Onward to 7 Years

Chapter 9: Land of the Deadly Fog

As the two kept riding on their unicorns for hours as the sun rose higher and higher, Jessica was just getting more quiet. It seemed like the closer they got to Cavaria, the less she talked. And that made Ian nervous. But he tried to only focus his thoughts on Barley and how close he was to seeing him.

Around noon, the sun was beating on their backs, and the unicorns were getting tired. Ian took out two water bottles from his backpack as they kept riding on,  and he handed one to Jessica. She thanked him and they took some gulps of the water. And when Ian brought his water bottle down from his face, he almost choked on the sip he just took. 

"Cavaria," he whispered.

In the distance, there was a huge wall of thick, gray fog. "That's Cavaria, right? It has to be!" Ian said as he reached over and shook Jessica's shoulder, full of excitement and fear.

Jessica nodded as she put her water bottle in her backpack. "Mmhm," she muttered. "That's Cavaria. It...it has to be."

"I mean, we've been traveling all this way, and going east..." Ian said, assuring himself. Then, the unicorn that Ian and Jessica weren't riding on stopped walking, panting. The other unicorns did the same. "Aw, they stopped," Ian sighed. "Well, we should probably let them rest. We've been riding them for about 12 hours. And they've been good to us."

"...Except when you grabbed on to its tail and it was dragging you all over the place," Jessica snickered.

Ian laughed as he started to climb down from the unicorn, almost falling off. "Oh, be quiet," he said.

Ian and Jessica stroked their unicorns' head and started to say goodbye. Ian had packed a few apples in his backpack, and he gave them to the unicorns as a way of saying thank you. They started happily munching on them, grunting and snorting. Ian and Jessica smiled and turned around, heading toward the foggy land of Cavaria.

"I hope we can get through that fog..." Ian said nervously.

"Yeah," Jessica agreed. "Did you know that Cavaria means "Land of the Deadly Fog?"

Ian looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "It does?" he said nervously.

Jessica laughed. "No, I have no clue what it means. I was just messing with you!" she exclaimed. 

Ian grinned. "Hey, there's the old cheerful you again! Don't be nervous about Cavaria," Ian assured his friend, using all his strength trying not to be nervous himself. "It...it'll be fine." 

Jessica fell silent for the rest of the walk to the foggy land.

Once they reached the wall of fog about 20 minutes later, Ian and Jessica both stopped. Ian looked up, and the fog seemed to extend up to the sky forever.

"Ian," Jessica gasped. Ian glanced down at her, and her normally blue skin and rosy cheeks was now almost white. "We should turn around, I'm not so sure about this-"

"Jessica," Ian said, starting to get a little agitated. Something was rising up inside of him- a confidence that he hadn't felt since Barley was with him. "I am going to find my brother and save him. I have not seen him for almost 7 years, Jess! Do you know how much this means to me?"

"I understand that," Jessica said quietly as he looked up at Ian, her eyes not exactly meeting his. "But it might be dangerous, and-"

"I'm going in, Jessica. You don't have to." Ian instantly regretted saying that, because a part of him wanted someone to be with him. Stop being babyish, Ian. This is about Barley, not you,  Ian thought to himself.

"No!" Jessica said immediately. "I'm coming. I can't let you get captured, too."

But for some reason, Ian thought she made it sound like she wasn't just talking about Barley.

They made their way through the thick fog, Jessica holding onto Ian's arm. It was hard for them to see and breathe, and Ian thought of his dream. It's okay, it's okay, just stay focused on Barley... he thought.

They came out of the fog, stumbling forward. The fog was in a circle around them, but it was about a couple miles long. There was a large circle engraved on the platform they were standing on. And in the middle of the circle was a plus-sign shaped hole.

Ian gasped. "The quest from 10 years ago...I found a thing just like it, and when Barley put it in a hole, the gem appeared! So we just need to find a carving in that shape! Hopefully it leads us to the Centaur and it doesn't give us the gem...well, if it gave us the Power Gem, that would be good too, but-"

"Nope. It's the entrance to where the Centaur's at," Jessica mumbled. Ian was barely able to hear her.

He raised an eyebrow. "How do you know?" he asked.

"I just know it," Jessica said, looking sadder by the second.

Ian looked around at the few trees that surrounded them that was in front of the circle of fog. "Okay, look around for a carving!" he exclaimed. "We have no time to lose!"

He ran to one of the trees and started frantically looking and touching the wood for a carving. There was nothing on the first one. Jessica slowly trailed behind him.

Ian ran to the second tree, patting it down. Still, nothing. But then he glanced up and saw that at the top of the tree, under the leaves, was a plus sign-shaped carving. He set his backpack down, and without thinking, he leaped up onto the tree and started pulling himself up. "This is for you, Barley!" he whispered. 

"Ian," Jessica called from the bottom of the tree he was climbing on. "Maybe we should just turn around, not worry about seeing the Centaur-"

Ian grunted and pulled himself onto the branch that was right under the carving. He sat on the branch and looked down at Jessica, who was about 15 feet below him. "Ohhhh my gosh, that's a little high," he muttered. He cleared his throat. "Jessica," he yelled as he turned to his right, toward the tree trunk, and started reaching for the carving. "We have come this far-" he started pulling it out. "-and we are not  turning a- yes!  I got it!" Unfortunately, the force from him pulling the carving out sent him toppling off the branch and falling down. Him and Jessica both screamed, but luckily he was able to grab onto a branch with one of his hands. "Whoo-hoo!" He exclaimed as he let go and hit the ground a few feet below him. "Now let's go save Barley!" he shouted as he walked toward the middle of the circle to insert the carving in the hole.

But Jessica grabbed Ian's arm and locked her eyes with his. "Ian, don't do it," she said quickly, her face still white with fear. "Please don't. The Centaur can and will hurt you."

"How do you know so much about the centaur?!" Ian asked as he broke his arm free from Jessica's grip. "I am going  to save my brother,"  he said. "And not even the Hidden Centaur will stop me." He turned around as Jessica stared at him, frozen with fear. He bent down and put the carving in the hole.

Jessica lunged forward. "Ian, no, w-"

It was too late. As soon as the carving was inserted, the platform they were standing on opened up. They fell down the deep, dark hole, screaming at the top of their lungs. They hit the ground with a hard thud, and Ian felt like all the wind was knocked out of him. It took him a minute to be able to sit up and breathe. Around him, it was just darkness and fog, like his terrifying dream. He looked over at Jessica to his right, who was still on the ground laying on her side, not moving. "Jess!" Ian screamed as he started shaking her. "Are you okay?!"

Jessica slowly rolled over onto her back. 

Ian breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank g-"

Suddenly a deep, booming voice interrupted him. "Well, well, well!"

Ian shakily stood up, Jessica doing the same. There was no one that they could see around them. Ian breathed faster. "Where are you?" he nervously asked, trying not to show his fear.

"Oh!" the voice boomed all around them. "Jessica, you brought Ian Lightfoot in like I told you to!" the voice gave a mean chuckle. "Let's see if he'll be any use to me!"

Ian looked over at Jessica. She stared straight ahead, her face as white as ever, shaking with fear.

"J-Jess..." he stammered. "You know  the Hidden Centaur? You....you betrayed me?"

Jessica turned, facing Ian. "I'm so sorry, Ian," she choked out, her lower lip trembling. "But I had to."