Three dead, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t more like the one we tracked down. They could be masking themselves so we can’t tell whether they’re out there.
Looking around through the light of several burning trees, Anders said to Zahara, It looks like Bryant and what’s-his-name put those crystals to use. I can’t feel them either, can you?
Zahara sniffed at two fairnheir piled over a group of soldiers, That’s because they’re no longer here.
Anders looked down at them, seeing a soldier’s arm sticking out from under the gigantic hound-like body, a blue light smoldered in his clenched fist. Anders cursed, jumping down from the saddle and pushing the black beast off the top of the pile. Bryant’s gaunt face looked up at him. Reaching for the dead soldier’s hand, Anders saw the fatal blow the beast had delivered, ripping through his armor and clawing across his chest. Prying the crystal from his grip, Anders returned to Zahara’s side, tucking the sapphire into her saddlebag next to the wooden box.
Raffa and Maija landed as Anders climbed back onto Zahara’s back. “Are we too late?” Maija asked.
“Too late to spare Bryant’s life,” Anders said, staring down at the pile of soldiers killed by the gigantic hounds.
“I saw soldiers running to the south,” Maija said.
A flash of blue light exploded to their right in the direction the soldiers were headed. Anders urged Zahara and she leapt into the air, gliding over the trees. Flames rippled up a tree in front of them; Zahara dove toward it. Anders drew his blade, expecting a fight. Shouts from the soldiers nearby sounded and Anders tried to sense what was attacking them. He caught sight of it before he felt it with his mind. A human or elf figure walked naked among the glow of the flames. As they tore through the branches to land, Anders saw its skin wisping off on its shoulders and back, as though the creature was made of smoke. Its dull gray skin and absence of eyes or nose gave it a horrifyingly alien look.
Maija landed next to Anders and Zahara. Anders glanced at her and they shared a confused look before the mob of soldiers cowering at their backs shouted for them to kill it. Summoning magic, Anders trained his sights on the wisping figure slowly walking toward them. Before attacking, he shouted, “Stop or we will destroy you!”
To his surprise the thing stopped. Anders probed at the strange creature with his mind, but felt nothing.
How is it doing that? he asked Zahara.
It doesn’t have a mind, Tarron said.
You know what this is? Anders asked.
It’s a wraith, he replied seriously.
How do I stop it? Anders asked.
As he did the wraith started to move forward again. Anders instinctively reacted, sending a sphere of energy out from his palm. The phantom being dodged to the side, leaving a trail of itself as it moved lightning fast out of the way. Ander’s energy burned through the wraith’s trailing, causing it to scream a high-pitched wail. The sound crippled the soldiers, while Anders used magic to shield himself, deflecting the noise away from Zahara, Raffa and Maija.
Before he could do anything else, Maija jumped off Raffa with her sword in hand and shouted at him, “Anders, help them!”
Looking over his shoulder, he moved into action, seeing the wraith had passed around them to attack the soldiers. Maija reacted with elven speed, reaching the creature first. Trying to rush to her aid, Anders saw her block the wraith’s arm as it streaked down at soldiers. Somehow in the time he’d summoned the shield, the thing had attacked and killed three men. Maija blocked it from killing a fourth. Shaping its arm into a sword, the wraith used it as a weapon to attack Maija with relentless force.
Anders screamed as he hacked Lazuran at the wraith. Where he once saw an opening, it had closed by the time his blade came down on the creature. Morphing its other arm into a blade, the wraith blocked its side from Anders’ sword. Fueling his attack with magically enhanced energy, Anders let Tarron guide his blade to drive the wraith away from the soldiers. Working faster than Maija could, he created a gap between the soldiers behind him, allowing them time to escape. Fighting one sword against the wraith’s two, Anders quickly realized he needed help. Sending a pulse of energy into his sword, he swung Lazuran into the wraith’s defensive block, launching it back across the forest floor.
Suddenly a burst of dragon fire erupted in the darkness with bright light and intense heat. Anders shielded himself from the burn as Maija came to his side, tucking in behind his shield. From behind their energy barrier, Anders saw the wraith began to move, leaving a trail of smoke-like essence as it began to out-maneuver Zahara and Raffaguan’s flames. The creature moved faster than an elf. Anders lost it in the ensuing chaos.
When the flames subsided, Anders and Maija stood behind the shield barrier looking through the flaming trees where the wraith had been. Unable to trace the creature with magic, Anders felt reluctant to chase after it. He saw no need to expose themselves and allow themselves to be drawn away from the others. Anders had to remind himself that he’d sworn to protect the people. By allowing the fairnheir to escape them, soldiers had died, something he possibly could've prevented if they’d stayed with the others to protect the city.
“Shouldn’t we go after it?” Maija asked.
Anders shook his head, “More people have already died than should have because of our absence.” As he finished speaking Dawks, the soldier who Anders had trained with Bryant, sprinted past them, a group of screaming soldiers at his heels. Cursing, Anders and Maija started after them.
“Dawks! Stop!” Maija shouted.
“Come back! It’s not safe!” Anders called after the soldiers.
Anders pushed energy down into his legs making them work faster than any normal human. He nearly matched Maija’s speed for the first time, but she pulled ahead. In less than a few seconds they’d caught up with the soldiers, but they were already too late. The wraith was waiting for them. By the time Maija reached them, all but one had been slain.
Dawks bravely fired a pulse of energy at the wraith but aimed blindly. Maija was able to spin away from it, but Anders reacted with magic. He saw the ripple of light form just a fraction of a second before the energy from the crystal slammed into him. It exploded against his shield sending a shockwave out. Anders was flung from his feet as he watched the shockwave knock Maija to the ground. It slammed him onto his back on the forest floor and knocking the breath from his lungs. Anders suddenly saw a smoke-filled column shoot into the air with a blue hue at its core.
By the time Anders was on his feet, gasping for air, Zahara and Raffa were on the scene. He saw Maija swing her leg into the saddle and call down to him, “It took Dawks and the crystal. What do you want to do?”
Hauling himself up onto Zahara, Anders found his breath and said in a hoarse voice, “Follow the trail of smoke and retrieve the crystal.”
Zahara beat her wings and they began their pursuit.
How far can they go? Anders asked Tarron, seeing the smoke trail disappearing into the distance.
With the crystal, all the way into the mountains, he replied.
Without? Anders asked, seeing the blue glow streaking for the Frozentip Mountains.
Miles with one leap, Tarron answered.
He kept his eye on the crystal’s light as they gained on it. The wraith’s distance might’ve been enhanced by the crystal’s energy, but its speed wasn’t. He and Maija tracked the smoke trail over the Riverlands and into the mountains. As the blue glow faded behind a peak, Anders held onto Dawks’ presence. As long as Dawks remained alive, Anders and Maija could find them.
I don’t like this, Anders told Zahara. We’ve been gone for too long. The entire town could have been rolled over by fairnheir and whatever else was with them.
The danger left with us, Brookside is safe, Zahara said.
Anders looked over his shoulder and saw the distant town, glowing dully with lantern light. The fires outside the city were out, or else he just couldn’t see them from so far away.
Anders, I lost the trail, Maija said frantically through their link.
He felt for Dawks’ mind but couldn’t detect it. Cursing, he said to Maija, We’ll need to land where we last saw it. Maybe it will have left a trace or something we can pick up on.
Shouldn’t we be getting back to Brookside soon? I don’t feel right abandoning the people like this.
Me neither, but I can’t just give up on Dawks and the crystal. There could still be hope, although as he said the words, he knew that because they couldn’t feel Dawks’ body signature, the soldier had been killed. Follow us to the ridge. We’ll take a look from there and if we don’t see anything, you two will go back.
You won’t come with us?
If we don’t see anything, I’ll take a closer look to see if I can find the crystal or his body.
Coming down on the front of the Frozentip Range, Zahara and Raffa landed atop a saddle between two mountains. Anders searched among the snowfields and down into dark forested canyons below with both mind and sight. Seeing no trace of smoke or blue light, he turned to Maija and said, “You should go back. I’ll see if I can find the body.”
“What if you find that thing?” she asked.
“If we come across the wraith again,” he shrugged. “I’ll do my best.”
Maija hugged Anders, kissing him before she and Raffa set out toward Brookside. Be careful, she said one last time into his thoughts.
You, too, he replied.
With a deep sigh, Anders asked Zahara, Are you ready to go down there?
