“Where is it?” asks Stig.
The lightning of the sky with the coming of dawn revealed that the fog was nowhere in sight. “I told you it moves,” Brother Willim says. “The edge has simply moved further away from us.”
“It must be scared,” jokes Shorty. “It knows we are on the way.” A couple snickers are all he gets for his levity, not nearly what he was hoping for.
“Guess we’ll have a little more of a ride this morning than we anticipated,” James says. Climbing into the saddle, he waits for the others to mount. Then he nods to Jiron to lead the way. With Aleya riding beside him, he heads out.
The fog doesn’t take too long to makes its appearance. Less than an hour after they get underway it appears on the horizon. The sight of the fog before them affects each in their own way. Most however feel a sense of dread at the sight, one of impending doom.
Steeling their nerve, they continue on toward the wall of fog. It rises to a point high above the ground and when they at last reach its boundary, it towers far above them. “Never seen fog or mist behave this way before,” Perrilin states. “A sheer wall rising to the sky like this.”
“This is no ordinary mist,” Brother Willim states. “It differs slightly from that you would normally find in the world.”
“How so?” asks James.
“Hard to explain,” he replies. Gesturing to the mist before them he says, “This goes against the natural order of the world.”
They pause momentarily at the mist’s boundary. James gazes intently at the mist before them and tries to penetrate its murky depths. “Everyone keep a constant lookout for hell hounds,” he says to the others. “With any luck, they may not be in this area.”
“I wouldn’t trust to that if I were you,” comments Potbelly.
“I’m not,” he responds. Then with a glance to Jiron, he nods that they should enter.
“Here we go,” breathes Jiron as he nudges his horse to move forward.
As they enter the mist and it envelops them, it almost feels as if the mist is sucking the warmth right out of their bodies. The world turns hazy as the light from the sun above becomes diffused as it works its way down to where they are. Sound too, seems to be muffled in some way, the clip-clop of the horses’ hooves no longer resonates as it had when they were not in the mist.
Onward Jiron leads them. Everyone stays in a compact group, all unconsciously remain together for safety. When after a few minutes’ time nothing happens, Jiron picks up the pace.
James wants desperately to use magic to see if there is anything nearby, but realizes that if he does, those within the temple will undoubtedly pick up on it. So he resists the temptation and uses what senses are available to him; sight, smell and sound. Unfortunately, the mist allows neither one to be very effective.
Time becomes meaningless within the constant grayness of the mist. They begin jumping at imagined shadows as the monotonousness of the mist starts playing tricks on their senses. “Is there anything you can do about this?” Shorty asks Brother Willim after they’ve been in the mist for what must be over an hour.
“No,” he replies. “It’s not natural.”
“Too bad,” states Reilin.
Another few minutes pass by and Jiron suddenly comes to a stop and peers intently into the mists ahead of them.
James stops next to him and asks, “What is it?” Looking forward into the mist, he tries to see what Jiron had.
“I’m not sure,” he replies. Not taking his eyes off the mist he adds, “Thought I saw something.”
From behind them Scar pipes up and says, “Could have been your imagination. This sort of stuff can do that to a man.”
“Maybe,” he says in a tone which tells the others he doesn’t think that’s what it was.
James continues staring into the fog but fails to see anything. “I don’t think there’s anything out there,” he says. Rarely though is Jiron wrong about something like this.
Aaaah!!!
Then suddenly Stig cries out as one of the hell hounds leaps from out of the mist and slams into his horse. The creature’s claws rake the side of the horse, ripping and tearing as it bowls them both over. Stig leaps from the saddle and hits the ground hard. Rolling, he comes up and faces the creature with mace and shield ready.
The creature looks up at him and charges just as Brother Willim throws something in the air. A tangle of vines bursts into being and ensnares the creature.
Light blazes forth as Miko holds aloft the Star and speaks in a language none can understand. The mist rolls backward until a wide clearing devoid of mist surrounds them. Another of the creatures is revealed when the mist rolls back. A beam of light surges from the Star and strikes the second creature. Rearing back, the creature lets out a primal scream of pain as the light from the Star lances through it.
The first creature struggles against the vines holding it. Smoke rises as the heat of the creature chars the constricting vines. In little time, the creature breaks free and leaps. James spies the creature leaping for Stig and lets the magic flow. A barrier forms around the creature in mid leap. Stig dodges to the side as the barrier encased creature hits the ground right where he had been standing.
Increasing the magic to the barrier, James changes its nature and turns it quickly colder. Inside, the creature struggles against the barrier but is unable to break free. Then, just as he had many times before, James begins shrinking the barrier in on the creature until its life force goes out and the barrier implodes.
By this time, Miko has the second creature all but destroyed. The light from the Star is still searing into it, extinguishing its life. Soon, the creature collapses completely and erupts in a cloud of noxious black smoke, leaving a charred area upon the ground where it was destroyed.
Jiron scans the area for more of the creatures then hollers, “Everyone okay?”
“I’m fine,” replies Stig. He walks over to his horse only to find what he already knew. It’s dead. The side where the creature attacked it has been ripped to shreds.
To Miko, Jiron asks, “Can you continue to keep the mist at bay?”
“Not a problem,” he replies.
Jiron then glances to James and says, “Seeing as how they know we’re here already and all.”
Nodding, James says, “Good thinking. Better pick up the pace a bit from here on out.”
“Are we sure we’re still going in the right direction?” asks Aleya. “I can no longer tell which way is which.”
Miko points off into the mists and says, “It’s that way.”
“How can you tell?” asks Potbelly.
“Ever since we entered the mist, I have felt something,” he explains. “I wasn’t sure what it was until just now. It’s the temple. It feels like a disease.”
“Then you take the lead from here,” Jiron says. “I haven’t been sure for awhile if we were even going in the right direction.”
With a nod, Miko takes the lead and they continue on.
Stig mounts behind Shorty, he being the lightest of the group. Thus their combined weight will tire his horse less than if Stig rode with another.
Aleya stares at the charred spot on the ground where the creature Miko killed fell. She swallows hard and steels her nerves as she follows along with the others. If she still had her bow and arrows, she would definitely feel better.
Miko continues to maintain their island within the mist through the magic of the Star. Able to see more than a couple feet in front of them takes the edge off the dread that had filled them since entering the Mists. It’s still absolute quiet other than the noise that they and their horses make which lends an eerie feel to the whole thing.
“If that’s all we are going to have to face,” begins Potbelly, “we should be able to make it to the temple.”
“What are the odds on that though?” counters Scar as he gazes to the wall of mist, first to one side then the other. “There’s bound to be more of them out there.”
“Not to mention warrior priests,” adds Potbelly. “If there’s any place that would have them, it would be
