Book 1 - Chapter 2.4
Sol headed towards the town centre. She felt shaky as she walked. Though she had not had any breakfast, she didn't feel hungry. The youth had called Night a mage, a word Sol had never heard before. It had drawn ire from the blacksmith.
Sol thought about how she had tried to ask Night what she was, and why the townspeople were so hostile towards her, and how Night would not explain.
The word, and whatever Night was, held power.
Sol weighed her options as she neared the town centre. She decided she would find Prosper and leverage the lie that she had killed Night, so she could get her hands on some rope and iron.
No mention of the Fae or mages. She didn't want to alienate or anger anyone else.
She would then find people she could pay to help her venture into the mist. Her copper would likely not cut it but she had more valuable funds sewn into the lining of her coat, pure gold worth the weight of a human life.
As Sol turned a corner she found herself before a thick approaching mist.
It spilled through the alleys, clouding everything a couple metres ahead in greys and greenish blues. Through the shroud Sol could hear cries of fear and sobbing.
Windows above her slammed shut one after the other.
Sol picked up her pace as people rushed past her in the opposite direction and ducked through back doors that banged shut behind them.
She made it to the edge of an alley opening, finding the town centre almost completely empty. In the middle was the dark and hazy outline of the large mound of the offered foods and goods. The figures of four men stood guard over it with pole arms in hand.
On the other end of the town square, blocking the mouth of the main street, was a mass of shadows.
They were individual forms crowded together, taller than a man, taller than even Sol. They shimmered in the mist, and though they were farther away from Sol's sight than the guards and the pile of food, they were darker. The depth of their shadow was made deeper by the bright orange glow of their large eyes, and gaping mouths filled with serrated teeth.
Sol crouched down out of sight in the mouth of the alley and peered around the corner to count twelve pairs of eyes, and twelve mouths that sent out denser clouds of mist whenever they opened.
The guards weapons were not at the ready but rather held across their bodies protectively as they crouched away in fear.
The mass of shadows moved as one, their feet clicking on the cobblestones as they glided towards the mound of food. The guards bolted and ducked into alleyways or banged on doors to be let in.
The shadow visitors descended on the gathered heap and began consuming it, swallowing items whole. A few shadows broke off to scavenge bags that had been left behind by whatever people had ran away upon the mist's arrival.
Sol could see more clearly from those few solo forms that the beasts loped on four legs, some of them all hoofed and others with clawed paws on the fore feet, with horns like a cow's or a goat's. Even greater gusts of steam rose off of them as they tore into canvas and leather sacs. some of them swallowed bags whole, their infernal shapes shifting and stretching to make room for their wrapped meal.
Sol was transfixed by the sight. They were like nothing she had ever seen. Nothing like the brief glimpse of the Fae she had caught as a child, nothing like what was described in the coven archives, and they had come with the mist.
These were what Night had been warning her about.
Night, who was out by the standing stone, alone.
Sol took a breath and moved quietly away from the alley entrance and with a hand to a wall began to trace her way back towards the rear entrance of the town, hoping that she could find it, and then the standing stone in the dense mist, and Night still alive waiting for her.
She didn't have to go far to confirm Night's status, because as she turned her first corner Sol bumped into a small cloaked figure and stifled a cry of relief.
"You're here! Oh thank the Gods!" Sol whispered.
"Of course I'm here." Night hissed back. Through the murk of the mist her eyes still shone bright like daylight as she stared up at Sol. "I wasn't going to stay out there and die just because you told me to."
Sol kept her mouth shut but nodded in acceptance.
Night leaned in. "Did you see them?"
"Yeah. What in the world are they?"
"I can't say their name, in case they hear it and are drawn here." Night pulled Sol into the shelter of a doorway so that they were better hidden.
"So, do they look like your Fae?" Her tone was a bit snide, but Sol let it slide.
"No, definitely not. Not even like any of their illusions." Sol shook her head. "I've never seen anything like them. Their names have power here?"
"I don't know yet what makes them able to sense when someone speaks of them, but whatever it is makes it harder to talk about them, and so harder to figure out how to fight them." Night then frowned. "That was my grandmother's theory anyways. You speak their name and they find you and you have to answer for why you called them."
"Don't you have code or nicknames?"
"They eventually learn those as well."
"Does the same apply for what you are?" Sol leaned over Night, her body blocking the doorway so that she and her companion spoke in hazy shadow.
"Explain," Night said, looking up at her expectantly.
"I learned what you're called. The blacksmith's apprentice let it slip when I was asking them for iron." Sol licked her lips. "You're a ma-" Night clapped her hand over Sol's mouth.
"Maybe that's why the mist came in fast," Night said with one hand under her chin in thought while the other remained resting on Sol's lips. "It would be nice if it wasn't because of me for a change." She said more quietly.
Sol took Night's hand away from her mouth, "I don't know what that word means."
"I supposed it's your turn to not know, hm?" Night said with a slight smile.
Sol's mouth quirked as she continued on, "What is it you do that makes you so dangerous?"
Night looked up at her with anticipation. "I could show you." She said in a soft whisper, and with the hand that Sol still held she entwined their fingers. "But I would need your help."
Sol flinched away from Night's clutch, which the other woman thankfully released, but she continued on. "We have two choices, Ranger. We can try to escape this town into the misty fields where there are likely more of those things waiting for us, or we can fight. It depends on if you will trust me enough to help me."
Sol frowned. "Which entails?"
"I need your real name."
Sol backed away further. "Why?" She said.
"You didn't trust me enough to give it to me last night. Could you trust me with it now?" Night was calm, but there was some venom behind her words.
"Why can't I trust you without giving you my name?" Sol shot back.
"Do you trust me now?"
Sol hesitated.
From the town centre came a roar like a forest fire. Both Sol and Night forgot their argument and turned their attention towards the noise. The alleyway before them was still empty in both directions.
Sol took this as their cue. "Let's head back to the campsite. I prefer an open field if we have to fight- hey!"
Night had slipped past her and with light footsteps headed towards the roars.
"Night!" Sol hissed after her. Night stopped only to cast a fierce and challenging glance over her shoulder before turning the corner and continuing on her way.
Sol wavered, cursed under her breath, and then padded after her.