The ring sat half-buried in the forest. Monsters left it alone for the most part. It


    sometimes altered one of them into something else more powerful, but sometimes it


    killed the beast as soon it was touched.


    Eli Sone didn’t know anything about the ring, the danger it posed, or what any of the


    local animals and monsters could do. He had hired on to take a caravan to the south


    from Corwin’s Mount. Once he had done that, he would take another caravan back


    north.


    Ten other guards rode on either side of the train of wagons. They kept an eye on the


    shifting shadows of the trees. If anything attacked the caravan, they had to be ready to


    drive it back.


    Eli rode in the front. His job was to lure hungry predators out before the caravan reached


    where he was. Then he could ride away on his horse, and let lancers and archers do what


    they could to whatever showed up.


    They had killed a couple of hungry bears, and a knarl, in this way. The animals attacked.


    Eli gave the signal and ran back toward the train. The predators chased him. They ran


    into a hedge of spears for their troubles.


    Eli decided the clearing ahead would be the perfect campsite for his group. They could


    establish a small perimeter on the grass, and set up fires to keep animals at bay. It would


    be good to get something to eat and take a break from the riding they had done so far.


    The only thing they would have to worry about were monsters who weren’t afraid of


    fire, or men.


    He paused and let the train catch up to him. He waved down the lead driver to slow his


    wagon. He asked the man to circle around so the wagons would follow him and form


    the makeshift barrier they needed.


    He made sure the drivers had their wagons lined up. There were gaps in the defense, but


    there was only so much you could do without magic. He sent the riders out to look at


    the area to see how safe it was before he allowed the draft horses to be unyoked from


    their wagons. He didn’t want to stop and then be attacked by some beast while his men


    were trying to get the horses back together so they could take the cargo with them.


    Once he was satisfied that nothing would come out of the trees to attack them, he


    allowed the draft horses to be unstrapped from their yokes and put out to eat grass next


    to the wagons.


    Campfires would be set up for cooking as the sun went down. He had to set up his own.


    He didn’t have a convenient wagon to sleep in, or under. He would have to sleep on the


    ground in his own spot.


    He made sure his horse had some food before posting up at the edge of the perimeter.


    The grass would do for the rest of the night. He set up his campfire, used his saddle for


    a pillow, and ate cold jerky and sipped water. In the morning, he would have to do what


    he could to get the wagons rolling southward again.


    Each trip felt longer to him. Maybe he should stop guiding merchants and settle down


    in one of the city states. Not Berne. The Alvas and Shae were major problems in the


    south. The last thing he wanted was to fight against either of their forces.


    He wondered if this was going to be his last trip across the continent. It had to happen


    sometime. He wondered what his reward would be in the Underworld.


    He pushed the dark thoughts away. He would be up in the day. Then he could plan out


    the next leg of their trip and try to get the caravan where it needed to be. Then he would


    take the next supply train north like he had been doing since he was a boy.


    Eventually he would get tired of the work, but right now it suited him to wander across


    the wilderness as much as he wanted.


    He settled in to get some sleep. He had plenty of time in the morning to plan for the


    challenges ahead. Sleep would help with that.


    The camp settled in, sentries posted against things in the dark. There were always going


    to be predatory monsters who could and would take on armed guards. A watch, even if


    it couldn’t drive a monster off, could alert the camp so harm could be limited.


    Hopefully the wall of wagons would make all but the biggest monsters pause before


    they attacked the camp.


    Eli snapped awake early in the morning before the sun was up. Someone should have


    woke him up for his turn at guard duty. He liked to take the last shift before the camp


    roused so he could plan for the day while he waited for the hours to move on.


    He wondered what was going on.


    He heard something like sizzling. He stood up, letting his blanket fall to the ground. He


    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.didn’t see anyone else in camp. Where had everyone gone?


    He decided to follow the sound. Maybe the guards and traders had found something in


    the night, and they were trying to figure out how to handle it. They should have woke


    him for that.


    He found silhouettes standing around a glowing ring on the ground. They seemed frozen


    in the act of staring at the light. What did he do about this?


    What should he do about this? What had happened to the people he had been escorting?


    He wondered what he could do. Should he try to touch one of those dark shadows to see


    what happened? What would happen to him if he did? Would he be trapped like the


    others?


    Eli decided that it would be safer to use a branch to touch the dark shapes. They


    couldn’t hurt him if he didn’t get directly in their way.


    He hoped that was true. Otherwise, he was in real trouble with no way of getting out of


    it.


    He went to where the trees lined the road. He picked up the biggest stick he could


    manage. He swung at the closest shadow as hard as he could.


    A man went down. He lay there, shaking. Eli didn’t know what had happened, but


    figured that he should stay away from anything like that. The last thing he wanted was


    the guys around the ring trying to take him hostage.


    The dark shapes turned to face him. He stepped back. Maybe he shouldn’t have attracted


    their attention. He decided that maybe he should run. He didn’t want them to grab


    him with their shadowy arms.


    Eli ran back toward his horse. He could ride away bareback and come back in the


    daylight to see what he could do about the glowing ring. He had to get away from the


    danger before he could think about what he could do about the rest of the caravan.


    He might be able to find a magician to help him if he looked around. There had to be


    someone who could reverse the enchantment he had seen.


    He had to get away before he could do anything.


    He spotted his horse and called his reserves for a sprint to cover the ground. The animal


    whickered to let him know it wasn’t liking the company he was bringing back to the


    camp.


    He didn’t bother trying to saddle the nervous beast. He just pulled the reins from the


    branch he had thrown them around and jumped on the horse’s back. Something hit him


    and he fell off. He hit the ground on his back and lost his breath for a valuable few


    seconds.


    He tried to pull himself together. His horse had trotted out of reach. It snorted at the


    dark shapes, but they didn’t seem to care about the horse.


    Eli starting climbing to his feet. He had to get away. Shadow hands wrapped around


    his arms and held him in the air. He struggled against the grips on his arms. They carried


    him back to the ring. He looked at the glow.


    He didn’t want to die. He didn’t want to die. He wanted to be free of these monsters.


    They dropped him on the ring.


    Pain shot through his body. Light wrapped around him. It reached into the shadows


    holding him on the ring. He passed out before he could consider what would happen if


    he survived as a shadow man.


    Eli came together on one side of the ring. Daylight beat on his face. He must have


    been out for hours. He blinked at the clearing. At least the shadows were gone.


    What was he going to do about getting his caravan down to Berne?


    He had no guards, or drivers, or anything to help him move the goods south. He couldn’t


    do it all himself. He would lose everything over this bad luck encounter.


    What could he do to fix this problem?


    He paced back and forth next to the ring. At least it wasn’t glowing in the daytime.


    He took a moment to rub his chin with his bone hand. What could he do about getting


    the caravan to its destination as one man.


    He doubted he could do anything other than taking the horses with him on a tether


    and leaving the wagons behind until he could get help. He would have to hide the


    wagons from thieves and scavengers since he wouldn’t be around to defend the goods


    while he was trying to get help to drive everything to Berne.


    Once he had help, the rest would be simplicity to fix.


    He would have to send a messenger home to let his backer know what had happened to


    his people. He couldn’t let anyone else close to the ring because of what it did to anyone


    touching it.


    At least he was still thinking instead of being some kind of shadow monster.


    Eli floated over to where his horse grazed on grass. The animal stepped away from him.


    He tried to make a calming sound, but it was full of angry bees. He stopped trying to


    talk when the horse moved further away from him.


    He grabbed the reins in a desperate lunge. He tied them around the nearest tree. Then


    he worked to gather up the rest of the horses from where the wagons surrounded the


    campfires. They shied away from him, but he finally had all of them tied up so he could


    think about what to do next.


    He looked at his hand on the reins. He wondered when he had become a skeleton. What


    had the ring done to him? It had turned all of the guards and drivers into shadows, and


    him into a skeleton. How was he going to explain this to anyone?


    Monster hunters and adventurers would be trying to kill him as soon as he tried to get


    help. No one would trust him, or believe that some ring turned him into a skeleton. He


    didn’t even think he could prove that he was still Eli.


    What could he do about this?


    The first thing was he had to honor his contract about the wagons of merchandise. That


    meant getting someone out to help him start moving them south. Who would do that


    when it looked like the trip was cursed.


    Who would do that when he looked like he did?


    He decided that he had to do something. He couldn’t stand around in the woods all day.


    There was a town up ahead. He could go there and get help. Maybe they knew enough


    about the ring to reverse things.


    If he couldn’t fix himself, he could at least try to finish the job he was on before he


    started his search in earnest.


    Who wanted to be a floating skeleton?


    Eli threw a saddle over his horse and cinched it down. He grabbed the tethers for all the


    other horses as he mounted. If he could get help they would have to come back with him


    to get the wagons. If he was really lucky, he could come back with enough help to get


    the job done before someone found the wagons and looted everything.


    Eli sighed. This had not gone anything like he thought it would.