Minutes later the two exhausted, chilled elves heaved themselves out of the surf and trudged ashore in the dark. The beach was broad and welcoming, which they both counted as fortunate. A sudden crash into rocks would have almost ended their escape.

“Where do you think we are?” asked Laromendis.

“I have no idea, but with a little luck I might deduce something. We know the worlds taken by the Demon Legion, and if this is one of those, we might be able to come up with another means of reaching home.”

“You always were the one to look on the bright side of things; it’s odd how you ended up spending so much time in caves as a child.”

His brother tried to chuckle, but couldn’t quite work up the energy. “There!” he said suddenly, pointing to lights that dotted the side of the hill above them, then were again consumed in mist.

“Torches, I think,” whispered Laromendis. Without another word they started moving up the beach, cautiously in the dark. Like all of their race, they were far better equipped to see in the dark, their night vision rivaling that of most cats, but no matter how acute their eyes might be, they still needed some light and there was very little.

Instead the land was shrouded in a murky haze, and they had to work their way cautiously on a path that led upward, perhaps a game trail. Movement was slow, as the way was littered with rocks and bramble.

Gulamendis kept his voice low and said, “There are a lot of demons nearby.”

His brother whispered, “We need to get off that beach. If there are demons around, we need to find a place to hide until we can get some idea of what to do next. You were the one who told me some of those fliers can see in the dark.”

“Thanks for reminding me,” the Demon Master whispered in return. “Not many, and none of them like to fly in fog. Too easy to run into something unyielding.”

They reached a small switchback and continued up the hillside. As they got to higher ground the fog thinned and a few minutes later they broke clear of it. The sky on the other side of the cliff they climbed was aglow, and they crouched instinctively against any sentries.

Looking back the way they came, the trail vanished a few yards below them into a low-lying bank of heavy mist. Both brothers had lived on the coast enough to recognize the heavy marine air that would roll in at sundown, only to burn off by midmorning. Natural barriers like this cliff face could hold it in place if it wasn’t thick and even when it was, it wouldn’t extend very far inland.