by Mary Coffin
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Bit by bit, they chipped away at the cloud; Loki worked on it from the outside while Morten and Silas continued from the inside. Loki wondered why this cloud was harder to abolish and, at one point, she reached out to touch it. It stuck to her finger. She tried to wipe it off on her pants but it stuck to them. She peeled it off and wiped it on the ground but ended up with a pile of pebbles and dirt attached to it. Its sticky property was strong, which is why they could only break through one chunk at a time.
The holes that Morten and Silas worked on started opening more rapidly and Loki heard more voices.
“Waysu?” Loki hollered.
“Yeah.”
“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. I just hunkered down and held tight until Silas found me. I never thought about trying to vaporize this cloud,” explained Waysu.
“And, Kado?” asked Loki.
“He’s…he’s fine but we need to get him out. He’s lost some blood.”
Loki changed position and began working her way toward Waysu’s voice, to give Kado a direct route out. She began cutting a path and suddenly came across the lower half of someone’s leg. It spooked her and she jumped back. The person wasn’t moving. She tapped the leg but still no movement. Carefully she dissolved the fog around the person and uncovered a white tunic with a gold sash. It was a man with a blood stain spread across his chest. He was a member of the Guardians of Light. She felt for a pulse but there was none.
Loki stood and pointed the gold crystal at him. “Abeo.”
She stared at the spot where the body had just been and wondered about her brother, Tannis. Could he be in the fog? Or was he vaporized? Did she have any family left?
Just then, the cloud before her thinned and there was movement on the other side. Loki stepped back to avoid getting caught in the direct line of force from the crystal on the other side. Within moments, Silas broke through the sticky mist. Behind him was Kado, being helped by another Overseer. Loki saw the blood on his shirt sleeve and an extra piece of cloth had been torn and used as a bandage but blood was leaking through.
Loki gasped and her hand covered her mouth. Kado smiled at her as they walked past.
“It’s not as bad as it looks,” he said.
Next in line was Waysu. She and Loki hugged briefly. Then Waysu continued on her way, knowing there were others behind her.
A few more Overseers stepped through and then a small group of fairies buzzed past so fast, the line was blurred as Loki watched; their high pitched trills revealing their excitement. Last, came Morten.
He studied Loki’s face and smiled. “The crystal. Is it all right?” he asked.
Loki nodded. “Yes, it’s fine.”
Morten looked relieved. “I saw the Lord of the Brethren right before the fog engulfed us. He was with an old woman. Did you encounter them anywhere?”
“They made it inside. The woman turned out to be my sister, Elwyn.”
Morten looked surprised and then his head nodded, as if it suddenly made sense.
“Where are they now?” he asked.
Loki didn’t respond. She opened her palm to show him the charred stump of the rod that held the gold crystal.
“Aahh. I see.” He placed his arm around Loki’s shoulder as they walked out of the cloud. “It looks like you have a story to tell.”
SIXTY THREE
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