Nick stares at his reflection in the water and touches his forehead where a small cut is. He stares at himself before reaching down a hand and splashing the water destroying the image before him. Nick stands up quickly and dusts off his knees. Slowly he reaches down for the handle of his sword and holds onto it protectively as he looks up into the sky as a line of smoke fills the air in the distance.
“What the hell is that,” he mumbles to himself.
“I don’t know,” comes Josh’s voice from behind him as he walks up with his cloak’s hood pulled up over his head.
“It’s coming from the north,” Nick says still staring at it.
Josh nods, “Something is happening.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know, but I can feel it,” he says looking at Nick.
Nick tears his eyes away from the sky and takes his hand off of his sword before turning around and looking at Lance who is sitting perched on one of the horses staring at them from beneath his green cloak.
“Are we ready?” Lance asks.
“I guess,” Nick sighs walking over to the horses as Josh walks behind him silently, “You ready girl?” Nick asks the horse petting its head, “You know something’s wrong don’t you?” he asks the horse again as he walks over and hops onto the horse’s back.
Chris stares at him from the back of his horse as Josh hops on as well taking the reins from him, “Elfin horse?”
“Foxglove,” Nick says.
“Don’t ride her,” Chris says.
“And why shouldn’t I?” Nick asks him.
“She’s not going to listen to you. They only obey their owners.”
“If you have a problem with the elfin horse don’t look at her then. Ride ahead of me for all I care,” Nick snaps before turning the horse around starting to walk off in the lead back towards their camp from the night before.
“Keep your words to yourself dealing with the elves,” Josh says to Chris in a low voice, but Nick could hear it and he could tell Lance did too by the way Lance looked down slightly as he road next to him.
“What do we do now?” Lance asks Nick.
“We go back there, find Kevin’s body, bury it and then…and then we decide who to look for,” he says looking down slightly and then looking up at the trail ahead of them.
This journey was going to be harder then he had ever imagined.
“Where the hell are all the bodies?” Nick asks jumping off of the back of Foxglove and scanning the area where their camp had once been.
Nothing…not one single body or fallen weapon. Not one elfin arrow, not one sword, not one piece of clothing, nothing was left in the clearing. There were no Pendragon bodies and Nick knew that they had killed at least a dozen or so combined. Not one body…not even Kevin’s.
“Where’s his body?” Nick asks turning around franticly to scan the area, “Where is it? Where is it?” he asks before looking up at Josh who is still sitting on the back o his horse, “Why would they take the bodies?”
“I don’t know Nick,” Josh says honestly, “I don’t know.”
Lance’s eyes scan the area before he jumps down off of his horse and looks at the ground closely, “Tracks,” he says pointing down to a set of hoof prints riding off towards the north, “Either from last night or from this morning.”
Nick walks over and looks down at them before looking back up towards the north. The large cloud of smoke had grown and a strange darkness seemed to be covering the land, “What the hell is going on?”
Lance lets out a loud sigh next to him and shakes his head.
“What do we do now?” Josh asks Nicks.
“We follow the tracks or we try to find Justin and AJ,” Nick says.
“You think these belong to whoever took Brian and Quest?” Lance asks looking down at the tracks.
Nick nods.
“A vampire and a werewolf can take care of themselves,” Josh says, “Vampires are at tier best using their minds. AJ will know what to do.”
“Then we follow the tracks?” Nick asks looking from one to the other.
Josh nods.
“Yes,” Lance says.
Nick looks over at Chris who nods slowly.
“Then we follow the tracks,” Nick says before walking back over to Foxglove and hopping back onto the saddle placed on her back then starting off following the tracks at a slow pace.
Lance looks up at the sky in the north as Nick and Josh start to walk away. He mounts his horse slowly still looking at the sky before walking of after Nick, Josh and Chris.
“We need help don’t we?” Nick says looking over at Josh as he rides next to him.
Josh shakes his head no, “I think whatever we need to do can be accomplished by us.”
Nick nods, but not agreeing or disagreeing, “Where are you taking us,” he mutters to himself.
“Ask Fate,” Josh says, “You now there’s probably a Fate up there somewhere looking down on us with Death sitting next to it and Life on the other side…as morbid as that sounds.”
Nick smiles slightly and shakes his head before looking up at the sky, “It’s weird though. You figure our whole life has been leading up to this. It’s all been planned out. From the moment I was born I was destined to be this. And out of all the vampires changed AJ was destined to be the one vampire. Our whole life preparing for this.”
Josh nods, “Hundreds of years of my life leading to this,” he sighs, “I’m just glad I’m not Brian. I would never want that responsibility.”
“But we have the responsibility of keeping him safe,” Lance says.
“And look how good we did doing that,” Nick sighs, “All my life leading up to failure…typical me.”
“What is this place?” Lance asks looking over the land ahead of them as all three horses come to a stop.
The grass and forest that he hand been traveling on for so long had come to a sudden stop and in replace of it there was a dry and barren land with only scattered shrubs littering the land. No trees, no grass, no free flowing water, no hills, no mountains, just dry dusty land.
“Magik,” Josh mutters accenting the k sound on the end.
“Is it a desert?” Lance asks.
“No,” Josh says, “Well it wasn’t at one point. It was a city once long ago. It was a city of shape shifters. They say that it was a land flowing with milk and honey. The most beautiful of all areas and even the elves wanted it for their own. Then one day the water stopped running, the streams dried up, the rain stopped falling and all life stopped.”
“If it was a city where are the buildings?” Nick asks.
“No one knows where they went,” Josh says, “People, animals, buildings, everything just vanished one day. It’s one of the biggest mysteries of my kind. And now there’s this,” he says motioning out over the land.
Nick stares out over the land, “Then lets cross it as fast as we can,” he says before kicking Foxglove slightly as she goes racing across the barren land.
Nick stares a head of him as the scenery approaches him and then quickly passes him by. He could hear the hoof beats of Lance and Josh who were close behind him echoing behind Foxglove’s.
“Nick,” a voice says as he turns his head quickly from left to right.
“Nick,” it says again.
“Josh? Lance? Chris?” Nick says skeptically as the scenery around him starts to change before his eyes.
The land begins to almost switch on and off sporadically changing from color to black and white. As the land changes the sky begins to change to darkness. Slowly the darkness began to almost creep along the ground covering the dirt and shrubs making its way on swift wings towards Nick. Finally though Nick was surrounded in darkness, almost in some sort of black void. He looks up quickly into the darkness and when he looks back down his horse is gone. He was alone.
“Josh!” Nick yells, “Lance! Chris! Help!”
“Nick,” the voice says again, “Nick help us.”
“Hello?”
“Nick help us. Help us please.”
“Quest? Quest where are you?”
“Darkness Nick. So much darkness.”
“Where are you?”
“Darkness…it’s getting closer. So much darkness.”
“Just tell me where you are I’ll get you.”
“So cold. So cold.”
“Quest please let me help you.”
“Yes help us. Nick help us. It’s coming faster. Too fast.”
Nick turns around in a circle and stares out into the darkness.
“Nick help us,” he says.
“Where are you Quest?”
“Darkness…Nick so much darkness…so much evil.”
“Please tell me where you are.”
“In the darkness Nick. In the darkness. Help us. Please help us,” she says as her voice begins to fade away, “Help us Nick. Please.”
“NICK!” a voice yells as Nick’s eyes pop open.
Nick stares up into the night sky and wraps his arms around himself as a strange coldness sets in.
“Oh God he’s alive,” Josh says taking off his cloak and wrapping it around him, “Nick what happened?”
Nick stares at him as his teeth begin to chatter and his body begins to shiver trying to keep him warm.
“Nick what happened?” Lance asks, “You were riding and then all of the sudden you just fell off the horse. We thought you were dead. No even Josh could get to your mind to see if you were ok.”
“Nick talk to us,” Josh says shaking him lightly.
“So cold…so cold,” Nick chatters.
“Give him your cloaks,” Josh says as Lance and Chris take off their cloaks and drape them over Nick to keep him warm.
“Darkness Josh,” Nick says, “Darkness.” “What darkness Nick?” Josh asks.
“She needs help. They need help.”
“Nick who was in your mind?” Josh asks firmly.
“Quest…Quest, she needs help,” Nick chatters, “Stuck in the darkness. Stuck in the cold,” he chatters drifting away before his eyes close again and he fades back into darkness.
Josh would stay by him the whole night.
Nick opens his eyes slowly and then shields them from the bright sunlight he is staring up at.
“Where are you from?” he hears a strange voice ask gruffly and he sits up quickly rushing to his feet.
“Nick stay down,” Josh says as Nick looks around to see that about twelve men on horseback surround them.
“Who are these people?” Nick asks.
“We asked you the same question,” the man talking to Josh says. The man was tall probably around six foot two with light brown hair almost to his shoulders and deep brown eyes. He had the same kind of chiseled face Josh had, but his was more set in a way in intimidate people. He wore a deep red cloak like all the other men and a pair of boots, plain black pants and a black shirt with chainmail over it. This one man though was the only one standing while the others were on horse back bows drawn and pointed at all of them.
“Elves,” Nick lets out before thinking about it.
“Yes we are elves,” the man says staring at Nick, “What business is that of yours.”
“Nexflex knights,” Nick says.
The elf stares at him, “how do you know all this young one?”
“I’m Nicholas sir,” Nick says walking up to him, “I’m a Rider…”
“A Rider,” he says amazed, “Many have the seasons have changed since a Rider was last seen in these parts. What brings you here?”
“My companions and I are looking for people of ours who were taken.”
“We watch these areas did they cross by here?”
“We think some of them did…probably two of shorter stature. One, a male, with dirty brown hair, bright blue eyes, dressed in elfin clothing from Lothlorien.”
“Lothlorien? You have come that far?”
Nick nods, “The other, an elfin female, with large brown eyes, deep brown hair, streaks of color in it, they tend to change quiet often…”
“Questapatania?” the man says.
“Yes,” Nick says, “you’ve seen her?”
“No, I know who you speak of, but I haven’t seen her since she came here long ago with her father.”
Nick nods, “Thank you anyway.”
“My name is Rohand,” he says and the other elves lower their bows as he says this, “I know who you speak of, but we have not come across anyone as of lately.”
“Can I ask you a question?” Josh pipes up.
“Of course.”
“My name is Joshua. My ancestors lived here once, but they never spoke of the smoke in the sky over there,” he says pointing to the smoke filling the sky in the distance.
“Ahhh yes that,” Rohand says, “That has just begun as of lately. I do not know why, but I fear it to be a sign for the worst.”
“Where is it coming from?” Josh asks.
“I do now know,” Rohand says, “Over the mountains in the distance. It comes from the land of Mono though.”
Josh shakes his head and stares at the smoke, “The land of shadows.”
“You’ve heard the tales then?”
“Yes,” Josh says, “That’s where it’s coming from?”
“Most probably.”
“Then we need to go there, Nick,” Josh says looking at Nick.
“No elf has ever gone in there and come out to tell about it again,” Rohand says.
Josh nods, “I know. Tell your king that the battles will begin soon. The prophecies are being fulfilled. He will know what to do.”
Rohand looks at him and then nods, “Good luck on your journey,” he says walking over to his horse and climbing onto it’s back, “May the power of the elves guide you.”
“Thank you,” Josh says to him as they all ride off.
“Why do we have to go there?” Lance asks.
“Mono: the land of shadows and darkness,” Josh says, “If Quest is stuck in darkness she will be there.”
“Why is it so dangerous?” Chris asks.
“That…that is where the Pendragons are from. Mono is the embodiment of hell,” Josh says staring up at the smoke in the sky, “And if that smoke has just started something is happening. Something that will affect us all.”
Nick looks up in the sky as Lance and Chris do the same. On to Mono.
Quest looks down at her hands that are cupped slightly and then looks up to the smoke above her through a small opening.
“Be swift little one,” she whispers into her hands and opens them slightly as a small butterfly flies out of her hands up out of the dark cell and over the land below it.
The land shadowed in darkness.
