Brian Pratt - The mists of sorrow

“Good,” James says as he glances over to where Delia and Tersa are talking with Aleya. He makes his way over to them and their conversation halts when he draws close.

“Excuse me,” Aleya says. She then gets up and walks over to Jiron. Taking him by the hand they walk some distance from the camp.

James looks questioningly to Delia and Tersa but they don’t offer any explanation. Shrugging, he sits down with them. “The Merchant’s Pass is open,” he tells them. “We’ll be there day after tomorrow.”

Tersa gets a sad look on her face and Delia pats her on the knee. “So we’re not going all the way to Dragon’s Pass?” she asks.

James shakes his head. “No, you should be safe once you’re within Merchant’s Pass,” he says.

The sad and worried look comes to her face again as she glances over to her brother.

“He’ll be okay,” she assures him.

“I know,” she replies sadly.

Delia glances to James and says, “She’s worried for her brother.”

“Hey,” he says reassuringly, “We’ve been through some tough situations before. I’m sure everything will turn out alright.”

“Besides,” offers Delia, “Aleya will be with him.” That brings a smile to Tersa’s face. “How much of a risk will he take with her along?”

“You have a point,” she admits.

At the mention of Aleya, they all turn to watch them sitting on Jiron’s blanket together. Her head is lying on his shoulder and his arm holds her tight.

“I made her promise that if they were to marry to wait until they returned to The Ranch so I could be her maid of honor,” she tells them.

“I doubt if that boy will ever ask her,” Delia says. “It took Cassie to work on Tinok before he even thought to ask.” Sadness comes over them at the mention of Cassie and Tinok. Both lives have taken a definite turn for the worse. Cassie died and Tinok is facing an unknown fate at the dark of the moon.

“We’ll see,” James says. Then to change the subject he asks Delia, “What do you plan to do once you’re back?”

“Start up with trading again,” she says. “I doubt if any trader over in Cardri knows half as much as I do about what it’s like over here and what is needed. My wagons should still be with Roland and hopefully the horses too. I told him he could sell them if he needed to.”

“I doubt very seriously if he’ll need money that badly,” replies James. When he left, a bag of gems still remained in the chest sitting in his room from the last expedition to the cave under the Merchant’s Pass.

“We’ll see,” she says. “May have to hire more guards, though.” She then nods over to where the seven recruits are congregating around the fire. “They may not be enough in an emergency.”

Giving out with a yawn, James stands up and says, “This might be a good time to turn in. We still have a long way to go.” He then turns and makes his way over to his bedroll. On his way he lets everyone know it’s time for sleep. Lying down, he hears the sound of the rest beginning to turn in.

Next to him, Miko is already asleep. Still worn out from the extensive healings he did back at the keep, not to mention the grueling ride of the last two days, he turned in some time earlier. His now familiar snores disturb the quiet of the night.

He lays there for awhile, unable to sleep despite the fatigue he feels. Staring up at the night sky, he stills his thoughts and begins to breathe deeply. This method of calming his mind has at times aided him in falling asleep. Gradually he sinks further toward sleep. Just before he completely succumbs, Miko’s arm suddenly begins thrashing and strikes him in the side.

Jerked back into wakefulness, he grabs Miko’s arm before it has a chance to strike him again. He can hear him moaning and from the light of the campfire, sees his other arm thrashing slightly.

Sitting up, he takes his free hand and places it on his friend’s chest. Shaking him slightly he says, “Miko, wake up.” But he continues to thrash in whatever dream has hold of him.

Then from behind him a green glow suddenly springs to life and Brother Willim moves toward them. “Do you feel that?” the priest of Asran asks.

“What?” asks James.

“Something…” he says then trails off when he sees Miko there on the ground, thrashing around slightly.

Giving Miko a firmer shake James says a little louder, “Wake up.”

With a gasp, Miko sits up and quickly looks around. Panting and sweating, his eyes finally settling on James. “Oh man,” he says, voice trembling.

The light from Brother Willim disappears and James glances back at him. “It’s gone now,” the brother says. Looking around the camp, he finds they are the only ones awake.

“You okay?” he asks his friend.

“It was just a dream,” he finally breathes. That’s when he notices James has hold of his arm.

“Sorry,” apologizes James as he releases his arm, “you were thrashing about.”

“What was the dream?” asks Brother Willim. James can detect a slight seriousness in his voice.

Taking a deep breath he says, “I was running through a shattered city.” Looking to James he says, “That’s the best way I can describe it.”

James nods and says, “Go on.”

“Well, something was after me though I never saw it,” he says. “I just knew. I raced through the broken buildings toward a bright shining light. When I finally got there I found that it was a temple, shining forth with a light that eased my fears.”

“Then, my fear returned stronger than before. I looked around but couldn’t find the cause of the feeling. Then, the light coming from the temple began to dim. Blackness started to ooze up from the ground, and where it touched the stones of the temple, the stones darkened until finally turning black.” He looks at them, eyes wide with remembered fear.

“The further up the walls of the temple the darkness climbed, so rose my fear. Just before it completely consumed the entire temple, you woke me.” He sits there a moment in silence then turns again to James. “It seemed so real.”

“It may have been more than a normal dream,” states Brother Willim. “There was something while you dreamt, something from elsewhere.” When James looks at him questioningly, he adds, “I can’t really explain it better than that. I feared it may have been a return of the shadows but it felt different.”

“But what could it mean?” he asks glancing first to Brother Willim then back to James.

“I don’t know,” admits James. “But the way you were acting can’t be good.”

“Dreams are often sendings from the gods,” Brother Willim says. Then to James, “The more closely you deal with them, the more likely they will touch you that way.”

“Could my dream have been a message from Morcyth?” Miko asks. “From an actual god?”

Shrugging, Brother Willim says, “Perhaps. However, it’s been suggested in theological circles that when you grow closer to one god, you also become closer to others.” He can see the confusion on Miko’s face at that. “Let me put it to you this way. In a city there are various districts, the rich, merchant’s, poor sector, so forth. You follow me so far?”

Miko nods his head though still looks a bit lost.

“Okay, say you go to visit someone where the rich and affluent live. When you go there, you are also in closer proximity to the others that live there too. And thus, they are able to reach you better. Does that help?”

“Not really,” he replies.

“I think I understand,” says James. “The more you interact with one, the more likely you can be reached by another.”

Nodding, Brother Willim says, “Yes. But it is only a theory, though a favored one.”