Bloodfeathers

Guardsman Aleric groaned softly as he stretched his aching shoulders. No one had ever said how sore his muscles could be after a full night on watch. Once again he thought of the bunk waiting for him in the guards' barracks, and was tempted to leave his post early. Once more Aleric stifled the thought, reminding himself sternly that a sentry had to hold his position, even if there wasn't anything to be watching for. It was the principle of the matter, after all.
But those principles didn't mean much when an arrow zipped out of the nearby treeline and sank into his chest.

"How bad is it this time?" The overseer grumbled.
"Three guardsmen killed, and the wheel-axles on ever cart have been cut through." His assistant answered nervously. His boss was not known for a calm disposition, even without being awoken just after sunrise.
"That makes this the worst of the sabotage to hit our camps. Please tell me the remaining sentries saw at least something useful."
"No, sir."
"Fine. Set workers to repairing the carts, then, and assign someone to get rid of the bodies. I'm going back to bed." Just as the overseer was turning to head for his private quarters, the assistant let out the other detail about the attack.
"Sir- The sentries. They were taken out by arrows with crimson-feathers." Seeing his boss freeze, the assistant clutched the sheets of parchment he always carried a little closed to his scrawny chest.
He was surprised, though, when the overseer responded rather calmly. "I want you to write a message to Edercy the Tracker for me, and tell him to come here." Eyes wide, the man couldn't believe what he'd just heard. The Tracker was a legend, one of the greatest mercenaries ever to stalk through the land. One didn't just casually send him a note with an order.
"Um, is there anything else you would like me to say?"
The overseer turned his head enough that his assistant could see the burning anger in his eyes. "Tell him that his star pupil has become rather protective of this forest, and I want to hire him to bring her down."

Outside of the logging camp, one of several that belonged to a company trying to destroy her home, a ranger crouched in the shadows covering a tree branch. She saw the angered overseer saying something to his over-worked assistant that sent the smaller man scurrying away.
"Soon, Eder." She whispered with a grim smile. "Soon you will pay for your treachery." With that, she leaped from the branch to another, travelling deeper in to the Olsmins Forest.