New Fantasy writing/modelling comp

The morning sprang clear and bright in contrast to the knot in my stomach. My dreams had not been pleasant, but they were only dreams, I told myself. As I packed my belongings for the road ahead, I recalled my training and meditated upon the words of comfort I had learned from a young age. It wasn't long before Seth and Safiya came from their respective rooms packed and ready to go. I could hear Teagan outside laughing, with or at Markus I could not be sure, as I saw Markus doing what appeared to be a dance as I passed by the small window heading toward the front door. Katia stood off to one side frantically looking around clearly eager to be rid of the village. We soon formed up and headed out waving goodbye to some villagers as they wished us well on our journey.

We had made good time by cutting across the fields rather than following the winding road that led to Wolfwater and were standing at the beginning of the path by noon. I had spoken to Katia the night before and suggested she speak with the tracker in Beargrim's town to see if we could make it back to the forest path with enough daylight to spare to search for the cave. The path was well trodden but not wide as we made our way into the deepening gloom. Katia took the lead and every now and then would stop and bend down to check something on the ground.
"What are you finding there Katia?" I enquired as she stood and looked from side to side.
"Tis strange Ellawyn. There are droppings and spoor as of a dog but not a dog" Katia grimaced. "I do not know what creature this may be but we need to be alert."
Markus overhead Katia and suggested he scout ahead a little. Before anyone could object he had melted into the gloom of the forest as if he had become just another shadow among many shadows. I signalled to the others to refrain from talking and to keep watch about them as we continued to walk the path.

Soon we found ourselves looking down toward a small clearing and as we approached, the knot in my stomach that had been there on my waking started to reform. I gently touched Katia on the shoulder and when she turned her head, the look in her eyes told me she had the same sense of dread. We both stood still and waited for the others to gather around us.
"What are we stopping for?" growled Teagan impatiently.
"We need to plan our approach to the cave" I replied.
"I have seen tracks and droppings that are like a dog in nature but not like any dog I have seen before." Katia lowered her eyes to the ground. At this Markus returned and informed us the three people he had encountered the night before on his watch had been hiding in the trees ahead of us but had suddenly moved off toward the cave.
"These three are certainly the Eyeblades you spoke of back at the cottage Ellawyn. We need to be on guard if they are as deadly as you say." Markus looked back over his shoulder.
"I can help with that" I said planting my staff in the ground. "Two simple spells will help protect and guard you all." I lowered my head and began to chant casting bless and detect evil on my companions. We continued to discuss our plan of appraoch and Seth suggested he imbue our weapons with an enchantment to empower them. It was evident Teagan was steadily growing more impatient with talk. Finally he snapped.
"Bah, enough! I will take down anything that stands in our way" he roared as he hoisted his mighty sword above his head. Teagan began to pace back and forth along the path, swinging his sword as if fighting an invisible foe until he caught a small branch tearing it from the trunk and hurling into the forest some ten feet distant. As he looked toward the fallen branch a satisfied smile began to spread across his face but was soon gone as a shadowy form sprang from the direction he was looking.

Teagan was large and broad shouldered for an elf belying his quick reflexes. He brought up his sword and dispensed with the intruder as quickly as light destroys the darkness. It was a dire wolf and without any further warning the pack was upon us. I saw Safiya begin to gather a lightning ball in her hands as Katia released arrow after arrow. I pointed my staff toward Katia and cast sanctuary on her then spun around to cast a shield of faith on Teagan as he continued to swing his sword. I could hear Seth off to my left side and turned just in time to see a wolf leap toward him from behind. One of Katia's arrows took down the wolf but not before it had hit Seth and brought him down to the ground. As I moved to protect him I saw a blur fly past me which, proved to be Markus as he lunged his knife into the final wolf that had Darius pinned beneath it.

The fight was over but not without injury. Seth had minor wounds on his arm where the wolf had grabbed him before Katia's arrow killed it and Darius, now back in his human form, had slightly more serious wounds but neither were life threatening. We were fortunate we had begun to prepare for another fight we were expecting further ahead otherwise we may not have fared quite as well. Katia helped me treat the injured by binding wounds with the bandages from my pack as I chanted simple healing spells that would hasten the process. We needed to be fit when we reached the cave as the threat ahead was far worse than a pack of dire wolves.