[h3] [color=#e5e4e2] [b]The Gray Flame[/b][/color][/h3]
[hr]

"Where are you going?" 

Gray asked wearily when Vesemir picked up his lantern again and headed to the road. At Gray's inquiries, he stopped, unsure if talking to the masked elf was his original intention or if he was hell-bent on going into the forest all by himself. 

[b]"We're going to save them of course." [/b]answered the middle-aged elf. [b]"Sir Gray, I know you and everyone else are not in the best condition, and for that, I can understand if unwilling to be involved in this endeavor. Please take some rest. But I would appreciate it if you would enlighten us on what kind of evil that lured my men into the forest."[/b]

"Honestly, I never heard about this shrieker. But there are types of spirits that can entice with voice. So our prime suspects right now are the phantoms. I did not want to blame your porters, but it seemed they were taken when drunk." he indicated at the bottles near the campfire and shook his head. "It is easy to be influenced when you do not keep your wits about you." 

"I should have forbidden them from bringing booze in this expedition." huffed Vesemir. 

"Too late now." The masked elf stood up and crackled his knuckles. "Give me some time to catch my breath, and then I will go with you. If this was indeed the phantoms's handiwork, then we might be able to save them..." 

Gray had his own share of doubts but chose not to express them. He hoped his speculation was right. "Let me take that lantern from you."

There was a small talk after Vesemir appointed Gray to be their pathfinder and further inquiries with the surviving henchmen about the direction those men had taken. Nothing was new to them. 

[b]"If anyone wants to stay at camp please do!"[/b] Vesemir said, and Forbann was the first to express his decision to stay, which was a welcomed proposition. After the accident, they would be more careful not to leave the camp without sufficient guards.  

Gray's only preparation was by drinking water and munching bread, and that was all. This quest to rescue will start soon, and nobody was expecting or even wanted to do this. But they will do it anyway, nobody gets left behind, that was Vesemir's promise, and he intends to honor it, no matter what bleak their chance was.