf then drew his compact, yet elegant, shortsword, pulled his hood over his lean and angular face and vanished into the brush, his eyes fixed on the battle unfolding before him.
The two thugs, both still reeling from the Codin's vicious charge, both glanced at each other with unsettled looks as they began to advance slowly towards the soldier yet again. The warrior held his ground and stared his opponents down with a steely gaze as they edged slowly towards him, but off to the left, deep in the undergrowth, Codin spied a rustling in the bushes. It grew more pronounced by the second, and just as the two thugs were nearly within striking range, the tall and slender figure of the Elf gradually emerged from the trees, the hunter making his way forwards with his hood pulled over his head and his shortsword grasped firmly in a precise reversed grip. Codin and Hwinion made brief eye contact, both knowing immediately what was going to happen, then returned to face the duo of assailants, both of whom were completely unaware of what was about to unfold behind them. The warrior thrust his sword forwards in a flash, towards the golden-haired bandit, in an effort to distract the two assassins. It worked.
The two thugs, keenly apprehensive after the surprise pummelling, jolted back violently and started swiping the thin air with their weapons as they nervously tried to parry the blade. Codin probed their defence again a few more times as Hwinion moved into position, and by the time the elf was behind the muscle-bound footpad with his shortword raised above his head, ready to strike, the warrior ceased playing about and moved in for the kill. In synchrony, Hwinion plunged his blade deep into the back of the burly thug, who gasped violently in shock, as Codin parried the slender bandit's blade to one side and thrust forward with his longsword. The honed points of the duo's blades pierced through the jerkins of their assailants, both of whom were taking completely by surprise and crumpled to the floor, clutching their wounds, surprised and confused looks on their faces as the life faded from their eyes. After stepping back from their opponents, Codin swiftly finished the two off with precise slashes to the neck, silencing their gasps and cries.

The forest clearing fell into tranquility, the bodies of a dozen-odd assassins, rogues and hired-swords clad in black littering the glade. Flights of birds flittered overhead. The fading light of the evening sun danced through the leaves. The gasps of fatigue from the elf and man echoed throughout the wood. Flicking the blood off their blades and catching their breath in heavy pants, the duo stood back and observed the fruits of their handiwork, both rendered speechless from the ferocity and violence of the sudden skirmish they found themselves fighting.
Who were these men? Why did they attack? What was their motive?
A grunt of pain emitted from the bowman struck by Hwinion's arrow filled the air, and the eyes of the hunter and warrior darted over to the centre of the clearing, where they found the man desperately trying to crawl away into the undergrowth, leaving a trail of blood behind him. Hwinion and Codin once more exchanged knowing looks, and began to make their way over to the wounded assassin.
These questions would hopefully soon be answered.