To set up camp - and a trap, which I just might spring

The prince looks between the members of his party "We are going to back to that clearing to set up a camp and fortify as we can." Before the two proponents of the hunt can start their arguments again he slashes a hand through the air, silencing them "And we will be setting fires tonight. Fililiel, you will shed some of your blood on the firestones before any are lit. Two per watch in rotating shifts, you can figure out the details amongst yourselves when we're done setting up." And he simply begins marching north before any can dissent. They follow behind him quickly enough.

Agents of the light, riddled with arrogance and signs of interference in the great game. If nothing else, though, their sense of duty can be commended, as can their willingness to follow orders. Warriors of such power and discipline, some of them veterans of my Brother's defeat... They need to be accounted for. My stomach, empty and rebellious, can wait.

I keep myself behind them and above, wary of the two rangers spotting me even while shrouded in primordial darkness and silence. Fililiel, especially, is a concern. I'm not so dissimilar to the other insectoids of Ryunei that she wouldn't be particularly efficient at bringing about my downfall.

I silently thank the dark ones for gifting silent shadows to muffle my wings, even as I move in short bursts of flight from thick branch to thick branch. Flight is a great asset, but a diminished one in the presence of two archers a gunslinger and a mage. Any direct confrontation with them will need to be carefully managed. I watch Fililiel and Garven most fervently, the two of them are the most likely to catch a glimpse of me and completely ruin whatever it is i've decided i'm doing.

The going is slow, and their conversation is difficult to listen in on while in flight, but i catch bits of conversation here and there. Garven and Fililiel are the only two being truly silent.

The scents of the jungle grow stronger, the fruits and flowers in the upper boughs let their fragrance waft downwards in a shimmying array of near-flavful scents. from bellow me rises the scents of the different light born, cedar and spring-water, vanilla, noxious fumes.

They reach what must be the clearing Sedric spoke of before, a sort of oblong area cleared of trees, the areas edge is encroached upon only lightly by the ferns of the surrounding jungle, and only younger or less healthy specimens. Though, the grass within is verdant enough, interspersed with flowers and a trio of bushes, and the tips of the grass stalks almost reach the knights' knees as they cautiously enter the clearing, blades as ready as ever.

The shadows that have clung to me so loyally begin to slough off like an old snake's skin, and I quickly hide myself behind the trunk of the great tree i find myself on before my chitin is completely bare. Th trunk is wider than I am tall, so it should serve as decent enough visual cover for now.

Moving cautiously and slowly i climb my way up until there's much more foliage between myself and the light-born before moving out along the branch as far out over the clearing as retains such coverage before squatting over it and arraying my wings to try and focus my hearing on them.

I can see Grunyhin pulling from some of his many little pouches... pitons? small metal spikes. and a small hammer, his weapons both on his armored back as Elzarian and Garven both follow behind him. Below me but blocked by multiple layers of branches are the Alexai and Sedric. Their crunching through the fallen leaves and through fallen branches giving them away without any sightline. Only Fililiel is unaccounted for.