Though quite elaborate it must have been in it's prime, the wooden carriage I rode in now creaked with slight hesitation as we went along the dirt road. Peeking outside the curtain, I would see as to why. So would the driver, as he pulled on the reigns to bring the horses to a sharp pause. He looked over his shoulder, seeing I was looking outside to see the cause of the delay, and said, "Last chance to turn back, Miss."
"That would imply that I wished for a chance," I replied without a second thought, "Please continue on."
"Yes, mam," he said.
"Please, hurry. I don't exactly know what will happen the longer we take," I urged him as he cracked his whip in the air to drive the horses into a bit of a gallop.
I kept the dusty, torn curtains open now so I could watch the scenery seeming to race by. Lush forests of spring time gradually fell more and more barren. An autumn chill creaked through the slivers of openings in the door that couldn't seal itself shut any longer. The dry road began to splash and spit as the horses hooves hit what was becoming slick cobblestone the further we went. Empty hands of trees clawed for the sun that would never be in their grasp. Even the moon eluded the brittle fingers of dead bark it seemed. All I could guess was that it was somewhere in midday, for otherwise it would have been much, much darker.
"There's a town ahead, but that's as far as I go," the driver warned before a coughing fit arose in his throat, "This fog is always such a bother to get through."
"You will paid well for your trouble, and I understand our agreement. I'll either find my own way out, or I won't," I said, my voice unwavering as I mentioned my options.
"Is it *cough* worth the risk,...*hack* this chase of yours?" he asked through his attempts to clear his throat.
"That's why I'm here," I assured him, and myself.
After several more minutes of racing down the road, we at last drew to a pause before an inn towards the front of town.
"Here we are, Miss," he announced, "Shall I let you out?"
"I've got it, thank you," I assured as I grabbed my pack and pushed the door open with a sharp, creak of resistance.
Hopping out, I would turn to see that the carriage now looked like it was barely holding itself together. It's brass hinges were now rusted over. The wooden wheels warned that they may splinter at any moment. Curtains hanging inside were practically transparent, allowing me to see through both windows.
The poor driver, already bent forward from the hunch on his back, continued to cough and wheeze with discomfort. Walking up to him, I offered up a potion that I placed in his shaking hand he was trying to shake mine with, "Here, I won't need it."
"Miss...*cough*...it's dangerous in these mists...*wheeze*...you'll need all the resources you can get..." he warned.
"I will be fine," I insisted while retrieving the coin purse I set beside the rounded glass bottle of transparent blue liquid, "And there's more than enough for a new carriage and then some if you need it."
"*hack* That's generous of you, Mi Lady; but why...*cough*...are you...*hack*...so insistent?"
"I have to be at this point," I said with a cheerful smile breaking through the my quiet demeanor, "Thank you, for everything."
"Good luck in your journey. *wheeze*...I hope you find what you're looking for," he said while looking over me with one pale blue eye, and the other quite vibrant and brown.
"It's not just about finding it," I mentioned with hope maintaining, "It's being able to steal it."
He gave a bit of a coughing chuckle, before turning to the horses and cracking the whip once more. With that he turned them around and headed back the way we had come from. As the creaking of the wheels and harsh whinnies of the horses grew fainter, I turned to the lonely tavern.
From just outside it's closed off doors, I could feel the warning echoing off of it's shingles. May your stay be brief, it said to me in a disheartened tone. For it's stone walls were even cracking with age, but it was simply too stubborn to crumble. I was relying on this as I went inside despite it's creaking door hinges pleading me, "Tuuurnnn...baaackkk!"
Inside the dismal tavern were a few wandering souls just trying to find some warmth within the mugs they held. One or two travelers would look up as I stepped in wearing attire that didn't quite match the energy of the town I'd wandered into. Wearing a deep burgundy tunic, with a black garter parclosed in place at my hips, it's buckle latched at the right side. Clasped at the center of my collar bone was a deep cloak of ebony that reached nearly to my ankles. The hood to it was up at the moment, hiding my long hair, that was woven into a braid, along with most of my face. Leglets and armlets that matched, accented my long sleeves and leggings. The former being of midnight blue linen and the latter warm black. Tied to my hip and pulled up over the bottom piece of my tunic, was a dark blue skirt that ruffled up at the ends as it fell in a handkerchiefed style. The sleeves of my undershirt flared out with elaborately attached frills and lace to cover my hands if they rested at my sides. My gloves helped when they weren't, enveloping my fingers with their soft leather not making a sound when they moved. Pulled up to my knees were a pair of velvet burgundy cuffed, black boots. Their softly clicking against the wood floor as I approached the barkeep.
"Poor soul," one of the merchants muttered while shaking their head.
I paid little heed to this as I walked up to the counter and placed some coins on the thickly dust covered top, "I just need a room to stay in for a night."
"You could be stuck here a while," the dwarven inn keeper warned, "Carriages don't pass through often. Yours was the first one I've heard in weeks."
"I'm prepared for the possibility," I stated.
"The rare hopeful graces our presence," he scoffed, "You must be new around the mists...I'd say turn back and leave, but you probably can't. Not many people can find their way out of town when they try. So they linger on, scraping by."
"I'm not as new to the idea as you would think," I mentioned while looking over the counter at the options of drinks.
"An adventurer then?" he asked.
"Something like that," I said with a smile while taking note of the battle worn shield hanging upon the wall behind him.
As he reached for a glass from under the counter to clean the dust out of, I would also notice the nub of a digit where his right pinkie finger should have been. He glanced over and said, "Lost it to a goblin a long time ago."
"I see," I offered my sympathy.
"Are you looking for something in particular?" he asked, his curiosity tugged at as he looked over the counter to find the sheathed saber at my hip.
"Interesting legends, I suppose?" I mused, "And something tells me you're not a stranger to them?"
"You're in the right place for that at least, lass. Though rather than ballads of fantastical beasts and grand heroes, tales of horror are heard here, friend," he warned, "The mists crave the dread it spreads with it's grasp."
"I'm not here to simply turn away with an imagined tail between my legs," I assured, "I'll pay you for your trouble, friend."
"You understand speaking of such things can bring them upon our heads?" he raised a brow as I slipped a few gold coins onto the counter.
"That's why I'm offering to pay what I can, but there's always a risk in my line of work," I pushed carefully, "Perhaps I can help with whatever it is."
"Well, I'm not the sort he would want anyway," the red headed dwarf shrugged while looking over me, "You're the one I would be concerned for, if I had any left to share."
"It seems you do," I chuckled lightly, "Or you wouldn't be warning me as much as you are."
With a heavyhearted sigh, he finally said, "I suppose you're right."
"Please, ease your conscience, and tell me what you know of this soul?" I requested while pushing back the hood of my cloak, revealing my human face and the braid my hair was woven into.
"Soul is a certainly odd word to use," he mentioned while pondering over it a moment more, "Alright, Miss."
I brushed my hand over the bar-seat to dismiss the lingering dust, and hopped onto it when it had resettled. He offered me a drink of my choice to wet my throat as I listened. A cold glass of milk proved to be most comforting to hold in my gloved hands and sip from.
"This place you've wandered into, is a town and isn't all at once. It's a space in the center of the mists, and at the edges of it. Sometimes souls can find their way out, or they only get more lost than they were before," he started, "When realizing I could no longer find my own way of escape, I gave up and built this tavern. Besides, I'd lost too many comrades to ever feel brave enough to see the sunlight again...but this was my way of aiding fellow adventurers that may pass by, or at least provide shelter to those that were also stuck here with me."
"The mists arrive when they want is what I've come to see," I mentioned with a nod, "You could end up on an island when you were in the center of a landlocked city, or find strange morning in the middle of the midnight hours."
"I see this isn't your first journey through them. You know of the dark lords of what's called the dread domains then, as some adventurers have been known to call them?"
"I've hopped in and out of them before," was all I was willing to say.
"You are a brave soul to have survived the horrors of just one and live to speak of it," he noted, "Even just slipping in and out of a domain can cost you something."
"Who's to say it didn't?" I said in a softened voice.
Clearing my throat, I pushed, "Please, sir?"
He nodded with some understanding not to push back, "Well, there's said to be, what we call, a Dark Lord that loves to wander between the pockets of domains. He has no land to call his own, but rather the mists themselves seem to be his home. It's as though he is free, and has been caught at the same time."
"Perhaps he is avoiding being caught?" I ventured.
"That seems to be just it," he admitted.
"Does he simply wander?"
"A Dark Lord never just wanders. Slipping through the mists, no one ever hears him coming. It's said he was possibly a master thief in his former life, if he ever had one. Those who have run into him and lived to talk about, spoke of prized treasures being lifted from their grasp. Gold, gems, prized pets, and..."
"And?" I pushed on.
"And hearts."
"Hearts?"
"I have seen it once, and heard of it a few more times here and there. A young woman that encountered him, fell victim to his charms, and thus had her heart stolen away. What he did with it, no one knows. She could no longer feel any sort of emotion, whether it be the sorrow of missing such things, or the relief of it no longer weighing on her. Not even the anger to fuel her need to reclaim it. She simply went on, merely existing. Some say she may have withered away without it in time," he said with a twisting grimace washing over his thickly bearded face.
"Do you think he's looking for one in particular?" I winced as my smile grew crooked from a sudden sharp sensation in my chest.
"Who knows, and I don't wish to find out!" he said while throwing his hands up, shaking his head, "I pray you don't either."
"So you do have concerns to give?" I mentioned with some cheer returning to my face, "It's very kind of you."
"It's more so that I don't want his trouble leading back to here for having told you about him!" he insisted in a gruff manner.
"I'll do my best to see that it doesn't. Who knows what the mists have in store for me while I'm here. I may wander right back out, or find myself in another pocket of it," I pointed out.
He gave a slight sigh, "Well, finish your milk then and get the rest you will probably need. That's all I can give you."
"It's more than enough," I insisted with a revived smile, before finishing off my milk and heading up to my room for the remainder of the day.
It was difficult to tell until it was very late into the night that time was even passing at all. A blanket of ebony blended with the thickening mists, begging for those within walls to stay where they were. A warning I couldn't heed as I prepared to slip out into that drowning fog.
Standing before the mirror, I made sure my attire was well suited for the venture into the mists. A corset of velvet burgundy and flexible black feather was worn over an undershirt of silk gray and matching maroon that raced along the sleeves. Those sleeves would slip within my elbow high gloves, with burgundy armlets buckled just under my elbows, and the spikes protruding out from the leather along my forearms. Around the waist of my corset was a strong leather belt to carry pouches, tools, and my scabbard with. Form fitting leggings of deep ebony reached down to my ankles, and covered my soft heeled boots that masked my footsteps perfectly. My long black cloak was now replaced with one that was similar, but it ended at the back of my knees, and was lined with burgundy to accent it well with the rest of my attire. Over the upper half of my face was an elegant masquerade mask, in which below my eyes it reached down as though crying to a point along both cheeks. It's color was the same deep black to go with the rest of my attire.
Stepping back from the cracked pane of glass, I gave a nod and turned to the window. Then with little effort, the latch was unlocked at the top of it, and I was slipping out onto the roof. With a grappling hook, and a bit of rope, I descended into that strangling fog without a moment's hesitation. After retrieving both the hook and rope into my pack, I stepped onto the slick cobblestone without a sound.
Silent was the night around me, with only the distant howling of beasts trickling in and out of earshot. However, this didn't mean that the midnight around me was devoid of life, or the imitation of life at least. It were as though I could feel the rustling of dead vegetation, causing my nerves to jump until I focused on settling them. My hand reached for something resting just below my collar bone. My glove encased fingers would grasp for the familiar gold chain linked around my neck, the open collar of my undershirt to revealing it. The deep blue sapphire glistened in spite of the lack of light caught in it's depths, almost as though it had some bursting from within it's heart cut shape.
"It's a heart you're seeking?" I mused just barely over a whisper, "I guess I should step lightly then?"
Through the mists, I attempted to make out the warping structures of buildings. Beckoning castles, bewildering laboratories to navigate in and out of, entangling wilderness, and other such places almost made themselves visible as I walked along. However, it seemed none of these pockets of space could decide on who would claim me.
Tree branches reached for me, but then let my sleeves and cloak slip through their gnarled fingertips. Yet the fog would grow all the thicker, hiding the foreboding lands hinted at. As it did, I could have sworn that my very own shadow was coming to life behind me. My hand tightly squeezed the sapphire as I steadied my breathing, and the racing heart in my chest. My other rested against the hilt of my saber, hovering over it in preparation for what may come next.
The warmth of a grasp that nearly fell over my shoulders, before I quickly spun around on my heel to face what I knew wasn't simply my shadow. My hand remained trained against the hilt of the blade hanging from my hip as I looked up at who wasn't there before me. However, that didn't mean they weren't around. Rewarding me for knowing this, was the chuckling of a wispy, smooth, but aged voice that trickled into my ears, "It's been a long while, since such a lovely heart has caught my eye."
"Would this heart be the one that catches you, I wonder?" I ventured without drawing the sword.
He gave a bit more of a laugh from within the mists, his footsteps hidden along with him, "No one's been able to catch me yet, sweetheart. Feel free to try, if ya must."
With this I stepped back slightly as he grabbed for my hand. Looking to see, I would find a gloved hand reaching out from the mists. They were almost too slender in their structure, with an unearthly grace as the fingers played with the fog itself in their dance. When he realized they'd missed their target, he pulled the hand back in. I knew listening for him was useless, and looking almost just as much so. Still, my eyes searched through the dense vapors obstructing my vision. Even a slight glimpse of this rogue would prove useful to me.
So I ventured, "Would there be other hearts after you claim mine? Or would this be enough to slake your desire?"
"Perhaps, I won't know until I hold it," he said in a still collected manner, "Of course, you could always give it to me?"
"Is it really giving it to you, if you were planning to steal it away?" I questioned as that strangely slender hand was now offered to me.
"I suppose not. Either way, once I've decided I want somethin', there's little that can hold me back from slippin' it from one's grasp," he assured with confidence echoing in his tone.
It was then that I felt another hand grasp my shoulder. An extended finger traced my neckline, and slipped under the gold chain of my necklace. I realized the tips of those gloves fingers ended with razor sharp claws, extending out like a cat's, but never cut into my flesh as he brushed my throat. Their slight touch sent shudders through my thin frame. They were simply extensions of his hands meant to be used as tools, I realized as he began to search for the clasp of my necklace, "It seems you have two hearts I could claim?"
His voice was playful in tone, but there was no question of his intent.
As he went to unclasp the chain, being just as careful not to ensnare the strands of hair that had grown loose near it, I took a quick breath and said, "I want to hear who you are first. Before I give you my heart."
"What's that, darlin'?" he asked with a bit of laughter in his surprised tone.
"You can steal my heart away, if you tell me who you are," I stated firmly.
"I feel there's more of a catch to this?" he chuckled.
"I just want to hear your story, if you're willing to share it? To hear what brought you to be the skilled thief I've heard of?"
"You were lookin' for me?" he asked, but his hand didn't pull away, either of them.
"I've heard many stories of the Dark Lords of these mists, but yours has made me the most curious? A wandering rogue eluding a true capture through the domains, master of all...but king of none of his own? Do you remember how this came to be?"
His voice paused briefly, before admitting, "That I do, and quite vividly."
"Will you tell it to me, and see if you can steal my heart away as you do?" I requested.
"Are you sure you want to hear it? The one lying in your chest may very well break if I tell it," he warned, sounding slightly pained for a brief moment.
"I feel it's a fair trade if I'm to lose it either way," I pointed out.
With that, I looked to his hand. It had faltered briefly at my strange request. Drawn back into the fog as he pondered over my wish. Then he chuckled, "Are ya sure that's what ya want?"
I didn't even think about it before I nodded my head, "It is."
The mist wafted around his moving frame, acting as though he were giving a graceful bow. Yet all I saw was his hand as it was offered to me, "Alright then, sweetheart?"
An unexpected tug could be felt in my chest as he addressed me. With it, I placed my right hand within his grasp, throwing caution to the wind as I did. His slender fingers elegantly wrapped around it, almost caressing it as a cloaked figure would briefly lean forward through the mists, lifting my hand at the same time. For a brief moment, my heart would skip a beat, as gentle lips brushed over my hand...
"Was that your first kiss I jus' stole?" he ventured when he noticed I couldn't help but blush from the sudden touch, "Your heart might be easier to slip away with than I thought?"
Only now did I realize that he had slipped off my long glove in the midst of our bargaining. He'd also left my necklace be for the moment, possibly to claim it as he wove his tale for me, "Though I never could deny the request of such a lady. Even now I can't. It may be my one weakness?"
I couldn't tell if he was being honest, or saying this in jest. I didn't dare try to back down with a request for my freedom instead. No, this was something I simply needed to know if I was to make it out of here with what I was seeking here through the mists. Whether my heart remained with me or not, I had to go through with our deal for now.
"Where shall I start?" he asked.
"As far back as you can recall?" I ventured carefully while trying to get a good look at him before he mostly vanished back into the mists.
Another laugh would be heard as he said while still holding my hand, "That seems so long ago...what I remember to be a beginnin' for me...?"
"Please...?" I pushed in a surprisingly gentle tone.
I wondered if he was looking over me from within the mists when he remarked, "The legend of the Black Viper is still popular I see? It was a favorite hero of hers too."
"Hers?"
"The beginnin' of all of this in a way," he admitted in the same smooth tone.
Before he could pull out of the bargain with the regret showing in his brief sigh, I pushed again just as softly, "Please?"
"Alright," he echoed with a deep breath drawn in, and then released into the misty air still wrapped around us.
