There was a cave further down the side of Mount Tibor that faced away from the edge. It was fairly well hidden, so long as no one decided to walk by. There was a large area of rock and dirt just outside, which was where Star traced the outline of the Order's symbol with an arrowhead.
"Inside," Kang-shi hissed suddenly. "Blade dragons."
The Bonded crowded into the cave and waited as the shadows of Navaros' forerunners flicked across the rocks.
"How many has be brought?" Glaive muttered, for Nashiva was counting softly and still the shadows came.
"We won't be able to see Navaros at this rate," Star added. He looked at the symbol outside and fingered his bow nervously.
After a couple of hours of waiting while the enemy dragons continued to circle, Glaive said to Rynn, "This is how we bend Air."
His form blurred, then blended with the features of the cave behind him. "You practice. I'll scout."
The blurriness moved outside, keeping close to the walls and out of the light.
Time passed.
When the sun was high, Glaive returned. Rynn saw light refracting within his blurred form as he darted inside and became visible again.
"Wartoks, orcs and some giants," he reported between gasps of breath. He leant against his dragon's golden shoulder. "Scavengers. The trained kind."
"Trained?" Rynn asked.
"To track and hunt."
"And kill," said Kang-shi.
"War giants?" Ebontyne wanted to know.
"I'd like to see any wartok general keep a primitive giant from using orcs as frisbees," Glaive snorted.
"Point taken."
"Any sign of the Betrayer?" Nashiva asked.
"Not on the ground," Glaive told her.
"We'll know when he begins the ritual," Ebontyne said. "We can only wait. Keep an eye outside.
"Good thing we ate last night," Star muttered some hours later. They couldn't risk preparing food for fear of attracting scavengers. They knew the monsters were around. They'd heard a couple snuffling nearby but hadn't seen any. Glaive supposed their cave was inaccessable, save by flight. The others hoped he was correct.
The blade dragons stopped patrolling at sunset. Glaive reported seeing them descend to the foothills. The bad news was that the wartoks and orcs were starting up the mountain in small groups, chained scavengers with them.
They would have to keep quiet.
An hour after the moons had risen, the ritual began. Arokh, Nashiva, Morghus and Kang-shi raised their heads in unison and, automatically it seemed, looked up at the cave's roof in the direction of the mountain's summit. Glaive and Ebontyne looked at each other and nodded. Rynn could feel it, too. A strange tingling sensation in her mind and an inexplicable feeling of dreadful anticipation.
Star, not being gifted with magic, felt nothing. But the reactions of his companions was all he needed to tell something was going on.
"Let's do this," he said.
Ebontyne, Glaive, Nashiva, Morghus and Kang-shi followed him outside.