The circle was finished finally, with the mist steadily, but slowly, advancing. Xander then began to use a dagger to dig runes in the hard packed ground, spacing them each a few feet apart. He looked up when he heard something, and gasped when he saw a handful of soldiers scrambling through the ruins and trying to escape.
Dexter saw them and felt a moment of relief. He had hoped they had not all perished. It seemed that death might still await them, for they disappeared a moment later to backtrack around the upheavals the earthquake caused. The mist advanced on them, causing another scream and a few curses.
“Captain, it’s ready… do not break the circle,” Xander said, hurrying to stand next to Dexter.
“What about them?” Dexter asked, pointing to the three men breaking free of the ruins. Aidan was in the lead, followed by one of his sergeants and a regular soldier.
The sergeant tripped on a rock and went down hard. Aidan skidded to a halt, but the sergeant told him to go on, he would be right behind him.
The sergeant limped a few steps on his twisted ankle, cursing and falling to the ground. He tried again, this time hopping a few steps then losing his balance. The mist was gaining.
“Don’t touch the symbol!” Xander cried out as Aidan and the soldier crossed over it. They narrowly avoided the dust and the symbols he had traced, then kept running forward until they stopped at the edge of the Voidhawk.
They looked back and saw the sergeant struggling to not be overtaken by the malevolent mist. “Stand up!” Xander cried out, terrified that the man would break his symbol of protection.
The man heard and struggled to his feet. The mist was only inches away from him by then. Tendrils of malignant fog extended to wrap around him in a sinuous fashion. He shuddered and lunged forward, throwing himself over the line on the ground. The mist slammed into it as though it was an invisible wall, unable to pass through. It spread, as though it was an intelligent beast searching for a way in. The sergeant staggered another step and then collapsed to crawl towards the safety of the ship.
Aidan and the soldier ran to the man, helping him to his feet and carrying him back to the ship, where Rosh, Dexter, Willa, and Logan now waited.
Rosh and Logan went up first then pulled Willa up. Dexter went next and waited on deck while Aidan and the other soldier fashioned a sling for the wounded sergeant. His broken ankle was only an inconvenience in comparison to his violent cough and shuddering muscles.
What’s gotten into him?” Jenna asked quietly as she stared down at the man’s contortions.
Before Dexter’s open mouth could reply the injured sergeant suddenly lunged, grabbing onto Aidan’s only remaining soldier. He pulled the man forward and bit down on his arm, tearing off a flap of skin and chewed on it. The soldier yelled in pain and tried to get free of the wounded sergeant, but he got tangled in the ropes around the man leaving him trapped and vulnerable.
Aidan tried to pull the man away but between the possessed sergeant’s grip and the ropes it was futile. A crack of thunder rang out and both Aidan and the wounded man jumped, their heads snapping in the direction of the deck. Smoke floated from the barrel of Dexter’s pistol and in unison, their gazes turned to the sergeant and the bloody hole in his forehead.
“Get up here,” Dexter said, “before we raise the ropes.”
Aidan nodded and told the wounded man to grab on. They both did and were hoisted aboard.
“What’s going on out there?” Rosh asked, trying to peer into the mist that had blanketed the entire ruins outside of Xander’s protective spell.
“I don’t-“
“Evil,” Bekka said, her whisper interrupting Dexter. “Pure, raw, chaotic evil.”
“You’ve seen this before?” Dexter asked, turning to face her.
Bekka’s sweaty, pale face nodded. She turned and pointed to Aidan’s only remaining soldier. He was clutching the bites on his arm in pain and only looked up when he sensed everyone was looking at him.
“I’m sorry,” Bekka said, her voice sounding miserable. No one doubted her sincerity, but they also had no idea what she was talking about.
“You have to go,” she said.
“Go? Go where?” He hissed, clutching his arm.
“Off the ship… out there. Away from us,” she said.
She turned to Dexter, “Captain… he’s been infected. He’s turning. Look at him, see the pain? The anger? Soon he’ll be one of them.”
“One of who?” Dexter asked, confused.
“A living ghoul, dead but not dead,” she said, turning back to him. He shook his head violently, denying what she said.
“It’s just a scratch!” He protested, then shivered.
“Kill him, Captain, please… give him mercy and spare us,” Bekka said, turning to Aidan and pleading.
“Captain, what is she on about? This wound is nothing,” Aidan said, addressing Dexter.
“Rosh, get him off my ship,” Dexter said.
Rosh looked at Dexter then turned to the man, reaching out to carry out his orders.
“Now wait just a damned minute!” Aidan said.
The man roared and staggered away from Rosh’s reaching grip before falling to his knees. His hair drenched with sweat and his skin flushed with fever, he let his head loll while his chest heaved.
“Kaskins, are you-“ Aidan asked the man, taking a step forward.
His head shot up, revealing the face of a madman. Kaskins, or the man who had been Kaskins, sprung forward, slamming into Aidan and knocking him to the decking. Before he could clamp his hungry jaws on Aidan another shot rang out, jerking him back from the army Captain.
Kaskins twitched on the deck and his blood pumped steadily out of the gaping wound in the side of his neck. Jenna reloaded her pistol, silently reminding Dexter to do the same. No words needed to be spoken, Rosh picked up the body and tossed it overboard. The commander of the task force rose to his feet mute and shaken.
A sound emerged from the fog shrouded ruins. It was an unholy moan, weaving in and out of the rocks, that sent a chill to the bone.
“What have we done?” Aidan whispered in horror.
Chapter 9: The Price of Betrayal
“How long will it last?” Dexter asked, looking out at the swirling fog and the moaning and groaning mysteries within it.
“The mists?” Jenna asked. “How are we to know?”
“No,” Dexter said, turning to Xander. “Your spell… how long until it fades?”
Xander stared into the mists, his eyes wide at the shadowy forms of the fallen soldiers that walked again. They circled around the Voidhawk, held at bay by the wizard’s protective circle. “Until I let it fade,” he said. “Or if any of it is disturbed.” He thought for a moment, “I suppose it could consume the diamond dustings, but that would take a very long time… hundreds or thousands of years.”
“So you’re saying we’re safe then?” Rosh asked.
“Well,” Xander said, “only so long as I keep it focused and channeling the magical energies.”
“What’s that mean?” Dexter snapped, annoyed at the wizard’s tendency to over-complicate simple things.
“Sleep,” Bekka answered. “As long as he’s awake, he can keep it working.”
“Thank you,” Dexter said in exasperation. “Well then, let’s get to it! We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Dexter snapped off orders, giving everyone a task, Aidan and Xander were left free of duties, the former because Dexter did not want him getting in the way and the latter because he did not want to run any risk of the wizard being injured or tiring him out.
As they turned to leave Rosh wandered close to Xander, making the wizard’s eyes widen as he tried to lean away from the larger man. “You ain’t feeling sleepy, are ya?”
Xander shook his head. “Less so now,” he said.
