The mist was still thick in the evening when they set up camp on the top of a wooded hill. They weren’t absolutely sure it was evening until the fog went dark. It was the further cold in the mist that warned them nightfall was approaching. They tried to start a fire but all available kindling was too damp, so after a cold meal they huddled closely together in their tent for warmth.
“What is that screeching?” asked Will.
“Another creature of the mist, perhaps,” said Charlotte.
“I hope not,” said Sam.
“It could just be some animal,” said Gralen.
Light from the moon barely filtered through, just enough to cast faint shadows of strange flying creatures onto the canvas of their tent. They watched them, for a long time, before finally falling to sleep. Will was the last to nod off, and when he thought everyone else was sleeping he peeked under the tent, then quickly dove back into his bedroll like a child afraid of imaginary creatures. The creatures were hard to see in the misty dark, but their shadows were nothing compared to their shape, more like huge fat insects than birds.
But even he fell asleep eventually.
“I’m getting tired of wet clothing real quick,” said Charlotte after they started out the next morning.
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Note: Sam is now at three survival points. |
“I thought you loved getting out into the wild?” asked Sam.
“I like to see what I’m into,” said Charlotte. “This mist is a killer.”
“How do we even know what direction we’re going?” asked Sam.
Gralen, leading the way, answered that a little bird told him.
“Can your little bird tell us how long this mist goes for?” asked Sam.
Gralen whispered to the raven on his shoulder. It leaped from his shoulder and spread its wings, fading into the fog.
“That’s a nice pet,” said Will.
“Can it do tricks?” asked Sam.
“It’s not very smart,” said Gralen. “I’ve only been able to teach it one trick: pecking the eyes out of smart-asses.”
The bird flew back through the mist and back to Gralen, chirping as it did.
“You are beginning to really scare me,” said Sam.
“He says the fog only extends a little ways further,” said Gralen, “although I don’t really know how much that means. Probably half a day.”
And the mist did begin to clear. By mid-morning it had cleared enough for them to see that the path they’d been using had become a long unused road. Even the path was long worn away. Only rarely did bits of stone mark the old road beneath it. Grass had mostly grown over them, but every once in a while a stone marker told them they were getting closer and closer to something.
“Kristagna,” said Gralen, as they passed the third one. “It has to be. We’ll be there by evening, if not sooner.”
The trees were red and orange with autumn, and the leaves crackled beneath their feet. The mist cleared completely by noon. Climbing a hill they could look west and see the mist still there, hanging in the forest and above it. As they walked further on, the mist above the faraway trees become little more than a silver sheen, and by the time they first saw the towers to the east, the mist to the west was visible only when they climbed the tallest hills.
They walked forward, and the towers of Kristagna grew larger. Slowly the castle became visible between the towers.
“My god,” said Charlotte. “Look!”
And she pointed off to the side of the old road. Half buried in the ground and grass was a small skeleton. It could have been a child’s skeleton but for the slight fangs in the skull.
“There’s another,” said Sam, pointing a few yards beyond it.
“Don’t step off the path,” said Will, as everyone stepped into the forest to follow the trail of skeletons.
“Night trolls?” asked Charlotte.
“Here’s a human warrior,” said Sam, “it’s still wearing its armor.”
“And another,” said Gralen.
“It always ends up badly,” muttered Will, “in stories.”
And he followed them into the forest just before Sam stepped out of sight.
“This was a battlefield,” said Sam. “I think we know now why the Astronomers were never heard from again.”
“Do you think the night trolls have taken the castle?” asked Will when he and the others returned to the road.
“It doesn’t look like anyone uses this road,” said Charlotte, “human or otherwise.”
“These skeletons have been undisturbed since they fell,” said Gralen. “And judging from the decomposition of the bodies and the rust on the armor, it must have been a hundred years ago, or more.”
The castle moat, when they came to it, was filled with goblin and human skeletons. The water was murky and covered in moss and red leaves. The bridge to the castle’s main entrance was lowered on the other side of the moat, but only half of it was there, pointing towards them like a jagged burnt arrow.
“So how do we get across?” asked Charlotte.
“I am not going in that water,” said Will.
Even Sam shuddered at the thought of sharing that moat with the dead who still lay strewn about.