Zaraknvyr let the words weigh on him. The pit of dread in his gut solidified. His pale eyes fell to the cat as Tabiah murmured her spell. As the vestiges of Detect Magic washed over him, he lifted a hand and curled it behind his own neck to scratch the irritation from his flesh. He meowed;
"Fellow hunter, in order to benefit of your talents I must safeguard your master. So be it."
Candles sparked to life. Zaraknvyr grunted, pulling his hand away from the mass of scar tissue at the base of his neck. His nails came away lightly blooded and he took care in licking them clean. The vestiges of his own spell faded shortly after his words, his comprehension of Abasi's mewing going with it. Such was the nature of magic and its fleeting boons. Such was why Zaraknvyr mastered his flesh first and the powers second. Paranoia licked at the back of his mind even now. His own searching would be a waste of time. Tabiah would inevitably find their goal without his aid. At their back, however, was potential danger. Bleakers. A fight he, frankly, was not certain he could win without cleverness and ambush. A fight that, truthfully, never needed to happen but he fantasized about nonetheless.
Fyodor's hand reaching for the hammer. Zaraknvyr's hands trembled in anticipation. He steadied them by pretending to go through the motions of searching; in truth he was moving to be away from the stair entrance, and at the edge of the light. Naturally seeking to cling to shadow and darkness as he lurked in quiet awareness of his party's rear and his own insane perception of potential hostiles. He moved a barrel here. A box there. Knocked upon a lid once or twice to create a positional noise, only to silently step away and do so again elsewhere. If he found their path it would truly be the fates guiding his hands, because his intentions were to delegate this task and prepare to hide should danger appear.