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"Illness is of no concern to me," the nergui said flatly. He could sense the group was leaving, and while it didn't reflect on his face, for a moment it almost seemed as though he had wished to join them.

Another boom of thunder struck across the sky. As it tore across, splitting the night sky, he bowed back. Like the gods themselves had warded him off. Back to the earth.

He sunk back down into his spot, molding to the ground like lichen. Even as the wind whistled violently through the jagged rocks, he seemed set to weather the torrents on his own. His wet fur almost completely disguised him into the shadows.

A morose sight, but there was no time to deal with him.

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Elcca was not a lioness that needed much further explanation. When Ayla sounded the alarm, she followed the others to the spot where the tracks began. They headed back out into the open desert. Beyond even the training grounds! Elcca scowled. That meant that whatever the brutes were looking for, they'd found it. Or they'd found an adequate substitute in their hostage.

"We'll lose the tracks if we worry about who is here and who isn't," the red lioness reported. "The desert won't provide much shelter from the storm. Don't lose sight of one another!"

With that, the group departed.

Unfortunately even expecting poor conditions, Elcca wasn't prepared for the hard gusts that existed in the open sands. The rain had started to abate, but the same could not be said of the wind. It sliced across the dunes in sharp sweeps. The ground and air too wet for a sandstorm, but it certainly tried.

Amidst the stinging sand and cold rain, the tracks slowly lead them over dunes. But they never quite seemed to be moving quite fast enough. The wind was degrading the prints at an alarming rate, and within a half hour, they were following only vague lumps that could have once been paw-pints in the sands. The sad lumps lead them towards the canyons.

"Lets not go down yet," Elcca advised, leading the group towards a large crack in the canyon's face. From here, shielded by the overhang, the group could edge out and look down below. Water was rapidly flooding in the canyon, but that was not what all eyes were focused on.

Down below was a large group of hyenas and dogs. Not just four or five, but eight. No sign of the doctor yet, but not everything was visible from where they stood.

"Now would be a good time for a plan," Elcca mumbled.

Mwale padded hard across the sand, his large paws leaving indents in the slush of sand. He had been hoping for an opportunity to face these creatures. He wasn't particularly intelligent, although he did have a good sense of logic. His tendency to keep quiet would probably hinder him one day, although he did speak up when it was for the good of the pride, and those around him.

He looked to his sides at the others who had started to follow the tracks, too, and found it was hard to places faces among the wind and rain, especially with so many similar pelt colours.

Eight, indeed. He didn't expect there to be so many. There were dogs alongside the hyenas, and he narrowed his eyes. Turning to Elcca, he cleared his throat.

"We should try to talk first, they could have some information, we don't know what strength they possess, but we certainly shouldn't be too sweet with them. We can fight if we must. I am not opposed to the idea." He worded the idea carefully, so he didn't come off as a brute, hopefully.

Zjarr had had little to do with the discoveries or information gathering, but she had stayed with the group devotedly. She kept her eyes and ears open,and did as Morag wished, and noone else. To her mind, the Spymaster was in charge of this endeavor. She kept her mouth shut around the Nergui, and went willingly out into the storm as it raged across the empty sands.

She had never seen rain, but she had to suspect from the way the older members were reacting, this was completely out of character for a normal storm. The wind screamed, and wet sand pelted her like stinging insects trying to strip the fur from her body. Her forelock was normally a good screen for flying sand, but the wet kind seemed to dive right through it. She squinted against it all and doggedly kept up. It was tempting to try and keep an eye on her brother, but he was a grown adult, and she had to trust that he'd take care of himself.

She steeled herself for what she might see in that canyon when they approached, and felt a wave of relief at not seeing her mother's broken body down below. She clenched her gritty teeth at the sight of what could have been an entire pack of hyenas, plus a couple wild dogs, all gathered below. "I don't see cubs or my mother," she intoned, "So perhaps we should watch them, see if any come or go." Not that she savored the idea of perching up here in the wind and rain and sand, with the clouds roaring and snarling above them. But if anyone left, it would let them capture or at least prevent them from leaving. She wasn't sure that the casualties of attacking them outright would be worth it in the end, but that wasn't for her to decide.

Inching up to the edge and peering over it, Morag studied the group down below. Eight was a formidable size, and they couldn't be sure that this was their full number either. While they appeared to be mostly hyena, the pair of wild dogs with them only brought up more questions. Hyenas didn't normally travel with other animals, so what were those two doing with them?

"We need more information. If we spread out a bit, can anyone see anything you can't see from this angle? I don't want to go charging in, but the element of surprise could be our greatest weapon... But at the same time, without knowing where the potential hostages are, we could be doing more harm than good..."

She mused, shifting her way to the side to try and get a better angle on the view. What were they doing down there?

Glancing to Morag, Mwale raised an eyebrow, both in agreement and thought.

"Perhaps we should stay in units, but spread out. Two or three to each position. That way, we can have them covered without compromising if they all decide to attack one of us."

He couldn't make out much else from the group as he kept his eyes fixated on them, they were all too far away. They were natural coloured, and that was about all he could distinguish.

Mwale'kono prepared himself to move away from the others, to spread their position a little, but he looked around in approval first.

Azar didn't know what to do with the male's answer. She was frustrated that her question really wasn't answered but she knew at this point that there wasn't anything else that she could do. It did make her happy to know that the way it sounded her sister was okay, not only that but she was some where else. The fact that her sister was angry ade her wonder what she was angry about, regardless she knew that or she was hoping that they would eventually run into her sister, at some point anyway she was pretty sure of it.

Azar was surprised to see the canines, she had never seen hyenas before and their size ad kind of their shape surprised her. They were very big creatures. she was a little more familiar with the wild dogs but at the same time they were even pretty big. Azar was pretty used to large-sized creatures. She was one not only that but she was raised with them and was just very used to them. But this was just odd to her. She looked toward the others before speaking. "I think we need to split up and surround them." She nodded before speaking once again. "I think that maybe we should listen for something or just encounter them." She said as she started to edge a little closer to wandering toward the group.

"Hyenas have jaws that can crush skulls," Alya murmured, low "At least some care must be taken, or our injuries will be assured." Her tail twitched behind her, anxious. The obviously couldn't just sit here watching forever without action. But this could have been a delicate situation. She agreed that they should split up. Prevent escape. It seemed as through confrontation was inevitable. It was, at this point, about being as prepared as possible, and avoiding brash mistakes as much as the could.