The creatures continued to approach cautiously, their movements deliberate and calculated. Their eyes locked onto each man in the circle around Iris and her maid, assessing their potential threat. The air was heavy with tension, filled with the growls that emanated from the menacing creatures. They exchanged glances, as if communicating silently, strategizing their next move.
"Please, my lady," Sir Marco's loud voice could be heard above the intensifying growling, pleading for her to leave. "Please go now!"
Iris was paralyzed by shock. It was her first encounter with such monstrous beings. In Argidava, her father's land, and particularly at Castle Tomis where she had spent most of her life, there had been no trace of these creatures. They were believed to have been eradicated long ago. She had always assumed that the same held true in Buri, especially after her husband's efforts to drive them out of the Dark Wood.
