It only took the group a few minutes to find a trail of blood droplets that headed off into the forest.

"Boss! We found a trail, boss!"

Dawn quickly headed to where the youths called him from.

"Show me."

"Here."

Kor pointed to the ground slightly in front of him. Slightly obscured by the rotting leaves, two distinct trails of blood could be seen on the ground. They headed off into the thick underbrush. Around one of the two trails were clear naked devil footprints. the long, slim imprints on the ground, bereft of separate the smaller imprints of toes by the footwear the devils wore were unmistakable. The second trail, however, didn't have any clear footprints. The leaves were crushed where feet had touched the ground, that was unavoidable, but whatever had made them had stepped lightly enough to avoid leaving clear imprints. All that Dawn could determine was that something had stepped there, not what it was.

"Let's move. Keep a good spread, I don't want us overwhelmed by whatever it is. Follow me!"

The group immediately headed off. They followed the trail of blood for about forty paces before they came to the body that was the origin of the first of the two trails. The body lay slumped, as if it was a puppet that had its strings cut. The head lay about four paces from the body. The world around it was crimson.

This time the sight didn't solicit convulsions from anyone in the group, though most of them still winced and looked away.

'Good boys,' Dawn thought, 'They're adapting very quickly. Brother has raised a good bunch this time.'

He turned his attention to the corpse and inspected the cut. As with the others in the clearing, the cut was clean, cleaner than the cuts made by the weapons the naked devils used.

"What could have done this?" Dawn asked himself out loud.

There were no indications what kind of weapon could have done this. All he knew was that whatever made the cut, was wielded by something with great skill.

"The blood trail ends here," Dick chimed in.

The group gathered around him. Indeed, the remaining trail continued past the naked devil's corpse for about seven more paces before halting completely.

"We need to keep searching, darkfall will be here soon. If we haven't found Migal by then, we likely won't find him, ever," Dawn ordered.

The group spread out some more, each about fifteen paces from the other, and continued in the direction the blood trail had ended. The search continued for about another hour. The sun had already vanished beneath the horizon, sinking into the underworld for its slumber, and the nightsun blared half-masse over the landscape. Curtains of silver needles hung from the treetops throughout the forest, bleaching the world to a dull grey.

The group returned to the scene of the slaughter. What had been a crimson patch in the world, had turned into a hole, a space of pitch black that even the nightsun's silver hymns couldn't illuminate.

"Anything?" Dawn asked as he watched the last of the young howlers emerge from the underbrush into the black clearing.

"Nothing," they answered one after another.

"Damn, I didn't know drying blood became so thick!" Kos said as he trudged into the clearing.

The hair on his back twitched with every step, and he couldn't help but shiver every now and again.

"That's not all that turns thick as it dries, Kor, but you should know about that, shouldn't you?" One of the group couldn't help teasing him.

No one laughed this time, however.

"This isn't good," Dick said, "I don't care much if we find Migal or not for his sake, but finding him means we could at least solve the mystery of what killed these devils. With him gone, we're as much in the dark as we were when we first came across this hell."

Dawn scratched his head.

'What am I going to do? I can't just leave Migal like this, his father would kill me, but I can't risk these kids' lives for him either...'

At that moment, everyone around Dawn's eyes widened.

"Uh-Uhm... Boss."

"Not now," Dawn silenced.

"Y-You might want to look behind you, boss."

"What is it?"

Dawn turned around. His eyes landed on a black mass emerging silently from the underbrush. It made little sound. The leaves, softened from the blood they had been soaking in for the past hour, didn't crack under its paws. Had it not been for the slight rustling of the leaves as it emerged from the underbrush, no one would have heard it move. Had it not been for the whites of its eyes, circling its two pitch-black irises, no one would have seen it move.

It was at once like a shadow and not. Its movements seemed disconnected from the world. Besides the slight rustle as it emerged from the underbrush, there was no other sound. Neither could the sound of breathing be heard. It felt incorporeal and undeniably solid at the same time. The absolute black of the drying blood on the ground meant that even if it cast a shadow on the ground it could not be used to judge one way or the other. The two white haloed black holes in the darkness glinted with malice and harmful intention.

Everyone was frozen with fear. Even as it closed in silently, spreading like a noxious vapour towards Dawn, no one moved. Its outline could only be made out by observing what in the background it obscured as it moved closer. It was smaller than Dawn by a decent amount. Its physique was slim, but that only added to its petrifying presence. The black figure closed the distance to just under two paces from Dawn before it slowly reared, lifting itself up from the ground on two of its three rear appendages. Dawn's gaze remained locked on the two white haloes as they slowly rose to just under eye height. The blackness beneath them parted and two rows of white glints emerged.

Dawn didn't wait to consider the familiar outline the glints created.

"Run!" he yelled as he lunged forward.

His yell broke the spell on the other howlers. They took off and disappeared into the night. Dawn shoved the black mass with all his might, half expecting his paws to clutch nothing but empty space. They did not, however. His felt his hands shove into what felt almost like fur before touching solid mass. The black mass was flung back several paces.

Dawn made use of the opportunity to take to the night himself. As he left the clearing he stole a glance over his shoulder. What he saw baffled him. The black mass slowly rose from the ground, straightened itself out, and the two rows of white glints curved into... a smile? He only a momentary glimpse of it before the underbrush closed behind him and obscured the mass.

None of the group stopped for the whole night. Even when it felt like their legs were going to burst into flames beneath them, and they could swear they smelt the sweet stench of smouldering fur, they continued on. Only when the black night was broken on the eastern horizon, when the black turned to blue and colour returned to the landscape around them did they slow to a walk. Even then they continued, however. They only stopped once the first rays of the sun hit the treetops.

Dawn whistled once he saw the treetops catching sunlight. He stopped at the base of a particularly large tree. One by one the others emerged from the bush. Dawn had to fight to stop himself from jumping every time he heard a rustle in the underbrush as another howler emerged. He sighed deeply when the count returned to just one short of full. Everyone save Migal was present.

"Right, that's it, Migal is clearly dead. I'm going home!" Dick yelped softly.

The others sounded their agreement; however, no one moved. Their gazes turned to Dawn, pleading for permission. He wished he could collapse to the ground and hold his head. But if his legs relaxed now, he would not be able to use them again for some time, so he remained standing.

'Is this why you said you felt lucky you didn't have to lead a pack into the wilderness, brother?' he thought.

"Boss?" Kor urged.

Dawn took a deep breath.

"Alright, let's return home. Dead or not, this matter is far more important than Migal. We have to warn the pack."

The group once more began to move. They continued at a slow walk. It was not that they weren't in a hurry to return to the shaky safety of the cave; their knees threatened to give in with each step they took They didn't proceed directly home. If they were followed by the black monster, they couldn't afford to lead it to their home, so Dawn intended to have them take a long detour. They would circle around to the other side of the cave before heading there. He hoped this would give them enough time to both recover their strength and hopefully lose their possible pursuer.

"Do you think the pack will be able to take the monster down?" one of the group asked as they walked.

"I have no idea. Naked devils are relatively weak on their own. My father told me that the only reason they were able to hunt us to near extinction is because they never face us alone. They always coordinate and work together in groups. The devils back there were clearly broken up and taken out one after another after the initial massacre. Maybe if the pack worked together, with Mallarn taking the lead we might stand a chance?" Dick answered.

"Keep your focus on our surroundings," Dawn chided.

It wasn't that their attention would be able to improve their chances of detecting the monster, they were still too untrained to be able to effectively look for it, but it would keep them from speculating. Speculating regarding something you knew nothing about, and feared dearly, could only end badly.

'They're not the thinkers in the pack in any way. It's best I not let them hype up one another's description of the monsters before we pass the news on to Mallarn,' Dawn thought.

He knew it was a futile endeavour. It would take them three days to return home at least, and it would be impossible to keep them from talking about it the whole time. Besides, it would probably be necessary for them to get their fear out. If it festered in their hearts it would become an internal demon. They would be scared and unable to function in the pack of that happened.

Dawn clutched his chest.

'Just don't talk about it for a little longer,' he pleaded, 'Just let me calm down enough to remember things calmly and clearly. If you talk about it now I might show you a side that I cannot afford to show and you cannot afford to see.'