[quote=Kituo]Looking away from Simon to focus on the ghost, he uttered his name. "I'm Kituo - Kituo Maji. Do you know where we are?" . . . In preparation for a possible disaster, Kituo raised the lantern up.[/quote]

[quote=Talan]He ever so slowly took hold of his spear in both hands and with one quick movement he got into a stance his father taught him when facing a wild animal. . . . He quickly backed towards the others with spear in hand aimed towards the darkness. His eyes darted as he scanned the surrounding area preparing for what was out there waiting to strike. . . . He quickly snapped his branch in half and crudely chipped of pieces of the broken off half into a smaller spear. Tossing it in the others' general direction so as to arm themselves he switched his stance from spear to dagger wielding. [/quote]

[quote=Kituo]He held out his incomplete spear to Simon. "Also, you can have this if you want. I won't be needing it."[/quote]

[quote=Simon]Simon looked at Kituo " Why don't you hold on to that for one minute while I get that fire going" . . . He sat down and rolled all of the Ikaro leaves that he had collected nice and snug around the tip of the branch until he had none left. That was when he picked up the trees roots and secured the leaves onto the branch. . . . He sat down and and placed the torch in his lap and grabbed two rocks and slammed them together.[/quote]

Purple sap dripped from the crude points of the daggers and seeped from the white open wound of the branch in Simon's hands.

The quiet grove, soft by the light of the fireflies, echoed with the gurgle of the stream and the crack, crack, crack of the fire-giving stones.

Shadows moved within the trees, untouched by the light. Talan's careful gaze would show him a flash of something red, a small ruby reflection that darted in the branches and was gone. His acute ears would pick up the scritch and scrabble of claws in the wood, each time a dark shape flitted among the fireflies. Eyes were watching.

"[i]Kituo ... Maji. Help us.[/i]" The voices whispered in Kituo's ear.

Something invisible slithered in the trembling grass -- several of them, weaving among tiny flowers and setting them shivering, but there was nothing to be seen.

The ghostly figure remained by the stream. Watching. It flickered, and turned its horned head. It was looking at Talan.

Only Talan would hear a whisper of several voices close to his ear, like a distant echo and a breath at once: "[i]The dragon within the iron lantern ... belongs to us.[/i]"

[quote=Simon]Simon blew into it ever so slightly, just enough that it didn't put out the little fire that was there but enough that the fire had slowly gotten bigger, and bigger, and bigger until it had completely caught the whole torch on fire.[/quote]

For a few moments, the fire burned healthily atop the torch. But the leaves which Simon had used, thinking they were the ikaro of his homeland, did not burn nor blacken. The dark leaves beneath the flames slowly turned golden as the fire burned. These were not ikaro.

The sap from the branch alighted in the fire, and the flames rushed and sparked and turned a midnight shade of purple. The fire hissed and popped and fizzled and sparked with bursts of brightness, and within the purple flames the golden leaves trembled. The smoke was thick and pungent.

Something cool and soft touched the back of Talan's hand. When he looked, it was gone.

Something small and light touched the side of Kituo's neck. When he looked, it was gone.

Something sinewy and fingered rustled in Simon's hair. When he looked, it was gone.

The purple fire snapped and hissed. The shadows in the trees grew urgent and multiplied. Flashes of ruby caught the light.

Simon would hear the echo of several voices in his ear: "[i]Only through the eyes of the forest can one see the truth.[/i]"

The horned spectre flickered again, and its faceless head turned toward the mask of the wolf lying at Talan's feet.