As far as time spent tracking, if the ogre turned out to be in the cave that Kaleeth had pointed out, then it would certainly be a short hunt. Though, ogres were dangerous if they didn't handle this correctly. It would be harder to go unheard without the crickets and frogs to mask their movement, and they wouldn't have much room to move around in a confined space. If they were unlucky, either Janius or Kaleeth would be pinned against the wall and crushed. There was of course the possibility that the ogre was not in the cave at all, but Janius doubted that. Its smell was particularly strong around the cave.

After a moment curling his lips and assessing the space they had to work with outside, Janius replied in a whisper. "The cave might be too small to fight the ogre if we fail to sneak up on it. It might be a better idea to fight it out here. I don't know, though. If it's sleeping, we could get at its neck. We'll keep outside as an option, but, do you know this cave? How big is it? Draw me a picture on the mud."

---

Sabine fell to her knees with an open mouth, fast breathing and wide eyes. Tunxeek had clearly been attacked. All of the blood came as a shock to Sabine. Between Tunxeek's wounds and failing the trial, She became scared. She frantically scanned her surroundings for any plants that might help treat the cuts, but there was nothing she could immediately make use of. If only she had more time!

She had to move, she knew it. She was at the halfway mark, so she could still complete the trial without backtracking if she picked one of the divergent paths. But Thorantilth and Meesei might not be at the point in the village that she completed the course. They could help Tunxeek, they could heal him. If she took the path back the way she came, there was less chance of any danger, and she could hand Tunxeek over. With the pace she had made, there was a chance that she could still complete the course. She might just have to transform to speed up. That seemed like the only chance.

Sabine stood up and shifted around. She positioned herself properly and hefted Tunxeek up over her back. Once secure, she set off on a jog as fast as she could back through the first half of the course. Sabine was moving at a pace that suited her strength, but Tunxeek was still slowing her down. Her hopes of completing the trial were fading.