Zand awoke in a thick fog. He could not remember going to sleep, and wasn’t sure where he was. He tried to look around to make sense of his surroundings, but it was just whiteness everywhere more than a few feet in front of his eyes. He started walking, but realized he could step off a cliff and not know until it was too late. He dropped to the ground crawled twenty feet and found someone’s sleeping body. He tried to shake the man awake.
“Hey! Where are we?” Zand asked. “I don’t remember anything after setting the wagons on fire.”
The man groaned in response. While there were no words, it could best be translated as, “Piss off!”
Zand looked around, saw no one else, then proceeded to shake the man harder.
“Hey! We’re all alone! This isn’t good.” Zand said while putting some real strength into the shaking.
“-seven hells with you!” the man half-shouted, sleep still in his mouth.
“Damn it man, we’re alone and in the thickest fog I’ve ever seen. You can sleep once we’re safely with our comrades!” Zand shout-whispered, banging his fists on the man’s arm.
Slowly, the man opened his eyes and then looked to Zand. His face was a question mark. “Zam, right?”
“Zand, but close, yeah. We gotta figure this out. I can’t see more than a couple of feet. And you’re the only person I’ve been able to find so far,” Zand explained.
Zand looked at the man, but could not remember his name. Had they even met before? Honestly, if it weren’t for the merchant robe, he might not have recognized the connection between them at all.
“How hard did you look? It’s not like we set up camp miles apart from each other. I’m sure the rest of our unit is around here,” the man said.
“Very well, but we have to be careful. I recommend crawling if you want to make sure you don’t fall from a cliff. Um, by the way...” Zand paused while he tried to think of the best way to ask. He gave up after a short span, and went the direct route, “What is your name? There were just so many of us in that caravan and I feel bad because you sort of remembered my name.”
The man snorted and shook his head. “You can call me Dell. I’m not surprised you don’t know my name. The commander had you holed up half the trip.”
Zand nodded in agreement. “That I was, Dell. That I was.”
Zand crawled forward another twenty feet but found no one. The fog was so thick though, that for all he knew he passed three on the way. Dell did not take Zand’s caution to heart and walked upright the way the four gods intended. At least he had the good sense to stay within sight of Zand.
“Let’s move over several feet and then comb back toward where we woke up,” Zand suggested.
“This is a waste of time. Why don’t we just call out to them and see if they respond?” Dell asked.
Zand shook his head in disbelief. Was this man truly that stupid?
“We are being pursued by a large armed force, as you should recall. We may have lost them for now, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to give away our location by yelling,” Zand said while trying to not sound annoyed.
“Oh, yeah,” Dell said, softly.
The two men moved back in forth, sweeping over a space large enough to hold a good sized feast. Zand’s stomach growled at the thought. While everyone else had raw horse beef steak, he had been too exhausted to even chew. He looked at the dry grass he was crawling through and wondered what it tasted like. Thankfully, he still had his faculties to tell him it was a bad idea to eat strange plants.
“Can’t you cast a spell to find them? Or like summon your familiar to scout the area?” Dell asked.
“Not everything in the storybooks is true.” Zand said, then suddenly remembering something, “but I might have a different kind of spell that might help. Keep an eye out for any danger while I prepare.”
Now how was it? Zand thought back to the last day he saw his mercenary crew, remembered how the clouds seemed to have cleared away. He had been trying to tap into his invisibility spell, but had been unsuccessful. Still, it seemed like other things had happened as a result. Zand sat and let the magic rise within himself. Once his skin began to tingle, he tried to picture a sunny day with clear skies and green grass. Nothing happened. Ah, now he remembered. He settled his mind and let the magic tingle once more. He imagined a rainy sky, the drops falling fewer and fewer and then stopping, the sun parting the clouds and warming the ground. He looked around and saw that the fog was still present, but it seemed a little brighter. Maybe, it was hard to say. He gathered the magic inside, stronger this time. His muscles began to burn slightly. He went through the same imagery in his head, focusing on how clear the sky had become and the sun shining warmly. Could he see further in the fog?
“Dell,” Zand said, looking for his companion, “where are you? I want to test something. Dell?”
Zand looked around but could not find him. He stood and spun in a circle. Dell was nowhere to be found (at least not within a few feet). He decided that the spell seemed to be working and set out to further strengthen it. He sat back down and let the magic rise still further. His bones were, well he was aware of them, and he could feel the magic surging through his body. Again he pictured the rain stopping, the sun parting the clouds, the ground warming. He kept channeling more magic and kept repeating the imagery in his mind. Just before losing consciousness, he thought he felt the heat of the sun on his exposed skin and a gentle breeze.
***********************
When he awoke some time later, Zand was still alone. He looked around, but could still see only a few feet in any direction. He debated calling out, and finally decided he could afford to make a little noise. If he couldn’t see anything, any enemies about would be in the same tree.
“Dell!” Zand shouted. He waited for a reply that never came.
A wave of hunger suddenly overcame Zand, and he found himself growing weaker. Between the meager food he had been subsisting on and the incredible strain of all the magic he had been using, he was not surprised how little energy he had. He decided to throw caution to the dogs and stop crawling about. True, he might fall off a cliff and die, but he might also die from starvation if he didn’t find something to eat soon.
All directions looked the same, so Zand decided to just walk in the direction he was already facing. After nearly an hour of wandering, he came to an area of clear air. The ground was mostly dirt with patches of dry grass, but at least he could clearly see it. In the distance he saw a few shacks. People!? He was excited to find someone else. Finding some small reserve of energy, he ran to the buildings.
As he approached, something caught Zand’s eye. It looked like a skeleton, or part of one at least, lying on the ground. There were tatters of some long-disintegrated clothing hanging around the bones. He looked around and found two other similar sets of remains. His hand fell to his dagger subconsciously.
Zand eyed the closest shack and approached cautiously. He crept over and put his ear to the door. Nothing. Slowly he pulled the door open and found it empty, save for wadded up bedding and an unlit candle.
Zand checked on the other shacks and found them similarly abandoned. He could sleep here, but what he really needed was food. Still, sleep sounded good. So good. He closed the door and crawled into the bedding. He was asleep before long.
***********************
Zand awoke with a start. Something was outside, and it was loud. He could hear the dry grass rustling, but there was something else. Chittering. He bolted upright and made his way to the door. He didn’t want to open it and alert whatever was out there to his presence. He looked around, but there were no windows. This shack was not well-constructed, there must be some slits to look through. Finding one, he put his eye to it and looked out. He could see the grass moving, but not the source of the noise. Suddenly he saw something. It was small. Too small to be a rodent or bird. An insect, perhaps. It kind of looked something like a cricket, but it was too far away to tell.
Zand continued watching for a few minutes longer. Finally, the sound died down and the grass stood still. He crept to the door and opened it slowly. In the distance he could hear the chittering, growing ever fainter. Was it just grasshoppers? Those were supposedly edible. His stomach growled in anger at dinner getting away.
Without thinking, Zand broke into a run after the swarm. It only took a couple of minutes before their terrible noise was assaulting his ears. The magic began to well up in his body, his hands raised in front of him. He imagined flames spouting from his fingertips, igniting the bugs and cooking them mid-stride. It worked! Flame shot out and bathed the area. The bugs made popping noises as the liquid inside them flash-boiled. He released the spell and surveyed the area. There were small fires still going in the dry grass. Thankfully there was no breeze to spread the flames.
Zand looked closer for his prize. A great number of cooked bugs littered the ground. He bent down and picked one up, inspecting it. It wasn’t a grasshopper after all, but hopefully it was good eats. He popped it in his mouth and began to chew. It… wasn’t the worst… thing… he’d ever eaten. He forced himself to swallow. He then forced himself to keep it down. After thirty seconds he felt successful in that endeavor. He stooped to gather more, but the motion renewed his nausea. He vomited the vile insect up. The smell caused him to gag, but there was nothing else in him to come up.
Zand moved away from his sick and looked for more bugs. He picked up a few more, but the thought of eating them made his stomach turn. He dropped the tiny carcasses and began to dry heave. He remained bent over, heaving, as the rest of the swarm continued on their way, unfazed by the loss of their comrades.
