"Follow me, quickly!" I yelled as I broke into a run and charged straight ahead.
There was only a second before their casts would complete, and as my voice left my body and reached my companions' ears, the first wave of frost bolts hit.
"Get down!"
Swinging my halberd in a wide arc, I met two frost bolts head on with the axe-head as an ice-cold frosty mist sprayed over me, only to get hit from behind as one had found its mark. My back, covered in frost, had stiffened due to the cold as my mobility had been slightly reduced. Taking a quick glance behind me, the girls had both been hit as well, twice for Katherine and once for Selene.
Continuing with my advance, I charged through the dense white fog with halberd held high above and behind me, ready to swing down at a moment's notice. How the creatures could figure out our location in the midst of this fog, was beyond me, but if they were casters, we needed to get into melee.
Not more than two seconds had passed as I came across the first of the creatures and let my halberd down with an exhale as my shoulders and chest went to work. Cutting deep into the hairy rodent's collarbone and straight through to its stomach, I pulled the halberd back as the three foot tall mutated rat collapsed to the floor, partially split in two.
"What the fuck is this thing," I muttered as something caught the corner of my eye.
Twisting and ducking to the ground, three frost bolts flew over my head and off into the distance, as another two impacted with a thud behind me. Rolling onto my back and looking to where Selene and Katherine were standing, they had both been hit again.
"Dodge that shit!" I yelled as they look startled and confused.
Katherine snapped out of it first, and began to heal herself as Selene started to shoot arrows off into the fog, hoping that the rats had yet to shift their positions. Standing back up, I ran in a circular direction as I attempted to find the other rats, watching and looking for the soft glow of their hands.
Another two seconds, another wave of frost bolts shot by, towards Selene and Katherine as I had moved out of the line of fire. In that moment, I was able to trace a frost bolt back and thrust my halberd out, spear-tip first until it made contact with something squishy. Taking another step forward and digging my heel in, I pushed again and twisted as one of the humanoid rats screamed in pain. Pulling my halberd and simultaneously leaping to the side, a second rat was trying to escape as I hooked it with the backside of the halberd's head, dragging it back into me.
The creature turned its beady eyes up to me, locking eyes with me as fear took over. It wanted to run, tried to run, but I simply grabbed it by the throat and shot a lightning bolt straight into its body. Dropping the lifeless corpse to the floor, I started to sprint again as another wave of frost bolts were shot erratically in every which direction.
They were breaking ranks, and were obviously starting to panic.
Easily avoiding the frost bolts that came my way, I traced their trajectories back to their origins and increased my pace. Sprinting through the fog with my halberd parallel to the ground, I was charging with spear-tip at the ready.
A pair of glowing hands in the distance became my target, as the soft white-blue glow gave the rat away. Without bothering to slow down I ran straight through the creature as I impaled it on the end of my weapon, only stopping to discard the body with a flick of the tip.
Squeals could be heard as they started to communicate, but the interjecting screams of the rats I found only created more confusion. Eight rats were dead or maimed now, and as I found myself next to Selene and Katherine, my heart nearly stopped.
Somehow, Katherine had taken far too many frost bolts and was at death's door. Unable to cast due to the constant onslaught of spells impacting her body, and without the agility to dodge, she was a sitting duck stuck with spell rebound. I looked at Selene, who was at nearly full health while shooting her bow randomly into the fog.
She was useless.
And then a glimmer to the side, from the corner of my eye once again, two frost bolts headed straight towards Kate. I was too far to block with my weapon, too far to reach by foot. She was at least eight feet away as I whispered to myself, "Flash Step."
In a literal flash, my corporeal body transformed into pure energy and traversed the distance between us as a bolt of lightning, only to rematerialize in front of Kate as I threw my arms out and turned my back.
The sudden impact of two solid frost bolts connecting and exploding against my back sent a chill through my spine and into my chest as the wind was knocked from me. Leaning against Kate with arms wrapped around her, Selene turned to look, only to see that she had been oblivious to the state of affairs.
Grabbing Kate, I picked her up in my arms and started to run in the opposite direction. Selene followed, not knowing what else to do as frost bolts flew past us. There were only three or four rats left, but I needed to get to safety.
Katherine was cold, nearly frozen as her health was reaching critical levels.
She would die without a heal soon.
After twenty seconds of running, I set her down and told her what to do.
"Heal yourself, quickly," I stated with urgency. "I'll shield you."
Understanding the situation, her hands began to glow a dim golden-white.
Selene stood at the rear, her face clearly pained.
"Holy Light!" said Kate after a few seconds had passed, as a golden-white beam of light engulfed her and brought her back to stable levels.
"Heal to full, I think they've retreated."
Scanning the fog to the best of my ability while maintaining position over Kate, there were no signs of movement or of any frost bolt headed our way. Though it was hard to be sure, as the visibility was still piss poor.
Ten seconds passed as Kate healed everyone to full and nothing else had transpired.
As far as I could tell, we were safe for now.
It looked, as if things were over.
A few minutes came and went as we cautiously loitered about, waiting and watching for movements. Mostly, we listened for the squeaks and squeals of those deformed rats.
Nothing ever came though.
Eventually, the sun began to rise and the fog started to part, revealing our location to us once and for all. The reality, was somewhat strange.
We had reached our destination.
And we didn't even know it.
The creek was only fifty feet away and the mountain side was an equal ways off to the east of us. The cave system that the two had mentioned, was visible in plain sight. The corpses of the weird rats were littered about in front of the cave, as everything started to make sense to me.
They attacked us, because we invaded their territory.
"So, we made it after all," I mumbled as I looked at Kate, who had fallen asleep in my arms. She was safe; comfortable with me around. Exhaustion had set in, so I didn't blame her for catching a wink of sleep.
Selene on the other hand, was clearly upset.
"Ah," I whispered to myself.
A lot of things were starting to make sense.
Selene wore the same expression when they went hunting a while back, and though she never explained why to me, Kate had later informed me that they had a close call. That Selene blamed herself for failing to protect Kate when faced with desperate odds against a pack of wolves. Selene wasn't good in dire situations, where her panic and fear could take over and cloud her judgment.
Yeah, I had seen it firsthand now.
She shot her bow well, was a proficient hunter, and was someone I could trust to hold the rear and continue to attack… she came through when we fought the village chief's henchmen. But, I also took every attack… not one was directed at her, and despite her continual pelting of arrows, I nearly died back then too.