Rethia slept fitfully, if she slept at all. Ghost-like spiders crawling out of a white nothingness haunted her nightmares.
With blurry eyes and a terrible mood, she greeted the bright sun, silently thanking the Great Sprites who let her survive the night.
The Wanderers were awake and chipper. Kaska was throwing together a deliciously smelling breakfast. Stooge whittled away at a piece of firewood and Thomas was nowhere to be seen.
“Morning…” Rethia rubbed at her eyes. I want to sleep some more…
“Good morning! Breakfast is just waiting for you. And then we can check on that mist again,” greeted Kaska.
Rethia shrank away, now wide awake. Her eyes roved over the patch of mist, a shiver running down her spine.
“It’s a little smaller than last night,” said Stooge and pointed to the ground in front of the mist. “It went all the way up to that line I drew.”
Rethia sniffed and turned her back on the blasted stuff. With sunlight shining down on it, it didn’t look as threatening as before. Instead, it looked almost harmless. Except now she knew that it housed monstrous spiders and sticky webs.
“You should just grow wings and start flying. Then you wouldn’t be so limited with your paths.” She grabbed a finished skewer and gobbled it down, then walked a few steps and spread her wings.
“Wait! Where are you going?” cried Kaska.
“For my morning flight.” And with that she was off.
“No, wait! You can’t just leave us here!”
“Gii?” The only company up here was Sven, patting her head. No Landbound, no Wanderers, no spiders and most importantly: no cursed mist.
“I could just go and fly away. Leave them alone with this whole mess. Maybe they’ll find the caravan, maybe they don’t. What’s it for me? Just a few dead Landbound. A failed guild request. They can’t force me to finish this.”
“Guu~”
“I know that I promised to help find them. Didn’t I do enough already? They know the caravan is in an eastward opening cave. I can give them a copy of my map and they can check on the possible locations by themselves. And I can get out of this cursed area as quickly as the winds can carry me.”
“Gigii gi. Gii~”
“Seems you’re happy with that idea, too. Even Thomas ran off to who knows where.”
She lazily angled into a larger circle, feeling the refreshing wind in her face and checking the ground out of habit. The whole left-hand path was now covered by that cursed mist and a huge amount of people climbed up the path from the bottom of the range, large goats carrying heavy packs. With a second look, she noticed Thomas and the grumpy search leader at the front.
“Huh. He didn’t run off. Looks like he got reinforcments instead. … I shouldn’t just run away. I did say I would help. And with that many warriors, they should be able to kill the spiders quickly. They should reach the campsite by lunch? Maybe mid-afternoon? They are so slow!”
“Gi?”
“Yes, we’re heading back.”
“Guu…”
“But we’re leaving immediately, if those spiders come too close.”
Carefully, she landed back at the campsite, brightening two worried faces.
“You’re back! Thank god! We thought you were gone for good!” cried Kaska, grabbing her claws with both of her hands.
Stupefied, she looked at the Wanderer.
“Did you see Thomas somewhere? He wanted to talk with the search leader and get some reinforcements up here.” (Stooge)
“I did see them. They just started the climb.” (Rethia)
“Good, good. With more warriors, something like last night shouldn’t happen again. And I hope there are some mages with them. We thought about some tests, to find out more about that mist and the spiderwebs. If you don’t mind, can you push that mist away again?” (Stooge)
Rethia sighed. Of course it’s about that. Why else would they be worried about me leaving? Without me, they have no way to get rid of the mist.
“Yes, but you stand right next to me, in case a spider jumps out.”
“And I’ll be close, ready to burn the webs.” Kaska grabbed a prepared torch.
“Whatever you want. Just don’t screech me into unconsciousness again.” Stooge readied shield and sword and put his helmet on again.
“Sorry about that.” Meekly, Rethia took up a spot in front of the mist, where her talons could grab hold of the ground.
Bracing herself, she moved her wings thrice with all her strength, pushing the mist back a two full wing-lengths. The exposed webs really were like filigree work, droplets hanging off of them glittered in the sunlight, turning it into fine jewelry.
For a moment, it was as if the webs themselves breathed.
Then Kaska put the torch to them and they burned to ash in an instant. Black spots on the stones and a fine covering of ash was all that was left behind.
“That was easier than expected,” mused Stooge, walking into the exposed path and kicking at the ash. It was just that: ash. Nothing strange about it. The mist didn’t return to the cleared part.
“I guess it’s bound to the webs. Or it’s produced by the spiders and just clings to the webbing,” mused Kaska.
“Agreed.” Stooge slashed into the new mist frontier, pulling his sword out. Turning sideways, he pointed at the webs on his sword, the mist following after them until he pulled the sword further away. “See how it follows the webs? I would say it clings to the webs.”
Rethia stared at it, equal parts fascinated and terrified. The webs were alive. They swayed and stretched, growing longer, bit by bit. And they breathed mist. How could they not see it? And then the miniscule amount of mist was burned away by the sun.
Hah! Serves it right! she thought with a vicious grin. That quickly turned into horror once more. It just continues breathing that cursed mist! What’s up with that stuff?!
“Burn it! Quickly! That stuff is cursed! Forsaken by the Great Sprites and everything that is good in this world!”
“No need to hurry. I was going to burn it. Just wanted to observe it a little longer. See what else we could find out about it.” Stooge shrugged and held his sword over the torch, the few webs catching fire.
Rethia imagined hearing them screaming and seeing them shriveling up in terror. Satisfied, she nodded.
“Let’s get rid of them all,” she declared with a toothy grin, looking for a good position – and finding none. The path was too narrow to fully spread her wings. But the stones around them made for good spots. She just needed to make sure that she didn’t push that cursed mist back towards camp. Let’s keep it nice and contained.
With the next two wing-lengths, of cleared webbing, they discovered a cocoon on the left side and an arrow hanging in the webbing.
“That explains why we never heard that second arrow clattering to the ground. Or hitting anything,” said Kaska, walking up with the torch.
“Just a second.” Stooge closed in on the cocoon – at least as close as possible – and raised his sword. “Now, burn it.”
The flames spread quickly, burning even the cocoon. But not what was inside. The spider that was left behind was a little charred on the outside, and definitely disoriented, but it was alive. Until Stooge drove his sword into its head. It twitched briefly, then lay still.
“Think that was the first spider you noticed last night? I’m not seeing any arrow wounds, and I’m sure Thomas’ first arrow hit something.” Stooge wiped his sword clean of the blue-ish fluid that clung to it.
“Could be. The position matches, at least. I guess we’ll find that one soon, too. If you’re up for it, Rethia?”
They both stepped back a little, giving space to the ensuing gust.
They did find it, bled out in its cocoon. Because Rethia refused to move on, Stooge skewered this spider, too. He jerked his head sideways, eyes widening at something. To Rethia, there was nothing but stone where Stooge was looking. Not even a reptile scurrying to the next crack.
Scratching his cheek, he refocused: “Guess it wasn’t wholly dead yet. They must have an impressive constitution that doesn’t fit to their soft carapace.”
“Or some regenerative abilities,” muttered Kaska, pointing at the arrow wound with her staff. “See how the carapace grows around the arrow? It was healing already.”
A tired but happy Rethia crouched on Stooges shoulder, letting the man carry her back to their camp. They had cleared quite a bit of the path during the morning. Until now, they had found no more cocoons. And the Wanderers suspected that they wouldn’t find any more.
They did turn back because of Rethias growling stomach and to check if Thomas had already arrived with their reinforcements.
Rethia stuffed herself with the quickly prepared meat-and-veggie skewers, watching the Wanderers pick at their own meal.
“If you don’t eat, you’ll get all feeble and grumpy,” pointed Rethia out. They both waved her concerns away with strange grimaces.
“We don’t need to eat that much.”
Rethia shrugged and filed it away once more as Wanderer strangeness. To be perused and questioned in depth at a later time. It meant more food for her.
They went back after lunch, Kaska writing unfamiliar letters onto the stone with charcoal, a message for Thomas. Stooge once more offered up his shoulder to carry her.
Kaska giggled at the sight, waving her hands around, drawing a rectangular shape. Stooge growled at her, clearly unhappy. “This will be sooo good.”
“You creep! Erase it this instant!”
“Never.”
“I’ll sue you if this ever goes-” he stopped, huffing. “Erase it!” he demanded once more.
“Erase what? What did she do?” Rethia peered at Kaska, the woman whistling a tune while carrying her staff and a burning torch.
“Nothing of importance. But I- hrgh! I’ll get back at you!” Stooge shook an angry fist at Kaska.
“Tell me. What did she do?” asked Rethia again. Clearly, Kaska had done something. And Stooge knew what. And Rethia, as the not-Wanderer, was utterly confused once more. But pry as she might, they refused to answer. Stooge settled into a grumbling glare and Kaska whistled her happy tune.
“It’s rude to ignore me,” declared Rethia, flexing talons scratching over plate armor with a whining tone. Like claws on a blackboard. Stooge twitched at the sound, scrambling to get rid of his helmet and plug his ears.
Stolen story; please report.
“Just some more Wanderer strangeness that we’re not allowed to talk about,” winced Stooge. “Please stop with that noise.”
“You wouldn’t understand it anyway,” added Kaska.
“Because I’m not a Wanderer like you?”
“Yes.” (Kaska)
“What’s so different about us, except our race? We speak the same language and we travel together – at least for a short time. I don’t understand it and I want to understand it!”
When it became clear that none of them would answer her, she took flight, gliding ahead of them for the rest of the cleared path.
A duo of scouts caught up to them late in the afternoon. Rethia had fueled her frustration straight into battling the mist and she guessed at least a third of the path cleared. Though checking from the air before nightfall was a good idea.
“Finally found you. That Thomas guy said you would be in this direction. The search leader wants everyone back at the camp, for a report.”
“Fine with me. Uh… how far are we away? One hour? Two?” Stooge turned around, looking at the way back.
“Short of two hours.” (scout)
“Then you two must stay here until we can get a guard detail sent over.” (Stooge)
“Why? Didn’t you listen? He wants everyone back.” (scout)
“It’s because of this mist.” Kaska waved a hand at it. “Inside are some kind of monstrous spiders and their webbing. We still don’t know if the spiders or the webs produce the mist, but the mist definitely clings to the webs. And guess what, if the spiders move around at night and clog this pathway up with webs again, then all our hard work today was for naught.”
“Just burn it away with a good old fire, I’d say.” (scout)
“Tried that already, boy. Didn’t work. Rethia, can you push away some more of that mist, so these guys get a first hand experience?” Kaska looked up at the rock, the harpy illuminated by the low sun.
“If we must,” sighed Rethia, raising her aching wings and flapping them.
The mist was pushed back, revealing the glittering spiderwebs, who quickly burned away after getting torched.
“So, that’s what happens with the webs, nice and everythiny. But did you see that the fire dies as soon as it touches a large mass of mist? If that wasn’t enough for you, then watch my torch.” And Kaska thrust it straight into the mist, showing the two scouts the extinguished torch after pulling it out. “That is no ordinary mist. And we don’t want it clogging up this whole passage again. You got that? The search leader can put it up with me, if he’s unhappy with it, but you two stay here to guard it! Or we won’t return.”
They grumbled and discussed it in heated whispers, before grudginly accepting their new orders, building a tiny, impromptu camp.
Rethia hopped back onto Stooges shoulder, slumping and yawning. She hadn’t moved her wings like that in forever. A faint memory of muscle training under Isathas sharp eyes briefly stirred in the back of her mind. Yesh, that was bad, but nothing compared to this Sprites-given crusade against that cursed white stuff. She refused to call it mist. Mist was something relatively good and properly burned away under the sun, while this stuff was decidedly bad.
“I hope they’re still alive when the guard detail gets to them,” started Stooge conversationally.
“Just have to hope the best. I mean, a two hours one-way-trip, and we still have to convince the search leader. I guess their reinforcements will reach them in five hours. When it’s already dark,” answered Kaska.
“I don’t like it. We should turn around and stay with them.” (Stooge)
“And risk getting on his bad side? No.” (Kaska)
Rethia yawned again, the words waking her up a bit.
“I can fly ahead, you know?”
“You’re barely awake and not fit to fly. You stay right there on Stooges shoulder.” (Kaska)
“What she said.” (Stooge)
Rethia shook her head to wake up a bit more. When it didn’t work, she fumbled for a waterskin in her belt pouches and upended it over her head – also drenching Stooge with it. That worked, at least.
“What did you do that for?!” cried the big man, wiping water out of his eyes.
“Waking up. Did I hear correct? You walk back for two hours, then discuss with that search leader to send guards this way, who will also walk for two hours? By then, it’s night. Who knows what those spiders are up to! They could be working on their webs as we speak! Those scouts won’t survive until their guards arrive!”
She jumped and threw Stooge off-balance. Her wings snapped open, her muscles screaming at her as she moved them.
“I’ll go ahead!”
“Wait, you idiot!”
Wobbling a little, she caught an updraft. Then it only took a little push to get some speed and the rest of the way was gliding downwards.
They had cleared a little more than a third of the path. Close to that funny rock she had marked on her map. A few more hours, and they would make it to the first of the eastward facing mountain side. How lucky would it be to find some caves there with the missing caravan.
“Gi…” Sven patted her shoulders twice, stopping her daydreaming. A much larger camp sprawled from the crossing into the adjacent paths.
“Ah, we’re there already?” With a critical look at the sun, she added: “Maybe one more hour of sunlight.”
Spiraling down, she landed heavily in the middle of the crossing, next to their extinguished campfire. A new one was merrily flickering next to the walls.
People looked at her, grips tight on their weapons.
“Welcome back, Rethia! It’s good to see you. Where are Kaska and Stooge?” Thomas walked up to her with a greeting and the people loosened the grip on their weapons a little, turning back to whatever they had been doing.
“Taking the long way you Landbound so prefer. Seriously, grow some wings,” huffed Rethia, her own hanging limply to the ground. “Say, where is that search leader?”
“In that tent. Probably going over maps of the region and waiting for your reports.” Thomas pointed.
“Thanks. I’ll just… go and talk with him.” Squeezing her eyes shut for a moment and with a deep breath, she trudged to the tent, wings dragging along. It was larger than the others, but really. With these Landbound you never knew.
A single man leaned on a spear in front of the tent, making no efforts to stop her as she walked in through the open tent flap. Thomas hovering right behind her.
The grizzled man was staring at a map, tracing paths and moving colored pebbles across it.
“Report,” he growled absently, fixed on his map. It wasn’t even a very good map. Some of the smaller paths were missing and vast missing areas indicated that they had never mapped the area on the side of the paths.
Sven chittered offendedly at the man, which made him look up.
“You look like something the cat dragged in. Thomas, get her a chair before she falls over. Flew over the whole mountain range, did you?”
“No, sir.” She stared at the chair Thomas brought over from the sides, wondering what she should do with it. Did they expect her to crouch on something that offered no space for her tail?
Shaking her head, she stepped closer to the table.
“Sven, be a dear and show him the maps?”
“Gig gi.” Rummaging through her belt pouches, Sven pulled out both maps, spreading them on the table and anchoring them with some of the colored pebbles – much to the search leaders dismay.
“I took a look at the right-hand path on the first day. At the time, there was thick mist at these blank areas, thus they are not mapped. I checked again on the second morning and all but that mist between the bridges had cleared away.”
Sven patted a paw at the indicated spot, checking that the search leader was looking.
“After that initial check, I returned to the camp, to check if Thomas and Kaska had any more news. Kaska had been in contact with someone from the escort group.”
“That was Stooge. I already told you that he went to investigate the mist and was killed. He joined up with us around early afternoon,” added Thomas.
“Yes, well, he said that they didn’t cross no bridges in the mist and that the cave they hid in was covered in mist. No way to see the outside. That’s why we decided that they couldn’t be lost on the right-hand path. And he said that the lighting in the morning was much better. I suspect an eastward facing cave. Or cave-complex. And since they also didn’t walk downwards, they must be somewhere around – uh, a bit more to the left, Sven. Yes, right around this area. And that one two hops up. Right. And that one over there. Those three areas. They have the only eastward flanks I could find. And they were all covered in mist yesterday.” Rethia nodded at Sven hopping over the map and tapping at the spots she meant.
“And last night we were attacked by spiders. I alread reported about that. They came with the mist and there are spiderwebs in the mist.”
“Yes, those spiders. Someone is busy with taking apart the three corpses you left behind, to learn more about them. Still waiting on that report,” grumbled the search leader. “And what did you do all day? Where is this oh so interesting mist and webbing that reached right up to this crossing?”
“We went and cleared the path all day. Me pushing the mist away and Kaska burning the webs as soon as they were exposed,” answered Rethia with a satisfied grin. And then she remembered why she had flown ahead. “And we need people to guard our progress, so the spiders don’t clog the whole path up again.”
“Nonsense. It’s just mist, we can burn it again.”
“It’s a cursed mist imitation that devours fire!”
“I can attest to that. We tried it once after the attack. Hold a burning torch into the mist and the fire is extinguished. The threads, though… they are very flammable,” interjected Thomas.
The search leader didn’t look happy.
“Then you find some volunteers to stand guard and kill anything that comes out of the mist.” He pointed at Thomas.
“Yes, sir.” Thomas hurried away with a goofy grin.
“But not everyone!” he shouted after him, muttering “Gods cursed Wanderers!” under his breath.
Rethia cocked her head, then yawned.
“Get some rest, before you keel over. First thing tomorrow, you check which flank it is.”
“Yes, sir.” Another yawn attacked her, nearly dislodging her jaw. Tired, she trudged out and over to the campfire, crouching down next to it.
“You! I want a full night watch and fires at all exits of the camp. I want them burning through the night!”
“Sir?”
“Hop to it!”
Hunger kept her barely awake to accept a bowl of soup from Sven. It tasted of herbs and reminded her of the soup she had eaten daily during the first two weeks of flight training. It helped relax her muscles and dampened the pain. Resettling her wings, she fell asleep.
Not even the short nightly tussle with a pair of spiders, who had rolled in from above the path with their little cloud of mist, woke her up.
Though the sight of the two corpses in the morning light, and the mist-ball sitting right in the middle of camp, shocked her wide awake.
“Too bad it was only two.” (some Wanderer)
“Tell me about it.” (some other Wanderer)
“I wanted to try my new magic on it.” (mage Wanderer)
“They should be happy it was only two...” (some scout)
“Crazy Wanderers…” (another scout)
“I hope there are more on the way~” (some other Wanderer)
“Let’s keep our distance…” (yet another scout)
Where last evening, she had no idea who was a Wanderer and who wasn’t, it was now quickly becoming much clearer, since everyone split up into two sides. Those who were happy about the attack of the spiders – and subsequent disappointed that there had been only two – and those who were decidedly unhappy about the attack.
“I guess those happy with the spiders are the Wanderers?” muttered Rethia towards Sven, the little guy already throwing another herbal soup together.
“There you are! Good morning, Rethia!” Kaska plopped down right next to her, pushing a plate with breakfast right under her nose. It smelled really good. A stack of some thin, round, white-brown things garnished with an amber liquid that smelled like honey.
The clatter next to Kaska could only be Stooge.
“You blend in so well, we couldn’t find you last night,” muttered the large man.
“What is this?” asked Rethia, taking the plate.
“It’s pancakes with honey! A treat for your hard work yesterday. It’s absolutely delicious!” (Kaska)
Suspicious, Rethia nudged one flat pancake with a claw, inspecting the tantalizing meal in front of her.
“Gigi gi gi!” Just then, Sven chattered at her, holding a steaming bowl of green herb soup up at her.
“Must I?” Rethia sighed. “It’s bitter and bland.”
“Gu~u.”
“Fine. First the soup.” She put the plate down and took the soup.
“What’s that soup? Can I try?” asked Kaska.
“It’s something to relax muscles and deaden the pain a little. I don’t think you’ll like it.” She downed the soup with a grimace. “It didn’t taste that bad last night,” she accused the monkey.
“Gigig gi gigi. Gi.” Sven turned up his nose.
“Even if you made it the same, it still tastes worse than yesterday.”
“You think she’s a tamer?” whispered someone unknown to her.
“My sis wants to be a tamer, but the monsters are too aggressive. Maybe she knows the trick?” whispered someone else.
“Now now, nothing to see here, guys.” Thomas jumped in between, steering the crowding people away and whispering hotly at them. Rethia watched them. They were too far away to listen in, but the people looked apprehensive after the lecture. And envious.
“How about trying the pancakes? It’s probably the sweet smell of them that made the soup taste more bitter.” Kaska diverted her attention back to the sweet treat in front of her.
“Right…” What are they hiding? She glanced back at the dissolving crowd and Thomas walking back with a satisfied smile.
The pancakes were utterly delicious and the honey made them even sweeter. The only downside to them was that she was still hungry afterwards. More so than before.
“They are very delicious.”
“I’m so glad you like them.” (Kaska)
“But they made me even more hungry.”
“Huuh? They… should fill your stomach right up. You shouldn’t feel hungry afterwards?” Kaska turned from overly happy to baffled.
While they discussed what could be the problem, Rethia gobbled down some jerky, dried fruits and nuts.
“Well then, see you later.” With a wave she left them below her, quickly flying over the path. A group of five was walking on it, probably to relieve the guard detail sent there last evening. A single person was on his way back to camp.
The spot had been encroached a little by mist again, and three dead spiders lay curled at the sides, the guards sitting in a respectful distance to the mist and staring at it with their weapons ready. One scout had climbed up on the stones around the path, as some kind of lookout. He waved at her, when he saw her passing overhead.
She greeted back with a double flick of her tail and continued onwards.
All three possible flanks were still covered in thick mist.
“Huh. Maybe I should’ve asked how to check,” muttered Rethia as she circled above the first flank. “I can hardly fly in there and look for caves, right? And even if he said that, I wouldn’t do that anyway. I’m not entering this cursed stuff!”
“Gi?”
“I could shout, I guess? Don’t know how much sound this stuff swallows. Everything sounds dampened in mist, but this is not mist…”
Going lower, until she was three wing-lengths above the mist, she took a deep breath: “HEEELLOOOO!”
The sound echoed a little and was followed by sudden scratching from below. Terrified, she quickly flapped up.
The mist billowed around for several long minutes. The scratching stop, and with it, the mist settled down again.
“Fascinating. Eerie. Disgusting.” But there had been no human answer. Maybe they hadn’t heard her? How thick was this cursed stuff anyway? “I’ll try the other place first, then think about something else. Maybe there are no caves here.”
Just as quick as she had decided this, she was at the next possible spot.
“HEEELLOOOOO~” she shouted again, circling relatively close to the mist. Scratching sounds echoed back, with the same billowing mist phenomena as before.
“Nothing here, either, eh?” angling her wings, she drifted over clearer ground.
“Chi! Giigi gi!” Just then, Sven rapped at her back and tugged at the harness.
“You heard something? Really?” she turned back, circling once more above the place. “HEEEEEY! IS SOMEONE THEREEEE!”
The mist billowed furiously, but it didn’t go up by even half a wing-length, making her very comfortable with her distance of three wing-lengths.
Once the scratching stopped and the mist had calmed down, she could hear a faint voice. It was too muffled to understand anything, but it was definitely some Landbound. It was followed by another round of scratching and billowing mist.
“Thanks, Sven. Looks like this is the place. Now, what’s the best way to get everyone here? Hopefully not through the path. It’s nice muscle training, don’t get me wrong, but it’s boring and tiring and it takes just so long!”
Inspecting the ground on the way back, she found too many possible ways. The problem was how to get everyone out of the premade path and onto the slopes outside.