The shapes blended into the shadows between the trees, circling the team at a distance. Several of them, tracking, waiting, closing slowly.
Karl's own eyes snapped open, the thirty-second link expiring, but he'd seen enough.
"We've got company," he said quietly, ordering his hawk back. "At least five of them. Circling us right now, in the shadows. They're waiting for us to split up or drop our guard."
Moon nodded, "Good scouting, let's not give them what they want. Tighten the formation. My pets will cover our flanks, when they commit, we punish them for it."
The forest stayed silent, the hidden hunters holding their patience.
But they had already seen them coming, and now the ambushers were the ones about to be ambushed.
The hidden hunters kept their patience for a few minutes, and then they struck.
Six of them, breaking from the shadows in a team rush, three from the front and three from behind, the classic pincer of a pack that hunted by encirclement.
