Fog

Her scream was a sad and muffled thing, under the thick blanket of fog. The figure appearing so suddenly out of it was enough to scare her half out of her wits.

And if the front of her dress was wet with her terror, who can blame her? She was only small, trapped in thickening darkness.

Not to mention the sticky, tangling, choking fog. Peopled by weeping women just out of vision, and an unknown number of men shouting and clanging.... And that green-cloaked figure, galloping after them down the hill, or else shrouded in fog, waiting for them.

But the figurein front of her wasn't much taller than she was, and he was brandishing a sticks not a sword or a knife.

"Are you alright?" Ned said.

"Oh, Ned, I thought you were, you know, him, come to- to-"

"Don't," Ned said, more gently than usual. "Don't Joanie. Just think about getting home I got you a stick, see? To help you walk. Like I promised. We'll be home in no time, now."

Joanie wanted to say, you've been saying things like that all day and it's took us hours and hours to get anywhere... But she squashed that and said, thank you instead.

Ned rubbed a hand over the back of his neck.

"It's alright," he said.

"It was so brave," Joanie said, struggling to her feet and leaning on it. "It must have been so scary out there by yourself."

"It was a bit," Ned said. "But we've both got to be brave, haven't we?"

Joanie knew that if she broke down, fell, started crying... his patience would run out, and fear would make him harsh and short-tempered.

"I'll try," she said, "Really I will.... but I can't run, Ned, I can't."

"We'll be alright if we stick together. We'll be home before you know it."

Joanie really wanted to believe him.

They set off down the path. Much slower now, Joanie hobbling and leaning on the sturdy stick Ned had found for her.

It was getting darker with every passing moment. They both peered around all the time. Neither wanted to careen into the mysterious figure in the darkness. They strained their ears for the strange noises...the woman, crying, the band of men shouting, the sound of metal on metal...

Maybe they'd left all that behind, Ned thought, and Joanie hoped much the same.

Unnatural quiet twisted around them, chilly and thick like snow. They pressed through it.

*

The sight of the familar path that backed on to their home almost made them collapse with a huge, sagging relief. Joanie hobbled a bit faster, wincing. Ned felt wobbly in his tummy, and blinked away tears he hadn't dared let his sister see.

"Ned? Joanie? Is that you?"

Their mother's voice sounded shrill and harsh.

"It's us," Ned called back, "Joanie hurt her foot so it took us a while to walk back..."

The scolding started, and the shooing indoors, and the dismay at their muddy clothes.

...and look at the state of your dress, I'll have to cut it up for rags..."

!!... as if we haven't got enough to be worried about, with the state of the country..."

"...you were supposed to be back before dark..."

II...you missed dinner..."

The words washed over them, and they bowed their heads, trying to look suitably shame-faced.

We made it. We're home.

Their mother was tutting and exclaiming over Joanies foot and ankle, which was swollen and bruised.

"I told you to mind her," she shot at Ned.

"I did, didn't I?"Ned shot back. "I stayed with her and found her a stick, and walked her all the way back-"

His father's hand descended to cuff him round the head, which stopped him mid-flow and made his eyes water.

"Don't you speak to your mother like that," he said scowling and gruff.

"It wasn't Ned's fault," Joanie piped up. "I fell because we were running from the man in the green cloak-"

Ned joined in, and between them they tried to tell their parents about -

"-the fog was weird, and thick and-"

"-there were hoofbeats-"

"-a woman crying-"

Their mother went pale.

Their father rounded on her, crosser than ever.

"This is your fault," he snapped. "Telling them all those stories."

"I never told them about Wild Edric," she said.

"Wild who? Who's he?"

"Never you mind," their mother said. "Let's get you cleaned up and get some supper down you."

*