The road that stretched before them was slick with rain that was falling hard and already half-swallowed by the thick fog rolling in from the forest, which they have no idea when it became this thick.
The steady hard drumming of raindrops against the mud was broken only by the faint echoes of pursuit behind them.
Coren turned, scanning the treeline again where the fog moved unnaturally as if it were alive and watching them.
"Keep running!" he shouted and waved them forward. "Don't stop until we see lights or walls!"
Ryn stumbled but caught himself, his boots splashing through a puddle.
"How are they so fast?" he gasped. "Direwolves shouldn't move like that on soaked ground!"
"They're being pushed by something," Elrin said breathlessly, glancing over her shoulder. Her voice trembled as a flicker of light already pulsed faintly from her staff. "Something's forcing them toward us."
