Enna Is a Land God- Book:2

No Escape

It was comforting, having Lagdon with me again. I might have been holding out alright on my own- if by on my own I meant 'with Kishi'- but I felt a lot better having the hobgoblin along with me in the end. But, that being said, Lagdon being back was about the only thing going well for us at the moment. 

As hard as we tried to get ourselves back on course, and out of the Dark, it just was not happening. No matter which direction we turned, what land marks we tried to set, nothing would get us to the edge of the forest. In fact, according to Reihekiu, we were not dangerously close to the center of the forest. The fog was now so thick that we had to walk very close to one another to avoid getting separated, Reihekiu in the front, followed by Lagdon then myself, and Kishi bringing up the rear. I had to keep looking back, tripping over my own feet, because I was so worried I would loose sight of my new guardian friend in the mists.

After what felt like hours, the half elf brought us to a stop. "Enough." She said on the back end of a heavy sigh. "We are getting no where but where your enemy wants us to be."

"Is there no way to get out of his grasp?" Kishi asked, stepping up next to me and brushing me with her soft fur now damp with the mist.

"Yes." Stated Reihekiu, voice sardonic and irritated. The constant travel and making no positive progress was affecting us all. "We can all die. Your little land god will go to where ever it is land gods go whilst waiting to be resurrected, both of your souls will wait for her return to be sent on their merry way, and mine will go where ever the fates decide- either to Enna or this accused Specter, depending on just how tight his hold is on the Dark." Glaring into the fog she added. "My guess would be very tightly indeed."

The half crazed smith had a point. It was very clear to me now that the Specter had an even tighter grip on the workings of this forest then I even had on the rest of these lands. At least as far as my knowledge had me believe. I guess I never did actually 'try' to influence the world as strongly as the Specter seems to have done with his mists and confusing magics. Mostly I just directed the energies to enhance the fertility and vibrancy of the land itself, trying to breath some life back into the dying landscape that Aeros had left behind.

As we drew nearer the Specter- for I was sure that was exactly where he was directing us at this point- I could see the changes more readily. Though the mist I saw that the trees, that until this point had been massive with large canopies, had begun to thin out. The space between each tree grew wide as their sizes grew slimmer. And instead of the dark rich barks the trees in the rest of the Dark had, now they were greyish and half rotted looking. The ground was littered with dead leaves and twigs, and the air smelt of decay. It was well into autumn now... but this seemed more extreme than the normal shutting down of a forest for the coming winter.

"I suggest we get some rest." Stated the elf, glaring at a half withered tree. "No doubt we will come upon the Specter soon enough, and I do not know about you, but I would much rather be a little better rested for when we do."

"Yes, agreed." Said Lagdon, setting his club against a tree. "Since the Specter seems so generous to have left us unmolested till now, we should use this time to recharge."

Wait, the Specter did what? I was confused until it suddenly occurred to me what Lagdon had meant. It was true that since reuniting, we had not come across a single monster, minion, or even a squirl. Lagdon must have guessed that it was the Specter keeping everything from us. Did it want to deal with us itself?

"Come, Mistress," Said Kishi as she settled herself down next to Reihekiu. "A break will do us a-" She was cut off mid sentence when, in the depths of the mist, there was a rustling and the breaking of branches.

Instantly everyone was on alert. Before I could even blink not only was Lagdon standing in front of me, club held single handed, and his other was wrapped around my arm. Clearly he was not letting me get dragged off this time. Reihekiu was on alert, but I saw that she was also edging herself behind Lagdon and I. I would have laughed at her attempt at capitalizing on the hobgoblin's size had the situation not been so dire. Lastly Kishi took the rear guard, fur on end and lips pulled back as she bared her fangs at the unseen opponent.

An other twenty seconds passed, the noises continued, but nothing appeared out of the fog.

"What is it doing?" I hissed, one of my palms cupped, ready to cast the fox fire if needed.

"Pacing by the sound of it." Lagdon growled. "Elf-" He growled, not turning but addressing Reihekiu all the same. "Can you see what it is?"

"Do I look like I have fog penetrating eyes? Hobgoblin." The caramel skinned elf snapped. Lagdon merely made an annoyed sound before she spoke again. "No, I 'see' nothing. Neither with my eyes nor any other sight."

"Maybe it is just another of the specter's mind games?" I provided, assuming that Reihekiu's other form of sight was a kind of magical sense. The same sense that aloud her to find her way in these wood, when the rest of us could not. Till just recently that is.

"....Perhaps- MOVE!" Roared Lagdon, yanking me to the side at the same time he swung his club.

I staggered back, elf and fox making haste to do the same. And As I watched something very large but very fast barreled out of the fog, its sudden heavy foot falls shaking the earth as it passed. Had we not moved it would have run us over.

Lagdon's club came down but what ever the blur was made of, it was unaffected by the steel like wood. It bounced off, nearly flying out of the hobgoblin's grip, and then the shape disappeared back into the fog.

Breathing heavy, plans to cast magic forgotten, I strained my ears to pick up even a trace of noise. "What was that?!" I gasped, eyes wide.

"Something hard..." Said Lagdon, flexing his sore arm. "And fast."

"And big." I added.

"It smelt of the forest, but nothing else." Added Kishi, her fur still on end and her eyes darting from side to side. "Like those little minions we encountered before."

"Great." I grumped, annoyed and veins coursing with adrenaline. "Now it has giant boulder minions as well as the tree stump ones?" I dusted off my copper robe and glared off into the mist, confused as to why it wasn't attacking again. "Maybe I should make myself some minions." 

"You could." Mused Reihekiu, the calmest of us yet she now held what looked to be a katana that she most defiantly did not have before. I eyed the blade with confusion and some alarm. "It should be an easy enough task for even the weakest of gods. But so far you do not strike me as someone who would enjoy having soulless servants." 

I was about to address the statement as well as ask about the sword when Lagdon spoke instead. "She does not need such mindless toys. She has the entire races of the fox kind, as well as goblin kind to get to do what she wants."

"Oh?" Asked the elf as we started to hear rustling once again.

"Hardly." I said unhappily. "The goblins listen to Margund, their king. As for the foxes, Brax is their elder."

Lagdon shot an irritated glare over his shoulder. It was very much like the ones he gave during training when we tried the same trick multipole times to no effect. His 'Why are you being so stupid' look. It was the first time he used it on me, though I knew he had wanted to a time or two during training. "Any one of your subjects would do anything- accomplish any task- you asked of them Lady Enna. Even against the orders of our kings and elders, I have no doubt. That aside," He said, eyes facing back toward the current threat, cutting me off before I could voice an indignant denial. "I think we should keep moving."

"Agreed." Sighed Reihekiu, a highly irritated look on her face. "This beastie only attacked when we looked like we were stopping. And now it appears to be waiting again."

"If we don't move, it will charge again." Agreed Lagdon.

"So much for a break then." I sighed, still worried the creature- minion- what ever it was, would come at us again.

"I am quite sure that is the point." Finished Kishi in an ominous tone.