Akshay was swift enough to whirl his shield into position and harmlessly knock aside the dagger, but with his understanding still running thin, his instincts weren't sharp enough to pick up where it had come from.

He spared a glance to his strange new companion, perhaps hoping Zeyruun might have more of an idea what was going on, but it seemed they were both at a loss.

On the positive side, now he had his shield, and Zeyruun had his weapon, and - perhaps more importantly than that - Zeyruun was just as prepared to fight together as he was. Good. That put them on good ground.

Akshay pulled his shield in a little tighter towards him, and slid his foot in a broad circle to bring himself back-to-back with Zeyruun. Whoever their assailant was, they'd find it much harder to take the two by surprise.

The garden path felt warm under his bare feet, but he didn't much like how much cover there was for their attacker.

[color=fdc68a]"Do as he says,"[/color] he addressed the garden surrounding them, [color=fdc68a]"or else we will find you soon enough."[/color]

Hopefully their mystery guest would be baited into giving up their position, but he wasn't going to count on it. Akshay began taking a very careful stock of his senses.