Unbound

Late afternoon in the Foglands was no better than full dark. The soupy murk of mist occluded everything around them; even their torches, burning bright, were barely enough to penetrate the dense covering. Sounds echoed and stretched strangely in the fog, distances hard to guess, and the smell of winter pervaded all: cold, blank, dead.

Ice on the wind.

Magda held up her torch, casting light upon several twisted trees that bore blackened fruit. They looked like they were once red and white, but now looked more like blood on pale flesh, eaten away by whatever sickness corrupted this stretch of the Continent. Beyond the trees was the start of a stone wall, ten paces thick and half shattered by some enormous force.

Suddenly there was a yowl from the left, and the sound of metal on metal. The yowl cut off abruptly with a steely squelch. A tall man appeared out of the fog, wearing a suit of plate marred with countless scratches and now covered in gore. A frog-mouth helmet encased his head and face, like a menacing juggernaut of steel. He flicked his axe, tossing blood off of it and grunted with a slightly echoing voice. "More harnoq. This place is crawling with chimeras. Rory wasn’t lying.”

“He never does,” Magda replied. She was wearing a steel half helm and a combination of mail and leather, much as the dwarf in Haarwatch. She hefted twin kite shields on either arm and nodded her head at a few figures behind her. A fair skinned woman with raven black hair stepped forward lightly, almost as if she were dancing. Tight fitting leather armor encased her, leaving her legs and arms less defended in exchange for mobility. A spiked chain was wrapped around her left arm as she surveyed the area.

“Not a great view, is it?”

Magda rolled her eyes. “Next time I bring you out for your Reveal I’ll make sure it’s more scenic, Evie.”

Evie flushed and gave her sister a smile. “You know what I meant. Visibility is terrible even with my Perception. How do you Guilders enact a Culling in this murk?”

They had stepped out onto a cliff top ruin, and the remnants of battlements could be seen rising above the fog. Beyond that, there was the faint horizon and the skeletal shadows of bent trees. The armored man tilted his strangely shaped helmet as he regarded the ruins.

“They don’t usually travel this deep, kid,” the man said with an echoing sigh. “No reason to, when the beasts come to them. Stand on top a wall, throw spears and arrows and just rake in the experience. A cushy job if there ever was one.”

“Are not the Guilders on the Wall rotated? You could spend some time up there too if you so desired, yes?” Emerging from behind Evie, a tall woman with dark hair and darker skin smiled shyly in the light of their torches. She wore off-white enameled armor made of thin metal plates etched with flowing designs, an elegant hybrid between leather and platemail, and in her hands was a towering spear at least eight feet in length.

A young man with olive skin and light blond locks laughed from the side, resting against a thin staff of metal. “Sure he could, if he wanted to get laughed out of the Guild.”

“Atar, don’t be a douche,” Magda said offhandedly, causing the olive-skinned youth to flush in embarrassment. ”Wall duty is for Tin boys and girls, and is punishment more often than not.” Magda peered into the fog ahead, eyeing the ruins. She straightened abruptly.

“Eyes up, enemy incoming." The woman started forward, shields up and ready, Harn following close behind.

"Don't worry about him," Evie said in a stage whisper to the dark woman, arm draping around her shoulders. "He's a dick."

"Hey!" Atar, only ten feet away, was outraged.

"Quiet, Sparky!" Harn's barked order straightened all of their spines reflexively. Four days in the Foglands with the indomitable Onslaught had taught them to listen first, talk back never.

"Yikes, Sparky," muttered Evie, grinning. "Gotta be careful out here. Fire can't solve all your problems."

"And, what? Flipping and giving lip does?" Atar tossed his expertly tousled hair back and followed after their team leaders.

Evie stuck her tongue out at his retreating shadow.

"C'mon, Vess. Before we lose the light," Evie's hazel eyes flashed in excitement. "Time to kill some monsters."

"Yes, of course," came the reply as Vess fiddled with the haft of her spear. "Right behind you."

"From above!"

The cry was urgent, if not particularly loud, and Atar fell to the ground in an ungainly heap. Just in time to avoid the buzzing swipe of a gnarly chimeric beast with two heads, glowing eyes, and four razor sharp wings. A grunt from nearby and the sound of metal on metal, then the buzzing stopped. For now.

"What are they?" asked Vess, her hair in disarray and spear leveled. She watched the swirling fog for any sign of movement. "My Analyze is not working properly. It is only giving me question marks!"

"Chimeras, what else?" Atar snapped, pushing himself up to his knees. His robes were ruined, Magda noticed. He'd be even more annoying to deal with now. "AH! There's mud all over my Parnen battle robes! Do you know how much these cost?!"

"Quiet, Sparky," came the reply, followed by a bop on the head. Magda winced inwardly. Harn was a good friend and even a passable teacher, but he didn't pull his punches. Even when he should. Atar sucked in a breath and held his head with both trembling hands.

Twin's teeth, he's terrified. Magda felt pity once again for the greenhorns that followed them into the Foglands. They had signed up for a journey into danger in exchange for their Reveal and some levels. None of them knew they were headed into this nest of vipers.

"Analyze doesn't work right in the Foglands," Magda supplied, looking around. She pointed to a darker shadow in the night. "There, we'll make camp near the bluffs."

"Why?" Vess asked. She was a curious one. Brave too. Magda hadn't missed how the noble held herself during that chimera attack, she was ready to spear the thing, and would have if they weren't so Twins-cursed fast.

"Magic, mostly. Too much ambient power here to fully rely on information gathering Skills. This fog fools the eyes and dulls the senses, and it does no less to our Skills." Magda sped up. "Now c'mon. Everyone, with me."

They marched in near silence toward the dark shadow, which revealed itself to be a tower, ruined by time and whatever war ravaged this land in the past. The others trudged past her, Harn right behind them. He gave her a quick finger sign. All clear. She nodded, and pulled off her pack.

"We'll rest here tonight," Harn growled.

Whispered conversation sounded behind Magda as she rooted around in her large rucksack. She only half-paid attention as the girls set up their bedrolls and discussed the monsters.

"Did anyone else notice something off about that flying chimera?" Vess asked.

"Sure," said Evie. "Lots was off. The chimeras are pretty freaky."

"I will give you that. But why does every monster look...I am not sure. Fuzzy, I suppose. Like they're more fog than beast."

"My master says that the Foglands are invasive. Any beast that stays here long enough is corrupted by it, turned toward a...darker nature," Atar said, his voice dripping with an attempt at mystery. Magda heard a very Harn-like snort, and Atar quickly added, "But no one truly knows. It's one of the more mysterious places on the Continent."

"Ya know, you could'a just said 'I don't know' like a normal person," Evie teased.

Magda could practically hear the boy's ramping outrage, like a teakettle about to boil over. Then it subsided. Huh, she thought. I guess the kid can learn.

"If I wanted advice from--"

"Enough. Take these and place them evenly around the inner walls." Magda had stood up and held out a handful of perfectly spherical blue orbs. They were palm sized, dark, seemingly made of glass, and had fine scratches all around them. The three Tin apprentices took them and placed them quickly. Once done, Magda nodded and held her left hand out.

"That which binds, hold together within, to shelter from without," Magda chanted, and the orbs all began to glow a brilliant sky blue, the scratches on them lighting up and casting designs of light upon the walls. The designs, dense scriptwork, shifted and flowed until they were all connected, and with a sudden shimmer of light, they sunk into the stone itself.

Vess reached out and touched the wall, her hand pushing against something just before the stone itself. Magda smiled, remembering her first time with wardstones. It felt like thick air, or jelly, pushing back on her hand. To enemies it would hide them, dulling their scent, camouflaging their appearances, and muffling their sounds. But only so much.

"No fire, no loud noises," Magda ordered.

"No fire?" asked Atar, hands already shimmering with heat over a pile of wet twigs. A sharp look from Harn made him pull back his hands and pout. "Been cold for days," he muttered.

"Quiet and cold is something you'll have to get used to in the wilds, kid," Harn offered, settling his pack down between Atar and the young women.

"Is everything you do about shields?" Evie asked, nodding at the wardstones. "Ever try a sword? Or a chain?"

"She is the Shieldwitch, no?" Vess asked, slightly confused. "Shields are what she does, as I understand it. And I am grateful. I doubt I would feel half so comfortable without your support, Lady Aren."

Magda frowned and waved her hand. "Just Magda, please. I'm no noble."

"Eh, you're as good as one, though," Evie said between bites of dried meat. "Silver Guilder and all. You shouldn't downplay that."

"And you shouldn't speak while chewing, kid," Harn said as he took off his tall helm. Underneath his face was blocky and grizzled, a visual representation of his voice, complete with at least four scars across his chin and nose. He scrunched his nose in disgust. "You're spitting all over my bedroll."

Evie tossed a rock at him, pinging it off his pauldron. "Hush you. I'm a decorious young woman, with worldly airs and whatnot."

Vess struggled to keep a straight face. Magda ignored it, since it was a valiant effort. Last thing she wanted was an embarrassed noble on her hands. She cleared her throat.

"Get some food and some sleep. Tomorrow is a big day and we still have a ways to go--"

"Where ARE we going?" Whined Atar, hands busy rubbing his arms and legs. "You haven't let us kill anything for days, just defend ourselves. I thought we were out here to Reveal our Omens and gain levels?"

"Yeah, you never said," Evie asked, finishing off a bread roll. She lazed backwards, leaning on her elbows. "And that's weird even for you, Maggie."

"YOU may call me Lady Aren," Magda smirked as Evie pouted. Ah might as well tell them something.

"We're headed into the interior, where we'll find true danger. This, out here? This is nothing. Just a bunch of predators with too little prey. I keep you from attacking so that you don't gain any levels before your Reveal, help maximize your gains for later," Magda pointed to the west, where their destination lay. "We're headed due west from here, over country few have traveled."

"True danger?" Atar looked pale, though it was hard to tell in the low light. He swallowed, his boyish features never so apparent as now. Blind gods, they're so damn young.

"Oh yes, kid. True danger lurks in the Foglands. Things even I can't kill," Harn added with an evil grin. "They say there's even a cabal of Lost sorcerers here, hidden from the world. Practicing magic so dark, it'd burn your soul clean out!" Harn's voice rose to a dramatic whisper as he leaned toward Atar. "Boo!"

Atar jumped, nearly landing on his feet if not for his robes, and instead face planted in the dirt. Harn laughed, a quick and loud chuckle that became a wheezy guffaw.

"Enough, enough," chided Magda. She looked up at the moon, hazy and indistinct in the fog. When she looked back, Atar was giving Harn a venomous look before he rolled over, blanket pulled on to ward off the chill of the foggy night. Evie was giggling quietly, and Vess looked clearly uncomfortable.

Magda sighed and walked away. "We move in five hours," she stalked to the edge of the ward, script light illuminating her face. "I'll take first watch."

Wasn't much to say to that, it seemed. They all turned in within a few minutes, leaving Magda alone with the blissful silence. She settled down by the edge of the ward, watching the cloudy darkness beyond the ruined tower.

We're close, Callie, she thought, eyes searching the dark for some clue.

Just hold on.

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