Then it came. A dark shape burst from the grass to Vedoran’s right and completely enveloped the shadar-kai. Vedoran fell into the high grass and disappeared from view. A breath later, the grass crumpled in a line moving away from them, as if something were eating a path through it.
“Form a line behind me!” Ashok called out. He jerked the nightmare around by the reins and showed the beast his target. With an enemy in sight, the nightmare charged, burning up the ground with Skagi and the others running behind them.
The nightmare got close enough for Ashok to see Vedoran being dragged through the grass by a small humanoid figure. Green-skinned, with ragged strands of black hair plastered to her back, the hag blended with the undergrowth and moved with preternatural speed. She dragged Vedoran by his left lower leg, her talons encasing his boot and twisting until Vedoran cried out.
When she heard the nightmare’s hoofbeats approaching, the hag spun and hissed up at Ashok, exposing her black teeth. Her eyes were a deep, burnt orange and full of hate.
Ashok released the nightmare and fell upon the hag with his chain outstretched.
The hag dropped Vedoran and reached up, grabbing Ashok’s spiked weapon even as her body absorbed the impact of his. They rolled into the underbrush, Negala hissing, biting, and spitting black ichor in his face.
Ashok pushed back, and his chain dug into the hag’s flesh. He wrapped it around her body once and tightened his grip. Her skin was like stone, but she still felt the pain. She shrieked in a voice that rang shrilly in Ashok’s ears. The cry cut off abruptly, and Ashok felt a blaze of heat against his back.
He saw the hag’s eyes widen. Quickly, Ashok rolled to the side as the nightmare reared up, his flaming hooves poised to come down and cave in the hag’s skull.
The trees and the grass warped around them and turned white. Ashok heard briefly the howl of the Shadowfell wind and saw the open plain spread before him in all its colorless magnitude. Then the scene disappeared, the bog heat swelled around him, and the hag was no longer wrapped in his chain.
The spikes dripped blood, but Negala had disappeared. Ashok looked around frantically. She couldn’t have escaped behind him; the others were closing the gap. In front of him Vedoran had his blade out, but he looked disoriented. He stood up and wavered on his feet.
“Did you see that?” Vedoran said.
Ashok nodded. “The illusion broke for a moment, when I cut her, and the nightmare had her cornered,” he said.
“Was it a fatal wound?” Vedoran asked.
“I don’t think so,” Ashok said. “But it and the nightmare were enough to make her run.”
“We need to get out of this grass,” Vedoran said. The nightmare paced back and forth between them, snorting. The beast nudged Ashok’s shoulder as if in accusation.
“Sorry,” Ashok said, and reached up absently to touch the beast’s forehead. “Next time, we’ll have her.”
He noticed Vedoran watching him. “Are you all right?” Ashok asked.
“Fine,” Vedoran said. “My thanks.”
Before Ashok could reply, the others ran up. Skagi looked furious.
“If you killed the godsdamned thing without us, I’ll take your head right now,” he said.
“She got away,” Vedoran said. “Ashok and his beast nearly had her.”
“We should keep moving,” Ashok said. “Take advantage of the time while she nurses her wounds.”
“Agreed,” Vedoran said. “Same formation as before.”
They fell into line, and Ashok mounted the nightmare. As they pressed on, the tall grass thinned, and the air gradually turned colder. Ashok’s breath fogged, and he found himself holding his hands closer to the nightmare’s warm body.
“She’s trying to freeze us out now,” Skagi said. “Ugly bitch,” he added, pitching his voice louder.
“I don’t think it’s for us,” Ashok said. “I think it’s the nightmare she’s attacking.” He noticed the beast’s stiff-legged movements. The cold dimmed the nightmare’s fire and made his red eyes dull. The beast snorted and pranced, forcing the blood down his legs for warmth.
“The nightmare almost crushed her,” Vedoran said. “Makes sense she’d want to return the favor.”
“Sounds like she’s not threatened by us at all,” Skagi said, laughing. “She only fears the pony.”
Ashok and Vedoran exchanged a glance. “I don’t know whether to be comforted by that or not,” Vedoran remarked.
“They are similar creatures,” Ashok said. “They manipulate the mind.”
Snow began to fall. The swampy pools iced over, and the sounds of the animals were gone. There was no pretense that it was a bog anymore. Soon they were all covered in a thick coating of freezing wet snow.
“I complained about the dust, but this is intolerable,” Cree said, shaking out his wet hair.
The nightmare slowed his steps until he was barely keeping pace with the group. Breath wheezed in and out of the beast’s chest.
Ashok leaned forward to whisper in his ear.
“You’re not going to be felled by this,” he scoffed. “By a small, ugly creature that howls and shrieks. You are fire. You will burn a path through this false wilderness and take us out the other side.” He heard the echo of Uwan’s words in his own. “Her flesh awaits you. Don’t disappoint me now.”
The nightmare snorted-a sound of amusement, Ashok imagined. The beast didn’t need his encouragement.
The wind blew cold into Ashok’s face, but suddenly his legs were burning, his skin slick with sweat. He looked down and saw the snow melting, running in rivers off the Nightmare’s flanks.
Ashok didn’t need further warning. He slid off the nightmare and backed the others a safe distance away.
“What’s he doing?” Skagi asked.
“Sending a message,” Ashok said, and before he’d finished speaking, the nightmare burst into flames.
The beast’s mane, fetlocks, and tail were all ablaze, but the flames didn’t stop there. They spread to consume the rest of the nightmare’s body until the beast had transformed into a walking fireball. At his feet the snow melted and turned back to swampy water. The nightmare reared up and snorted gouts of flame into the frozen air.
“Godsdamn, will you look at that?” Chanoch said. “Did you know he could do that?”
Ashok shook his head. “I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
“Hard to be cold with that striding beside you,” Skagi said.
Negala must have thought so as well, for the snow stopped falling, and abruptly the white scene faded, the swamp disappeared, and the group found themselves standing on an open expanse of the Shadowfell. The wind plucked at their clothing and hair, carrying away the smells of rot.
Skagi looked around. “That’s it, then?” he said, sounding disappointed. “She’s giving up?”
“Don’t question it,” Vedoran said. “Let’s move along while the beast is still aflame.”
Ashok walked beside the nightmare. In the wake of the beast’s footsteps, fire surged ten feet or more into the air. Heat from the flames beat against his face, but Ashok didn’t care. He was fascinated by the orange and deep blue glows that played in waves across the nightmare’s flesh.
“Your fire burns as your soul burns,” Ashok said. “But right now, in this place, you are our light.”
What would Tempus think of such a guide? Ashok wondered.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
"Are you sure that’s the place?” Cree asked Vedoran.
A narrow valley of jagged rock lay below them. At the bottom a silt stream cut a path to the east.
“It has to be,” Vedoran said. “Uwan claimed we would find our destination on the other side of the bog. This valley is the only landmark for miles.”
“Look,” Ashok said, pointing at a spot several feet away from where they stood. “The rocks look like stairs. I think they’ve been shaped, and not by the weather.”
They went to the spot, and Vedoran bent to examine the rock. “You’re right,” he said. “There’s a path going down to the bottom.” He glanced up at Ashok. “You have good eyes.”