'Flames.' That was it. Rolling over onto his stomach, slowly as to not attract notice, Hakyeon cast his gaze to the bonfire. It crackled only a few feet in front of him, and beyond it he could see that Hongbin stood holding Wonshik up, his face cast in fear and doubt as he relied on the other two men to get them free. 'I can do this,' Hakyeon thought, pushing the taunts that the Watcher threw at Taekwoon away from his mind. Slowly and carefully he crawled toward the fire, the trip seeming to take forever, and then his outstretched hand fell on the end of a burning branch.

Hakyeon took a deep breath to ready himself, and, ignoring the throbbing pain in his head, he stood and turned to face the Watcher and its cronies once more. Several of the sentries turned to look at him then, as if only just noticing that he was awake, but at the sight of the burning branch in his hands they shied back.

"Taekwoon!" Hakyeon called out, his voice as firm and steady as he could make it. The hunter looked up at him from where he knelt in the dirt, and Hakyeon could see the tear streaks down his face even from where he stood ten paces away. 'Oh, please don't give up on me,' he thought frantically as he registered the hopeless look on the other man's face, but after a brief moment Taekwoon's eyes hardened and he gave the slightest nod. He'd fight.

Hakyeon let out a breath of relief and reached out to pull another branch from the fire, holding them both out to the sides to keep the sentries away as he approached. Hongbin moved quickly to fall in behind him, half carrying and half supporting Wonshik, and the sentries moved away from the burning brands in Hakyeon's grip as he neared them. The Watcher was giving him an interested look, as if it longed to get inside of his head, and Hakyeon fought down the shiver that tried to overtake him as he reached out to offer one branch to Taekwoon.

The hunter moved as if to take it, but then changed direction and pounced like some sort of cat onto the Watcher. It fell easily, its boneless body giving little to no support, and he landed several hard punches in its face before it raised its tentacles to try and fight back. Taekwoon took his knife to those, and that was when the Watcher let out an unearthly shriek that sent Hakyeon's head to pounding once more. 

The sentries gave a start at the sound, and the second Watcher immediately began to move around the fire, obviously intent on helping its 'sibling'; that was when Hakyeon remembered that it had said siblings, plural, and when he cast a quick look around, he saw more figures sliding out of the shadows to come to their sibling's aid.

"Taekwoon, we have to go! Now!" Hakyeon cried out, and something in his voice must have gotten through the rage that drove him. The hunter stood and took the branch that the farmer offered, then turned to face the sentries blocking their way out. "Set fire to them," Hakyeon urged, and with a nod at him, Taekwoon moved forward with a surprising speed to do just that. 

It must have been something in the magic that animated the sentries, for when the flame touched their wooden skin, their bodies burst into flame like a soaked torch. Taekwoon set five of them alight before the others managed to get out of his way, and the lack of any sound as they flailed and died made a more gruesome scene than if they had screamed.

Hongbin followed right behind Taekwoon, Wonshik stumbling beside him, and Hakyeon brought up the rear, his makeshift torch swinging back and forth to keep any of their enemies from advancing. To his surprise, none of the Watchers bothered with attacking the small party, instead converging on their own injured sibling and placing their tentacles on it as it flailed on the ground. It took a moment for Hakyeon to realize that they were not helping it, but instead feeding off of its emotion and pain, and he tore his gaze away before he could sick up at the thought.

They left the copse of trees behind quickly, even Wonshik stumbling along in a half run as they moved through the forest, their branches still burning. Hakyeon's branch burned down to his hand before they reached the treeline, but as he d