Yet it was not for long that this last beast was allowed to live. Legolas nocked an arrow and released it quickly, just the few lucky seconds before the stranger straightened. The beast fell with an arrow struck right through the centre of its skull, while the remaining beasts finally realised better. Few were still alive, and they backed out slowly, hissing and snapping their deadly sharp teeth. But no other attacked, they fled, each and every that still could, while the ground around them was littered with corpses.

Heart pounding with excitement still, Legolas turned towards the stranger with something like exasperation, and he had to look up and up and up. Of course he had taken a look when he jumped into the fray, but it was still something else to catch a glimpse like that and to get a good look now. Tall and broad, imposing in appearance and threatening, the blood did little good to smooth out the impression. Even Legolas felt a hint of intimidation and trepidation creep up his spine, but the rush and warmth of the battle urged him on.

"It was most unwise to wander in this far, friend, this is no forest to take strolls in, not on your own, not even in a company of many," he chided gently, trying to make himself seem as tall as he only could, "Had you not heard the stories? Of beasts and hauntings, of evils that live here..."

And here he was exaggerating a little bit, repeating what the natives had told him and taking up a similar cadence when speaking, but all of it laced with concern. All because he just could not be sure yet, was he one of the natives or was he one of the flaws? He thought the latter, but certainty was a fleeting thing and he did not wish to reveal the wrong information to the wrong person. They had already done enough of that.