Tales of a Shifter (P6) - Child of Sun & Moon

Chapter 53 - Past The Mist

Past the Mist

Ann stagger stepped and shuffled as slowly as she could. Her min was fogged with cold and pain, and fear...and she had no clue what her next move was supposed to be.

Brandon...

She thought internally as she sagged forwards, her hands wrapped weakly around her wet shivering frame, the large bloody fang marks in her shoulder burned at every breath and move that she made, cool burning discomfort rung all over her side from the wounds, and her blood felt like it was cold slush in her veins and in her heart.

Come Ann...follow me...

Whispered back her acolytes voice, layered as if there were five beings all speaking to her at once.

Im coming, but Jacob is with me Brandon.

Brandon do you hear me!? The Lion has found us!

The Wind slammed into her chest front wise stealing er breath....and Ann was dismayed that there was no reaction or words from the Druids in her mind to her warnings. The boy was so lost in his own mind she had no idea what could even reach him at this point.

Blinking her eyes hard Ann grimly hunched her shoulders and moved along.

Ann shivered and shifted to the side stepping heavily over a twisted ramble of moss and thick slippery roots that seemed to make up all of the earth under her feet that wasn't frosted with the slimish green and white moss and ice painted flowers that glinted at odd angles as if the buds trapped in the frosty depths were dancing in the waxing grey cold light that shinned down from above.

Everything was cold and silent; the only sound was the hammering howl of the winds and the tinkle of the frosted treetops knocking around. The air...was oddly stagnant and heavy...and Anns chest felt so heavy with each step, and sway. Her mind also felt unnaturally pressured and once aging she struggled with the sense that she was simply unwelcome in that space. By the earth, the tress, the very Mountain of Ishtar itself.

There was a tangible sense of being hurried by an unseen presence. There was no animal call, or warmth...or even a sense like lingering was an option. She almost thought a small voice in her mind want to urge her to run, but she knew that would be a mistake. The ceaseless sentinels of the frozen birrs all around her were easily so homogenous as to be confusing to navigate in any normal circumstances. If she got lost here....she knew the cold would claim her long before her panic made her heart stop.

Ann too a had in hail, rolling her head to reduce some of the tension, and let out a breath, ignoring how cold the air in her lungs felt as they brushed over her bloody lips.

"What....what is this place Jacob? It feels strange in this place...an ill will."

The Lion trudged behind her, his steps heavy and measured the only sign that he was glued to her heels like a hound. She felt his eyes shift along her back and with a small hiss he said.

"We are in the Wirmist and we are not of this Land. This Mystical Forest has been forgotten to all but a few...the land of Ishtar is home to things a mortal like you should fear and only those touched by the Moon can circumvent it easily. Luckily you have the words of a child of the Moon to guide us because if there is one thing the Druids did well its kill."

Wirmist he called it? A mystical Forest? So has the Lion been here and when?

Ann digested these words, and only felt confused. But she did understand one thing he had shared.

"You say Moon touched? So you mean a Druid..." Ann supplied, she glanced around and closed her eyes. "This Forest feels alive, but not. There is this pressure on my heart like something trying to crush it. Its terrifying, and I want to panic, but Im able to focus on the feeling of Brandon's direction. His words help to calm me...."