I did not wish to tell the others of my plan, not in that creeping mist at least. Hespira had warned us that the creature hunting us, the Gïr’Näuthrok, could sense everything the mist touched, and I could not be certain if the ancient being might be able to understand us somehow. No, it was best to keep the plan between me and Vesha for now.

So, once we had used our remaining firewood to build a large bonfire to ward off the mist and keep the troupe warm, I returned with Vesha to our wagon to explain my idea to her with Zaiya, my familiar, as our only companion. The other members of our troupe would all gather around the fire and try to form a perimeter to keep the children safe. Selice and Daivin had already vowed to watch over Master Nirlyn and Kalara and protect them with their lives while I was gone, since the Master Bard could barely see in the unnatural murk. Xulyin had also promised to keep trying to manipulate the mist until she either did so or until it was gone.

I did not tell Vesha the plan until we were alone in our wagon and I was certain that no mist lingered inside, using as many faerie fires as I could muster around me to drive it from our home before closing the door and revealing my plan to my beloved. At first, I was worried that she would object to the idea, but Vesha looked pensive as she thought over my proposal and finally nodded as she said, “I suppose that’s as good a plan as we’re going to get.”

She was right, too. This was the best plan I had been able to come up with, given how little we knew about the ancient beast that was hunting us. Based on what information we did have, it was most interested in those of us with a high concentration of mana, meaning it might overlook those with very little as possible prey, but it could also sense whatever moved in the mist and would likely wait for when it thought I was alone before striking. As much as I wished I could have Vesha holding my hand as we faced this together, even if she had less inherent mana than Changelings while in her physical form, I could not risk it sensing her with me while I was acting as bait.

I could not even risk having Zaiya with me, and she seemed able to see just fine in this blasted fog. Perhaps the Gïr’Näuthrok could choose who and what its mist affected, and it did not see the Tharian Hawk-owls as a threat, or perhaps she just had her sharper instincts helping her. Either way, she would be useful, but I could not risk keeping her close either until it was time to strike.

So, as I left the wagon, with a dozen large balls of faerie fire as company, I whispered, “Fly, and watch from above,” and then tossed my familiar up into the air. As Zaiya took flight upon silent wings, I allowed myself one last worried glance back at the outline of mist-shrouded figures around the bonfire at the center of our camp. Then I took a deep breath to steady my nerves and allowed my hand to hover over Neva’kul’s hilt as I walked away, further into the mist.

It was not long before the sounds and scents of camp and the troupe faded into silence behind me. No, they did not fade; they vanished entirely as I was swallowed by the mist. I could practically feel the Gïr’Näuthrok watching me, like there were freezing fingers walking slowly down my spine, and it only became more intense with every step that separated me from my troupe and our camp. Then I began to sense movement in the mist.

No, this was not the movement of the creature itself, at least not yet, but of the mana that infused the mist. I could sense the flow and the eddies of the mist through the motion of the mana, and the more I focused on it, the sharper it became. It was that sense that saved me.

There was an abrupt shift in the flow of those eddies of mana. Something was moving in the mist, something large, and if I had not been paying attention to the flow of mana, I would not have sensed that movement. Nor would I have sensed how quickly it was moving toward me.

I sucked in air in a frantic gasp as I leaped backward and drew Neva’kul from her sheath in one swift motion, immediately on guard and moving as that large, mist-shrouded form lunged at me. Even as I narrowly avoided being ensnared by a mass of writhing, rope-like limbs and darted backward, I slashed with Neva’kul at a follow-up barrage of more of the advancing tentacles and sent every one of my faerie fires hurting toward my attacker in a counterattack. Neva’kul swung outward in a vicious arc, shearing off the tips of advancing, writhing limbs, and I heard an unnatural shriek of pain, a shriek that only intensified as my faerie fires found their marks as well.

It did not like my faerie fires, but that had been my intention since I had noticed they tended to repel the mist. Not much, but enough for me to believe that this creature was wary of the flames, and that meant they could probably hurt it. Another loud shriek sounded in the miasma, this time Zaiya’s, announcing my Familiar as an otherwise silent blur in the mist descended upon the creature that was attacking me.

Tentacles whipped around wildly and recoiled from my faerie fires, and I hurriedly backed up, calling Zaiya back to my side with a quick, sharp whistle. “Should I try to use Joarra’s rune now that I know the creature is in front of me?” The answer to that thought came as quickly as the thought itself. No. I could not be sure whether I had been turned around somehow in this magical miasma, and I could end up hitting the troupe with such an attack if I was facing the wrong direction and not far enough away.

I needed to count on Vesha to do her part, which meant that I needed to back away while the creature was distracted by the flames and pain. The mist was thinning. For a moment, I was not sure, but Sharai’s voice confirmed it in my mind. -The miasma weakens, Kaelyn. Do you see how the mana is less dense?-

She was right; the mana was less dense, and the mist felt marginally less suffocating as I could almost see it seeping back into those thrashing tentacles. I could see hints of the creature’s shape as well, almost like a huge predatory cat but with a mass of tentacles whipping out in every direction in agony. I backed off a few more steps, putting more distance between me and the creature and slashing at any of the wildly thrashing limbs that got too close. It was now, or never, so I quickly called out, “Now, my love!”

One of the rose-colored faerie fires I had sent toward the ancient beast erupted in an explosion of orange and yellow flame as Vesha, who had been hiding within in her pure elemental form, made her presence known. The bright light of her flames lit the mist eerily and had me backing away further from the sheer heat, despite having already tried to get out of range. A keening shriek of rage and agony assaulted my ears as the mist faded almost entirely, and I saw the Gïr’Näuthrok clearly for the first time.

It was huge, nearly the length of one of our wagons, and it verily bulged with muscles that hinted at its physical power. It stood on squat, powerful legs, its claws nearly as long as my sword, and it had a wedge-shaped head with small slitted eyes, stubby triangular ears, and a gaping maw full of razor-sharp fangs. It was covered in a mix of brown, grey and black scales that probably would have made it difficult to see if it was not currently violently thrashing around. While it did not seem to have a tail, its back was covered in hundreds of writhing and whipping grey tentacles that more than made up for the lack, each of them a little thicker than my largest finger and easily twice the length of its body if stretched out straight. Those tentacles seemed to have small holes along their entire lengths, and I could see the mist retreating into those holes.

And there, atop the beast’s back, I was treated to a view of my beautiful and powerful lover, now back in her physical form but with an aura of nearly white-hot flames surrounding her as she grabbed at handfuls of tentacles with burning hands to rip them out and reduce them to ash. Still, from the way that the Gïr’Näuthrok was wildly bucking and whipping at her with its remaining tentacles, I did not think that she would be able to hold that position for long, even if it was losing tentacles with every strike. I focused my faerie fires on the tentacles as I backed away further, my eyes rapidly darting around to get my bearings now that the mist was gone.

Our camp was to my right, far enough that I could only just make out the shapes of the wagons still, but still far too close for comfort if the beast rampaged in that direction before we could finish it off. It was still furiously trying to dislodge Vesha from its back as she tore out tentacles by the handful, and neither Zaiya nor I could dare get close enough to help since her flames were already uncomfortably hot from where we were standing. They were hot enough that the creature was starting to smoke, and it gave up trying to whip her free with its remaining tentacles as it rolled over instead, trying to crush her beneath its weight.

Vesha was not having that, though. She leaped from its back, her wings spread as she took to the air and fired a blast of concentrated fire at its belly. I followed suit, taking to the air and putting a little more distance between me and the Gïr’Näuthrok as I kept my faerie fires on its back, trying to burn away what tentacles I could as I readied myself to use Joarra’s rune. The beast regained its feet far quicker than I expected. It was burned and battered, but it was also very angry, so I thought that it would try to take care of the bigger threat.

I am not certain whether it was more scared of my faerie fire or if it was just hoping to devour me and flee to lick its wounds elsewhere, but its remaining clumps of tentacles were already reaching for me as it charged in my direction. Or rather, it would have charged if one of the massive steel-banded arrows from our Dwarven-made wheel bows had not slammed into its side with enough force to stagger it, cause a scream of pain, and stop its charge before it could even get started. A second followed the first nearly immediately, informing me that Hagen and Mara both had our backs.

We needed to finish it off quickly, before it could either charge me or figure out that there were now more than two threats to deal with. A short, whistled tune had Zaiya flying back to camp and out of harm’s way as I flew upward to get above our adversary. I was sure to get plenty of altitude, so I was well out of reach of those remaining tentacles as I shouted, “Vesha! Hit it with everything you have!” Even as I called out to her, I was gathering mana, letting it flow through me and into Neva’kul as I focused on Joarra’s rune.

With my downward slash, a blindingly white crescent of destructive energy erupted along the path of my blade, mounting in both power and size as it descended upon the Gïr’Näuthrok. An equally blinding pillar of white-hot flame exploded downward from my lover, both combining in a raging torrent of destructive energy focused on the spot where the ancient creature stood. I had to close my eyes against the blinding light as I was battered by debris and gusts of steaming hot air, and I could feel Vesha’s warmth and her strong arms wrapping around me as she tried to shield me from the cataclysmic blast wave.

When I opened my eyes again, I found myself with a lovely view of my future mate’s cleavage. As nice a sight as that was to open my eyes to, though, I quickly let her know that I was alright and pulled away to take in the scene below us. There was a crater that stretched from the point of impact almost to our camp, and some of the rocks I saw down there were still red hot from the heat. Of the Gïr’Näuthrok, nothing remained, at least, not that we could see.

We had killed it, but the combined energy of our attacks had been a lot more destructive than I had expected. When we returned to camp, we found that it had not come out unscathed. Nobody had been seriously hurt, but that was partially because Xulyin had used the water from the nearby stream to form an ice barrier for the members of our troupe to hide behind. Other than that, some of our camp gear was scattered by the wind, the kirgen were spooked, and two of the wagons had been knocked on their sides and might need repairs.

I had some bruising from where some debris had clipped me in the face too, but my armor and Vesha had protected me from the worst of the blast, so I was willing to count my blessings. We had survived the encounter, my daughter and the rest of the troupe were all alive and well, and the Gïr’Näuthrok was not. That was enough for me as I held Kalara close and assured her that I was fine. Everything else could be dealt with after we all had a bit of rest and calmed down.