The group had complete silence. Noone’s horse was running, for they expected Grimm to give the order when. Ezra looked to the back of each of the young men's heads. None had looked back to the swordsman or Katreena.

“Hey Anabelle. Can you read Grimm?” Ezra asked his horse.

“No I can’t. Something….is blocking his mind.” the mare responded. Ezra started to burn a hole in the back of Grimm’s head. He wasn’t able to for long, as Grimm stopped the whole crew. They made it close to the mountain.

Grimm reached down into the bag and pulled out one of the discs given by Benneb.

“This better work Ben.” Grimm said before tossing the disc onto the ground before them. It started to shake around. Grimm motioned everyone to move back away from it. As they did a large explosion occurred. A giant white cloud came from the source and then started to work it’s way up the side of the mountain, around it’s left side, and back down for the team. “Well I’ll be.”

The team moved forward. Grimm calculated in his mind how long it would take them from their current position to where they needed to be.

“Alright listen up. If we keep this pace, we won't make it to the rendezvous point until the sun goes down. When we get there we'll scout out the place and attack when the tike is right. Do I make myself clear!?” Grimm yelled out for all to hear.

“Yes sir!” The young men shouted out in response.

“I can’t tell whose on more of a leash. Them or Nicholai?” Anabelle jested.

“Depends who is trying to get where.” Ezra replied, making the both of them break into snarky laughter. Grimm looked back to them to see their behavior. Ezra caught his gaze, and returned to normal.

While walking over the white cloud road they took in the full beauty of the Freelands. Cloudwick, which had become invisible just before, was now in full view. Ezra turned to try and see Sarabell, however even from this height he could not see it. They were nowhere near the summit, and found themselves considerably above the earth. Ezra pondered back to the voice he heard back at the bottom of the mountain.

“Hey Anabelle?” Ezra said to the mare.

“Yeah. I feel it again. There’s something about this mountain that I can’t figure out.” Anabelle answered, still unsure of what she was feeling.

“Nicholai did say this mountain was made with magic.”

“It was but it’s different. The mountain was made by magic, but it’s not made of magic. There’s something else here.” Anabelle started to slow her movements. Ezra noticed quickly and jumped off. He rushed to her side.

“Hey, you alright?” Anabell fell to her knees. The rest of the team noticed and stopped.

“What’s wrong?” Grimm asked from far.

“I feel drowsy. I need to get away from this mountain.” The mare cried out. Her eyes began to close. Ezra grew ever scared and worried.

“Anabelle, Anabelle. Shit!” Ezra stood up and looked to the path ahead of them. He saw it was a very long distance from where they stood and the bottom of the cloud road. The swordsman put the care of the distance aside. He dropped down to Anabelle and lifted the mare over his shoulders. The boys and even Grimm were aghast by this display.

“The hell are you doing?” Grimm asked Ezra furiously.

“You said we'll rest at the rendezvous point. How long will it take to get from here to there.” Ezra stared at the man intently. Grimm complied.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“There are 2 villages between us and Fernal. If we skip the villages. From this point, I say it takes 7 hours to get there, if you run, from here you’ll make it to the first village in about 2 hours and 30 minutes. minutes. Wait for us there.” Grimm explained.

“Got it!” Ezra didn’t hesitate. As soon as Grimm finished he took off as quickly as he could. Everyone stared at his speed, the boys were jealous of it. Grimm felt honored by it, and Katreena seemed to like it. Grimm smiled as the young swordsman carried a large red horse away from them while running faster than any of the boys he’s trained for years.

“Alright. Let’s move along now. Nothing getting done just standing here!” The boys all gave a ‘Yessir!’ and the group continued.

Ezra dashed down the slope which led them to the other side of the mountain. It had taken them 2 hours to climb the first slope, and it would take more to descend the next one.

“Ezra…” Anabelle weakly spoke.

“Don’t worry. I got you. We just need to get away from the mountain.”

“This power. It’s…..”

“Overwhelming. I know.” Ezra stopped her from speaking. “I felt the same energy after we got separated. However I don’t know why it’s affecting you.” She didn’t respond. Ezra looked and saw that she had fallen asleep.

Ezra started to reach the bottom of the slope. His feet left the terrain of cloud and reached the grass. Now it was a straight run towards this village. Anabelle was still asleep. The swordsman picked up his pace. He thread through hills, over rivers, and through thick woods. Monsters to every side of him, yet he had no time to stop.

The first village started to come up on the horizon. However, so was black smoke. Even from this distance he could see the village had been burnt down.

“What the hell?” Ezra entered the area of blackened wood and fire. He laid Anabelle to the ground. She was still fast asleep. Ezra put his hands out, and cast a healing spell. The mare’s head twitched. “Hey. You alright now?

“A little better.”

“What the hell happened?” Ezra worryingly cried.

“I don’t know. I just fell asleep. I had a strange dream.” Anabelle explained.

“Let’s just rest for now. Grimm and the others will be here soon.”

Ezra laid his head down the mare’s head. He closed his eyes, and started to feel himself drifting away into sleep. His mind emptied, and went black for just a second.

In his sleep a familiar voice came to him.

“Help…..” A face appeared. It had dark purple skin, 8 eyes that shined just like Anabelle’s, and blue markings all over its face. She screamed directly. Ezra jolted from his sleep.

“Hey!” Grimm called from behind him. He was off his horse and knelt down to check on the two. “You good?”

“Yeah. Just got a bit tired. How long until we reach the next village?” Ezra asked, standing up ready to go.

“How about the horse?” Grimm asked looking down to the mare. Anabelle stood up and presented herself in good health. “Guess that’s all I need. Come on. We can make it to the rendezvous point in about 3 hours. Then we can rest for the night.”

“What about this place?” Ezra asked.

“Don’t worry. This place has always been like this.” Grimm answered.

“What! How long?”

“Too long to remember. Monsters attacked here almost every day. Eventually all the people up and abandoned it. But I guess the monsters didn’t think they were done.” Grimm explained for the swordsman.

“Pretty tragic.” Katreena said coming up to Ezra, making him sigh.

“You okay to carry me?” Ezra asked Anabelle. She nodded. “Alright. Don’t fall asleep on me again?”

The team quickly left the run down village behind, and continued their trail.

“You know what? Let’s not waste any more time.” Grimm said before making his horse sprint forward. Everyone followed afterward. Ezra looked to Anabelle, and she nodded once again. They took off with the rest of the group. “At this speed we’ll make it in half the time.”

They speeded across the land.Coming ever closer to their destination. Soon they stopped at the second village, and left the horses and Anabelle there. The sun began to set, and they found themselves at the horizon before the village Fernal.

“Alright. Let’s scout out the place. Ezra, Mokil and Fukato with me. The rest of you stay behind and out of sight.” Grimm ordered. He took Ezra and the other two up to a nearby cliff. The looked over the village and began to plan out their attack.

“How many do you see?” Mokil asked them.

“About 50.” Fukato answered.

‘So those are the knights. Grimm you said that they were well trained. How did you know that?” Ezra asked.

“I just do alright.” Grimm responded. “But they are. I don't see any mages, but i do believe some of them should have minor spells they can use.”

“What kind of spells?”

“Standard basics. Fire, ice, and lighting shots. None of them have healing spells. So they’ll have to use potions like us.”

“But none of them are wearing potions. Which means they have them stockpiled somewhere. They seemed to have turned this place into their home base for now.”

“I see that. This is how many knights invaded. We could end this right now.” Ezra exclaimed.

“Of course this isn’t the entire force. They're waiting for the rest of the troops to get here. What about the villagers?” Grimm returned.

“They have to be somewhere. There’s no large building for all of them to go into. Wait. In fact, they might still be in their homes. Just not allowed to leave them.”

“Well that still doesn’t answer the question of where their potions are if they have any.”

“The mayor’s house. She was an alchemist. A good one at that. They're forcing her to make potions for them.”

“And we can just assume the knights are sleeping in the homes.”

“Guess so. So we need to get rid of their supply of potions. Our first objective will be getting the mayor out of the village. Then we’ll cause a ruckus that will make the knights fight us outside. Then we subdue them and make them retreat.” Grimm concluded.

“Wait. You said they were waiting for more soldiers. How are they gonna get here? The shore is cut off by giant pointy rocks." Ezra asked.

"I don't know. And i don't want to find out. Let's regroup and discuss the plan.”