"Good work, Irenya," Gallus kept his eyes on Colours the entire time as soon as he stepped into the room. He strode over to the bag that Meesei pointed out and lifted the whole thing, placing it by Irenya. "Ra'maranja and his pack tried to flee, but we dealt with them," Gallus began to report, facing Meesei, but looking at Colours, "He mentioned reinforcements, but I don't think they arrived. Maybe they were delayed. Once we rally everyone, I suggest we find somewhere else to stay."

Up until now, Gallus had done well to hide it, but where his hand was apparently holding onto his cuff was actually the handle of a knife. In a moment's notice, he could stick Colour's throat to the hilt. "Sees-No-Colours, was it? I need you to sit down over there. Why did you not attack? Tell us everything, now." Gallus had no humour in his voice. People had nearly been killed just now and this was no time to joke around.

[hr]
Hearing Peiter's scream in the distance was enough to give Janius pause, but he only redoubled his efforts. He was headed in the right direction.

Sabine was only half-listening to Peiter as she lead him back to the stream. As he was, leaning on her shoulder for support, he was in no shape to keep running, but they had to keep moving.

Before they reached the water, Sabine halted, wide-eyed and terrified. She could hear splashing steps in the stream. How did they catch up so fast? How did they know where they were going? It made no sense, but she knew they had no choice but to hide. "Get back! Get back!" Sabine whispered, getting to a rudimentary hiding spot; a tree with lots of shrubs around it between them and the stream. Sabine laid Peiter down, sitting up against the tree trunk and peeked around it to see what was coming. She was breathing so shallowly that she was nearly silent.

The splashing got louder and louder. It was moving faster than the hunters were. Were they lycans too? They didn't smell like lycans. The scent of their pursuer came into Sabine's nostrils as soon as it came into her view. Janius slowed to a halt where Sabine had dragged Peiter out of the water and began sniffing around closely. Sabine recognised him immediately.

"Psst! Janius!" Sabine said weakly, trying not to be too loud. She relieved to see him, but still looked fearful.

Janius' head snapped up to the sound and padded over to them both. Sniffing the air and looking over their wounds. "Are you hurt?"

"Are they still following us? There were nine of them, they had silver arrows. Peiter, he..." Sabine choked up.

Janius scooped Peiter up in his arms. "They withdrew, I drove them off," Janius' throat rumbled through his snout, "We must get back to the pack. Quickly. Can you run?"

Sabine was exhausted, but she nodded.

"Get on my back anyway," Janius could see that she was not going to be going fast with her quivering legs. Sabine did as she was told and climbed onto Janius' back, wrapping her hands around his neck to brace herself. As well as Janius could navigate, they headed back to the outpost.