Dark Clouds

By Jonathan Mariani

               Walking on the well-travelled path, the agent is trying to keep a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree field of vision.  He does not know who could be lurking in the foliage to the left and the rocky formation to the right.  He must get moving and gain some ground today.  The rain that occurred yesterday put him way behind schedule and his boss is not one to forgive tardiness easily.  “I’ll have to eat on the road,” he thought to himself.  He hated eating on horseback.  He was always spilling and ultimately wasting food.  He did not mind eating off the ground, but that would slow him down and defeat the purpose of eating on horseback.  He went through this dilemma every time he was running late and every time he came to the same conclusion; “I can’t afford to waste any more time.”

            Once he reached the forest, he knew he was getting close to his destination, probably a day or two journey through the forest.  It has been cloudy all day, with the sun trying to poke out, but unable to breech the great grey wall in the sky.  These conditions made for a miserable day.  It was not cold by any means, but it was not warm either.  The young traveller did not know whether to put on a jacket or not.  He found it frustrating that he had to flip between the two in his travels.  It was just humid and sticky enough outside to make him sweat with the jacket on, but the sweat made him too chilly to take the jacket off.  The weather is a lose- lose situation for the traveler.

            There was nothing special about this forest.  It was just trees on trees on end, with leaves crunching underneath each step the agent takes.  The rain caused the green leaves to shine with moisture and coated the forest with a thin layer of fog. The fog did not make it harder to see but added on to the feeling of being grey and cloudy.  The muddy ground causes each step for the horse to be a squishy one as they trudge on, and it will be muddy for the rest of the journey. “There could be worse conditions to travel in”, thought the agent, “but these are not my favorite by any means.”

            The traveler hears a sound all people who travel should recognize in an instant: wolves.  His pace quickens, but as fortune would not be on the traveler’s side, he ran right into the pair of wolves.  Although he had encountered wolves before, he did go out of his way to avoid wolves.  The wolves turned their bright yellow eyes to the traveler, and he knew there was no escape.  He would have to defend himself. 

            The traveler sized up his situation carefully as he dismounted from his horse.  There are two wolves, strayed from the rest of the pack.  They are about the same size, with the same color of fur.  The fur is a dark brown (almost black) color, that gets lighter as you go from the wolves’ back to their bellies’, and all the way down to their paws.  The traveler looked at the wolves’ faces and wished he did not do that.  The wolves were showing their teeth, creeping towards him slowly, sizing up their potential meal.  Food has been scarce for these animals, so they are not going to be picky. 

            As the wolves were getting ready to strike, the traveler got ready to defend.  He drew his trusty sword from its hilt and got ready.  The wolf to the traveler’s left leapt at him, forcing him to jump to his right and strike back but was too slow with the sword and missed.  The other wolf circled around waiting for an opening.  The traveler struggled with the wolves for a while, showing competence with a sword, but not quite being fast to strike them down.  He needed to change tactics and he did just that.  He became the aggressor and launched an attack of his own.  He created some space with the wolves by swinging his sword in a horizontal slicing motion.  The wolves jumped back out of surprise but giving up was not an option for these animals that have not eaten in three days.  The traveler attacks them one at a time now and is having some success on the offensive.  His speed with the blade is still making him come up short, however, he has managed to get some cuts on the animals.  The wolves, as if silently communicating with one another, decide to leap at the same time at the traveler.  The wolf on the left gets a bite on the lower left arm close to the wrist, while the other one caught sharp iron across its throat.  That was made possible by the traveler’s attempt to shield his unguarded side with his left arm and slashing with his sword towards the wolf on the right. 

            “Shit!” yelled the traveler through gritted teeth, as the wolf sunk his teeth into his thick forearm.  The wolf that was slashed across the throat slumped to the ground while the two surviving creatures continued to wrestle on the ground.  The traveler finally shook the remaining wolf off him and stood up, clearly in serious pain.  His face is locked in a grimace as he tries to keep his composure and finish the task at hand.  “You can be in pain when this is over,” he thought, “but now you have to survive.”  With blood dripping down his arm, he charged at the wolf.  He was tired of ducking and dodging and wanted to bring the fight to the wolf.  The wolf took the bait and leapt at the traveler.  That was a mistake for the animal, for the traveler did a quick sidestep when the wolf was close enough and stabbed the wolf right in the belly.  The wolf yelped and crumpled to the ground immediately.  There was no more fight in either wolf, and the traveler cursed and asked himself aloud, “why couldn’t I do that earlier?”

             The wolf encounter put the traveler way behind schedule, but he had to take care of his wound.  He wrapped his left arm in a cloth, which felt like it was on fire with searing pain but then mounted his horse. He could not believe that the wolf bit him and he cursed himself for the next twenty minutes until he found the stream he was looking for.  He was able to move and use his arm, but it hurt tremendously to do so.  He dismounted his horse and made his way to the stream.  As he approached the stream, he saw his reflection. “Do I really look that old?” the traveler asked himself.  And indeed, he did.  He saw the bags under his eyes and the wrinkles forming at his eyes, but not pronounced enough to be considered elderly.  His hair was showing signs of greying, giving it a salt and pepper look.  His face betrayed how old he actually was, because he was not older than forty and in good shape.  He may have lost a step or two from his prime, but he knew how to handle himself.  His physique showed that of someone who leads an active lifestyle.  His muscles were toned but not bulging, and he was about six foot two inches tall. His face also gave off an emotionless aura that was naturally intimidating.  By looking at this traveler, not many people dared to challenge him.  Hungry animals were a different story, however.

              The traveler finally finished washing his wound and wrapped it in a fresh cloth.  Even though the clouds were still looming above, the traveler could tell night was approaching quickly.  He needed to find shelter, and fast, because he did not want to run into any more predators, especially while his vision was limited and while he was injured.  He set up camp in a clearing not far from the path.  He started a fire and laid down and immediately felt the relief of his body being able to relax on the ground.  However, his mind was not at peace.  He was late.  For his survival, however, he decided that showing up in the morning would be better than being dead.  He came to peace with that decision and slept for a little while.

              The traveler awoke to another grey morning, as for the clouds, they seemed to have not moved over night.  He got his horse ready to go and mounted up to travel.  After an hour, it started to rain steadily for his journey.  It was not a heavy rain, but it was enough rain to be soaked after riding in it for half an hour.  “Good thing I am almost there” mumbled the traveler to himself, and he pressed on.  After another hour of riding, he reached his destination.  The traveler had good timing as well, for the rain was starting to come down a little harder, giving him chills to his bones. 

              As many times as the traveler has been to this place, it never ceases to amaze him.  There was a giant structure into the cliffside.  However, not many people know that because the entrance just looks like the entrance to an ordinary cave.  As he wanders even further in, the real awe-striking architecture really comes into play.  As he enters, there are three distinct directions he could possibly go.  A door about one-hundred feet to his right, a door one-hundred feet to his left, or the door up some stairs straight ahead.  This entrance room gives off a castle like feeling, with black carpet and equidistant statues of men in armor along each path one could take.  He elected for the one straight ahead.  He knew his boss was waiting for him and he would not be happy.  There was no time for anything else.  He did not even take the time to put on dry clothes.  He took a deep breath to brace himself for the massive staircase he was about to climb.  The stairs he climbed were concrete and steep, but at least there was an ornate stone railing he could use.  This was not ideal for his aching body after travelling for weeks, but he was in a hurry, so he marched on.  The entrance hall was decorated with symmetrical columns on each side of the room and banners hung with a symbol he did not care to look at.  Torches gave a faint illumination to the room because there was not much natural light coming in from the cave entrance due to the rainy weather.   He reaches the main room and an elderly man robed in black and red was waiting for him. 

              “You’re late,” the man stated without turning around.

              “I-, “and before he could make another sound, he gasped as he could feel the air leaving his body.  He collapsed on the ground and his body lay still, lifeless. The old, robed man turned around revealing his face, wrinkled with age. His long, white beard illuminated in the light of the torches.  He walked over to the now dead body of the traveler, with the remnants of magic energy still on the corpse from his spell and picked up a package.

              “At least you finished your mission,” he said as he opened the tightly wrapped package.  Inside was a key with a diamond shaped handle and a strange symbol on the inside of the diamond.  The plans the old man had made were set in motion.

End Prologue.