Even with the certainty that they were being stalked it was still unknown how many of the enemy there were despite the growing number of ruby eyes. Even with his will to live it alone would not assure survival from this encounter, especially not with these makeshift weapons. The scratching on the trees around him only further puzzled him as to what was lurking at the edge of the darkness. It could be an animal maybe a wolf scratching the bark or a human whose weapon brushed against the trees as it darted around his party. Maybe whatever was watching them was not of this world..maybe it was an Ikrat, a demon! "Mitha protect us", he thought as he further watched the eyes while doing his best to cover the others. What's more there seemed to be something moving around in the grass but he could not make out what it was, the last thing he wanted was to be fighting in a field of snakes or whatever possibly venomous creature crept in the undergrowth. 

The warmth and added light alerted Talan to the creation of the fire and he immediately turned to grab the torch from Simon and aimed it low to the ground to identify what was below. It was then that he noticed the wolf mask he dropped he moved to pick it up and that was when he heard the voice followed by a feeling on the back of his hand. Whatever was there was gone now and what was this about a Vorkriin(dragon) in the lantern? That would have to wait because now he had more problems to deal with. Kituo was yelling on about something, wait he felt something touch him too? He quickly turned his attention away from the eyes to Kituo telling him and Simon,"Both of you watch my back as well as each others! We can't let these things sneak up on us!" He handed the torch to Simon, "There is something moving on the ground wave the torch near us so it stays away!" and to Kituo he ordered while handing him the wood spear he dropped, " Hold onto this if something gets behind us it may be up to you to protect us!" 

Talan was so engulfed in coordinating these two that he almost forgot about the mask. He was tempted to wear it as it might provide his face protection from whatever might be trying to claw at it soon. He snatched it from the ground and put it on.