The Mist Plains of Corad. Kiri hated this place, she really did. After they had pitched their tent for the night, Kiri had volunteered to take first watch and was now regretting that decision. She was exhausted, and cold, and the damp fog had slowly but surely soaked through her leather jacket, so now she was wet too. Everything was covered in a film of miniscule water droplets, and the air had a thick, green smell to it that seemed to ooze from the moss and other plants that covered the ground. The vegetation in the Mist Plains was all of a strange sort, the kind that loved water but did not need much sun. There was no grass, but the moss gave the turf a springy feel that was actually rather pleasant to walk on. Not that one wanted to do much walking in the Mist Plains, it was too easy to get lost, even with a map and a compass.
Kiri sat huddled into as compact a ball as she could, arms wrapped around knees drawn up to her chest, blanket over her head like a hood, completely miserable. To make it worse, it was horribly boring. At least when she normally kept watch she could stargaze, or watch for animal life. Here, she could barely see the tent three feet behind her, much less anything else. Her imagination had started to play tricks on her, conjuring strange, eerie shapes out of the eddies and swirls of the mist. It was not like cloud watching, there were no ducks or ships or dogs to be found in this water vapor. Instead there were ghosts and spectres and demons swirling and battling in the depths of the fog.
So caught up was she in watching the shapes that when she heard the roar, she at first thought it was simply her imagination going one step further. It was soft, barely a growl at the edge of her hearing. Then it came again, louder this time, and she bolted to her feet. Something was definitely out there. Something big too, judging from how deep and resonant the roar had been. Now she imagined she could hear footsteps… now she could definitely hear footsteps, thudding loud and slow into the ground. Louder and louder they grew, until the very ground she sat on shook. Now she could hear breathing, and the occasional snort and sniff, like a bull blowing air from its nose in anger before a fight. She peered into the mist, trying vainly to see something, anything. The thought crossed her mind that she should wake the others, but she dismissed it. There was no need to get them killed too, maybe the… whatever it was, wouldn’t notice them.
It was only clinging to that small thread of hope that kept her from screaming and running as the noises the creature made continued to grow louder and closer. Then she saw the wing.
It cut through the fog about fifteen feet above her head, leaving a gap behind it that slowly closed. It was dark red in color, and there was an odd clawlike finger at the very tip. At first, that was all she could see - the tip - but apparently whatever it belonged to was walking at an angle towards them, because the wing grew steadily larger and larger as more of it broke through the fog. Soon she could see the shadowy outline of the beast, and her mind promptly rebelled at the sheer size of it. It was at least half again as tall as the largest airplane she had ever seen, and nearly twice as long, although a good portion of that length was taken up by the tail which whipped back and forth, occasionally breaking out of the mist as well.
It grew closer and closer, until it’s feet were landing not five yards away from where she sat. The wing stretched out over their little camp, and several times the tail flicked so close it almost touched her. Kiri could only pray to whatever gods were listening that it couldn’t see them. It’s head and body were still nothing more than shadows in the mist, but she had no idea if its vision was any better than hers. Just in case, she kept as still as she could, barely daring to breathe, hoping against hope that neither Renee nor Tomlyn chose this moment to snore.
The gods must have been watching over them that night, because the beast passed them by. Its footsteps remained steady and slow, and its wing slowly disappeared back into the fog along with the tail and the shadowy mass of its body. Only when she could no longer hear any trace of its footsteps did she let out the long breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. That was also when the panic decided to set in.
She sat and shook for a long while, trying to keep her sobs as quiet as possible. Kiri could handle danger, she really could. She could stare down the barrel of a gun without blinking, face down a master of spells or swords without pause, and even professed to love the adrenaline rush that came from putting herself in dangerous situations. But this was something entirely different. Unless she was gravely mistaken, that had been a dragon. As in, the mythological beasts that no one really believed actually existed anymore. Sure, way back hundreds of years ago they had basically ruled this continent with their cruel intelligence. But then mankind had come along with their magic and science and had hunted them to extinction. Or so everyone thought. There were always rumors of sightings but Kiri had never really believed them. Not until now, at least. Now, well, she had kind of been presented with incontrovertable proof, at least as far as she was concerned. No one else would believe her, unless they had seen a dragon for themselves, but now she knew the truth.
When Tomlyn came to relieve her, she didn’t say a word about the strange events of the night. Some of it must have showed on her face, because he gave her an odd look, but thankfully remained silent.
“Careful… it’s easy to drift off, watching the mist,” was all she said to him before clambering carefully into the tent. She snuggled into the sleeping bag next to Renee, grateful for the warmth, but found sleep an elusive catch. It took a long time spent staring wide-eyed at the wall of the tent before she could finally drift off. When she finally did, red wings haunted her dreams.
The next morning, they packed up as quickly as possible. They had been smart the night before and had laid out the hammock carefully, so the ropes weren’t knotted and tangled this time. It was, however, soaking wet and twice as heavy as usual. Tomlyn and Renee had to struggle to get airborne with Kiri sitting in it, but once they had managed to climb above the mist, the sun started to dry everything out and the flight became much easier and smoother. Within a few hours they had left the Mist Plains behind them and were soaring over farmland and rolling hills. As time moved on, the hills grew more and more frequent - and taller. Before long, they were clearly into the foothills of the mountain range that dominated the horizon. Kiri shouted up to Tomlyn to aim for one of the passes between peaks, as she didn’t fancy trying to fly straight over them. She rather liked being able to breathe. Fortunately, they managed to find a convenient valley, and soon had left the mountain range behind them. On the other side was a stretch of forest, and then, on the horizon, the sea.
Renee seemed to regain her bearings the moment they crossed the mountains. This was country she was familiar with, apparently. Of course, if Kiri’s calculations were correct, across the sea just out of sight in front of them was Port Antil, nestled in bay on the northernmost point of the massive landmass that was too large to be considered an island, but too small for a proper continent. Most people just called it Sicary-Saru, after the mountain peak - the tallest in all Geonova - that dominated the landscape, or Antil, after the port city.
As they approached the sea over the next hour, they began to steadily descend. Flying across that expanse of water with no hope of stopping to rest would be a bad idea, they needed to find passage. A boat, perhaps a local fisherman or some such vessel. They made a soft landing in the dunes and packed up the hammock, stuffing it into the most empty of the three bags - Renee’s. Kiri expected her to complain at the added weight, but surprisingly enough, the girl remained quiet. Strangely quiet, in fact. She had a pensive, almost worried look on her face that Kiri had never seen before. It was probably nothing, so Kiri dismissed it. Touchy-feely comforting talks were not her thing, and there had been far too many of those as late for her to even consider initiating one.
After a brief consultation of Kiri’s map and compass, they set off north along the shore, keeping to the damp, hard-packed sand near the water as it was easier to walk on. The air was heavy with the smell of salt and the moisture off the ocean. It could have easily been too hot, but the steady, brisk breeze off the ocean kept it pleasant. The crunch of the sand underfoot and the occasional cry of a seagull or heron or other coastal bird were the only background noise on the lonely stretch of beach, and the amount of breath required for the occasionally strenuous hiking around tide pools and over dunes and driftwood made conversation difficult, and usually limited to the pointing out of a particularly pretty shell - in Renee’s case - or a partially decomposed dead jellyfish - in Kiri’s case. That is, until Kiri spotted something ahead of them that most adamantly did not belong.
“What is that?” she said quietly, lifting her arm and pointing. Tomlyn squinted in the direction indicated, but Renee held back, seeming almost frightened. Of what, Kiri couldn’t say, but it was odd.
What had caught her attention was a person standing on the beach about a mile from their current position. As they watched, two others came down from the dunes to join the one standing just shy of the point where the surf washed up on the sand. Those three were the first sign of humanity besides themselves that they had seen all day, and it struck Kiri as very strange that they should just happen to be here, right where they were sure not to miss them. She glanced at Renee, but the girl refused to meet her eyes, apparently engrossed in a clam shell embedded in the sand that she was poking with her foot.
“Well… it appears that they are waiting for something. For us. Let’s not keep them any longer, shall we?” To tell the truth, Kiri was sick of all this running and searching and hunting. She was ready for a fight. She didn’t know who these three people were, but she would be damned if they didn’t get either some help or a good fight out of them. There was no neutral ground at this point.
Growing closer, Kiri realized one very important thing that put all thoughts of a potential fight out of her mind. The first person she had seen was clad in a black wizard’s cloak. Carried lightly in one hand was a very familiar black staff, the sunlight glinting off it’s silver head. Although she was too far away to see the details of the cane, Kiri would wager a guess that the silver top was shaped like a dragon, with red ruby eyes. Midas. How he had known where they would be she could only guess, but it would be an educated one. Renee working for Midas had seemed all too convenient, but Kiri had not bothered to question it in her delight at finally having a lead. If she was not mistaken, Renee had probably been sent to join them from the very beginning, to keep an eye on them and perhaps even to guide them the whole way to this very spot.
Well, if it was the time for a confrontation, Kiri was as ready as she would ever be. As soon as they were within earshot, Kiri stopped and shouted. “I wish to speak to Midas alone! Just the two of us, no interference!” She looked pointedly at Tomlyn and Renee as she spoke. They both nodded, although Tomlyn seemed very reluctant, and no words were needed. Kiri knew they would stay out of it, although she had her doubts as to Tomlyn’s self-control if it came to a fight between Midas and her. Then again, while she didn’t want them to get hurt she wouldn’t mind backup. In a fight against Midas, she imagined she would be entirely outclassed.
There was a long silence from Midas and his two companions. Finally, a shout came, carried on the wind. “Very well! We shall meet in the middle.” A moment more, and she saw the man with the cane begin to walk slowly towards them. She started to walk as well, matching her steps to his so that when they finally came face to face, it was almost equally between the two groups.
“Midas. Fancy meeting you here.”
“Indeed. You’ve kept me waiting, Kiri, I expected you to be quicker on the uptake than this,” he replied with a quirk of a smile. She chose to ignore the jibe.
“Well, you know how things are. Journeying and all that, so unpredictable. Why are you here?”
“I might ask the same of you.”
Kiri frowned. She had no patience for his games. “You know perfectly well why I am here. I’m looking for you.”
“To capture me and take me off to your employer, Black Diamond, no doubt.”
“Well, I can’t deny, that is the general idea of the plan.”
“And do you imagine you could capture me successfully if I did not wish to go with you?” There was a note of confidence in his voice, bordering on arrogance. Kiri had to grit her teeth to respond in a civil tone of voice.
“We’ll just have to see, won’t we?”
“Will we really?”
Kiri had no response to his clearly rhetorical question, so she simply waited, her hand resting on the gun at her hip which hung loose in its holster. Midas was silent for a long moment, his eyes thoughtful. When he finally moved, it was neither to speak nor to attack. He merely held his arms out, wrists together, palms towards her.
“Tie me up. I am surrendering to you. Take me to Black Diamond, it is high time he and I had it out between the two of us.”
Kiri stood there in a state of shock for a good minute before his words finally registered in her mind. Her initial reaction was to be suspicious, but as she further considered his words she realized… he might actually be serious. If he was ready to confront Black Diamond, this was as good a way as any to return to him. She also did not miss the fact that he was doing her a favor. If she returned to Black Diamond with Midas in tow, she would - technically - have completed her job, and therefore be owed the rest of her pay. If, on the other hand, Midas had simply sought Black Diamond out on his own, Kiri would have been left with nothing. Midas was being exceedingly kind to her.
Kiri hated it. She hated having to rely on the kindness of others, and that frustration caused her to be needlessly rough in looping her rope securely around his wrists and tying it in a tight knot. Although she knew the rope had to be digging painfully into his wrists, Midas’s only reaction was a quiet look that made her feel like a small child again. She grumbled under her breath and tugged on the length of rope leading to his wrists, checking to make sure it was secure.
“What about your companions?” she growled. “Will they try to interfere?”
“I have instructed them to follow my lead. They will not bother you, fear not,” he answered calmly.
“What makes you think I was afraid?” she snapped. He gave her the look again, but she turned away rather than acknowledge it and waved to Renee and Tomlyn. Once they were close enough to hear she explained the situation to them. The look of relief on Renee’s face gave her away, but it also made Kiri feel a bit better about trusting her. It was clear that betraying Kiri’s confidence had hurt Renee, and that she had never wanted things to turn into a fight. Having betrayed or turned on many an erstwhile companion in the past, Kiri could hardly hold it against the poor girl. And besides, she rather liked Renee, even if she did work for the “enemy.”
“Looks like we’re going to have to walk now,” she sighed, looking from the bound Midas to her two crewmates. Midas was a tall, well-built man. There was no way the slim Renee and lanky Tomlyn would be able to carry both him and herself. She had been an easy burden, being on the whole rather small, but this was another matter entirely.
Tomlyn chose that moment to speak up. “Where are we going? Now that we have our quarry, where do we take him?”
“Well…” Kiri thought for a second. “My thought was to head towards Onsen. That was where Black Diamond approached both of us, so it’s probably our best bet for finding him again.”
“Ah, if I may,” Midas interjected. “If I’m not entirely mistaken, you will likely find him in Gerse at the moment, along with a few of our mutual friends.”
“Friends?”
“Why yes, do you not consider the ninja, Destiny, and the swordswoman, Kida, as friends? I myself have witnessed you speaking to them on several occasions.” The lightly joking tone in his voice, combined with the reminder that he had been watching them the whole time did nothing for Kiri’s temper.
“And how do you know that? Just a wild guess, or do you have some sort of telepathic abilities along with your magic?” she snapped sarcastically. Telepathy and the other mental skills were generally reserved for scientists, wizards rarely if ever touched them. So it was a surprise when Midas answered her.
“Why, yes, actually. How else did you imagine I communicated with Renee here? I’m sure you’ve deduced by now that she had been working for me this whole time.”
Renee nodded miserably when he gestured towards her with his bound hands.
“Well, yeah, that was pretty obvious. But I know she didn’t want to, and she’s been a brave companion. I don’t hold it against her.”
“And well you shouldn’t. It took quite a bit of convincing for her to turn on you, and I had to promise not to engage you in an open fight as well.”
Kiri kept a tight hold on her pride, allowing herself only to feel grateful to Renee for protecting them from such a fight, which would have no doubt ended in mortal injury or death on her part.
“Right, well, enough talk. To Gerse it is, I suppose,” she grumbled.
Kiri wrapped the rope leading to Midas’s bound wrists around her own hands and took the lead. Renee dropped back to walk next to Midas, Tomlyn behind them to bring up the rear. The going was a good deal rougher than the beach had been, as they were forced to climb back up towards the mountains, although the road to Gerse they soon came upon led through a low pass in the range.
It was a long walk along that road, made longer by the tense silence that characterized their days. They made camp each night with only minimal speaking. Kiri would tie off the rope to a convenient tree or root, only releasing Midas to escort him to relieve himself in the mornings. She refused to entrust him to anyone else, taking full responsibility for him, with all the stress and inconvenience that came with it.
Every so often they would be passed by a vehicle on the road - a truck, or wagon, or even once a car speeding along. Once they were out of the mountains they entered a dark forest, the branches of the pines that made it up lacing overhead to block out the sun. It took them a day to journey through it, and when they finally broke through on the other side they could see the large lake in the distance that Gerse was situated on. That night the horizon was lit by an ethereal glow from the direction of the lake, a veritable pillar of light rising from its surface.
“Gerse means light, in the old language,” Kiri told Renee as they sat side by side watching the light and the stars. “They say there’s an unusual amount of luminite in the lake, that’s what makes it glow.” She pulled a small lump of rock out of her pocket. It glowed a bright green in the darkness. “I picked this up last time I was there. Beach of the lake is covered in ‘em, all different colors.” The rock went back in her pocket.
“What do you think will happen once we get there?” Renee asked timidly.
“I don’t know, good buddy. I really don’t know. Probably a fight of some sort, once we find Black Diamond. If there is, you stay out of it, you hear me? I don’t want you getting hurt.”
“And what about you?”
“I’m a mercenary. Fighting’s what I do.”
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