It started with the wind. It came in and down the old path- first a gentle breeze, and then the voices whispered within, indistinct and mumbling at first. They soon howled clear and hateful, filled with spite and murder. They spoke of death, blood and all the dark things of nightmares. With the arrival of the voices a fog rose up, covering the ground in a blanket of white. Everything up to the knee was damp-white mist, making it impossible to see the ground. It seemed to have a mind of its own, a malevolence that dragged ragged, making hands of fog pulling at everyone’s clothing, a white suffocating softness that shrilled murder. The forest drained of life, the pale darkness between the trees becoming more intense.
Complete silence enveloped the clearing where they stood.
That’s when the screaming started. It was bloodcurdling, followed with the clash of steal. It came from three sides of the little party and lasted for a small moment before abruptly the silence returned. The only thing that could be heard now was the voices of blood on the wind. Han knew without looking that his brother was at his back. He pulled his weapons out of their sheaths preparing for anything. Around him the familiar sound of preparedness echoed as others did the same. Han noticed Quinten and Heljah taking the same back to back position. The dwarfs gripped her heavy hammer in hand, a determined look on her face. Valasar had taken a position slightly in front of everyone his cloak cast to the ground, his weird bone spear at the ready. In position, they all looked into the darkness of the forest, prepared for its unknown horrors.
Dappled light shifted in the darkness of the forest, taking shifting shapes of milk-white horror, creaking closer. The shapes revealed themselves, skeletons, moving slowly toward them. They almost blended into the fog that they lurched through. Han glanced quickly left and right; they were surrounded. The silent dead moved toward them, a dead-silent mob that was slowly closing on them. A skeleton in front of the others opened its mouth and hissed, fog dripping from its maw and chilling them to the bone. The undead horde took that as the signal to rush in. The skeleton in the front raised a rusted sword and swung it at Valasar. Valasar moved so fast it was hard to see him. The lead skeletons' head flew over its comrades and smashed into a tree; its body fell into the mist and vanished from view. After that it was hard to tell what happened to anyone else. All Han could do was concentrate on living.
If the skeletons had all worked together Han knew that they would have all been dead in a moment. Instead, they acted like a mob. Even so, Han couldn’t use his weapon effectively; the chain was wrapped uselessly around his shoulders and the Kama and kukri were gripped in his fists. Han felt Kol move slightly and he reached back and cut the head off the skeleton that his brother had let by. They had fought so long together by now that it felt like one person fighting, not two. The clearing boiled with action as dispatched skeletons fell in heaps around them.
Han noticed some more skeletons coming their way and mentally prepared himself for their attack. There was a loud bang and a flash of light. The small group of skeletons was now piled on the ground, unmoving. There was the beat of wings and Han looked up to see Soren lighting another one of his busters and throwing it into an additional group of skeletons. The fog that had momentarily been displaced by Soren’s buster moved in quickly to cover up the charred bones.
The battle seamed to last forever. The mindless undead ambled on toward them, unaffected by their numbers being hewn down. Han sidestepped a skeleton, bent on making him a shish-kabob, and hit it in the back with his elbow as he did so; thus sending it up to his brother to be decapitated. Han turned around, ready for a new threat, and found the space in front of him gratefully empty. It was over and Han could only put his hands on his knees and gulp down fresh air.
The fog was retreating, revealing bones scattered all over the clearing some in large piles where the fighting had been the hottest. Han looked over in Valasars direction. He had taken on the brunt of the attack and it showed; an extremely large pile of bones surrounded him. The great lizard’s battered chest heaved in and out as he sucked in air, but Han was impressed that he was still standing. It also seemed like the lizard recovered faster as well, picking up his spear and trotting off into the woods. Quinten and Heljah came over to them; both looked tired and dirty. Quinten had a wet spot on the side of his head and a small trickle of blood ran down the side of his face. Heljah had a limp, but no blood to indicate a deep wound.
“Are you to all right?” Quinten asked upon reaching them.
“Oh us, we’re just dandy, nothing like a battle with undead to get the blood pumping, right Han?” Kol threw a hand over Hans shoulder.
“Oh aye, a man can go to sleep soundly after a party like that.” Han said smiling at the looks on Quinten and Heljah's faces. Winking at his brother, he continued. “But what about you two, did you enjoy your dance?”
Heljah looked at him red in the face and fury in her eyes, but before she could say anything Quinten replied. “Not at all. My dance partner wasn’t really up to the task though.” He said patting the rapier at his side. “And because of that I got a little token of the evening.” He reached up and touched the wound on the side of his head winching as he did so.
“What about our champion dancer over there?” Han said, pointing in the direction Valasar had disappeared in.
“He’s fine, except for a bruise on his arm. Honestly, I’m glad Cassandra told me to bring him along. That was hard enough as it was.” Quinten said.
“Well Gen... ah, Captain Cassandra knows what she's doing.” Kol said.
“Well I suppose she does. That’s why she has a Company now, I suppose.” Quinten replied dryly.
“Hey Quinten, bend your head over hear and look at this.” Heljah demanded looking down at a pile of bones. Han joined Quinten alongside his brother as they all stared down at the heap. Slowly, as if watching ice melt on a hot day, the bones were breaking apart. It was like chalk dissolving into powder, getting smaller and smaller until totally disappearing along with the last tendrils of fog, leaving nothing behind to say that they had ever been there.
They all stood up and looked at each other. “Well, that was interesting.” Kol finally said, breaking the silence.
“The sound of the first screams came from three men that were stalking us.” Everyone jumped and turned to look at Valasar as he walked up to them. “They had us surrounded on three sides, one to a side. They are all dead. I looked for anything to say what tribe they are from and this is all that they carried.”
Valasar tossed a small leather bag to Quintian. Before Quinten could open it there was a screech, and Tera swung down above them. Soren hopped down from her back and ran quickly over to Quinten.
