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  Behind them, Hatch and Von Wilding were running at a furious pace to catch up.

  “I’m gonna eat you up!” cried the Ettin-thing.

  Sai started to panic; she had never had to port this many times to escape anything. She was

  starting to get tired, and the huge monster was stil thundering toward her. She knew she couldn’t

  keep up this pace and needed the help of the others. She gritted her teeth, drew her daggers, and

  stood her ground.

  The Ettin-thing reached for her, and she swung her blades in a fury. She cut one of its hands,

  but it simply morphed away the wounds, sealing in seconds the gashes that a normal creature would

  have taken weeks to recover from. But while Sai pondered that, the other hand reached and took her

  about the shoulders in an icy, crushing grip.

  “You look so yummy,” two of the three voices said. The other one just opened wide, and a tongue came snaking out and slapped her across her face.

  Sai ported away. She was free, and instantly the monster seized her again. She ported and was

  caught again. Why couldn’t she get far enough away? The monstrous grip knocked the air from her

  lungs.

  Then the Ettin-thing cried out as Von Wilding and Hatch attacked its backside.

  It swung about violently to face them. Sai was free again to catch her breath. A light danced in

  front of her face and she knew she must be more hurt than she initial y guessed. A massive flabby

  foot almost stepped on her. She had just rol ed away when a circle of light caught her eye.

  “Sai! Can you get up? We need your help,” called Hatch as he swung mightily at the monster.

  She got to her knees and took a deep breath. The circle of light in front of her solidified and she

  could see green trees and water beyond them in a sunlit vista.

  The monster roared a chal enge, and Sai ported to the back of the monster and plunged her

  daggers in to the hilt.

  It slammed her against the etherium walls and she ported away before being crushed.

  “I think we found the exit!” she shouted.

  “I see it!” affirmed Von Wilding.

  “We can’t get past this beast yet!” yel ed Hatch, as Sai slashed again at the mountainous flab.

  Sai tried her attack again, and this time the Ettin-thing went down and rolled across the tunnel

  floor. Von Wilding and Hatch raced over the monster and Sai ported after them.

  They raced to reach the shrinking doorway.

  “Wildflower’s ritual must be wearing out—we have to hurry!”

  The circular doorway was shrinking rapidly, and Sai panicked, porting to catch the others as the

  Ettin-thing roared and raced behind her.

  Hatch made it through, then Von Wilding, just barely. Sai was halfway out when the Ettin-thing

  grasped her about the waist with its fleshy tentacles and pulled her back into the dark. Within

  seconds, the portal shrank from the size of a wagon wheel to a foxhole.

  ***

  Hatch lunged back into the portal for her, but Von Wilding drew him back. “I can’t have you

  losing an arm,” he said as the hole shrank rapidly down to the size of a rabbit’s burrow.

  Hatch shouted, “No! Sai!” He pulled away from Von Wilding’s grip and tried again, but the

  portal was shrinking incredibly fast.

  “She’s’ gone,” said Von Wilding. “I’m sorry.”

  The monster inside bel owed and then was silent as the portal winked out of existence.

  Chapter 5: The Moor

  Sai was seeing stars. No, not stars. Black birds wheeling far overhead in the steel gray sky. She was outside the tunnel. What a relief. She heard droning and slowly realized it was words. It was Hatch and Von Wilding somewhere nearby. She wanted to cal to them but didn’t have the breath to

  speak yet.

  Hatch raged and kicked at a drooping tree not ten feet from where Sai lay in the reeds. “I

  should have been last.”

  “There was nothing else we could have done,” said Von Wilding.

  “That’s not a good enough answer for me,” Hatch countered angrily.

  Von Wilding looked away, somber as the Moor itself.

  Then they heard Sai’s soft coughing as her breath returned.

  The two men looked to each other, grins appearing where frowns had been worn hard.

  “I thought we lost you,” said Hatch, kneeling beside her.

  “And that would be a bad thing?” she asked with a smirk as she blinked at the Moor’s dim

  sunlight.

  “Yes, it would,” he said, helping her stand. “What’s in your hand?”

  She looked, and beside the dagger were grey hair-like strands that disintegrated into dust and

  blew away with the wind. “Eww, what was that thing?”

  Hatch answered, “I don’t know what kind of chimera or Ettin trol we fought, but I think

  whatever it was, it had been dead for a very long time.”

  “How did you make it?” asked Von Wilding.

  “I could stil see a pinprick of light outside and I stretched for it as I was porting, not sure I

  would make it, but I had to try.”

  “Like a cat,” said Hatch.

  “I’d like to think I’m luckier than that. I used up nine lives a long time ago.”

  Taking a moment to get their bearings, they all saw the great, stretching Moor now. Misty miles

  upon misty, trackless miles of gloomy trees, watery bogs, and the buzzing of noxious insects were

  behind them, while the way forward was even murkier. Looks like I’m in this for the long haul now, bet er to stick with these do-gooders than try and walk all the way back to Crystalia. Who knows? Maybe I could get some wealth of of the rescue of these sil y princesses in the process?

  “I’m back,” said Von Wilding as he inhaled deeply.

  “You say that like you’re grateful,” muttered Sai.

  “It’s my home,” he said. “I don’t expect everyone to see the beauty that I do. It was once a

  green and good land. Someday when I defeat Von Drakk, it wil become so again.”

  “It’s still green,” said Sai. “Even if it is a slimy waste.”

  Von Wilding frowned at that.

  “Wel , you know what I meant,” she said.

  Von Wilding snorted and walked on, scanning the edge of the Moor for the best place to wade

  through the murky waters. It wasn’t more than few good strides before the thick rolling fog hid him

  from view.

  “You were really worried for my sake?” Sai asked Hatch. She was reluctant to show interest, but

  it was so odd to her that she couldn’t resist bringing it up.

  He curled his lips as if tasting something unsavory, but nodded and said, “I wouldn’t want to

  lose anyone under my care. It’s my fault that Wildflower was attacked, and I’l have to atone for that someday.”

  Sai blinked in surprise. “Maybe you’re too hard on yourself. You didn’t ask the witch coven to

  attack.”

  He looked at her and shook his head. “No, but I brought them to her door. She lived far away

  from everyone to avoid that kind of thing,” he lamented.

  Von Wilding cal ed to them. “Over here. I think this is as good a place as any to cross.”

  They went toward the sound of his voice because they already had lost sight of him to the mist.

  “Not a good idea to shout like that,” said Hatch. “Not to mention wandering away without a

  word.”

  Sai chuckled. “Magic Swamp Man is lost already.”

  Hatch frowned. “Trust me, he knows his business. Usual y.”

  “Mmmhmm.” She snickered.

  They stalked toward the sound of his voice and s
till didn’t find Von Wilding, but realized they

  were tromping through a pumpkin patch crawling with spindly green vines and large orange fruit.

  The smel was unwholesome and not at all like the usual rich, earthy scent of a garden.

  “I can’t see his tracks anymore because of this foliage,” Hatch said to himself as much as to Sai.

  “Where is he?” questioned Sai. “It sounded like he was down here.”

  “Keep your blades ready. Something is fishy,” growled Hatch. He drew his sword.

  They continued questing across the great patch with stil no sign of Von Wilding.

  “Over here!” came Von Wilding’s voice once again, but this time from behind them.

  They looked to each other and turned back to go the other way.

  “Stay close. We can’t get separated,” said Hatch.

  Green creeper vines coiled about Sai’s foot and spun over her leg faster than a serpent’s strike.

  Before she could even cry out, wide, foul leaves smashed into her mouth. Hatch spun about,

  swinging his sword at the creepers, keeping himself free.

  Sai ported away, and the vines relaxed and moved toward her new position. She was ready for

  them and cut furiously at the attacking growth.

  “I think we know what happened to Von Wilding,” muttered Hatch as he sliced vines. He

  stomped a pumpkin and the vines fled away, unable to come back.

  “It looks as if we destroy the fruit, the vines retreat,” Sai said. She stopped cutting and ported

  on top of every pumpkin she could see, smashing them to pieces. In a few moments, no more vines

  were coming at them, at least within their own circle of the patch.

  “But where is Von Wilding?”

  “He must be nearby. Maybe those things can mimic his voice?” suggested Hatch.

  “I hear something,” said Sai as she peered into the shifting murk.

  Far into the mist, they heard a growl that burst into a roar. Something unseen was tearing

  through the patch and heading toward them. They looked to each other with their blades ready.

  “That sounded like a wolf,” said Hatch. “A big one.”

  They watched anxiously, but just before the thing reached them, the sound of footsteps

  softened, and Von Wilding came trotting toward them out of the drifting fog.

  “Where were you? I was hoping we lost you,” Sai said with a chuckle.

  “I missed you too,” he answered with a toothy grin.

  Hatch took Von Wilding’s shoulder, asking, “Did you see a wolf?”

  “Vines grabbed me. I got out. I didn’t see a wolf,” he said. “I hardly stepped beyond your line

  of sight when the vines got me. Some eldritch force animating them was able to mimic my voice. I

  tried cal ing out to warn you, but I couldn’t until I cut myself free.”

  Hatch gave him a slightly skeptical look but said, “Next time stay closer. We can’t afford to get

  split up again out here.”

  “I know,” Von Wilding said. “I think we can cross this way.”

  He led them over an exposed patch of the Moor and Sai noticed huge wolf prints in the soft

  earth. Sai pointed at them and Hatch nodded as they followed Von Wilding.

  They came to a reed-covered edge and Von Wilding stepped into the water. It reached his waist.

  “This is the best place to cross?” asked Sai dubiously, looking up and down the Moor.

  “It might not be the shal owest, but it’s the shortest, we’l reach the other bank in time, and we

  shouldn’t have to cross water again for the rest of the day. I think,” said Von Wilding.

  “You think?”

  “I’m familiar with this area, but the Moor changes sometimes. It has its own way.”

  Sai looked at the brackish green water. She couldn’t see into it any better than she could see

  through the ground.

  “Let’s go,” said Hatch as he too jumped into the water.

  Sai gritted her teeth and tried to gingerly step off the embankment into the bog, but she slipped

  and went face first into the water with a splash. She was up in an instant with a big water bug trying to paddle over her wet hair. Her two companions looked at her and tried not to smirk, turning their

  faces away.

  “I’m fine, thanks for asking,” she growled.

  They reached the other side and Sai began wringing her jacket and shirt of the foul water.

  “We’ve stil got some daylight left, we should keep going,” said Von Wilding.

  Hatch held up a hand and asked, “Do you know a good place to camp, not too far from here?”

  “Not a good place,” admitted Von Wilding, “but a place, yes.”

  “How far?”

  “Maybe a mile or two. I think we can make it by around sundown. But it’s hard to tel in the

  Moor. It might already be later than I think it is.”

  “Let’s try then. As long as you think it’s safe.”

  “You’re never safe here. But some places are worse than others.”

  Sai finished squeezing her shirt and threw a leech away just as Hatch waved his arm to continue

  their journey. “Great. I’m all ready,” she said with dripping animosity.

  Chapter 6: The Will-o’-Wisp

  They moved in single file down a deer path that twisted like a snake through the foggy murk.

  Branches scraped at their heads and shoulders, and more than once, briars caught in Sai’s hair. She

  pulled them loose, gritting a curse through her teeth. Gradual y the gray of the mist that covered

  everything like a sheet thickened into a blanket, limiting their vision to just a few steps ahead.

  Von Wilding cautioned them to check their pace and be aware of their surroundings.

  “You’l let me know if you sense anything, won’t you?” asked Hatch.

  “Of course. The moment you step in quicksand. I’l let you know,” she said. She was about to

  laugh when they saw a dancing, yel ow light far out in the fog. “What’s that? Some other traveler?”

  “I doubt it,” Von Wilding whispered as he scanned the murk.

  “They are moving free and easy, seems they must be on a good path,” said Sai.

  “We don’t know who or what it is. I suggest we wait a moment for them to leave,” said Von

  Wilding.

  “Why?” asked Sai.

  “If they are friendly, they’re fine left alone but we don’t know that they’re not unfriendly either.

  It might be a trap,” said Von Wilding.

  “Trap? No one even knows we are out here,” protested Sai.

  Von Wilding gave her a chiding look but returned to watching the light bob along somewhere

  ahead of them, perhaps two dozen yards away.

  “I think it’s just a man, stuck in the mud,” said Sai.

  “I don’t,” grumbled Von Wilding.

  They each looked to Hatch. “It does seem like it could be baiting us,” he said.

  “Well,” suggested Sai, “how about I take a closer look?”

  “I don’t think that’s a very good idea. We shouldn’t split up where we can’t see each other

  again, and considering it’s Glauerdoom Moor, it’s probably a trap.”

  Sai rolled her eyes. “I’m going to look. It’s better than sitting here with you two sourpusses.”

  “Sai! Wait!” yel ed Hatch. But she was gone, porting toward the light.

  Just fifteen feet away, the farthest she had ever ported yet, and she couldn’t see the others

  anymore. Ahead, the light stil danced. She ported two more times, closing half the distance, but it

  didn’t feel like she was getting any closer. How was that possible? She ported ahead faster, sure she

  could catch whomever was holding the lantern. But
each time, it was just as far away. She gauged

  that she had traveled at least seventy feet from the others, and the light remained just as far away.

  That was impossible, especial y since it had been staying in one place for so long when they had

  watched it before. She stopped, and it stopped, but wavered back and forth, inviting, no, taunting

  her to continue the chase.

  She glared at the taunting light. More determined than ever, she blinked and ported, again and

  again.

  The light retreated farther into the gloom, but she was sure of one thing: she was gaining on it.

  She flew by trees with reaching limbs and over crooked little streams and frogs croaking in the

  gloom of twilight. Snakes slithered beneath her porting feet, and again and again she closed the

  distance.

  A being stood with its back to her. It wore a ragged, maroon cloak covered with eldritch sigils

  and held not a lantern, but a staff with a weak light perched at the top.

  Sai grabbed the being by the shoulder. “All right, you! What’s the game?”

  The cloaked being whirled around, and Sai was face to face with a red-eyed skull and its

  ravenous, chomping teeth. It lunged, shrieking insanely, a skeletal hand catching the edge of her shirt and pulling her close. A scythe-like blade swung out from the edge of the staff.

  Sai struck with her daggers. While the thing retreated a step, its crazed wailing only seemed to

  grow louder, throwing a wave of dizzying nausea over Sai like a poisonous cloud.

  She teetered and stumbled, trying to remain upright against this foul attack. Sai caught herself

  on a gnarled mossy tree. The hand of death stretched out, the wailing ringing in her ears like a bel .

  Sai waved her dagger back and forth, trying to ward the foe away.

  Its claw-like hand reached for her just as she ported away.

  Sai fled from the Death Spectre, racing each and every way in the Moor, the hunter now the

  hunted. The fear paralyzed her rational thought, and she flew through the Moor with no direction

  except escape. Just when it seemed she had evaded the thing, it was upon her heels yet again. She

  realized she was screaming. Beyond the wail of the specter, she thought she heard Hatch and Von

  Wilding calling to her.

  She turned once to look back at the chasing specter and saw its bony hand clamp down on her