Fight Scene

The attack came in the late afternoon as they were nearing the top of the pass, and it caught the three travelers unaware. They had each begun to think that, whether through good luck, their own care, the watchfulness of the gods, or perhaps all three, they had gotten all the way to Krak Ruk without encountering any of the hazards of the road or forests.
The low growling, followed by a series of higher pitched yips that seemed to come from both sides of the road at once quickly wiped these thoughts from their minds.
"Put a tree at your back!" Ilbrios said quietly to the others without looking at them - his eyes instead scanning left and right seeking the attackers he knew were coming. "But don't move suddenly. Slowly and with purpose! And ready your staves."
Meek stood frozen in fear for just a moment at the first sounds of the yips. They were nearby, but could not yet be seen. It sounded like they were coming from all directions. She forced herself to glance over her left shoulder to find a stout tree trunk, and slowly began back and sidestepping her way toward the nearest one. Holding her staff before her in trembling hands, she wracked her brain for the words of an imploration that would help her companions and herself.
Laga, seeming to ignore Ilbrios' directions, instead drew the sling and a round stone from the pouch at her belt. Fitting the stone into the sling's pouch, she began twirling it to ready a throw with one hand. Only now did she start to move toward a tree on the side of the road opposide Meek - careful not to get too close and obstruct her sling.
For his part, Ilbrios stood in the middle of the road with feet apart and knees bent. He began to slowly sway in a rhythmic motion. His staff twirled slowly, first in one hand,  then in the other as he moved it from side to side. All the time, his eyes were scanning from side to front to side, looking for the first sign of attacker.
Seven of them leapt from the cover of the forest at once - three from one side of the road and four from the other - all slightly ahead of where Ilbrios stood. The outermost two on both sides began a cautious advance toward Meek and Laga, giving the swaying, swinging monk a wide berth. The other three leapt for Ilbrios.
Suddenly, the sound of what Meek took to be a hunting horn filled the air. Looking around, though, she realized that this sound had come from Laga, who clearly had no instrument in her hand to produce the sound. But it was most definitely coming from her - the low-pitched blare of an alarm horn sounded twice before going silent.
The creatures were almost seven feet tall. Their heads were indeed canine in feature, fur-covered, with pointed ears turned forward atop their heads, short snouts filled with sharp teeth, and fierce looking eyes. Their arms were fur-covered as well, and Meek could see they ended in sharp claws. But they also held weapons: a few had daggers...  two had short-swords... one had a visciously-curved scimitar. All showed nicked blades; none had the sheen of a oiled, cared-for blade.
As the three leapt for Ilbrios, his slow swaying suddenly transformed into a flurry of whipping and snapping motions with the staff. One of the attackers took a blow across its snout. Meek thought the whole forest resounded with the crack of the creature's jaw, which now hung limply from its face. That one let out a whimper and immediately retreated off into the trees.
Meek suddenly remembered a prayer, and without taking her eyes off the two approaching her, she muttered the words under her breath. 'Mother Caronalyn, grant me the sanctuary of your hearth, that I may see this danger pass by me.'   Remarkbly, the two gnolls advancing on her suddenly stopped, as if they had lost sight of her. A confused look in their eyes, they scanned the forest as if searching for prey that had just appeared and then disappeared.
Laga, in the meantime, increased the speed of her whirling sling for two more revolutions before letting the stone fly. It caught one of the two that were advancing on her squarely in the forehead, right between the eyes. The gnoll's dagger clattered to the ground an instant before the crumpled form of the dead beast joined it there. The second, though, let out a howl and leapt toward Laga, who jumped backward to finally put her own back against the tree trunk.
The sometimes rhythmic, sometimes unpredictable whipping of Ilbrios' staff kept his two remaining attackers at bay, but they were maneuvering to either side of him to make things more difficult.
Meek breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of her attackers' confusion, and immediately began a second imploration. This time, she called on Praelius the Warrior to lend strength and vigor to her allies, and weakness to here foes. For a brief second, she saw - or at least thought she saw - a faint, golden glow envelop both Ilbrios and Laga. Her second prayer had hopefully been answered.
But her relief was short-lived, for the two attackers that had originally been coming for her, apparently decided they would assist their companions with the prey they could see. One leapt for Ilbrios, who - despite having his back to the new threat - seemed to anticipate it. He swayed once more and the creatures sword-slash found nothing but the empty space where the monk's body had been.
The second started across the road to attack Laga from her flank. Meek suddenly realized that her first prayer had done nothing more than increase the danger to her companions! Panic beginning to rise, she looked down to see a fist-sized rock at her feet. As she bent to retrieve it, the resounding crack of staff on bone announced the demise of a second of the gnolls attacking the monk. This one crumpled to the ground with its head twisted much to far around on its neck after receiving a sweeping blow from the monk's staff.
Laga dropped the staff in her hand and instead drew the small hunting knife she kept on her belt. Almost as savagely as the gnolls were when they first appeared, she leaped at the first attacker that was coming for her. The gnoll deflected the knife blow, but Laga, leaping at the last minute with jaws suddenly opened wide, sunk her teeth deep into the shoulder of the attacker. Hanging above the ground by her teeth, she began to thrash her head and body from side to side before falling back to the her feet - a sizable chunk of the gnoll's shoulder still visible in her gaping jaw. The creature howled in pain as the now-useless arm dropped the weapon it held.
At this moment, Meek hurled the rock at the Laga's second would-be attacker. It only glanced off the creature's arm. The gnoll whirled around, and the look in its eyes told Meek that it no longer had any difficulty seeing where his would-be prey was standing and trembling.
Laga began savagely slashing at the wounded gnoll, causing it to back off. It clearly wasn't used to its prey fighting back so fiercely. After two backward steps, it turned and ran - its good arm cradling the wounded one. Howls of pain and panic faded as the creature disappeared from view and Laga began to look for an opening to assist Ilbrios.
Meek, again frozen in fear, stood stock still, hands holding her staff across her chest as if that would protect her somehow. The creature advancing on her sensed her fear, and slowed its approach as if to savor it before going in for the kill. Meek could only stare at its eyes - towering above her own.
Suddenly, though, the blazing hatred and hunger in the creature's eyes turned to surprise. It looked down at its chest, and Meek's eyes followed to the same spot. The broad tip of an arrow was protruding from the center of that chest. The creature looked back at Meek before falling lifeless to the ground at her feet.
The two gnolls that had been circling and slashing at Ilbrios also fell to the ground, an arrow shaft protruding from the neck of one and the back of the other.
All three companions suddenly looked up the road and saw six figures - three with bows already nocked with second arrows; the other three holding glistening longswords in one hand and small shields in the other. The dark feathered heads, small, unblinking eyes, and prominent beaks on the heads of these newcomers told the companions that these were Awkwana. And their uniform garb and weaponry announced them as trained soldiers or guards of the the city at the peak of the mountain.
As the six slowly moved toward the companions - the three bowmen still holding their bows at the ready and watching the carcasses of the fallen gnolls for any remaining sign of life - Meek and Laga moved to join Ilbrios.
Meek suddenly noticed a few places where Ilbrios' tunic was stained crimson red - and two of these surrounded slashes in the fabric. Ilbrios was hurn. Instinctively, Meek called to mind an imploration she had used in the past, though never after a combat in which she was personally involved. She asked Mother Caronlyn for healing power as she pressed her hands on Ilbrios' wounds. As her hands glowed visibly with a golden light for a moment, the wounds closed beneath them.