Olorus made a face. Hook frowned.
"Ahlund and I sensed them coming," said Zechariah. "I felt the blackness of their daemyn energies. I think they were demons."
"You mean coblyns?" said Olorus. "Have you any idea how much coblyn blood has greased by blade-?"
"Not coblyns," Zechariah said. "There are other kinds of demons. Higher forms capable of terrible power. But such things have not walked the Oikoumene since before my birth."
Hook's hands worked quickly, making shapes in the air.
"Did you actually see them?" Olorus translated.
"They were-" Zechariah started to say, but Olorus cut him off.
"Not you," he said. "Justin, you tell me. What did you see?"
"Well," Justin said. "It was, uh, kind of, hard to see. We were in the middle of a storm. They were big and dark and riding on these big animals. Like, really big shadows."
"Really big shadows." Olorus turned on Zechariah. "You risk the fate of my nation on fear of shadows?"
"I sensed them," Zechariah said.