A silent rescue

Lillian resumed the fierce struggle against her bonds, **** to get loose before whatever it was that lurked in the woods noticed her.
But it was no use; she couldn’t break the bonds, and she could clearly hear how the figure in the woods was almost at the clearing.

Then, the sound of movement suddenly stopped just out of view of Lillian, who was by now very close to panicking, as seconds passed at an agonizingly slow pace.
Suddenly, something moved and then stepped out of the dense greenwood, giving Lillian an opportunity to see who it was.
She was surprised to see that it was man, a human man with long, straight black hair that covered parts of his handsome face.

Even a quick gaze at him revealed that he was a woodsman, as he was dressed in soft brown leather-boots, a pale green breechcloth, a short tunic in a darker nuance of green that was kept in place by a thin leather belt, from which there hung several small bags, and armed with a bow and sword, the arrows to the bow placed in a quiver that was strapped over his back.

The man signalled for Lillian to be silent by pressing his right index finger to his lips, and then moved, swift and silent, towards the bound half-elf.
Lillian kept silent, even when the man drew a knife from the back of his belt and lashed out at her. The knife hit the ropes that were holding Lillian, as the man now began to quickly saw through them, freeing Lillian.
Still not saying a word, the man motioned for Lillian to follow him as he turned round in the direction that he had appeared from, and began to move.

Lillian was intrigued by her handsome saviour, and decided that her best chance was to accompany him, so she followed him back into the woods.
The man moved quickly through the dense foliage, and Lillian, who was unused to the environment, had to struggle to keep up with him.

After ten minutes or so, Lillian had lost visual contact with the man, and had to guess which direction that he had taken. As she had been unarmed by her captors, Lillian was not especially thrilled over being left on her own in the forest, and so she picked up the pace, caring little for the extra sound that her faster movement caused.

Suddenly, she nearly fell of the edge of a cliff that had appeared out of nowhere, but managed to keep her balance.
Ten feet to her right, the man sat on a boulder, waiting for her.
“I’m glad to see that you waited for me!” Lillian said to him, relieved over seeing him again.

The man smiled faintly and replied: “There is a cave just a hundred feet from here, follow me and I’ll lead you there.” With that, he stood up and walked away.
A little annoyed over his laconic retort, Lillian trailed after the man, and soon they reached a pile of rocks at a hillside.

The man quickly removed several thick branches that had been placed on the rocks, and revealed a cave behind them.

Well inside the cave, Lillian’s patience had run short and her voice was blunt and direct as she spoke: “Look, I’m grateful for the rescue, but who are you?”
The man turned and looked at her, his blue eyes gazing at Lillian’s firm, curvy body as he stood silent for a brief moment, and then inhaled to signal that he was about to answer her.