It seemed that while he sat there time passed very slowly and very quickly at the same time; his mind could not decide upon either event. Everything else began to happen swiftly. Pupil dilation, his eyelids at half-mast as the golden gaze set upon the steam, and suddenly a voice. "What do you see?" Having never experienced anything like this before, Njal was not prepared for the auditory hallucinations (or any hallucinations); the voice held no bearer and it contorted upon the skin of the thick fog, coupled with the hiss of the water.
One particular hiss caught his attention and Njal shifted to look out in to the hot pools, unable to unroot his paws from the earth but canting his head and slowly pivoting his ears. There was another hiss, and another, each duller than the last. Not high in pitch but low and rumbling, like a great beast warning away the warden. He did not realize how long passed after the words were spoken, but he held no answer. Njal couldn't speak even if he had wanted to, as his tongue failed to exist in his current state. He watched the swirling mist and his mind began to put meaning to the shapes.
Something touched the water - a bug, maybe a damp leaf on the wind - and the shrieking steam became a column that narrowed and then grew bilious. It forked and grew before his eyes, forming at first a tree with many branches. The edges of the image tapered out, and Njal caught himself thinking of how beautiful it was - but the image changed. It swirled and became a massive heart with great pulsations ruling it. The man took a needed gasp of air and his head drooped with the effort. Njal's drooping had brought him close to the pool's edge and it was a wonder that he did not fall in and melt away himself.
Breaking his gaze with the steam also broke the image, which had morphed again. It was a face now akin to what one views in dreams. Pieces of familiarity lingered in the contours of it, but it was already fading and melting away. Rounded ears set apart further, and the muzzle of the stranger became pointed; it wasn't a wolf at all. "I've seen you," Njal finally managed to mumble - not in response to the shaman, having forgotten that he was there altogether.
The figure opened it's mouth and sneered with tiny teeth, and a great roar came from its mouth that became high and sharp and pierced through him. Njal stumbled backwards with heavy steps and bowed to his belly. The numb of his body must have been wearing away. In a sudden panic the man shut his eyes and appeared to wince away from the monster before him; I can't see you, you can't see me. When he opened his eyes once more the strange creature had become something else.
Sunlight caught upon the white smoke above the water. It was tinged with blue from the overcast sky (how long had they been here?) and the face there was now a sphere. It glowed with remnant blue, becoming a tapered shape like a raindrop. The sphere shrunk in to a bead and suddenly came at him; he thought the light went through him and so he stumbled back again, tripping on his legs and his fright. The next time he heard a rumble it was behind him and so he whipped around - catching the figure of Lecter in his peripheral - and faced the light which he believed now haunted him.
It was similar in shape now to the figure he had seen in his den. The wound on his head began to ache dully because he was really Harry Potter reincarnated but the pain dulled the feelings of the drugs. Njal reached for the figure in his prone state, baring teeth in a yellowed sneer which grew wider and more savage as he got closer to the bulbous shape. "You followed me." He stated to the figure only he could see - not knowing that Lecter was following his own spectres. His voice, although rumbling, had been gutted of feeling. Through the bared teeth he only stated fact; "Leave me be!" The man lurched and snapped his teeth through the shining light and it dispersed - but then formed in to separated figures, which he then turned to gnash his fangs at.
The tittering of birds became laughter. The figures he snapped at were nothing until the laughter corrupted them - solidified by this, the light condensed in to a shape that was brief but recognizable. "A badger?" He blurted as he stumbled, fur bristling wildly. Njal patrolled between the sulking animal and Lecter nearby, but then turned and made to charge the creature. He stumbled and this time did not raise himself. The badger came closer, it's eyes shining blue like clear sky.
"Sir," Njal finally rasped with his chin planted on the soil and body coiling up like a worried child; referring to the potion-maker. "...make them leave."