Melaina's mouth twisted downward in a grimace. Sage made a fair point. She would readily admit to herself that she had planned to leave their camp the moment the sun began to lighten the horizon. Cages, physically or not, were a point of contention with her and she couldn't abide a helpless creature being trapped within one without cause. She could give no reason to the thought, but the plea for help hurled into her mind evoked a feeling of innocence being shredded away by unfair captivity. Granted, she knew better than most how that could easily be a trick, but it bore investigating nonetheless.
"We can't risk Moonstrider wandering the forest in the dark." She nodded toward Alina's horse, who she didn't think Sage had met yet. "If we trip, we might well break a nose, but a horse could well be lamed for life, or not live long past an accident." She tilted her head to the side. "Asides from that, we wouldn't be able to sneak up on any bandits with a horse clopping around us. And I doubt you know the woods here well enough, Alina, to lead her through at a gallop for a rescue." She hesitated, realized that she was probably confusing the other woman more than anything, and said, "Moonstrider can not go fast in trees, sun or moon."
At Alina's nod, she sighed. "I don't know how smart she is, but I wouldn't want to leave her by her lonesome with bandits wandering around, anyway. Alina will have to stay with her." Left unspoken but no doubt heard was that she wouldn't trust their newest companion to watch the horse while Alina came with them. For all she knew, the draconian creature considered horse a delicacy. Maybe he considered siren a delicacy, too. She felt her shoulders tense at the thought of her new human companions being eaten by a creature she didn't know and resisted the urge to bare her teeth at him.
Instead, she looked at Sage. "But you're right. Morning is far enough off that the danger might well be past by then, and our chance to help, as well." She looked down, frowning. "Alina will have to stay with Moonstrider, but if we can perform some reconnaissance, get an idea of where these bandits are and their captive, and how many of them there are, we could make a plan." She eyed the dragon creature. "We'll need to discuss what we can bring to the table as far as offensive and defensive measures, though." She personally didn't like that idea much. She disliked giving away any information that could make herself more vulnerable. If it were just Sage, she would feel better. The boy was so openly enamored with magic, she couldn't imagine him using it against her. More likely, he would grill her for all the information she had on her species' capabilities, if she were to reveal to him what she was. Not that she had any intention of doing that.
She sat back and eyed her companions, waiting for their thoughts. It occurred to her that this was the most that she had spoken to any of them and it was leading into a discussion of tactics.
Since when did she play on a team?