Alec heard none of what was said. He slipped into the woods, caught the "We scatter them" part, then said silently, "Senile old fool."

Just to ensure against any particularily nasty surprises, Alec moved farther along the road but stayed hidden.

Sarin continued to listen, trying to establish positions and trying not to snort too loudly.

Gabriel shook his head. "Enough!" He shouted, his voice echoing with a crack of lightning. He stalked over to Talos and wrenched the Goblin from his grasp. He set Gug down and held the Drow's gaze for a moment before turning to the group.

"Time is of the essance. Bastion requires our help. Petty squabbling about the past, no matter how painful, will get us nowhere. Every moment we waste is another hundred lives that could be lost!"

He turned to John, his eyes boaring deep into the others mind. "You may come, Elemental. But if you slow us down, we will leave you behind."

He then stalked ahead of the group, moving at a rapid pace.

Laine began to walk after Gabriel, but then he stopped, shuddered violently, and fell to his knees.
"Gabriel, wait!" Laine called. "Someone just used a colossal amount of Light magic, in conjunction with other energies, to create a spell of massive proportions. The use of the spell tore my probing net of magic, which I use to sense danger. Such a thing rarely happens, but when it does, I am affected greatly by it. A magic user of the most powerful kind is close by."
He stumbled to his knees, his skin ashen. He drew Dragonsbite, held it high. The dragon once again leaped out of of it, but this time circled back to Laine, stopping in front of him, bending its head to Laine's.
"Dracorum menighar eshamll'at kar." Laine whispered. "Esgan mer'tial shemet abir."
The dragon leapt off into the trees.
"Let's go," Laine said. "It is tracking the spellcaster."

Alec stepped back onto the road.

"Very nice kid. Now, how about you get back in the group, tell us the general direction, and let me and Sarin scout ahead so you don't sprint into a face-full of arrows and axes? Okay? Good."

Alec slithered back into the woods, but made a note of moving faster than he had before.

I got to beat that thing there, if they see it we walk straight into a trap.

Hakar stalked off, slightly to the side of the road, remaining concealed among the trees. He had created a sort of mental shield around himself, so that anyone who saw him wouldn't even notice his presence...a type of invisibility.

"Alec," Sarin said quietly as he stalked nearby ahead with the other ranger. He spoke just above a whisper, for most rangers knew that whispers carried. "Something just occured to me. We've got the largest concentration of Elemental power around us and near us. Which means anyone who can key into any elemental AT ALL can, with the right amount of power, find one or two of us easily enough. And if they can find one or two of us..."

Hakar came up behind Sarin, speaking in a low voice just as quietly, "They have their chieftains and commanding officers, but orcs aren't well organized even when they swarm. They'll probably assume we're orc mages, if they sense our magic at all. Besides, only the shamans will be able to detect it...and they won't exactly want to bother other members of their profession, which they'll assume we are." he grinned, "Besides, we're closer to Bastion than to the orcs."

Alec kept up the low speaking trend by adding, "So, basically, if people would stop with flashing everything around we'd be golden. But Hakar does have a point, even if he IS a bit hard to focus on."

Alec kept on moving forward, making sure that, in addition to being hidden, he had some sort of viable cover against thrown/shot weapons.

Metrius, moving swiftly, quietly, steathily through the forest, kept close tabs on his two fellow rangers ahead of him. I wonder just what it was that happened, Metrius thought to himself. Whatever it was, it was powerful. We should be careful. He made sure that Evil's Bane was at his side, and moved on, hardly disturbing a leaf on the passing growth.