The cold mist stung my face as I walked silently up the side of the hill. The trail led around the swampland of the Gray Marsh. I knew that the fateful castle lay ahead. "How?," I asked myself, "How will I reach it when I can see no more than ten pike in front of me?" Suddenly, I heard a rushing sound. A mild wind blew the mist away above the tree line. I saw the dark blue sky of the early morning, even though I was enshrouded below. Then, above the noise of the wind came more sounds: The snap of tightly stretched wings and the hoarse grunts of some wild beasts. There they were: "Behold the Mist Riders of the Forgotten Shore!" I thought to myself. I beheld first a proud, muscular drake with a rider on its back. Its ivory claws dug at the mist and its dark green wings stood straight out in a confi- dent glide. Its husky breath leapt from its turtle-like face in sharp puffs, which accounted for the snorting sound. The rider sat high in the saddle. As he approached I could see a grim face with eyes set firmly ahead, both beneath a shadowy brow. He wore the floppy hat of the Rider, and his green tunic had a drab color. His bright green cloak was pulled around his shoulders and waist because of the cold. I caught only a glimpse of his sword, which I knew must be true; and his Kushar lance sat up- right: It pointed toward the sky. The group of three passed by over head. As the leader glanced at me, I waved once. In a moment, they were gone. Then, the mist blew in behind them... Arveta Supplement: The Kingship of Caladel Back to Arveta Table of Contents Back to Arveta List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1999 by Abram Paradies. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com