Hmm...slightly longer chapter. I'm not sure if I quite got the feel right. I tried me best. Just imagine this taking place on one of those days where the whole land is shrouded in thick, white mist and all you can see of it is your own little bubble of visibility, a frail little shell of a world.
Will was the first one to wake in the morning. He went outside to use a tree and to make sure the horses were still there. It was foggy out. White fog, dropping like a curtain just beyond the reach of the tree's branches to obscure the rest of the world. It was bright, in a strange, directionless way. Idly, Will wondered if the tree was somehow keeping back the fog.
The wind shifted and carried the scent of fir to him. He quickly focused on other matters.
With his bladder emptied and the horses seen to, Will decided to be nice and bring Jake some bread for his breakfast. He dug around in the saddlebag and broke off a sizeable hunk of the tough black stuff.
Tossing the bread from hand to hand, Will didn't notice the tree root near his feet. He stumbled and toppled forward, catapulting the loaves several paces ahead. Will heaved himself back up and chuckled. He strolled over to the dropped breakfast and was stooping to grab them when he froze. His gaze locked on the small fungi just past the bread.
He hurried around the circle of fog, the one held back by the tree. Yes, there were toadstools all around the perimeter. He came back full circle--
--but the bread wasn't there.
"Jake…? Jake?" Will called out, rooted to the spot. No answer from the tent.
"JAKE!" he hollered.
"Hmm? Whu?" Jake slurred sleepily, sticking his head out of the tent. "Wha' is it?" he asked, yawning.
"Get out here. You have to see this!" Will hissed. Jake obligingly stumbled out of the tent and shuffled over to his brother.
"I ask again, what is it?" said Jake dryly, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"This. This! This circle, this fog, this tree, this, this--" Will gestured, the motion taking in the whole off-putting clearing. "--this whole place! We're in a fairy ring, Jake. A perfect circle. I checked. And someone's doing this. The noises we heard last night, the--the things moving back there in the fir trees, everything! I dropped some bread here and saw the ring, so I followed it around and when I came back the bread was gone. The horses are nervous and there aren't any animals. You're the scholar, Jake. What in hell is going on?"
Jake snatched up one of the saddlebags and dug around, eventually fishing up an old book, so old the leather was cracking and half-gone. He fumbled with it for a moment before flipping to the index.
"Elves, elves, elves…" he muttered to himself as his fingers flew across the pages. "AH!' He jabbed his finger at a passage. "Here. It says they can…hmmm…"
Jake lapsed into silence, studying the page. Will was trying to surreptitiously read over his shoulder when Jake closed the book with a snap.
"I think," Jake began slowly, "all we have to do is lead the horses up the path. Let's pack up and keep going. And Will, I do mean we walk the horses. As long as we stay on the path, we'll be fine. The horses won't know whether we're on the path or off, and we can't afford that."
"Yes, great, fine, but why is everything so strange?" Will said, exasperated.
"You don't need to worry about that. Just remember to stay on the path." Jake thought for a moment. "Perhaps it's best if I go first," he suggested.
"Damn it, Jake! Just tell me what's going on!" hollered Will. "How hard is that?"
"I don't know what's going on, Will," Jake told him quietly. "I don't know. There's pages about fairy rings and some on mist, but I--I don't even know what this tree is! I haven't seen anything like it before."
Will started to speak but he was cut off by his increasingly hysterical brother.
"Will, I'd swear to God and the heavens it was moving or some such last night, but it's precisely the same as it was when we first saw it, so I can't prove or disprove anything. We'd been lost for hours because half of this terrain isn't on the map the villagers drew, and it's too quiet and I couldn't sleep at all last night so I can't think straight. I only know that fairy rings shouldn't sprout in those colours, and mist should fade when we walk towards it, even the fey kind, and there shouldn't be these lights that shine everywhere from nowhere and…and…"
Jake broke off, tossing the book back to the bags and slumped down.
"There's nothing useful in the book, Will. It doesn't say anything about this. Nor do any of the others. We're off the map and without a guide."
He allowed his head to fall onto his forearms.
"Will, I think we're truly in over our heads this time," he said.
"Nonsense! We are the Brothers Grimm, my dear Jake. Now stop whining and come get your horse. Let's get out of this godforsaken spot."
Jake was just finishing packing the tent when Will came back with the horses. He tossed Falada's reins to Jake. They hit Jake in the head, earning Will his first Reproachful Glare of the day.
Jake had his nose in another book and was trying to puzzle out the awful map. Will's gaze raked over the campsite. Satisfied, he turned and followed his brother up the mountain and into a landscape of mist.