The bell, as loud as it was, did not seem to be a big deal, judging by the innkeeper’s reaction, but I was so on edge that I Focused, stepping onto my Path and was out of the room while my friends were still stood frozen, the sound of the bell stretching out and attenuating into one long whooom.

Outside, I looked around for any sign of trouble, head swivelling about until I spotted a vast wall of fog that seemed to stretch into space, a solid line of pale grey over the waters of the Crescent. I ran around the corner of the building, looking out over the ocean-sized lake and saw ships surging ahead of the wall, hundreds of them looking tiny in comparison to the edifice of mist.

Not knowing what it meant, I looked around again, this time for somebody to ask; I saw a hundred men and women in mid-run, each heading to the docks at a fraction of my speed, though among them one or two moved faster, and the old man we had met was actually already there, spear stabbed down between two planks as he gathered hooked ropes from crates.

Rushing over to him, I earned myself a quick glance and the raising of one bushy eyebrow; stopping next to him I cut the power to my Focus and Path and let the world rush back into motion so that I could speak to him without sounding like an accelerated chipmunk on helium.

“What’s happening?!”

The old man looked at me, not pausing in his suddenly blindingly fast gathering, but when he spoke his voice almost sounded bored.

“It do be the mist. Ships be coming back to port to be avoiding the Wraith Fish, they do be.”

As he spoke, the others that had been running showed up around us, grabbing ropes as their own and dashing off to man the many jutting stone fingers that made up the port.

“I have no idea what any of that means other than mist, and ships coming back. Why the bell?”

“We do be having to get the ships back inside the boundry before the mist do cover the city, if we want to keep the ships, least ways.”

With a shrug, still not really certain what was about to happen, I began to pull out a rope of my own from one of the many waxed crates, even as my companions ran in around us, querying looks on their faces.

“Apparently, the giant wall of fog is bad, and we’re going to use these ropes on the ships.”

The four of them gave slow nods and began to do as I was, until we each held ropes in each hand, and several hung about our shoulders in imitation of the old man who merely rolled his eyes at us.

Moments passed as the ships approached the rectangular bay, and I saw the first slow to a halt at its mouth. Ropes were thrown from the nearest pier, and the people manning it began to haul the ship into place, as roped were thrown to the one behind it, and so on, the people moving between piers with their excess ropes until they were out, and then the next group taking over.

When it was our turn, I threw my hooked rope and hauled away at the massive ship, its grey bulk dragged through the water as our group strained with the combined might of thousands.

We brought the ships in quickly, astonishingly so by my own limited standards, though it seemed mostly unnecessary; the endless bulk of vapor from which the ships had fled seemed to be almost stood still the entire time we worked, expanding only at its extremes. That is, until it finally reached us, just after the last ship was pulled into the bay.

The final approach was sudden, as if the thing was simply too large for speed to be a factor; one moment the sky was coated in dull clouds, a fine drizzle in the air, and in the next the world was grey and muffled, sparks of bright yellow crackling along the edge of the city, along the stones we had seen when entering.

I could look up into the all-encompassing fog and saw things moving in it, undulating and flexing as if in water, though only ever half-seen. It was dark inside the city then, despite the relatively bright looking fog, until lights began to glow softly along the streets and inside buildings, and of course the momentary, flickering light of whatever wards kept the mist outside.

“So, I take it these Wraith Fish are bad news then?”

“That they be, lad. That they do be. One’ll strip a Core stage to bone in a second, and there be enough in the mist to do the same to even a Pinnacle, should they be caught outside.”

“... People really like building cities in some weird, dangerous places here.”

I turned to Reff, who was watching the shadows which moved in the light of the wards.

“Are the blacksands home to some ancient, inscrutable evil?” I turned to Darina, “And the Sha Forest, what murdery thing lives there?”

“With vague confusion, the blacksands are populated by a great many sand sharks, like the one we encountered, Hunter.”

“Oh, yeah, the thing that ate me. I guess that counts.”

I saw Darina about to open her mouth, a wry smile on her face, but I interrupted her, recalling my time in the Sha Forest.

“And yeah, I guess there were lots of thing's intent on our gruesome death in the Sha Forest too.”

With a sigh, I turned back to the old man to ask when the mist would pass, since it seemed to be a fairly regular occurrence, but he had already vanished as I had been speaking to my friends.

“You know... Hunter... just because you can move quickly, does not mean you should. You could have waited for us to leave the inn with you.”

Looking at Toria, Iresisted the urge to defend myself; the irritation at all the delays - compounded now by the murder-mist – was eating away at what calm I had, but that was not her fault.

“Sorry, Toria. I’ve been kind of on edge, as sure you all noticed. I heard the bell and just... reacted. I know something is going on as we speak, but we’re stranded far from... everywhere. And now we’re trapped in this city for who knows how long. I guess I wondered for a second if it was happening here, so I could be involved. Help.”

“We’ve all been feeling tense... Hunter. None of us want the Risen Throne doing any damage we can prevent.”

“Toria is right, fool. We’re just invested as you are, if not more so. They attacked some of our homes, remember.”

I nodded, slightly guilty, and looked down at the wood-boarded ground; I had started to go off on my own more, though not doing that was difficult, since I was considerably faster than they were. But as I had found out more than once, there were people out there that speed could not beat, and as fast as I was, there was bound to be somebody faster somewhere. The world is wide, after all, and time is deep. Or so they tell me.

“With calm understanding, perhaps we could go back to our inn, and ask the innkeeper how long this phenomenon might last?”

“With considered agreement, that is a good idea, sister.”

I watched for a moment as people walked off the ships we had helped pull in; men and women carrying boxes and nets, a pale white glow peeking out from cracks and gaps. I wondered what the moon lotus did that would make living there worth the weather, but figured that if we were going to be trapped there for a time, there would be plenty of time to ask.

*

***

*

“Six months?!”

My voice was louder than I had expected it to be, but I was truly shocked in that moment and not quite in control of myself. We had been traveling for the better part of two months at that point, in the hope of finding a way to get back home in a period that was measured in less than years, but there we were, trapped inside a bubble of slaughter-fog, for a minimum of six months according to our innkeeper.

“That be the minimum, it do be. Lasted for the better part of two years, once, if I recall right. And I do.”

I looked around at my friends, who seemed as shocked at the given time-frame as I was; it had even elicited raised eyebrows and partially opened mouths from the risi, which was their equivalent of a scream of surprise.

“And there’s no way out? We can’t... dig through the ground or, turn a boat up-side-down or something?”

“Been a while since we tried those things, I admit, but they were tried. Dig underground, and the mist be waiting for you, out beyond the barrier it do. And they cut right through wood or metal; nasty be they.”

“What about abilities? How do the fish like... fire? Or lightning?”

“Saw a man covered in fire venture out, once. Never saw him again, he might have got out, that be true. I don’t know ‘bout the rest.”

“... Thanks.”

The five of us moved away, taking seats around a table; the common room was starting to will as those that had been out on the water filtered into the inn – and I assumed other alehouses – to fill their time, since they were unable to go back out. In one corner, on a slightly raises stage, a woman pulled out some long, stringed instrument and laid it across her lap and back to play it like a horizontal harp of some kind. The rumble of conversation picked up, and I spotted several groups playing dice, or cards.

“We need to get out, or at least try.”

“With partial agreement, it would be better if we could find a way to leave, in the absence of a skyship, Hunter. But we can help nobody if we are dead.”

“I’m sure we can get out, Reff. Darina can heal through almost anything, Toria and I are fast – and Toria can probably make a cage to keep them out if she needs to. You have your lava armour and Riffa - Riffa, can you make one big puppet and like... hide inside it?”

“With subtle distaste, I can create a single large sculpture, in which I can perhaps fit, but such seems wasteful of my Path. I can see how it might be useful in this instance, however.”

“Okay, so we have a plan. I think I should try first, I can move as fast as a Pinnacle, if I can borrow some Veritas...? Or faster if that old man’ll let me punch him... seems unlikely though.”

I said the last very quietly, not wanting to be overheard; taking Experience directly from a person was considered impossible and I did not want to advertise my capacity. Vampires, as few as they apparently were, could take energy, but only that which lingered in the blood after they consumed it. And of course, The Shadow Faced guy seemed more than capable of it. I hoped my ability was not related to his, but if it was, I would take any advantage I could get in taking him out.

At my words, both Toria and Darina crossed their arms, giving me withering looks; they had both just got done telling me to stop leaving them behind and there I was offering to do it again. But at least that time, I had a fairly solid reason.

“With marginal hesitation, you may take some of mine, Hunter. I am still attempting to build my Foundation, but this may be worth the loss, provided it is not too heavy a drain.”

“I don’t actually know how much it uses, uh, hopefully not a lot? They can’t be that fast, they’re flying fish, maybe I can even outrun them without?”

“Were you not listening when that old man said they have taken out a Pinnacle before, fool?”

“Right. Cheating it is then!”