Some, but she is interrupted

A loud screech brought Marielle nearly to her feet straight from a deep slumber. She rose, hand on her sword hilt as she ran out the tent, intent on identifying the source of the noise before planning a response.

Her eyes rose to the sky as she encountered a hawk circling above her camp. She couldn't be sure, but she felt like it eyed her up with malicious intent. She had spent years learning to trust her instinct and she wasn't about to stop now. She entered a combat stance, her spear too far from her reach. She'd have to strike when the hawk dived.

Dive it did. Folding its wings under itself, it plummeted towards the paladin at breakneck speed. Its eyes glowed with malicious intent. Marielle attempted to time her swing, set her hips, and swung hard when she felt it close. Her sword made contact, but the hawk moved with such speed that her strike was not enough to change it's course. It slammed into her, but was unable to make more than glancing contact with her bare arms as she anticipated the blow.

The hawk, its momentum slowed by its ****, barely had time to turn before Marielle swung her blade again, but dodged the blow with surprising speed. It's beak gleamed in her peripheral vision as it struck, but she was able to absorb the blow with her sword's hilt.

There would be time to be awestruck by the aggressiveness of the beast later. Marielle found herself growing frustrated and swung wildly as the two combatants broke their deadly embrace again. The hawk took advantage of her wild swing, avoided the careless blow, and struck again. Marielle only had a moment to duck or she would likely have lost an eye.

Out of range again, Marielle set her feet and breathed deeply. She would not miss again. The hawk circled, seemingly having learned her approach, and struck from the flank, but despite her appeared lack of preparation, she had anticipated this and turned at the last second, skewering the beast. She drove her blade into the ground, holding the hawk there as its life left its body. Her task finshed, Marielle dropped to a knee, caught her breath, and thanked Helios for his protection.

Having steadied herself, she examined her opponent. Hawks of this size would occasionally attack children or pets, but to attack a camp was insane. She scanned the animal for enchantments, and unsurprisingly found one. What did surprise her, however, was that although she could identify the runes on the amulet the creature wore on its foot as demonic, she couldn't identify the source. She sighed, disappointed that this would not be an easy job. She dressed, packed camp, and set out to find something to guide her to the source of the enchantment, angrily aware that whatever she was up against likely knew she was here.