Edmund wakes quickly, sitting up and nearly hitting his head on the low roof of their shelter before he's entirely sure what woke him. Adan's low growl still rumbles through the space, though, which is marginally lighter than the last time Edmund had seen it.
He looks across the princess, curled slightly around the trunk of the tree, and sees her hand clutching Adan's fur, but that doesn't seem to be what has Adan on edge. The Wolf's ears are pinned back slightly and his hackles are raised. Adan falls silent suddenly. He peers towards the branches where he'd entered the shelter earlier.
When Adan stands abruptly, his fur is pulled roughly from the princess's grip. She lurches backward as she wakes, catching her elbow on the tree trunk with a sharp inhale. Edmund darts a hand toward her mouth, attempting to silence any further noise before peering back at the Wolf.
Adan is facing the branches they've been using as an entrance now, motionless, his head low to the ground. His ears are tilted forward, listening intently to something. Edmund is so focused on watching Adan that he forgets about the princess until she pulls his hand away from her face. He spares a glance at her and slips his hand from her grip, motioning for her to stay quiet as he carefully shifts toward Adan.
Edmund holds his breath to listen, but he can't hear whatever it is Adan's picking up. After another agonizing minute of silence, Adan glances at him and hoarsely whispers "they're close".
There's another sharp breath from behind him. When Edmund turns to pick up his sword from where he'd been sleeping, he sees the wide-eyed look of panic on the princess's face. He motions for her to sit up, mouthing 'slowly' to her— and it's then he realizes it's actually light enough now for her to see it. She slides the blankets off her lap and carefully pushes herself up. He taps her arm lightly to indicate for her to move over, and she shifts to her right until her back is pressed to the trunk of the tree.
For the next several minutes they wait silently, Edmund kneeling beside the princess and Adan standing rigidly just beside the branches. Edmund still can't hear anything but their own breathing, so the other humans must not be too close to the shelter. And Adan doesn't move to attack.
Still, Edmund's chest feels tight as he squeezes the sheath of his sword and waits, watching Adan for any sign of trouble. The Wolf's head slowly swivels to the right, the only movement he makes for several tense minutes. Finally, Adan turns from his vigil.
"Two," the Wolf whispers before stalking around the edge of the shelter. Edmund watches, then shifts closer to the princess's knees to get out of the way in the cramped space. Serena pulls her legs tightly to her chest as Edmund pivots to sit against the tree trunk too. Adan's ears swivel as he slowly paces the circumference of branches.
"They were spread out yesterday?" Edmund whispers. The Wolf nods distractedly and starts a second circuit, but then he turns toward Edmund.
"They were," he answers quietly, "Across the valley, not in groups." Edmund considers this for a moment and Adan sniffs at the branches experimentally before shaking his head.
"Did they see you last night?" Edmund asks then. Adan stiffens, and the look he gives Edmund confirms his suspicion. Pairing up for safety, Edmund realizes. "It can't be helped," he adds aloud. Adan makes a frustrated noise, though, and continues pacing around the shelter, when Edmund suddenly realizes, "if they're bunching together…"
"There's more space between them," Adan finishes. He continues around until he reaches Edmund again. The Wolf stops then, but his tail twitches anxiously.
Edmund ducks his head, rubbing roughly at the ever-present tension in his shoulders. There has to be a way to keep moving without being detected. And maybe we can use this. Edmund tries to force his brain past the panic of entrapment, focusing instead on putting together pieces of the puzzle. If they knew how far apart the trackers are staying, could they keep between the groups? The thick underbrush could perhaps be a help instead of a hindrance if they can stay hidden within the woods, and they might even be able to keep a distant watch on the humans who have been trying to track them.
How much space, Edmund wonders. He sees Adan glance at the princess, but with Edmund between Adan and her she likely didn't see it. But Edmund knows what the Wolf is thinking— she's not the most stealthy companion. Getting rid of the purple clothing might have helped, but she's still noisy and uncoordinated and Edmund doubts very much that even the least experienced tracker would miss her.
"Adan," Edmund says, tilting his own head toward the entrance. "Let's find out how much space we're working with." Adan ducks his head in a quick, unconscious bow before squeezing past Edmund.
The Wolf tunnels through the branches and snow to make a new exit furthest from where the men had passed. Edmund pushes off the tree trunk to follow him, whispering a 'stay here' to the princess, but she darts a hand out and grips his sleeve. He turns back, already reaching to push her hand off, but she lets go abruptly. As Edmund watches, she untangles his cloak from the blanket puddled at her feet and holds it out to him. Edmund takes it with a grateful nod and carefully settles it around his shoulders, trying not to bump the branches and send the snow drifting in on them. As he does so, the princess shakes out the blanket and peers around the ground, apparently searching for something else.
He waits this time, and she pulls his gloves from under the bedroll to pass to him. He takes them with a quick 'thanks'. Tucking his sword under his arm, he tugs on the gloves and then quickly slips out after Adan.
It's still quite cold out— and Edmund is grateful that the princess had considered what he hadn't in his haste. At least it's not snowing, though. Edmund can see that several inches have fallen overnight, and the soft blanket of snow all around the shelter is barely disturbed. Edmund turns to reposition the branches he and Adan had exited through, and then peers closer at the ground around his feet. Adan is covering his tracks, he realizes.
Edmund skirts around the shelter, searching for a branch to sweep away his own footsteps. It won't fool anyone who knows what to look for, of course, but it should at least be harder to notice from a distance.
Edmund has just reached the edge of their little clearing when Adan reappears. The Wolf tilts his head slightly, and Edmund nods as he follows Adan through the snow-laden forest. When Adan slows several minutes later, slinking low to the ground, Edmund lowers himself to a crouch.
"How do we even know they're coming this way at all?" Edmund hears, and he and Adan quickly drop onto the ground. Edmund prays the fir tree they'd been pushing past will provide enough cover as he slowly shifts under it, careful to avoid dislodging snow from the heavily covered branches.
"Hush," comes a harsh reply. Edmund holds his breath. "You want to let them know right where we are?" He releases his breath slowly as he peers straight ahead, trying to determine the exact location of the soft voices. Adan, pressed against Edmund's left side, scents the air, and his lips pull back slightly in a silent snarl.
"Like as not, they're still asleep," the first voice answers, "if they even survived the night." Edmund frowns. There's something odd about the way they speak, a kind of elongation of vowels maybe, and the accent sparks some vague memory that he can't quite place.
"If they're bedded down somewhere, we're never going to find them." Edmund spares a glance over his shoulder, hoping the stranger is right about that. Adan shifts forward, and Edmund turns his head back to watch him. The voices are getting quieter, and the light crunch of their footsteps that he could just make out at first is barely audible now.
"-them against the drop off-" he catches. Adan pauses but his head continues to track to the right and his ears are pointed forward, so Edmund keeps quiet. When Adan shifts to the left, out from under the tree, Edmund slides over on his stomach to follow him. The Wolf heads in the direction of the oblivious conversationalists again, and Edmund creeps behind him, crouching awkwardly to stay out of sight. Adan's slowing again is enough to alert him that they're catching up, and then he starts to hear the voices again.
"-there by now." Edmund and Adan move slowly, staying low and trying to get as close as possible to the heedless men still apparently conversing when they should be paying attention to their surroundings— not that Edmund isn't grateful for their lapse in good judgment.
"Until we hear back we keep at it." Edmund glances at Adan when he stops, sinking to his belly in the cold snow. Edmund does the same, carefully angling under the boughs of another tree.
"How do we know the bird even made it through that storm?" Edmund's stomach clenches. He cranes his neck to peer up at the sky. He hadn't even considered they might be in communication with someone— especially not someone who could be coordinating from afar. He drops his head to meet Adan's gaze, and the Wolf looks just as anxious about that prospect as Edmund feels.
"Just do your job," the second voice says sharply. Edmund turns his head forward again, but he still can't catch sight of the men.
"My job," the other hisses back, "is an honest merchant, not some kind of mercenary." There's a dark chuckle from the other man, then, that Edmund can just hear.
"There's nothing honest about-" They've moved out of range again, but Edmund motions for Adan to stay where he is. After a few minutes, Adan turns to face Edmund, signaling that the men are out of even the Wolf's range of hearing.
"Drop off?" Edmund whispers. Adan nods slowly, turning toward Edmund.
"They said the valley drops off to the west and south." Edmund clenches his hands into fists and bows his head, staring at the ground. He hadn't heard that part.
"And impassable to the north," Edmund adds, thinking of the steep cliff they've been following since entering this valley. "We're trapped."