It was hardly sunrise before Rainne practically forced them all out of the camp. If she’d been just a moment later, Zanrel would’ve been the one to do it, so he was naturally already ready. Yllnor didn’t need long to get ready, either, since she’d partially expected that from the two of them. It was Ely that clearly struggled to stay awake, but Rainne’s insistence was eventually enough to get her up and going… if not just to make sure Rainne didn’t ultimately do something stupid.

And now they’d been doing this for the better half of the day, tracking their quarry. They even saw it a couple of times… but Zanrel always rushed in and scared it off before Rainne could so much as take out an arrow to shoot it.

“Oh, come on!” Rainne glared at him. “That had to be the twelfth time you scared it off!”

“I thought I had it!” Zanrel defended. “I had to get it before it ran away again!”

“And it never would’ve ran away in the first place if you’d just stayed still.”

Ely walked up and placed a hand on each of their shoulders. “Come on, you two, don’t you think your arguing might be helping to scare it off, too? Besides, it’s just going to bring more attention to us…”

Yllnor nodded. “I’ve heard Dad mention that there are a lot of other demons in the area. We don’t want to cross any of them—the only one we’re interested in is our quarry. We should probably stay away from any other lesser demons, too. We don’t know what they’re capable of.”

“But Chief would be super proud if we brought it back, too,” Rainne pointed out, as if that was worth all of the other risks.

“Yeah, they’re practically just glorified wild animals, right?” Zanrel shrugged. “Can’t see how that’s going to get us in a lot of danger.”

“You should know the kinds of things just plain wild animals are capable of,” Yllnor said with a sigh. “Imagine a bear or a mountain lion. Now imagine those with abilities beyond our understanding—impossible speeds, sharper teeth, wings, whatever you can think of. And lesser demons aren’t like regular demons, who can at least partially control their impulses. You can reason with a regular demon. You’re only going to see feral instincts, a monster who can only ever see chaos, when you encounter a lesser demon. They can’t think or reason. They just do. I don’t want any of you getting hurt—or worse—by forgetting that.”

He blinked. “If you say so.”

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“You’re just going to ignore my entire warning?”

“Not anything more or less than Grandpa used to tell me. I think I can handle myself out here.”

“You’re going to get yourself killed one day…”

“Then I better make it a story worth retelling, right?”

There was so much more she could say—more flaws to poke at—but she knew it wasn’t going to get anywhere. “I suppose. Rainne, you saw which direction the demon went in, right? Let’s try to find its trail again. It shouldn’t take too long if we’re quick about it.”

Rainne enthusiastically nodded and started leading the way. She was, no doubt, the best hunter and tracker in the group; had she just have a little bit more concentration, she might’ve grown into the best in the entire tribe. Ely was fairly observant, too, so she caught anything her sister didn’t.

Unfortunately, she also had the tendency not to speak up about it until it was too late to do anything…

They were mostly quiet, trying to focus on stealth. But there were a fair share of interruptions here and there.

“Watch out for those vines, they might be poisonous,” Yllnor might warn every now and again. Rarer were the instances where she might stop and admire the plants or wildlife around them; as much as she’d like to, she had a mission to do, and she definitely couldn’t trust the others to behave without her.

Zanrel would occasionally let out a “A-ha!” or “Got you now!” right before trying, and failing, to catch the lesser demon.

Rainne often just yelled at him more, though occasionally she’d draw attention to certain tracks or ask Yllnor if she thought it would’ve gone through a certain area.

Ely… well, she was the quietest of all of them. While she did occasionally point out things that the others might’ve missed, she generally didn’t share anything unless it was definitely important. She had to have been nervous.

“This is the only set of tracks I can find,” Rainne eventually announced. “I… think Papa mentioned that there was a cave around here. Maybe it could’ve gone there..? I don’t know where else to go, so…”

“Well, then, what are we waiting for?” Zanrel was already heading to the vague direction Rainne gestured to. “If it’s in a cave, that means it’s cornered, right? It won’t be running away any more!”

“But wild animals could be in the cave, too,” Ely pointed out. “Or worse, other demons…”

“All things considered, I don’t think this place sees that much activity,” Yllnor remarked after a moment. “We’ve barely come across any tracks that weren’t the lesser demon’s. If I remember correctly, an ally’s camp isn’t too far from here—they probably try to scare off most predators, in order to keep their people safe. I… think it might be alright to look.”

Zanrel and Rainne looked far too excited to hear her say that, so Yllnor felt the need to add, “But I have the right to change my mind if any of that changes. I’m the one in charge of keeping all of us safe. If it even slightly looks like there might be more than the lesser demon in there, we’re heading back out. Is everyone clear?”

All three of them nodded.

“Then let’s check that cave. With any luck, we might be able to corner it, and we can start heading back home tomorrow. Let’s hope the spirits have decided to lend us their favor this afternoon.”