My dearest Da,
If you're getting this letter then it is has been delivered by one of my friends and you already know what has happened to me, I promise you I went down swinging.
I should explain, we're still chasing this damned dragon and we've landed on a island of horrible beasties and these undead like creatures that just seem to be everywhere as well as some kind of poison fog that is knocking us all for six constantly. We took a wee rest in a cave we found, Cade managed to put up his hut of flowers which kept us safe from the fog for a while, I sent Boobrie out to scout about and see if we could work out if there was a top to the mountain we were hiding in or if we could catch a glimpse of the dragon but she didn't get very far before the fog took her back to the fey world again (I still feel awful every time I do that, I ken Grannie used to say her rat never felt a thing but I swear that bird gives me a look sometimes).
I managed to fashion some climbing kits out of the rope, pitons and caltrops we had on us (you would have been proud of me Da, I didnae have a clue how to make a climbing kit but I didn't want the others to ken that so I did ma best and they held out just fine) and up we went. Ship looked after his captain and tied himself to Kraz, Cade was amazing and transformed in to a spider to take young Kel on his back and Elric looked after me, of course, and we tied ourselves together and started to climb up. We didnae get very far before these weird floating eyeballs started appearing, I couldnae make out if they were friend or foe to be honest (is it bad that I started to miss Dol in that moment? I thought he'd have been able to detect their thoughts, and then a I felt bad for missing him just because of his skills, and then I felt bad for missing him at all after what he did, then I felt bad for thinking ill of him when he did help us at first and then... well it all felt bad). Anyways; Ship started throwing rocks around and I think he & Elric were trying to make a plan but to be honestly I wasnae sure, I think Ship's eggs are all double-yoaked at times, or maybe he was just rat-arsed? Anyway, Elric untied the rope from us, downed a flying potion and started shooting at them - I have to be honest I thought he was going to let me drop for a moment, I ken he's got ma back but there's times when there's a look in his yaks that just isn't right (especially now they're all black and spidery, I mean the laddie isn't my type but he was quite braw before he read that book) - I've lost ma place again... oh aye, the floating eyeballs. So, we starting climbing up this wall blowing up these floating balls of nasty, each one exploding out some horrible clouds of ouch each time they died and we made it up to a ledge to catch our breath, I'm thankful Elric was flying, Cade was spidering and ship can climb like, well a cat, they helped the rest of us up. Elric took a moment to fly up and see if he could anything and oh boy did he!
So, we're all taking a wee moment to work out what's happened and above us Elric is getting swatted at by that godsdarned dragon! We hot foot it back down the cliff face like daftys with this great beast taking pot shots at us as we try to get down (did I mention Cade turned in to a giant bird at some point too, or maybe he summoned a bird? Anyway he carried Kel down, I didn't see Ship scramble down but I think he was helping the Captain down whilst Elric carried me), that breath thing it does really did hurt, a few of us got clipped by it and I thought I was gonnae die right there and then, I've never felt pain like it in my life!
I was a little out of it in the pain to be honest and I'm not exactly sure what happened after that but someone spotted a cave behind a waterfall, and thought it'd be a good place to hide out. The water at the base of the waterfall was filled with those zombie things, they looked like they were stuck in the swampy waters that collected there. We managed to fly over them and in to the cave where Cade set up his flower hut again and we could get a moment free from this cludgie air we're all breathing.
Whilst we were working out what our next gallus move was going to be Elric spotted a change in the rocks in the cave and found a wee magical door, Cade dispelled it and it opened to a corridor leading upwards. Well, nae danger are we going up there in our condition so we decide to keep an eye on it and try to get some rest and rejuvenate ourselves whilst we're hiding because we're safe from the dragon right? Are we shite! Of course we're not, everyone's taking a bit of a nap whilst Kel and I keep watch and that bawbag appears from the "secret" door and bloody well dispells the hut - of course the bastard can change it's shape to be human, of course it can dispell Cade's hut and of course it can turn invisible and listen in to us. Honestly Da, it's a sair ficht for half a loaf!
Anyway, the thing buggars off back to it's lair and says it will leave us alone for an hour and a half, I dunnae if it did or not but we took the chance to take a break. I'll tell ye for nowt that having that day out with Aunt Ella last week done me the world of good, I feel like I'd had a good night's sleep after a wee nap just thinking about it - you should go with her next time, I think you'd enjoy it!
I guess I should wrap up, I think poor Ship is throwing up in the corner of the cave somewhere and I'd better check on him, and everyone for that matter - they're all so very scared; I should go look after them.
I've never felt so far away from The Mountain as I do right now but I'm comforted knowing that by the time you read this I'll be right at home - looking after Ma, swapping battle stories with Grandpappy and happily waiting (a very long time) to see you again, I love you all.