She smiled. Thanks, but no. We need to work together on this. Especially since we have no idea if someone had a better approach to their task and already found their captive.
Her beast huffed. There's no way Shane and his partner would beat us. He's all bluster, no brains.
Cockiness will end in failure, dragon. Besides, I doubt the Stonefire and Lochguard leaders would make this easy. After all, they've both had to deal with the bastard hunters and Knights more than a few times. It might be more realistic than we expect, meaning it could be a bloody fine line between saving the captive and getting him killed.
Just remembering stories of how one of Stonefire's Protectors—a female named Charlie—had been drained to death of her blood by the dragon hunters made Honoria shiver. She added, Skyhunter might've had Marcus, but each clan has had their own trials and tragedies, too.
Which is why it's important to work together. I think—
Her beast paused at the same time she and Asher did, at the sound of whispers. She couldn't make out the murmured words, but she could definitely detect at least two humans or dragon-shifter voices nearby.
Asher turned and stood closer to her side. They both listened, but the voices vanished in an instant.
Either they had stopped talking midsentence, or they'd disappeared into a soundproofed structure or even an underground tunnel of some sort.
Her dragon said, I think tunnel. There wasn't any sort of hesitation in their speech cadence.
Normally, I would tease you about trying to be an expert in voices, but I think you're right. However, they still could be inside a building.
There would be some kind of scent—of wood, paint, building materials. But there's none of that. I think it's a tunnel.
Taking a second, Honoria tried to find any scent that was out of place in a forest. And beyond a small whiff of plastic, her dragon was correct. Nothing suggested a building nearby.
Her beast stood taller inside her mind. Of course I'm right. I told you I'm good at this.
Honoria leaned over to Asher's ear and whispered as low as she could, "We should circle around, ensure no one else is standing watch, and find out where they went. I think it's a tunnel."
Moving his lips her ear, he answered, "I agree. I'll take the right side, you the left. We'll meet back here when done. If no one's about, we can look for a hidden entrance."
With a nod, she went to the left. Honoria's fatigue had vanished thanks to the adrenaline currently pumping through her veins, and she had no trouble scanning the surroundings and listening for anything unusual. While some might be grateful for the growing daylight, she wasn't. The sooner they could find the entrance—she was certain there was one—the sooner they could vanish from the woods and tackle the next phase.
~~~
Asher surveyed his half of the area and was almost disappointed when he didn't find anyone.
His dragon spoke up. Things can't be exciting all the time.
I know, but it'd be nice to do more than track down someone and bring them back. A little exertion would wake us up a bit more anyway. And no, not that kind of exertion. No sex until this is done.
His beast sniffed. I wasn't going to suggest it. I thought you might like to know I saw a tiny flashing light a second ago. But maybe you're not interested.
Asher stilled. Where was it?
Thankfully his dragon didn't hold back or give him a hard time. Five steps backward, and then look toward the northwest.
He backtracked and looked in the correct direction. And there, he saw it. A small flashing white light. You think they would've remembered to shade that.
Or, it could be part of the trial and is a trick.
Perhaps. But let's quickly survey the last little bit of our half and then find Honoria.
Asher moved as fast as he could, careful to make as little noise as possible. Neither he nor his dragon spotted anything else unusual, which meant the flashing light was probably where the two voices had disappeared to.
At their original starting point, he saw Honoria already waiting. He sometimes forgot how silently fast she could be.
Once he was close enough he could almost press his lips to her ear, he whispered, "I found a blinking light that might be an entrance. Did you see anything unusual on your half?" She shook her head and he continued, "Then we should go investigate. Are you ready? Or, should we rest first?"
She moved her head so she could reply to his ear, "Clan leaders don't get to wait for a convenient time. Besides, it'll be easier to sneak about whilst it's mostly dark outside. Let's go."