Ileus: The Dark Prince

The bridge was sturdy enough for all of them to cross pretty easily. He wondered when and how this bridge was built. 

As if understanding his thoughts, Kaizan said, "We have been out of Draoidh for a year, Ileus. In all probability, Haldir must have crafted a new one." 

The mist that was rolling over it like waves had dissipated to a great extent, as the sun rose and spread its rays abundantly over the bridge. It was floating above the deck lazily. The creepers with blue flowers spread like a spider's web over the deck and after climbing over the rails, fell over the edge and swayed like green coronals in the wind. 

"What are you waiting for?" said Darla excitedly. "Let's cross it!" She readied her horse to its edge. 

"Wait," said Anastasia. "I don't feel right about this bridge." 

"What do you mean?" asked Ileus. He planned on walking by foot to cross the bridge. He dismounted and then helped her dismount. Then he looked at Kaizan and Darla who understood his intentions and got down. 

"I don't know… I just feel off…" Was it because of too much worry? But she did feel ominous about it. 

Ileus' brows drew tight. He bit his lip and then after thinking for a moment he considered her warning. "Let me go there first. You all can follow me." 

"I will go with you," said Anastasia with such determination that he couldn't refuse her. 

"Okay, but be careful," he said. He gave the reins of Lovac to Kaizan, but clearly the horse wasn't happy. He snorted in anger and then whinnied. Ileus patted his neck to calm him. He opened the saddlebag and took Anastasia's sheathed sword out. Giving it to her, he said, "It's always better to carry it just in case…" Then he held her hand and they stepped on the bridge together. She took it and hung it on her belt. 

As they walked further, the mist that was rolling lazily, stopped. Even the tendrils of the creeper seemed to stop moving. Anastasia looked to her side towards the river beneath them and at this height, her head reeled under the effect. If the bridge collapsed, she was sure that not a single bone would be found when they meet the depths of Lifye. 

"I can't believe that Haldir created this bridge and never told me about it." His gaze went to the railings and the arches. He was so deeply studying the bridge that when Anastasia pointed out at the far end of the bridge, he was startled. "Look over there," she said. "There's a proper entrance to Draoidh." 

At the end of the bridge, the vegetation had been cleared. Tall towers marked the entrance to the kingdom. Covered with wild vines, they looked portentous yet haunting. They continued to walk. When they were right in the center of the bridge, a very strong gust of wind came, rolling the mist with it towards them. In fact it carried more fog from the opposite side and gushed towards them like a thick ocean wave. Before they could even turn, the two were drenched in the chilling water it held in its womb. 

"What kind of evil is this?" said Anastasia as she looked at the dense fog around them. 

"Turn!" Ileus shouted. "We have to get off the bridge now!" However as soon as they turned, the vines that spanned the length of the bridge started lashing towards them with serpentine speed. "What the hell is happening?" The vines began to wound around them at an alarming speed. They gripped him so hard that he couldn't move a bit. Icy panic gripped his heart when he saw that the vines were coiling around Anastasia at a rapid speed. 

Anastasia took out her sword and started slashing the vines, but the more she cut, the more they grew around her. At this speed, she was sure that in no time she would get covered fully by it and with the way they were tightening around her, she wondered if she would even survive. The mist surrounding them exploded into thousands of fingers and hands. She could hear a distant hiss, "Come to me…" hair on her nape stood at the creepy voice. 

"Did you hear that?" she asked Ileus, as she slashed more vines. 

"What?" he asked with a deep crease in between his forehead.

The vines lashed so violently around the bridge that a low flying bird got trapped. They coiled around its fragile body and trapped it. Soon the bird disappeared and only the vines were left. When the greenery opened, the bird wasn't there. 

"Fuck!" Ileus said. Thinking of the closest spell that would disentangle them from this mess, he chanted, "Loraz rastaviya!" Immediately the vines loosened his grip. He was startled because he had cast dark magic. "This is black magic," he announced. But he didn't waste time thinking about it. "Anastasia, stay still!" he commanded her and she froze in her place. He chanted more of his dark spells and the vines started retreating. They lashed at him like angry snakes who couldn't catch their prey as they retreated. "Now run!" he shouted. 

"Noooo," the eerie voice from the mist said. "Don't go. Come to me Anastasia…" The misty fingers touched her and she felt an icy chill on her skin. She ignored the voice and continued to race along with Ileus. When they were only a meter away from the edge, they jumped and landed on the road. Darla, who was already standing there, held their hands and pulled them with all her strength. 

She pulled up relieved to leave the eerie bridge and the grim words of that voice. When she looked back, she found that everything was just as it was earlier. The mist had rolled back to the cliffs on the other side and the vines had once again resumed swaying lazily over the railings. Even though buffets of chilly winds swirled around them, they were covered with a thin sheen of sweat. 

Ileus was back on his horse along with Anastasia and they moved towards the old footbridge they had left behind. "We have to take our chances over that…" he whispered. But he knew that he couldn't use his spell on the dilapidated bridge and fumed at Haldir for not looking after it. 

Kaizan dismounted his horse and walked towards the edge of the footbridge. "How will the horses cross it?" he said in a defeated tone. What happened to Anastasia and Ileus over the past bridge was bone chilling. 

Darla also got down. She opened the satchel on her horse and took out fish roasted in salt wrapped in leaves that Ada had given to the Mozias for traveling. Before leaving for Draoidh, they had given the food rations to Darla. 

Ileus was sitting on a rock while Anastasia leaned against a tree as they watched the footbridge. 

"I think the best way would be to walk one by one," said Anastasia.

"We will hold the anchor bolts of the bridge until the person has crossed over to the other side. Once they have crossed, they will hold the anchor bolts on the other side," said Kaizan, accepting the fish.