Moving across the infinite-seeming prairie as part of a group was a novel experience for the lusty dragoness. There had been few opportunities in her life to exist as a part of a team. She didn't even belong to a proper race, nor had she ever had anything resembling a family. Solitude was her birthright, though she had discovered long ago that solitude did not necessarily mean isolation. 

Watching for Sirik's hand signals had become a fun game. So far, nothing serious had threatened them on their journey across the windy plains, and Drachiathoryx enjoyed putting her senses to use listening and watching and slinking throught the grass to come up behind Laurel or Kraven and pounce her, though her brilliant red colouration gave her away more than once, and she was almost never able to sneak up on the drow even if she could keep her heat signature out of his line of sight.

So when the gut-chilling wail shivered its way along her wing-bones, Drache felt a hot surge of adrenaline streak like lightning through her body. Dropping into a half-crouch as her ear-frills flattened against her head, her cheerful expression twisting into a feral, silent grimace of bared teeth that would not have looked out of place on a scream raptor. Her tail lashed nervously and she looked around with a jerky, reptilian motion, trying to find the source of the sound.

The sensation of something flickering and hot beneath the ground at her talons reminded her of the numerous rivers of lava that ran beneath Pyresia, but she had been practicing enough with her Firespinning that she knew that it wasn't molten rock she was feeling. A chest-tightening burn rose in her throat and when she turned to Laurel and spoke there was a plume of smoke on her voice.

[color=ed1c24]"Laurel? What are you...?"[/color] The Alufiend was scrabbling at the dirt and muttering. Drache bent over to pull her hands away firmly. [color=ed1c24]"Laurel, my sweet. Stop that. You'll hurt yourself. What's wrong?" [/color]

Her new friend's behaviour confirmed for Drache that somehow, the piteous cry had come from beneath them where she could feel the dying flames. If Laurel would let her, she pulled the other woman against her and stood up, glancing back at Kraven, who was closer to them than Sirik.

[color=ed1c24]"Did you hear that? A scream?"[/color] When it turned out that he hadn't, Drache scowled, tail swishing thoughtfully. [color=ed1c24]"Keep and eye out, then. We heard something. Sirik, something's wrong. You didn't hear anything?"[/color]

Doubting herself didn't even occur to the half-breed, though she was surprised at herself by how much seeing Laurel upset had affected her. [color=ed1c24]"There's someone below us, someone who might be in trouble. In a tunnel maybe, or a cavern. Sirik, would you look at those rocks? If I was going to put an entrance to the underground in the middle of a meadow I'd protect it with rocks too."[/color] Sending the drow to look for a subterranean entrance seemed logical to her.

She tried to not sound like she was ordering them around, unsure about how the two men would react to being instructed, in spite of how willing they'd been to share her tent at night. At the end of the day, they weren't her people. She had no people. 

[color=ed1c24]"Laurel, it's alright, I felt it too. Come on. If our lovely gentlemen didn't hear it we were either in exactly the right spot at the right time or this has something to do with Firespinning."[/color] She tried to not let it show on account of how upset Laurel seemed to be, but couldn't wait to find out which, and hoped that her own optimism might rub off on the Alufiend.

The half-dragon moved towards the stones, hoping they would find something that would lead them downwards without having to break out the hand-shovel from her tomb-raiding kit.