80 Confronting Danger

Yun watched from the shadows for a short time, observing the Fire-Eaters movements and trying to determine their purpose. After nearly two incense sticks of time she felt that they were loitering in the area because of her and Wuying's campsite.

This was a fairly distressing thought.

Yun decided to head east and see if she could run into Wuying while the night lasted, but she didn't have a huge amount of hope for this. She moved carefully, silently, away from the Volvaka group and attempted to move along.

After nearly twenty minutes of pain-staking effort to silently traverse these ancient woodlands she finally let out a soft sigh of relief. She had traveled a decent distance away and felt secure in her ability to move now. While she was relieving some of the pressure on her mind for a moment, back against a tree, she felt the breeze pick up a little, but didn't think much about it at first.

Moments later she felt a niggling feeling in the back of her mind that drove her to pay attention again. After a few moments she realized she was now upwind of the Fire-Eaters she was trying to avoid!

Cursing to herself for stopping, she began to carefully run through the forest, trying not to leave behind any extra traces that could be followed. Turning her ears back to focus her hearing on the woods behind her, she could hear some distant crashes from the Fire-Eaters tromping through the dark woodland in pursuit.

Suddenly, from the front of her, she heard some noises that made her feel like she was being pinched between two forces. She instantly turned north and ran towards the mountain slopes and their forests and caverns that may provide her a chance of escape.

Behind her she heard the two groups interact for a moment before they began searching in her direction again, so she had obviously encountered another group of Fire-Eaters on the hunt. What on earth were they doing here? The nearest hive that could raise them was far south at Foska Vakaal, could they have been sent here as part of the conflict?

Yun found herself thankful that the forests in this region were extremely resistant to fire, as she knew if this wasn't true that they would have likely burned the forest to catch her. She turned again to the west, hoping to rush downwind of the Volvaka and retrace her steps to evade them with a confused path.

Running at top speed, no longer worrying about her tracks, Yun rapidly traversed the land she had been traveling before in an effort to lead the pursuit away from Wuying before he was caught. After what felt like ages she found a secluded body of water that she could try and escape in. She knew the Volvaka would be unable to search underwater for her as the temperature of the water was far too low for them. Even Fire-Eaters wouldn't risk it. She dove in without thinking twice and swam hard for the other side, keeping an eye out along the bottom of the pond for anything that could hide her safely.

After swimming most of the way to the other side she spotted what looked like a cave mouth buried in the depths. She instantly dove down, using all her effort to reach it.

Success! The cave ran upwards from the lower reaches of the lake and was likely an old lava tube in this volcanic region. She quickly rose high enough to break the surface and was surprised when she breathed in air that wasn't completely stale. This cave either housed a good deal of plant life that refreshed the air or linked to the outside!

Yun clambered out of the pool of water she was now in and shook the water out of her fur. She couldn't see a thing due to the darkness, but thankfully she had some tools to deal with that. In her spatial storage she had numerous glowing objects, but she also had the lantern that Lynhär typically relied on in these sorts of caves.

Rather than a flame it had a piece of stone that released a gentle glow, using this the feline species could see almost perfectly in these circumstances, and the Vulpis could see well enough to function without issue. Unfortunately the Canis would need something brighter, as their eyesight was typically worse in the darkness.

Yun quickly began to traverse the cave she had found herself in, making sure to leave marks at every intersection that would lead her back to the pond she had swam through initially. Depending on her findings this may be the ideal hiding place for Lynhär warriors in this region, and she was certainly not going to risk getting lost.

Outside, nearly two kilometers to the east, Wuying was struggling to escape from the pursuit of a small band of Fire-Eaters himself. During their pursuit of Yun a few had sensed another scent from a ways off and broken off of the main group. As a result there were now four Fire-Eaters in pursuit of Wuying, and they were close enough to see him.

Knowing that he would not have a chance at victory if he turned to fight, Long Wuying determined to try and throw off the trail through subterfuge. As he ran he targeted a massive tree and ran past it, turning into the blind spot on the far side of it as the Volvaka pursued him.