Matilda tightened the grip around her hammer instinctively, shivers of dread ran up and down her back, as she looked at the unmoving Fraten.
She wasn't the only one, as Till covered his mouth, holding back the urge to empty his stomach; the old man looked like a pin-cushion, a sight that would never leave his mind.
"Good riddance." Sinnah patted Tomalta on the back and took some distance from the upright-standing corpse.
Agnes walked up to him, then ripped the staff out of his cold, dead hands, she turned to Matilda and lightly bowed her head, "I am sorry, I could not accept his deal."
Matilda gasped and raised one of her hands to waive it in the air, "No, no! I completely understand. You are a wanted person, even if you followed him back to the capital, I can't begin to imagine how that would've ended."
"About Miser… well, that healing artefact will have to do for now, at least until we can get him to the nearest expert." Matilda walked up to Tomalta, then carefully caressed Miser's face.
She turned her head to look at Agnes, the hairs all over her body still stood on end, "But were you always so much stronger than Fraten Ironhoof? Is there such a difference between rank two mages?"
Agnes' index finger playfully traced over her lips, "Mhm. I can understand why you would think that, but it wasn't me that did anything just now." Agnes smiled, it was twisted, and somewhat demonic.
Till's brows furrowed, his stomach had calmed down a bit, but he could not understand her words… he looked at the staff she now wielded, fire, earth, wind, "And water? Four elements?!" he blurted out.
Agnes nodded her head, "Correct. Four elements. Even without me telling you, I am sure you understand how big of a deal this is. So, I will need everyone present here to keep their mouths shut." she spoke almost indifferently, but Matilda's group all took a step back.
Matilda, however, took a step forward, as if to stand between Agnes and her friends, "Of course! I promise- no, I vow! Not a single one of us will ever reveal what happened here!"
Agnes remained quiet, which further unsettled Matilda, "And, and! We will leave the Ironhoof territory and keep our distance!" she continued.
"Haha." Agnes held her stomach, then wiped away a tear from the corner of her eye, "Relax, I am not going to kill you."
Matilda and the rest heaved one big sigh of relief, "Where do you plan on going? If you have nothing in mind, with a recommendation from me you could find work in Aventia very easily." Agnes offered, but Matilda shook her head, "Thank you very much, your offer is tempting, but we do not want to get caught up in the war between your two families… I was thinking of returning to the Whitewood territory. I still have some connections over there. That place is large enough for us to go into hiding and let all of this blow over for now." she looked at her allies, "Since we will also become wanted people after being associated with you, and after our failed request from Sir Blass."
Matilda scratched the back of her head, "Though there is one thing I would like to request. If you aren't against it…"
"Yes?" Agnes raised her eyebrows.
"Fraten's carriage… it likely held many artefacts of various uses… could we perhaps take some of them with us? We could use the money, if not their effects." Matilda flashed a pained smile, their reputation within the borders of the Ironhoof territory would plummet, the only thing one could depend on to get them out in one piece was money, or power.
Agnes nodded her head, "That's not a difficult request. Actually, it would have been hard for me if I wanted to take them with me. Oh. But what about you? Your horses probably aren't in any condition to keep moving, last I got to look at them."
The same realisation dawned upon Matilda, "You are probably right. We should first check up on them. Then, is this goodbye?" she looked back at Agnes.
"Not yet." Agnes smiled, "Although I am a bit pressed for time, I will at least escort you all out of the Land of Fog."
Matilda eyes widened, she quickly lowered her head and bowed as deeply as she could, Till, Sarah, and Sinnah followed suit, Matilda's trembling lips parted, "Thank you. Truly."
Agnes took the lead like a shepherd, Matilda's entire group followed her in the direction of where they had left their carriage and horses, the initial area where the staff-wielding shadow sneak-attacked Fraten and his people.
She dispatched a couple of shadow-monsters here and there, but it had become as simply as flicking her finger, allowing the rest to conserve their already lacking stamina and strength.
Many more black spots had appeared on their bodies, Miser's count nearly caught up with Tomalta, who had a clear lead across the group.
As they arrived, they could see that the fire that was consuming Fraten's carriage had gone out, leaving behind just a couple of burned corpses, and some remaining pieces of wood strewn on the ground.
Luckily their own was left untouched, the horses, however, didn't appear to be quite as lucky; except for one, all of them were overwhelmed by black spots on their skin, and had dropped to the earth below, the last one, although resting on the ground with its legs trembling, was at least alive.
They gathered the couple of artefacts they were able to find back at the carriage, it was a total of six, the healing artefact included.
All of them were of rank one, Agnes could feel their strength at a glance, while Till got to work at finding out their uses.
"Just one horse won't cut it..." Sarah frowned, though they had gathered all the artefacts, it was still not possible to transport them, which raised the question, would they leave them, or the remaining rations behind?
"The way its condition looks, it might be better for us to put it to rest... put it out of its misery." Sinnah kneeled on the ground and stroked the horse's mane.
Matilda knitted her eyebrows, "The choice is obvious, if we abandon the rations, then we probably won't even make it to the border."
Tomalta gently lowered Miser onto the carriage, then walked to the front.
He grabbed the harnesses that allowed the horses to pull the carriage and lifted them himself.
Matilda sighed as she walked up to him, "Are you sure? I can tell from the look in your eyes how tired you are... you don't have to do this too."
The giant Tomalta puffed out his chest, "Leave it to me." he spoke proudly.
Agnes' eyes met Matilda's, the two nodded at each other, they laid the horse to rest, then began their journey out of this lawless place.
They adjusted their walking speed to ensure Tomalta wouldn't overwork himself and made several stops to recuperate a bit of their energy.
Unlike Matilda and her companions, Agnes took in one big breath and felt oddly refreshed.
The air no longer bothered her, and even after being exposed to it for so long, not a single black spot had appeared on her skin.
She fiddled with several particles within her hand, most of those were the exact same death particles that wore down the health of the usual visitor to the Land of Fog.
Agnes placed one between her thumb and index finger, then brought it closer to her eye; it was strange, she had spent many years surrounded by particles, and was casting spells for almost the same amount of time, but it was only now that she managed to understand them at a much deeper level...
Death particles weren't as far removed from her magic as she had thought, the exact opposite in fact, death and cold were much closer to each other than she could have ever imagined, they complimented the other.
She looked inwards, to the giant walls of ice, and the valley devoid of life she had created, her magic was a combination of ice magic and death magic, two types she wouldn't have associated if she didn't have a revelation during the process of subduing the staff.
'There is so much more to magic than I knew...' she said inwardly.
After a long while, and having covered lots of distance, the fog around them lessened in density, and they knew they had finally arrived at the edge.
The air cleared, and the ground was starting to regain some life, the farther they walked, the greener the space around them became, and rays of sunshine touched their skin.
Matilda's group made one final stop, all of their faces regained some colour, they happily breathed in the nice and fresh air and could also see how the black spots slowly started to shrink.
Agnes reached out her hand to Matilda, "This is it. We will part ways here. Thank you for taking me along, I hope that you manage to pass the border, and I wish you well for whatever you plan to do then."
Matilda reached out her own, shook Agnes' hand and smiled, "Yes, thanks to you we managed to survive that place and even got to leave with a huge plus in funds. I know Miser will recover; he is one tenacious guy, so it really couldn't have gone any better."
Even though she said that she couldn't help but imagine the situation where they got their hands on the staff, could they have used it too?
Or would they have sold it off to Sir Blass, or someone else for even more stacks of gold?
But she knew that either outcome would have been impossible if the staff, or Fraten, had taken them out without Agnes there to help them.
"Farewell Agnes, I am not one to endorse war, but I do hope that you all outlive the Ironhoofs." Matilda lowered her head, then Agnes began to walk.
"Goodbye. Thank you for everything." Till smiled at her back, his nose sounded stuffy, and his eyes were a tint red.
Agnes wasn't sure where she would end up with the path she chose, but after leaving the disorienting Land of Fog, her chances of recognising her surroundings were much higher.
... ...
Three people in guard-like attire fell to their knees, they lowered their heads and pressed their fists against their chests.
Each of them exuded the aura of a rank one mage, yet they prostrated themselves in front of an older gentleman with coal black hair, he was wearing a kind of formal attire, grey pants, and a dark jacket, with a blood-red cloth poking out from underneath it.
It was Charles Ironhoof, and unlike his subordinates who were dressed for a fight, he looked to be headed to a festivity.
He observed his surroundings, the empty streets of Pyrehaven, the location of the annual Magic Brawl that would attract tourists, merchants, and all the locals to come and watch, unlike now... where windows were practically nailed shut, and doors blocked.
Regular foot soldiers were patrolling the city and forcibly intruding the local's homes on his order.
Then he returned his gaze to the scene before him, aside from his three generals, there were two more people kneeling on the ground, their pose looked a lot more subservient, as they had their hands and faces pressed against the cobblestone road.
"Speak what you have reported to me." one of the three generals ordered the man kneeling next to him, who also displayed an aura of being rank one, his was just a lot more inferior, it was Serka, the would-be winner of this year's Magic Brawl... if it weren't for Agnes.
"Yes!" he loudly answered, his voice audibly shook, he lightly raised his head, just barely enough to see Charles' knees, "I followed the guard-commander to confront the thief, but through our interaction and her display of magic I could recognise who she was..."
"And then you ran away." the mayor of Pyrehaven farther to the left spoke up without raising his head.
Serka shuddered, he turned his head to look at the mayor and rebuke him, "Noone in their right mind would fight a mage from a higher rank, at least not without back up!" both the commander and the guards that had followed him were mere humans, how could they possibly stand a chance against Aventia's ice witch?
"Silence!" the same general shouted, pressing Serka's raised head back into the ground.
"Urgh." with a thud Serka's face grimaced, but he knew better than to speak up now.
"Milord, how should we proceed?" the general asked Charles.
Charles stroked his chin, but before he could answer one of the foot soldiers came running in a hurry, "Milord!" he shouted from afar, then stopped several steps from the group and bowed with his fist pressed against his chest.
"Report." Charles ordered, his words carried an intense weight, if the news turned out to be useless, then the soldier would be doubly punished, because he also interrupted his superiors.
The man gulped then opened his mouth, "A lone unidentified figure is approaching the east gate-"
The general, already infuriated from listening to Serka's cowardly behaviour rose to his feet and grabbed the soldier's collar, pulling him close to berate him for reporting what he believed to be worthless, but he stopped as he felt Charles' hand on his shoulder, "Let the man finish."
With a quick breath he released the soldier's collar, and the man continued, "The aura of that person... even we, humans untouched by magic, could feel it..."
His words caused a dramatic change in the atmosphere, not just the general that wanted to scold him, but even Charles appeared concerned at his description, "Rise." Charles ordered to the remaining generals, as well as Serka, "Take me there." he looked at the soldier, who quickly lowered his head again.
Charles squinted his eyes, the person outside of the gate had their face covered with a cloak, just their left arm, using some sort of wooden branch like a walking stick, stood out.
It was true, the aura that person emanated was dangerous, but was this truly her, or just a coincidence?
His generals promptly stationed themselves in front of him, acting as some sort of body-shields, Serka, trying to leave a good impression, joined them, though he was full of apprehension.
"Ha... haha..." the figure chuckled as they closed in on the gate, it was a female voice, full of mockery, "A welcoming committee? For me? Oh, you shouldn't have."
Her words drew a smile onto Charles' lips, "I almost couldn't believe the letter I had received, but seeing you here, all my doubts are gone... What brings you so far from home, Lady Agnes?"
Serka's heart dropped, he had taken a gamble, hoping that the cloaked individual was someone that was easily dealt with, so he could look like he had contributed... but hearing her name again... his feet were begging him to run, but just behind him was a greater evil, the same rank, but not so easily appeased.
Agnes pulled the hood of her cloak back, revealing her white hair and face, "You sound like you know me, but I have never seen your face before." she stopped walking some distance from the gate.
"If you knew me, then I wouldn't be doing my job right." Charles answered as he tried to appraise Agnes' strength, he was the gathering point of all information that entered and left the Ironhoof family, but seeing her in person after so many years, she seemed different, "We did meet once, but I doubt that you remember."
"What are you doing in our territory? You don't look like the type to abandon her Lord. Or did he get tired of you?" Charles faked a smirk, he wasn't as cynical as Simon, who threw around insults to see the anger in his foes rise, but he wanted to know just how much she differed from his reports and memory.
Agnes glared at him, but there wasn't as much of a reaction as he had been expecting, "Ah, you must also be related to the good old Baron." his speech and mannerism made her think of that one guy who she hated to no end.
"Also?" Charles racked his brain at her comment, "Seeing how you are coming from the Land of Fog, I would wager that you ran into Simon's uncle, Fraten?"
Agnes tilted her head, "You seem to be a lot smarter than you look."
The corner of Charles' mouth twitched at her comment, "Mhm. Admittedly, beating you out isn't hard."
"I assume you two fought then?" Charles carefully asked, there were no wounds visible, or any other sort of indicators of a fight on her clothes, which was more than strange, knowing Fraten's personality.
Agnes slightly raised her head as if to think, "Well... it really wasn't much of a fight." she shrugged her shoulders, those words almost made Charles spit, 'Impossible!' he thought, for a moment the idea of Fraten being unable to even put up a fight went through his head, but her next words caused him to relax again, "...we mostly talked."
"Ha, talk? Don't tell me that old man didn't realise who you were?" he asked, his generals were becoming somewhat fidgety... why was their lord having such a casual conversation with the enemy?
Agnes nodded her head at his guess, "He was thinking that I belonged to the Whitewood family and told me about your plan for my master."
Charles expression darkened as he spoke to himself, "I knew that idiot was unreliable."
But when he looked back at Agnes, the picture he held of her was no longer matching, "Hm? You seem... different." he noted, "You are a lot more deceptive than you used to be." since she was aware of their plan, he had to delay as much as possible, to make sure that she couldn't go and interfere.
"Am I now?" Agnes retorted with a distinct lack of interest.
"Yes. I am our family's spymaster, it is my job, no, my life to know everything about those that pose a threat to us." he held his own ability in high regard.
Agnes scoffed, "Meaning you read and hear every bit of news there is about my life? Not sure whether I should consider you as my biggest fan, or just a disgusting stalker."
Charles frowned, he disliked variables, unknown factors that could change a plan, and her current impression was unsettling for someone like that, "Look at you, your hot-headed personality is suddenly nowhere to be seen. I am surprised, did some sort of spirit possess your body while you stayed inside of the Land of Fog?"
Agnes smiled, it wasn't a wide grin, but big enough for Charles to notice, a strange feeling was welling up inside of him, "Do you miss it? Don't worry, I will show you, even if I have changed, some things just never disappear!" her aura strengthened, the ensuing pressure caused the foot soldiers behind the gate to buckle to their knees.
Just then he flinched, his skin began to crawl as the single most terrifying notion passed over his lips, "…Rank…three…"