Fog Bound

Chapter 2

That night, the pair slept with the same arrangements only this time Laius had a proper blanket. However, despite the blanket, he grew restless and kept tossing and turning on his mat. His hand kept clenching in agony and twitching. He looked at the bright red orb in the middle of his hand and flexed it, hoping it would soothe the throbbing. He couldn't sleep and he wasn't sure if he would at this point. He stood up and shuffled over to the window, hoping the moonlight would better illuminate his palm. He noticed something that he was sure wasn't there several days ago. Little red strings were inside the orb attached to him growing from his palm. The development made him anxious. He wasn't sure if his hand hurt more than usual because of the injuries he had sustained that day or if it really was just getting worse.

He stayed by the window for a time to take his mind off of it. The guild conveniently overlooked the forest that they had fled from earlier in the day.

"Laius...?" Verri seemed to have stirred awake from the lack of her partner's body heat next to her. She sat up, rubbing at her eyes. "Are you okay? Can't sleep?"

"No..." He answered with a yawn. He looked out the window to the forest. It was almost as if fog was leaking out of the trees and paths. "This is crazy... I wanna go back." He mumbled. "I want to go back in there and figure out what's causing it; all this fog. Do you think you could make me a chestplate and some kind of armor for my right arm? I won't make you go with me but there's something in the River's Den." He paused briefly. "Don't you think?"

"Definitely!" Verri seemed to jolt up, "Something is definitely in those woods and I would love to make you some armor!" She seemed to hop around a bit before going over to her bag and wrangling out some metal she had brought along as well as a fancy looking glove that seemed to be hidden at the very bottom. "I will make you armor right away! Then we can go back out there and defeat the monster creating the mist!" She seemed way too hyped about this as she put on her apron and grabbed her hammer. "Go back to sleep, I promise I'll have the armor ready in the morning." She smiled, grabbing her anvil and taking it downstairs.

Laius admired her willingness to help and devotion to her craft. Smithing didn't look easy after all but even in her sleepy state she was so willing to jump on the task that it amazed him. He watched her run downstairs with enthusiasm and did as she said and laid down on the mat and attempted to catch a few more Z's.

It took a while but he somehow managed to fall back asleep, even with the sound of Verri downstairs messing around with her anvil. When he finally awoke once again, it appeared to be late morning. He hadn't expected to sleep in so late but he felt that it was much needed. He noticed that his smallest wyrm had disappeared in the night, but the one around his leg and Mildred were still very much present.

Laius made his way downstairs to check on Verri's progress. "How's it been going?" He asked sleepily.

Verri turned to him with a yawn. It seemed she had been sweating quite a bit and her arms hung from the constant banging and firing of the gear. She smiled and brought up a chest plate and a large gauntlet that seemed to be made to even accommodate a wyrm. "I did it! I made them so that they would fit you perfectly!" She walked over, placing the chest plate on him and strapping it on. She delicately worked the straps and eventually made her way to his arm, helping him fit his hand inside of the glove and wrapping the strap around his forearm. "How do they feel? They'll probably be a bit heavier than what you're used to, but I made them with all my heart put into them. Look! I even sharpened your knife!" She went back over to her anvil and picked it up, bringing it over to him with such enthusiasm.

"Woah!" Laius examined himself in the new gear. He did feel much heavier since he was used to traveling light but it was a trade off he was willing to accept with the perk of being protected. He realized that the zombie creatures in the forest didn't actually deal out much damage when there were only a few of them. It was their numbers that made them deadly. "This is awesome! Those nasty creatures can't touch me now! Maybe the weight of the gear will earn me some muscle finally." He joked. He tested his knife out as well, slashing at the air with less resistance. It seemed that she cautiously removed the venom from the knife before working on it. He would be sure to re-poison it before they set off.