Time dragged by as we waited for Eliss or Mishtaw and Creed to return. It didn’t take long to pack up camp—we likely could have gone with Mishtaw if she had waited a handful of minutes, but it seemed she was being cautious about dragging everyone into the eerie fog. So, instead, Prevna and Petra started up an idle game of Recall and occasionally tried to rope me in as well, but I kept my focus on our surroundings. With how terrible these mountains were supposed to be I couldn’t help but expect something to go wrong.
By the time an hour had passed without a word from Eliss the other two had given up their pretense of unperturbed boredom as well. Petra was visibly between tracking down her whisper woman and staying to watch over the two Sprouts that had been placed in her care. We couldn’t shoulder all of the supplies that Creed helped carry, so we either had to continue to wait on the others appear on their own, split up to search, or abandon our supplies in favor of searching together.
If Prevna or I knew how to whisper on the wind we could just check in with the others from afar without having to make such a decision, but Mishtaw kept insisting that we needed to wait. That circumstances weren’t quite right and we should focus on our other skills. She never went in detail about exactly what circumstances were needed and it annoyed me to no end. I was sure that other Sprouts hadn’t been kept from earning such a vital blessing for nearly two years after they left the Seed Landing.
Petra rose from where she was using a rolled up bedroll as a cushion and gestured for us to stay back. “I’ll go bring Eliss back. You two stay here and watch over the supplies.”
Prevna frowned. “But—”
Petra cut her off with a gentle tone. “I’ll be fine. Though you should be prepared to slip into the shadows if anything comes along that you don’t think you can handle.”
Petra slipped away with her traveling pack before we could protest further. I didn’t like that she felt the need to take it since it meant there was a slight possibility she thought she might not be able to return right away, but it was better to be over prepared than under. Having her go with her tracking skills and familiarity with Eliss was the smarter choice even if I didn’t like it. Splitting up felt like we were inviting things to go wrong.
“What do you think happened?” Prevna asked.
I shrugged. “She could have found something or gotten stuck somehow.”
Neither of us really believed either option. There were enough pine trees around that Eliss should have been able to use the shadows to escape nearly any situation and she wasn’t thick headed enough to get lost. Nor was it likely that we’d happen find something barely a day into our search on a part of the mountains others would have relatively easy access to as long as they dared hike up the Broken Spear Peaks.
But we didn’t have much option except to wait and scare of any critters that might be tempted by our provisions with our presence. Prevna touched the whip on her belt but ultimately decided to practice with something quieter. She pulled her spear free and started to work through the different practice sequences we had learned. I was tempted to join her but instead I kept up sentry duty and did my best not be distracted by the way her hair caught the sunlight or anything else.
After awhile she flopped back against her traveling pack with a groan and took over watching our surroundings so I could get my own spear practice in. Another hour passed and then two without a single sighting of anyone in Mishtaw’s squad.
Prevna and I shared an uneasy glance. We had been left to our own devices before for hours on end during a relic search, watching over supplies like we were doing now, but normally we knew to expect the long wait. Mishtaw and Creed should have had enough time to reach the top of mountain and look for clues by now, perhaps if they were being extra thorough or were waiting for us to arrive after getting in contact with Eliss it would make sense why they hadn’t appeared yet. But Eliss’s disappearance didn’t make sense. Normally she would have been back within the first hour to check in and report on what she had seen during her impromptu patrol.
I wanted to do something, but our best option was to sit still and wait for someone to return. Otherwise, they’d return to an empty camp, abandoned supplies, and no explanations. Going after either group could just result in more confusion or another missing person. It was best to assume that Mishtaw and Eliss were keeping in contact with each other at least and we were being kept out of it because it’d waste time to fetch us and we wouldn’t have been much more helpful than we already were watching everyone’s things.
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So we quizzed each other on various bits of knowledge and triple checked all of the supplies and practiced some more. We waited until I was about to snatch my pack off the ground and sprint up the mountain just to check what was going on with my own eyes when Creed and Mishtaw stumbled out of the fog.
We scrambled over to meet them and help but they both shrugged off our attempts to help them walk in a straight line. Neither was injured from what I could tell, but their movements were languid and sloppy—completely unlike how they normally moved. It was almost like they were drunk with the way they blinked owlishly and grinned before bursting into…giggles when they caught each other’s glance. It wasn’t how either of them normally behaved drunk either but I had seen others who got like that.
“What happened? Did you find anything?” Prevna tried to press them for answers.
Mishtaw limply patted her on the shoulder before sliding down onto the ground. “All good. No…worry so let’s just, just sleep first.”
Creed sat next to her. “Yes! Sleep then talk.”
Prevna and I shared a horrified look as they settled down further on the rough grass. Then we both moved at the same time. I checked Mishtaw’s pulse and pried open her eye lids and everything else I could think of to make sure she wasn’t poisoned while Prevna did her best to shake and pinch Creed awake. They both grumbled incoherently and pushed us off them repeatedly. Within a couple minutes Creed was snoring and Mishtaw was completely out as well with her head resting against his side.
Neither was poisoned by anything Rawley had taught me, but the way their eyes were dilated and their odd behavior still pointed to something having gone wrong. Neither of were the type to smoke or drink on the job if they would have even had bothered to bring those things with them on a relic hunt. Could they have been attacked? Or did this have to do with the mountains themselves?
I couldn’t find marks that would have hinted at an attack. Perhaps there was a poisonous plant they had both happened to touch? Some ambush predator that had struck both them so it could hunt when they were asleep and weak? I eyed the fog that covered the mountain top. Maybe there was something in the air itself.
We couldn’t move Creed, so we propped up his head with a pack and covered them both in their blankets as best we could so that they’d at least be comfortable.
Prevna whispered, “Do you think it was poison?”
“I’m not sure what else it could be, but it doesn’t seem like it’s killing them.”
She nodded reluctantly. “Let’s hope they wake up soon.”
I nodded back and we set to work setting up a small barricade with the remaining supplies, so that if anything did come out of the fog it wouldn’t have a straight shot at Mishtaw and Creed without anything in the way. The midday meal was some of the dried provisions we had brought that weren’t nearly as appetizing without Creed’s cooking.
Petra and Eliss returned less than an hour later seeming pleased about something before they spotted Mishtaw and Creed sprawled out on the ground. Then they sprinted the rest of the way. Petra dropped her knees next to Creed and let a small sigh of relief when she saw that he was breathing. Eliss tried to gently shake Mishtaw awake but when that didn’t work she glared at me. “What happened?”
The accusation was clear as day. Something was wrong, so clearly it had be my fault. It didn’t help that I was the one who saw the flicker of flame that sent them up the mountain in the first place.
I drew in a deep breath and replied as evenly as I could. “No one returned for hours, but when they came back less than an hour ago they were acting weird, like happy drunks—”
Eliss nearly cut me off there but Petra laid a hand on her arm, stopping the rant that had to building. The fire starter gave me small smile of encouragement to cover up her worry, “And?”
I continued, “And they refused to talk. They fell asleep within minutes and we haven’t been able to wake them back up.”
Prevna added, “Were you able to talk to Mishtaw on the wind?”
Eliss shook her head. “I got her message about the plan before they headed up the mountain, but I haven’t heard anything since. I found—” She waved a hand, dismissing whatever she had been about to say. “They haven’t gotten worse?”
Prevna smoothly drew Eliss’s attention back to her while I slipped back. She had always been more willing to listen to Prevna than me. “They’ve just been sleeping from what we can tell.”
Eliss sighed and pressed a hand to Mishtaw’s cheek. “We’ll camp here again tonight then. I’ll go get a healer from the Palace to be on the safe side as well.”
Everyone agreed and we set to work getting the camp set up again while we all kept a careful eye on the sleeping pair. Sometimes they’d twitch or mumble something but that was about it. I didn’t recognize the healer Eliss brought but she quickly diagnosed they were just sleeping though she wasn’t sure which sedative they might have been accidentally affected by. She advised to let them sleep it off and then gather what we could from them when they woke up so we could avoid it in the future. Eliss took the healer back to the Seedling Palace and then all we could do was wait some more.
It was full dark by the time Creed finally opened his eyes and no one had even bothered trying to go to sleep before we got answers.