Chapter 6. The Hollow Road
The fog took hold of us right as we passed through that tower door.
It hung thicker out there. Heavier than the stuff that had floated around the village in the past. The Citadel seemed to have gripped the whole valley tighter,every breath came cold,It stung the lungs sharp.
Those six villagers stuck close behind me. They bunched up tight. Mrs. Dalren stayed right at my side. She held her lantern in both hands. She gripped it that way as if it could somehow keep the darkness away.
It could not do that.
No thing could.
The fog crowded in around us all. It twisted up our legs like threads that moved on their own. I could hardly make out the houses along that narrow path. Just dim shapes of rooftops showed through the haze.
"Stay close"I whispered.
My words came out muffled in all that fog. They got swallowed before any echo could form.
A kid whimpered back there somewhere. His mother shushed him soft. Her voice trembled.
We kept moving,one step at a time
Every few seconds some thing brushed by us. Cold touches,light as feathers. Not from any wind. A shape moved off to my left,another one floated behind. They kept shifting. Kept circling us. Like they waited for one wrong move.
The Citadel kept its watch on us.
The boy who clung to his mother looked up at me then.
"Is it going to eat us??" he whispered.
Mrs. Dalren almost tripped at those words.
I bent down a bit,i kept my tone even.
"No,Not if you stay close, not if you ignore the voices."
He nodded. Tears gleamed in his eyes still.
The old man back there muttered soft.
"I heard someone call my name in the fog,I think it was my sister"
She has been dead for fifteen years.
The old woman whispered back. Her tone cut sharp.
"That was not her,do not answer it"
Some thing scraped the stones off to our right.
A long drag sound came next.
Slow
Measured
I lifted my lantern higher. The stuttered violently,but a flicker of light caught a shape crouched near the corner of a house
A creature.
Tall.
But bent down like a hinge snapped bad.
Limbs stretched too long.
Head tipped sideways,like it listened close.
Its skin, if it could be called that, looked like fog squeezed tight over an empty frame. Clear in spots,wavy in others.
It stayed put until the light hit it full.
Then it faded out
Not by shifting away.
But by breaking into fog.slipping to pieces.
Mrs. Dalren let out a gasp.
"Elias,they are learning now,they hide from the light"
"I know,"I said.
That scared me worse than anything else that night.
We pushed ahead still
The path to the chapel normally took three minutes, tonight it felt endless.
Every few steps brought a new sound. Boards creaked overhead,some heavy thing shifted on a roof,faint knocks hit windows without glass anymore.
At one house the fog pulled back just a touch. We saw a handprint on the door.
Fresh one
Pressed into the wood as though it had sunk into it.
The mother behind me whispered a prayer low.
Thin footprints showed up ahead. They led into the white deeper.
Bare feet
Small ones
Too small
Mrs. Dalren grabbed my sleeve tight.
"Is that....."she started.
"No"I cut in quick. Before the fear could settle more.
"No child has walked this road alive since the fog rolled in"
Her breath caught hard.
The villagers hesitated ,fear pinning them in place.
"We keep moving"I said.
Standing still would pull those creatures nearer
We followed the path along. Turned left by the old bakers shop,the one with its door ripped clean off the hinges,flour dust streaked the ground pale,it mixed with fog until the whole spot looked drowned in ash.
A voice lifted sudden from behind us.
Soft one
Broken
It called my name
"Elias.... Please.....Help me...."
Mrs. Dalren jerked back.
"That is her again,the fake one"
"No"I said slow. Cold knotted in my chest.
"That is not the false Liora"
"Then who??"she started.
Another voice cut in,different sound all together
A desperate strained whisper.
"Elias, do not listen to her"Do not go to her.
Two Liora voices now
From opposite direction
Opposite intentions
The Citadel was playing with me.
It tested me
It peeling openold scars.
"We keep walking"I said sharply.
"Eyes ahead"
"Ears shut"
But the villagers had halted already.
One man stared into the fog,his hands shook bad.
"I...hear my wife... she's calling for me...,she died last winter"
The old woman whispered fierce.
"It is not her"
He stepped shaky toward that voice anyway.
I caught his arm.
"You step off the path, and you die!"
Tears filled his eyes.
"But she sounded so real...."
A loud crack split the air then,like a tree trunk broke clean in two.
The fog ahead twisted up,it rolled back in a quick swirl.
Some thing stepped through it.
Not gliding smooth.
Not crawling low.
Walking plain.
Human shape.
A man this time.
Broad shoulders.
Head down.
He dragged some thing along the ground behind.
Mrs. Dalren held her lantern up high.
The figure raised his face.
His eyes were empty sockets
No blood trailed
No cuts showed
Just pits hollow,filled with fog.
The thing he dragged behind was a door,an entire wooden door,torn from someone's home.
Deep scratches marked the front,like hands clawed from inside,countless ones.
The villagers cried out
I moved forward on instinct
But Mrs. Dalren grabbed my arm
"Elias,do not, It is another trap"
The figures mouth stretched wide.
No lips
No teeth
Just dark
Then he spoke,dozens of voices layered in. Same as the false Liora from the tower.
"HE BELONGS TO US"
The fog shook hard,shapes moved all around
I lifted the lantern. Yelled out, "MOVE!"
We ran.
The villagers crowded behind me close. They tripped on rough stones. Sobbed as fog wrapped their feet.
The chapel bell tower rose up ahead at last.Barely visible Just a shadow in the dark.
But it stood real
Solid structure
Spot the fog couldn't sleep in
"We are close!" I shouted,keep running.
Sounds came from behind,bodies hit the ground heavy,thuds not human.
The creatures followed
Dozens of them, maybe Or more.
Their footsteps were wrong.
Too soft
Too many
Like padded feet tapping stone.
One villager screamed,"They are right behind us!"
The boy stumbled
His mother grabbed him but nearly fell herself.
I scooped the kid without thought. Ran faster,his small arms locked around my neck in terrified instinct.
He pressed his face to me,"Please do not let them get me" he sobbed.
"I will not"
The chapel doors showed at last. Two big wooden slabs,iron bands held them strong.
Mrs. Dalren hit them first,she rammed her shoulder into one creaked slowly
"Hurry!" she yelled.
The villagers rushed inside
I came last.
As I crossed the threshold,a cold hand closed around my coat from behind and yanked hard.
Ibstumbled backward,almost dropping the child.
Mrs. Dalren screamed my name.
I twisted loose. Just as a long grey arm shot through the door,thin as rope,jointed wrong
Another followed
Then one more.
Hands clawed the air,reached for us,stretched longer than they should.
I shoved the door with my shoulder,Mrs. Dalren pushed from inside,we slammed it shut together.
A loud bang rang through the chapel.
Then.
Silence.
Nothing pushed the doors.
Nothing tried to bust in.
The fog outside pulsed once in irrigation
Then it went still.
Inside the chapel the villagers dropped down tired,the boy cried soft in my arms.
His mother took him close.
Mrs. Dalren leaned on a wooden pew. Breathed heavy.
"It will not hold forever,"she whispered.
"You know that, Elias???
"I know"
The Citadel did not try to break in yet,it wanted me out there again.
The old man came up slow.
"Is it true?What you said up there,the Citadel calls only for you??"
"Yes"I said plain.
"Then what now??"
I looked to the altar. An old mirror hung there once,shattered years back,just the empty frame stayed.
But the Citadel did not need a frame.
It needed glass
And there were still mirrors here
Hidden in conrners,stored in old cabinet, waiting for me.
I drew a deep breath.
"I go after it," I said,
"You all stay until sunrise.
The old woman shook her head.
"Sunrise will not drive that thing off, boy"
"I know"
Mrs. Dalren stepped up beside me,her face went pale,eyes held steady.
"When do we leave??"she asked.
"You are not coming" I said.
"Yes, I am"
And before I could push back,a whisper floated through the cracked windows.
Soft
Familiar
It echoed
"Elias...."
The villagers went still.
Mrs. Dalren gripped my arm.
"That was not the false one," she said.
"Yes I know"
For the first time,the voice rang true.
Liora
Alive
Chained deep in the Citadel. waiting for the one who ran from her before.
Not this time
I looked at the group
"Rest"I told them.
Then I reached for the small silver mirror by the altar,dull with dust but still intact
My reflection shifted
The Citadel moved....