Sallah, but unlike the mists that bordered the Mournland, which were chill and stifling, this was simply… mist. Cool and damp, yes, but just mist.
His steed tried to pull up short, but he goaded the stallion on.
“Should we tie our horses together again?” Sallah said. Her voice came from somewhere over Kandler’s shoulder.
“Burch and I did that already,” Kandler said. “Did we miss you?”
“You know you did,” Sallah said, irritation tinged with fear creeping into her voice. “Throw me a-ow!”
“Sorry,” Burch said, in a voice untainted with regret. “Got the rope?”
“I do now,” Sallah snarled.
The trio started forward again. Burch led the way with Kandler and Sallah riding behind, their horses each tied to the shifter’s stocky, sure-footed lupallo.
Sallah held up her sword and set it ablaze with a short prayer to the Silver Flame. In here, the blade seemed brighter than it had since entering the Mournland. Still not quite a pure flame, it nonetheless burned with an eager light. The mists seemed to part before the fire, and soon Kandler could see both her and Burch.
Burch looked back and nodded his approval. “Keep that burning,” he said.
“Can you follow their trail?” Kandler asked.
The shifter got off his horse and scanned the ground. “The ground here is nothing but rock. No trail to follow.”
“Can you sniff them out?”
“Maybe.” Burch huffed and flexed for a moment as he drew upon the powers of his werebeast ancestors. He crouched low to the ground like an animal and rumbled out a low snarl. He put his nose in the air and sniffed, then scampered about for a moment until he found the direction. He pulled his horse along behind him, leading the others by the rope that bound them together.
“Got it,” the shifter said as he padded ahead. “Sweaty horse, and… that muddy scent is the changeling. And I can smell… rose petals.”
“Rose petals?” Sallah asked.
Kandler’s throat tightened, but he managed to speak. “We traded for them two months ago. Esprл sleeps with them in her pillow.”
“There’s something else,” Burch continued. “Something… foul. Like a dank tomb.”
“The vampire?” asked Sallah.
“Yeah. Probably.”
The trio walked in silence for a moment. The only sounds were that of their horses’ hooves and Burch sniffing the air.
“Whoa!” the shifter shouted as he skidded to a stop. The lupallo halted behind him. Kandler and Sallah reined in their horses.
“What is it?” Kandler asked.
“Come here,” Burch said. “But get off the horses.”
Kandler and Sallah dismounted and walked toward Burch. As they moved closer, Sallah’s sword melted away more of the mist, and Kandler saw that the shifter stood on the edge of a vast chasm. Both the bottom and the other side were invisible in the mist.
“Did they…?” Sallah said. She gulped as she went to one knee and peered over the edge. “Did they fall?”
“Smells like…” Burch stopped and sniffed the gray air. “Stinks like fear.” He looked at Sallah and smiled. “And not just from you. Stay here.”
Kandler looked at Sallah. “Are you blushing?” He hadn’t thought such a strong-willed woman could ever be embarrassed.
“It’s natural to be afraid here,” the lady knight said. “This is a fearsome place.”
“No doubt about that,” Kandler said as he peered through the thin swirls of fog at Burch.
The shifter stepped back from the edge of the chasm and walked back and forth along it, sniffing as he went. As he went to the left, he sniffed harder and faster. “Here,” he finally said. “This way.”
Kandler and Sallah followed Burch, each of them leading their own horses on foot. “Could some of them have fallen?” Kandler asked.
Burch shook his head and sniffed again. “They went this way. And the horse. Esprл was with them.” Soon the trio came upon the drawbridge. “They crossed here.”
Kandler nodded at the shifter, and the three led their mounts across the bridge. The hooves and footsteps rang out on the oak planks.
“That’s the horse,” Kandler said as they entered the mist-shrouded courtyard. The animal stood tied to the hitching post outside the cream-colored tower’s closed door. He and Burch drew their swords as all three of them eased their way up to the door.
Burch pressed the side of his head to the door and listened.
“Two voices,” he whispered. “Can’t make out the words.”
Handler beckoned the shifter back and then gestured with his sword. Each of the three held their weapons at the ready. The justicar lowered his shoulder and charged.
The door swung wide on creaking hinges. Kandler burst into the room with Burch and Sallah close on his heels. All three blinked at the bright light from the chandelier hanging from the ceiling.
As the trio entered, the two people standing at the desk in the center of the room looked up. “Kandler!” one of them shouted with glee.
Esprл dashed around the table and flung herself at her stepfather. Relief washed over Kandler like a wave. He gathered her up in her arms and hugged her tighter than he had since her mother’s death.
“It’s all right,” he said softly in her ear, tears rolling freely down his face. “I’m here now.”
“Boss?” Burch said as he tapped Kandler on the shoulder. “Want to say hello to our host?”
The shifter’s tone told Kandler that something was wrong. Kandler swung Esprл around in his left arm and held his sword at the ready in the other. He looked up and saw a gaunt elf standing behind a desk nearly covered with a book and papers coated with arcane writing.
“Two sets of visitors in one day,” the old elf woman said, her voice like rustling leaves. “This is a special day.”
Before Kandler could respond, he heard hoofbeats in the courtyard-a sudden clatter followed by the sound of the horses leaving. Kandler turned and raced back out the door, Esprл still in his arms and clinging to his neck. Burch and Sallah were hot on his heels.
As he reached courtyard, he saw all four horses stampeding away across the drawbridge. The changeling stood in the stirrups of the beast in the rear, urging them all forward into the mists.
Chapter 28
“Is the changeling leaving without a farewell?” the elf said as she emerged from her tower. The others parted before her as she stepped into the courtyard. “I can’t tolerate such rudeness.”
With a gesture from the wizard, the drawbridge began to rise. Still crossing it, the horses whinnied in fear as they felt the planks move beneath them, but Te’oma shouted and kicked her heels into her mount’s sides, urging them on.
The far end of the bridge continued to rise. The horses raced toward its limit at top speed, and when they reached it they leaped out into the mists.
Kandler’s horse cleared the gap with Burch and Sallah’s close behind. Te’oma’s mount seemed to almost lose its nerve, but the changeling spurred it hard, and the beast jumped over the abyss.
The horse’s rear hooves scrambled as it landed on the far side of the chasm and it slid backward toward certain doom. Esprл squealed in fear and reached out to the changeling, although there was nothing she could do. Kandler pulled the girl back toward him, never taking his eyes away from the scene before him.
With a desperate effort, the gelding’s rear hooves managed to find a crack in the rock, its hoof caught, and it
