[This is part of my Creative Writing Experiment.]
Florin's plan involved the thirty odd troops separating into eight smaller groups to approach the city of Dranner from all directions in hopes that this would increase their odds of catching the enemy unprepared. While Drisana questioned the logic in this, at least she was still grouped up with Nessa and Kiefer. Their fourth member, a tall and pale woman named Maeve seemed inappropriately dressed for such a venture wearing simple red garments that matched her hair but there was no point in arguing attire now. Their team, "Group Eight" was to approach the city from the farthest side, which cost them even more travel time as they rode for most of the day to their instructed position.
Finally, at dusk did they begin pushing forward into the Dranner forest but since it was so overgrown they had to dismount their horses and continue on foot. As a cold mist began to settle around them Drisana felt uneasy as they pushed deeper, especially as the horses began to fight violently against their leads. Unable to calm them, Kiefer instructed the team to unsaddle them instead at let them go. After all, he had recharged his teleporting amulet if anything goes wrong. Drisana certainly felt remorse about using hers as part of the fare to travel across the sea at that point but quickly put the thought from her mind as ghostly faces began appearing in the fog.
Clearly she wasn't the only one seeing it as Nessa began hacking at the air, her blade finding nothing solid to make contact with. Suddenly a shimmering blue light emanated from behind them, pushing back the fog. It was Maeve, holding up what looked like a short wand that she had kept hidden in a sleeve. "Keep going," she urged and with her magic protecting them they managed to navigate the forest quicker, as if even the trees and branches were moving out of their path.
Eventually they stumbled across a clearing with four other bodies, one of whom was rocking back and forth in a fetal position. Nessa checked the other people first and found that each once was dead and ice cold to the touch. "You there," Kiefer called out to the fourth man. Hearing his voice, the blonde man stopped his motion and slowly raised his head - a clear look of relief on his face.
"Who are you?" Drisana asked as she quickly threw her thick cloak on the shivering survivor.
"I... I am Delmair... l..last m...member of group s...six."
"It's the spirits," explained Maeve to her other companions. "The faces in the mist. If they get their cold arms around you it's not long before you join them."
"You're with us now Delmair," said Kiefer as he knelt beside the man. "We still have a mission to complete."
No comments:
Post a Comment