The ground trackers converged at the point where the fugitives' footprints abruptly ended.
An Excavator tunnel opened before them like the mouth of some primitive beast, exhaling dense, humid air that smelled of fertile earth and something else... something none could identify but which provoked an instinctive wariness.
"Are you certain they entered here?" asked the leader, his tiger markings subtly intensifying as he studied the suspicious opening.
The lead tracker, a thin man with slight canine features, sniffed the air. "Without doubt. Their trail is clear to the entrance, then disappears underground." He crouched.
The six men exchanged uncomfortable glances. All were experienced hunters, all possessed beasts of Bronze 2 rank or higher, but none seemed eager to enter that hole.
