Slowly he came to, his head pounding in his ears. His mouth was dry and his tongue thick.

“Finally you stir,” spoke a male voice, “I was just about to throw a bucket of water on you.”

“Vythe?” Lieut mumbled as he ran a hand across his face.

“What?”

“Come on, get up,” demanded a lighter voice, “That is the last time we let you drink a cask of wine by yourself. The fathers of the village maids are dark on you.”

“What?” Lieut asked in confusion, forcing his eyes to open.

“My brothers,” Lieut gasped and jumped into a sitting position.

He was on a wooden framed bed with a straw mattress and feathered pillow behind him. The room was dark with only a few candles and the glow of the coming morning streaming through the window. But unmistakeably his two brothers stood before him, both with looks of disbelief.

“Of course it is us,” said his brother with pale purple eyes, “Now move it.”

“If we are going to make it through the Northern Passage to Essinendeür, then we need to have early starts,” his other brother with red eyes remarked.

Lieut rubbed a hand across his face again, before swinging his legs out of the bed to stand. His mind worked feverishly to understand what was happening, but he could make no sense of it. Everything was so vivid, so real, just as real as the dragon made of Fog had been.

But was that just a dream induced by too much wine? Why was he drinking wine? Fluids aside from water were not permitted.

As Lieut scratched his head trying to figure out what was happening his fingers slid over a patch of hair that had been cut away just above his left ear and the scars that ran across his temple. The shrapnel from the crash caused that, so then this must be the dream.

Lieut looked in confusion to his two brothers talking idly while they waited for him. A slight smile came to his face.

“What do you think?” his red eyed brother asked him as he rose to his feet. “Push through to Malen`bar, or stop at Mendōre? You have a choice.”

Suddenly his vision blurred and the wooden floor boards came up to smack him in the face.

Darkness surrounded him and from the shadow a feint light began to grow. The light rushed towards him stopping metres from his face and he could see that glow was pulsing form within the depths of a great crystal. Seeping from the top of the glassy surface of the crystal the Fog drifted into the air and vanished into the blackness.

“Complete your mission,” a woman’s voice said loudly before everything turned black again.

***********************************************

“The wind,” someone shouted distantly, “The answer has to be the wind.”

A low grumble reverberated in his ear and forced his eyes to open. Lieut was lying on his back with broken stone from the stalagmites scattered about him. His sword was still in his hand and his head throbbed in pain. Lieut shifted his weight so large round object would stop pressing in to the small of his back. With great effort he slid his hand under him and pulled out a huge gem stone. Lieut pushed himself up onto one elbow to look around and to see that he was resting in one of a few piles of gold coins and gem stones. He had landed in the dragon’s hoard of tressure.

“Indeed, it is the wind,” rumbled an unearthly voice, “Your turn to ask, and try to make this riddle interesting so it may occupy more than several seconds of my mind.”

“Very well, o` great and godlike dragon,” a much fainter voice replied.

Lieut crept to the edge of the hole he had made in the stalagmites during his short flight. Peering through one of the small gaps in the columns of stone he could see Vythe standing in the middle of the cavern, facing off against the great Fog dragon that sat with its front legs crossed before it.

“What are you doing, Vythe?” Lieut mumbled and shook his head at the insanity of playing a game of riddles with a dragon.

Turning his attention from Vythe his mind quickly moved to the task at hand, he needed to defeat this devilry. Lieut’s eyes sparkled as he looked around the area in search of a point of attack. His eyes came to rest on a narrow alcove that would bring him to the same height as the dragon’s head. Before Lieut headed off he shoved several handfuls of coins and gem stones into a couple of pouches that he tied to his belt.

“What is the meaning of life?” Lieut heard Vythe asked as he slipped from the tressure chamber and into the shadows of the cavern.

“You are too vague,” the dragon grumbled back, “Whose life are we talking about? Mine, yours, or the one belonging to someone else?”

Lieut found a perfect scaling point and began to carefully and silently climb the uneven wall of the cavern, making sure his sword did not scrape against the stone.

“What is the meaning of life, in general?” Vythe replied arrogantly.

Carefully Lieut pulled himself up and onto the narrow ledge, silently drawing his sword as he so that it would not make a noise as he edged along the ledge.

“How can there be a definite answer to such a question?” grumbled the dragon.

“Do you admit defeat then?” Vythe asked in reply.

“NEVER!” Roared the dragon as it jumped to its feet, its thunderous voice shaking the stone, and making Lieut press his back against the wall as to avoid the falling rocks. “I am the destroyer of worlds, the undefeated, and the incantation of death itself. Your petty riddle will not be my defeat, tiny human.”

As the noise subsided the dragon sat back down and returned to pondering the riddle, Lieut quietly crept out onto the ledge he had seen before. Keeping to the shadows he could see that Fairris had also been edging around the cavern, as she too searched for a way to strike at the dragon. Lieut nodded to himself in approval, but he would be the one to kill the abomination of nature.

With even the fiercest of creatures there was a weak point, and seeing this dragon was created from the condensing of Fog, its weak point had to be an Anther Crystal where the Fog was manifesting. Lieut could easily guess where this fiend’s Anther Crystal was located, for at its chest the Fog coloured scales seemed brightest and a warm glow emanated from there.

“Do you have an answer then, dragon of Fog?” Vythe called to the dragon, “What is the meaning of life?”

“Death,” Lieut said loudly and he sprung forwards, his sword leading the way.

The sound of his voice caused the dragon to regard him, just in time to see his sword slice into its eye. Lieut’s sword cut through easily, too easily, and in fact his whole body sailed through the dragon’s head.

Surprised, but hardly beaten Lieut landed with a roll on the hard ground and turned to face the dragon’s coming jaws. He dived to the side, striking out with his sword as he did. His blade caught the dragon on the side of the head, making the beast roar. Lieut jumped back from the claws of the dragon to see both Vythe and Fairris sprinting. But they were racing away from the fight and towards the exit of the cavern.

“Cowards,” Lieut cursed them as he dived forwards and away from the jaws of the beast.

He planned roll perfectly and jumped to his feet in a flash, heading towards the dragon’s chest and the Anther Crystal within its Fog body. Lieut thought his victory was at hand, but quicker then he believed possible the large dragon flapped its great wings and launched itself into the air.

“Flee Lieut,” Fairris screamed from the exit of the cavern.

“You cannot win against such a beast,” Vythe waved him over.

Lieut cursed, he did not want to believe it but they were right, he could not win this fight.

With a yell of anger and frustration Lieut sprinted for the exit just as the dragon landed again. The great beast roared ferociously and sent another breath of fire after him. Lieut flick his sword into its clips at his shoulder and continued to sprint for the exit. As the fire licked at his heels the Fog in the flames were eaten up by his hungry sword leaving him unharmed as he darted into the tunnel.

Vythe and Fairris were a fair way in front of him, but Lieut closed the distance quickly and passed them. As he sprinted along the tunnel began to slant steeply upwards and soon he was climbing hand over hand up the steep staircase that had been cut into the chute. Every so often the stairs flattened out, offering respite to the climbers.

“Stop,” begged Fairris as they moved onto one of the ledges, “I … I need to rest.”

Vythe happily obliged and he stopped to suck in deep breaths. Lieut was hesitant to stop, but he did.

“Damn it,” Lieut spat, pulling his sword from its clips and slamming it into a large rock where it imbedded itself half way into the stone. “Curse that beast. I will have it next time.”

“Be thankful you are alive,” Vythe remarked in between heavy breaths.

“I have never lost,” Lieut shouted back, kicking at another large rock.

“There is a first time for everything,” Vythe replied calmly.

“Not for this,” Lieut snapped back, “Not for me.”

Lieut growled angrily and wrenched his sword from the stone before placing it back at his shoulder.

“You were right though,” Vythe remarked, making Lieut turn to regard Vythe. “The answer to my riddle was death.”

Lieut smirked and shook his head, “I fight the dragon and you make riddles with it.”

Vythe laughed, “It was terribly cliché was it not?”

Both Fairris and Vythe burst out laughing, and even Lieut found himself smiling slightly.

“Who would have thought children’s stories were true,” Fairris joked, “Come on let us leave this place.”

Lieut and Vythe nodded to the elf’s statement and Lieut took up the lead once again, climbing tirelessly up the near vertical steps. Lieut kept his pace constant, even a little bit slower then he normally would go. Vythe seemed capable of keeping up with him, as did Fairris. But as the minutes turned into hours the Blood Elf began to fall behind, making Lieut and Vythe stop and wait for her.

“Are you alright, Fairris?” Vythe asked with concern as they started off again.

“I’m fine,” Fairris dismissed the issue.

But Lieut could see that there was something wrong with Fairris, and surprisingly he found that he was slightly concerned. Vythe likely noticed it as well, but he did not press the issue any further.

Lieut pushed away the annoying feelings and continued up the steep climb. The twisting tunnel was dark and cramped, and the only light coming from the glowing fungi that grew in the subterranean parts of Essinendeür. The sound of the stream could still be heard echoing through the dark corridors, but apart from that the only noises were that of his feet and the rhythmic breathing of his lungs.

Lieut’s mind drifted back to that strange vision he had after the dragon knocked him through the wall. Of him and his two brothers adventuring through the lands, a smile crept to his face as his mind lingered on that thought. But Lieut purposely rubbed it away with the back of his hand.

The other part of the dream had been of his mission, but as to whom the woman’s voice had been he did not know. On one hand he had seen him and his brothers wandering about the land with no missions set for them, which seemed very odd to him. And on the other hand he had the images in his mind of his mission objective, which was also beginning to appear odd. Lieut was not used to such confliction and he clenched his jaw in frustration as he stretched the stiffness out of his neck.

“You have a choice,” Lieut mumbled to himself, “A choice in what? What is wrong to me, the concept of choice should be a non-issue?”

The words his brother had spoken in the dream rung in his ears again and continued to echo around his mind.

As Lieut came from his thoughts he realised that the ground had evened out and the light of day was streaming into the tunnel between the cracks in the wall ahead. It appeared as if this tunnel used to be an escape chute or access shaft during the time the people of Gul mined these tunnels, but now the exit had been blocked off by piled rocks. Poorly stacked rocks at that, Lieut noticed as he stood before it, and as Vythe and Fairris came up behind him Lieut dropped his shoulder into the stack. After several more hits the rock wall fell away, letting the light from Inüer cascade into the gloomy mine, and letting Lieut walk freely out into the snowy mountains.

The wind howled around him, picking up the snowflakes and biting at his skin. Even though the clouds were heavy, to Lieut’s dark-adjusted eyes it was unbearably bright. His eyes re-adjusted quickly and he focused on a trio of travellers that stood on the plateau opposite him, wide and surprised smiles on each of their faces.

“Well, well, well boys,” laughed the short bald man with a tattoo of a Chimera on the side of his head, “Look what we have ‘ere. Told you they would come this way. I says the only way through Gaia Mountains is past the Monastery, so we teleport to the Monastery and wait for them. I told you so I did.”

“I think we found ourselves some good fortune, Boss,” remarked a taller man, standing to the left of the bald man, running a hand through his shoulder length blonde hair.

“Good fortune indeed,” said the man on the far right, who was the exact image of the one on the left, except his hair was short. “You’re so smart Boss.”

“But you do not seem happy to see me, Vythie?” the bald man pouted.

Lieut looked at Vythe, who was glaring at the bald man, his lips tight and his dark eyes burning.

“The only time I will be happy to see you, Elardōre, is when you are dead at my feet,” Vythe replied slowly through clenched teeth.

“You wound me Vythie-boo,” Elardōre replied, “Were we not friends?”

“Perhaps, once,” said Vythe and shook his head, “No longer.”

The corner of Elardōre’s eye twitched, and the man’s hands clenched into fists.

“C’mon Boss,” the twin with the short hair whined, “Rathgard wants them dead, so let’s kill ‘em already and get our gold.”

“Shut up Felix,” Elardōre growled back, causing the bigger man to shrink away.

Elardōre looked back to Vythe, “I’ll give you a choice, Vythie.” The man said, “For old time’s sake. I was hired by the Regional Commander of Gaianaus to kill the treasonous Blood Elf, and I’ll do the silver haired one just ‘cause I can. Ain’t no mention of a thief and traitor, so I’ll let you walk away. Betray your friends like you once did me, leave and forget about them.”

“I never betrayed you,” Vythe began.

“You did!” Elardōre screamed manically, “You left me for some skirt, that bitch whore took you from me. You were my friend, my brother in arms. We bled together. We stole together. We killed together. We had the whole world was our playground, our toy to use as we pleased. The rich feared for their gold at the mere mention of our names and the skirts giggled whenever our triumphs were whispered. You could have had any of those sluts, you could have had a different one each night. But you threw it away. You threw me away when you went with her.”

“So you kill her?” Vythe spat, “So much for our friendship.”

“Don’t you see, I did it because of our friendship,” Elardōre’s eyes widened, and a smile crept across his face. “We could do anything we wanted. No one dared stand in our way. Who needs to dominate the world through force when you can do it through infamy and guile?”

“You are a madman,” Vythe simply replied.

“I. Am not. Crazy,” Elardōre screamed back, “I’m not.”

“Kill ‘em boss,” the long haired twin encouraged.

“I said shut up Falix,” Elardōre yelled back.

“Enough of this farce,” Lieut cut in irritably, “You want to kill me, hurry up and fail. I have better things to do than listen to a madman, two idiots and a personal history I care nothing about. Now you choose, be out of my way or draw your swords.”

“Very well, you wanna play then, so be it,” Elardōre said calmly.

“The Blood Elf is mine,” Falix smiled as he rolled up his sleeves. “I have always wanted to kill a filthy Blood Elf.”

“You have made your decision Vythie?” asked the bald man.

“You will die here today,” Vythe replied grimly, and he pulled forth the small metal shaft of his retractable spear.

“Finally,” Lieut mumbled and drew forth his sword as he moved towards the twin called Felix.

“Nice stick,” Felix jeered at him, and a Fog created sword and shield came to the man’s hands.

Lieut could not feel the hunger of his sword for the Fog in Felix’s weapons, so he reasoned that the twin must be using an Anther Crystal ring. It mattered little to Lieut as he stepped lightly across the surface of the snow, this man would die.

Felix came at him quickly the man’s sword darting for his chest. Lieut slapped it aside and countered by slamming hard against Felix’s shield. The man stumbled under the blow and fell back a few steps. Lieut moved quickly and swung again into the shield, forcing Felix back further. He continued to slam his sword against the shield until Felix was on one knee and the solidarity of his Fog weapons wavered.

Suddenly Felix cast a wave of energy that sent Lieut back a few step before the Fog was absorbed into his sword. The second it took him to gather his balance Felix was back on his feet, this time wielding a great sword to match his own.

Felix growled in anger and lunged at him. Lieut easily deflected the strike, and the next one, letting Felix play out his anger and exhaust himself. But he did not miss an opportunity when it came, and when Felix over reached one of his sweeps Lieut dived in. He slammed his sword against Felix’s blade, sending it further wide, before cutting back the other way and cutting into Felix’s chest. But instead of flesh and bone crunching under his strike there was a sudden blue flash and Lieut’s sword scratched harmlessly across an unseen barrier.

“Magick Buffs,” Lieut spat in disgust as he stepped back from the combat. “Are you so weak that you need the magicks of the Fog to enhance your abilities and protect yourself?”

“Are you so weak that you cannot use the magicks of the Fog?” Felix retorted, and his sword cut back in much faster than before.

It was obvious to him that Felix was using Buffs to not only make his skin as hard as stone, but to also increase his strength and speed. Lieut growled in anger and revulsion at the length this man went to try and compete with him. A true warrior used natural skill alone.

Lieut sneered and pushed ahead, forcing Felix on to his heels immediately.

Lieut came down with a powerful two-handed chop which Felix blocked just above his head. If it had not been for the enhancements he would have cleaved Felix in two. Thinking quickly Lieut kicked ahead with his back foot, slamming into Felix’s groin.

Although it did no real damage Felix instinctively flinched and Lieut continued his momentum with a devastating upper cut with his sword. The sharp edge connected firmly with Felix’s face, the stone skin prevented any damage. But it did not prevent the impact of the blow, and Felix staggered backwards in a daze.

Lieut seized his chance and began cutting and spinning his sword thrusting into Felix, each time the stone skin flashed blue and stopped any damage. But with each cut Lieut knew he was wearing away Felix’s stone skin and soon one of his attacks would taste flesh.

Somehow Felix had managed to cast a spell on himself that brought him from his delirium and the twin tried to counter his attacks. But despite the obvious increase again in speed and strength, Lieut was able to stop Felix’s attacks easily enough.

He could see that Felix was beginning to get frustrated and angry, so he smiled at the twin, causing the man to yell in anger.

Lieut’s patience saw fruition when a scream was heard from the side where Fairris was fighting Falix. Lieut could see out of the corner of his eye that Falix had Fairris suspended in the air whilst subjecting her to painful blasts of energy.

Fairris’s scream had distracted Felix for a split second, and that was all Lieut needed.

Felix’s stone skin had been considerably weakened, so Lieut lunged ahead, the tip of his sword carrying with it all his strength. Felix’s turned just in time to see the tip of Lieut’s sword shatter the stone skin and plunge into the man chest.

As the blue fragments of the stone skin fell to the snow, he drove his sword deeper into Felix’s chest, all the way up to the hilt.

“Where are your magicks now?” Lieut whispered in the man’s ear as the snow around their feet turned red with blood.

Felix tried to respond, but Lieut kicked the man backwards off his sword and onto the snow where he died, coughing up blood. Without giving the dead man another thought Lieut turned to the situation at hand. Falix was continuing to torture Fairris, laughing all the while, and Elardōre had all but defeated Vythe.

Instantly he moved to save Vythe who had just rolled his ankle and dropped to one knee.

Lieut sprinted towards them, but he knew he would not be quick enough. Elardōre screamed out in triumph as he swung a Fog made battle axe straight for Vythe’s head. The axe suddenly reversed its momentum, and flew backwards, along with Elardōre as a wave of energy exploded forth from Vythe.  The bald man screamed again as the axe disappeared from his hands and he went tumbling over the edge of the cliff and to the thousand foot drop below.

The wave of Fog energies rolled over Lieut, knocking him backwards into the snow, and for some reason refusing to be absorbed by his sword. As he rolled to his feet he could see that it had also knocked over Falix who had been distracted. Fairris was now motionless in the snow and Falix turned red faced towards Vythe. But his look of anger soon changed to that of fear as he looked upon Vythe.

Lieut too, had to gasp when he saw Vythe floating a few inches off the snow as a torrent of Fog swirled around him. Vythe’s eyes were rolled back in his head and his mouth hung open. Never having seen or heard of such a thing Lieut stood there looking on in shock.

Falix had a different approach, and he began throwing balls of energy at Vythe, all of which were sucked up by the swirling Fog and reflected back at the Magi. Falix screamed as his own energy waves slammed into him, burning clothes and blasting skin. The Magi screamed again and stupidly threw a large ball of energy, but this too turned on him. Falix’s own energy wave thundered into his chest exploding apart his clothes and skin, and showering the area in blood and gore and bone.

The swirling Fog around Vythe lessoned then and the dark haired man collapsed back to the ground clutching his head. Lieut slowly returned his sword to his shoulder guard, and began to move towards Fairris to see if she was still alive. But he changed his mind, figuring she was likely dead, and walked over to Vythe.

“What was that?” asked Lieut curiously.

Vythe’s eyes sparked as he looked up at Lieut, “Whatever was blocking my connection to the Fog broke, causing magicks to suddenly flow through me. I think the stress of the situation caused it to be more dramatic than it would otherwise have been.”

Vythe let out a tied laugh and Lieut subtly nodded.

“Are you hurt?” Lieut asked.

“I could not be better,” Vythe smiled as he looked up at Lieut, “The Fog has returned to me.”

Lieut nodded, “Fairris is not so well off.”

Vythe looked up in concern and staggered to his feet. As Vythe moved towards Fairris he stumbled and would have fell, but for Lieut unconsciously grabbing Vythe by the arm.

Lieut quickly let go again and awkwardly turned away and towards Fairris.

Vythe followed and knelt down beside Fairris, giving Lieut a curious look.

“She yet lives,” Vythe remarked happily.

“Can you heal her?” Lieut asked without thinking.

Vythe shook his head, “Alas I know little of healing magicks, and I am currently too weak to be casting serious magicks. You must help her, Lieut.”

“Must?” Lieut balked.

“You owe her that much at least,” Vythe countered.

“I owe her nothing,” Lieut was quick to reply, “I owe you nothing.”

“How can you say that after what we have all been through?” Vythe asked in disbelief.

“We travelled together, that is all,” Lieut countered, “It is absurd to think that I owe you something merely because of that.”

“But,” Lieut continued, stopping Vythe’s objections, “I will carry her to the Monastery, and that is all I will do.”

Vythe nodded, and a slight smile came to his face, “Be swift.”

“Once you arrive at the Monastery and recover your strength, I expect you to teleport me to Port Na’brath, Vythe,” Lieut said as he picked up Fairris.

“Of course,” Vythe smiled again, but his eyes did not.

Lieut considered Vythe for a moment but nodded his head, “I will await your arrival.”

With nothing more to be said Lieut picked up Fairris and sprinted off into the gathering snow storm.

*******************************************************

Stay tuned for the next chapter to see what happens. Can Lieut make to the monastery in time to save Fairris? And what of Vythe, his magicks may have returned, but he is still stuck in a blizzard?

PS – if you haven’t already please check out the past chapters, they can be found on my Tablo profile. If you simply can’t wait for me to upload the next free chapter be sure to get the advantage over the other readers and purchase the whole story from any good online book store in both Kindle or Paperback.