No one was around.
No one but Fendrick, Karo, and Ceb.
Karo jerked upright in alarm at Gwen's yell, having more or less tuned her out while she was having her...dream. Her yell, however, had him on his feet with a dagger in hand before she'd even stopped, and Ceb was close behind him, if slower as he got all tangled in his bedroll.
"What happened?!" he barked, looking around urgently while Gwen clutched her blanket to her chest, her breathing rapid.
Just a dream...
And it had felt so goddamned real.
Face flushed, she snapped a look up at Karo and scowled, not about to admit what had just happened. "Night terror," she said, and let out a slow breath and scrubbed a hand through her hair, which had fallen free of its usual tight bun. "Don't worry. Just...go back to sleep."
She flopped back down as Ceb and Karo took up their spots, but she didn't close her eyes. Instead she glanced over at the wagon, where "Rylan's" sleeping form was still visible.
She assumed he was sleeping, at least.
Over in the wagon, Aysel was getting a rare few hours' sleep. She hadn't gotten much of it during her time there, but Quinlan gave her hope, and made her feel a little safer, and she'd wound up nodding off against him. She shifted in her sleep, curling closer against him for warmth, and settled down again after.
She wasn't aware of the footsteps.
And Gwen, slowly drifting back to sleep, didn't pause to think how strange it was that Fendrick hadn't run to check on her, too.
Near the woods to the side of the wagon, there came more of those soft, thudding footsteps and the dry snap of twigs and leaves underfoot.
And then came a low, throaty rumble and a strange, unearthly bleating, and a large, looming shape stepped from the shadows, exposing a lion's face covered in fresh blood. Its tail arched high over its back, hissing softly--a snake, not a tail--and a goat's head stared out over them, its mouth also dripping red.