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“Because I’ve been waiting for you.”

Chapter 17

Havinga stranger declare they’d been waiting for her shook Avera to the core and led to her focusing on the cloaked figure. “Who are you?”

“A guardian,” replied the feminine, if mature, sounding voice.

“Guardian of what?”

“Come with me to find out.” The woman released Avera’s arm and began walking away.

“I can’t leave my friends.”

“They will be fine for the moment.” The woman kept moving.

“Hardly fine,” countered Avera taking a step to follow. “The mist is controlling them.”

“Controlling, yes, but not harming. They will simply join the others in their task.”

“What task? What are those people doing?”

“They’re trying to melt Damnation Lake.” A statement thrown over the woman’s shoulder.

“Why? What is this place?” Avera cried out as the distance between them grew. A part of her hesitated to follow the stranger. But how else would she get answers?

“The city you saw below used to be called Ultilina.”

“Never heard of it,” Avera stated.

“Because those who knew of it have long since turned to dust. I’m the only guardian left and once I’m gone, there will be no one to give warning.”

“Warning of what?”

The woman didn’t answer, simply melted into the mist and Avera chewed her lips as she tried to decide. Follow her friends or the stranger?

Since she’d come for answers, she chose the latter. After all, the city in the hollowed pit didn’t appear to be harming anyone, just putting them to work. She grabbed her bag and that of her friends before heading after the woman.

It didn’t prove easy to locate the direction the mysterious stranger had gone as the mist swirled thickly around the ledge, making Avera watch her feet lest she wander wrong and end up plummeting over the ledge. The amulet glowed once more, clearing a bit of the area around her, but she only caught by chance the swirl of a cloak. She hastened to catch up only to pause as the woman seemingly disappeared.

“Hello?” she called out.

“In here.” The voice sounded close.

Avera reached out and her fingertips scraped against a wall. She trailed her hand over it, inching alongside until she found an opening. Avera dumped the bags she carried and clutched her dagger before entering.

The mist abruptly ceased as if it didn’t dare enter the cave.

A cave set up as a home.

Avera glanced around at the space, a fairly spacious single room. It contained a bed, a table, and a pair of chairs. Shelves were carved into the walls and held jugs. Herbs hung from the ceiling. A fire crackled in a hearth but somehow burned with no wood. Avera noticed the flames rested atop a black puddle. A strange fuel source.

The woman removed her cloak, revealing herself to be old, her face wrinkled with age, her figure slight, her white hair bound in a single long braid.

“Tea?” the stranger asked, placing a kettle on a hook over the odd burning fire.

Self-preservation kicked in to remind her that trusting the woman might be hazardous to her health. “No, thank you.”

“I promise, it’s not poisoned.”