Zaraknvyr reached to stop Tabiah when she offered to 'go first' and 'make sure the coast was clear'. There were two things wrong with that: 

1) If she went first, it could only possibly be to warn those on the other side of a portal to ambush him when he himself passed through.

2) If the coast was rife with danger, his need of the feline required him to go first to ensure Tabiah's own survival.

However, a third idea crept into his mind that was worse than both of those combined.

3) If Zaraknvyr goes first, Tabiah may still be here when those Bleakers inevitably come down in search of this very same portal.

His hand retracts and he nods. Those Bleakers poaching his wizard would be the worst possible reality of all, and thus he lets Tabiah proceed. Her all-clear came suspiciously all-too-soon. His eyes narrow. His fingers twitch. His neck itches. His shoulders hunch. He cackles quietly to himself. Then, he dives in.

He emerges in an explosive leap from the other side of the portal, whirling like a dervish, only to find himself in utterly peaceable environs. The light was harsher to his eyes, but not unbearable. Never unbearable, thanks to the parasite that writhed within his neck. The parasite that gnawed at him and made him [i]hunger[/i]. Chatter flows from above, but more civilized and restrained than in the Wayfarer. The hum of the staircase- the horned shadow- the presence of another.

"Announce yourself. You approach Zaraknvyr, Mercykiller, come in search of Tir Na Og." He declares loudly to the approaching figure.

Only now did it occur to him that he should have obscured that portal from the Bleakers. Damn.