Following the trail

Mac sighs.

"Kirion, if you want fly north and find our prey. Try to stay 
out of eyesight if you can. Remember they can see extremely well
in the dark."

"The rest of us in the meantime should double-time it."

The group has rested for about half an hour to discuss matters and allow Mac
to rest.  He is still rather haggard-looking, but insists on moving out, and
obviously he is not alone in wishing to continue moving.  

On hearing Mac's suggestion, Kirion pauses only slightly to
consider.  "We will look at what lies ahead."  After speaking
very briefly with Dax, Kirion walks a short distance away, as
if changing form was something to be kept private for some
reason, and changes into his true form.  The change takes only
a few seconds, so details are hard to see, but anyone who
cares to look his way notes that his clothing is simply a part
of his Dragon body in another form.

Kraken looks about, and noting that he is being watched, spreads
his modest wings majestically and leaps gracefully into the air.
Slowly gaining altitude, the Dragon circles once studying the
land beneath and heads off quickly toward the north-west.

Kirion is scouting, the rest of you are marching.

It's dark.  It's somewhat cold.  Gwar and Dax are in the lead, following the
rather difficult trail of the elves.  Kirion has been gone an hour.

A dark shape flies low overhead...and lands nearby.  Kraken has
returned.  On approaching the others, still in Dragon form, he
says "We're about a day's travel behind them.  They travel single
file..." looking at Dax knowingly, "toward the north-west... into
the desert."  And then, to none in particular...Kraken notes
that he can take you to their last campsite by morning if that is
desired.

Kraken does not change back to Kirion.

Puzzled Manon asks "Taking one of us by air, all of us by air, or 
leading us to their last campsite?"

"We could lead you there if you wish...or our friend Dax could."
Twisting his long neck to one side Kraken continues, "And we do
not carry anyone."

"i do not see the point of taking any of us to the ambushers previous
campsite" drones Kai "rather i feel we should use our information to
move across the desert to a point in their path and organise our own
ambush perhaps combined with a trap of some form if their path can be
predicted that closely"

Turning to Dax, he asks "you guessed we were moving as fast as they were
while you were tracking them  does this mean as i presume that we could
easily move fast enough to get ahead of them if we did not have to do
so"

Turning then to Manon, Kai concludes "if need be we can leave the
majority of our supplies here in a cache along with the travois  too my
horse could easily carry the slowest of us rather than myself or be used
in turn by those who are tired by forced march to allow the group to
move at the fastest rate"

"We both travel quickly already -- without wings, we could only gain an hour
or two on them for each day's travel." Dax answers Kai

"Their route takesss them sstraight into my Clan's home.  Our leaders roam
a few more days travel before uss." Dax concludes to all.

Turning to the lizard, Kai adds "if they were to stop now good dax how
long would it take for us to catch them at our current pace this talk of
gaining an hour or two means little out of context"

"Their trail is almosst a day old.  Where they are now I cannot sssay. 
I think it would take us 10 to 12 hours of marching at our current pace,
if they were to sstop now."

To Kai, Quill replies, "Must we attack?  Would it not be wiser to discover
their intent while we yet remain undetected?"

Turning to Quill, Kai churns out "while you are free to act as you wish
i have set my hand against this band in deadly earnest for i have given
my word to a dead but restless spirit that he could rest as what he
needed would be done and i can tell you from personal experience that
the dead take promises very seriously indeed"

Quill responds, "As you will..." and is silent.

Glancing over to the guide, he adds "too if they manage to reach the
desert homes of the sibilants they might easily wreak the same havoc
there they did in tix"

Dax merely shrugs and looks to the north-west, impatient to pick up the pace.

Time passes, you walk, the quiet desert passes under your feet.  About an
hour before dawn, Kraken signals that you are approaching their campsite.