When the attack came, he almost missed it. Distracted by the swaying tips of the tall grass, Mikal's eyes almost missed the large reptile slowly stalking forward. Almost.
"Attack!" shouted Mikal.
Mikal leaped over the bodies of his friends as the alligator's jaws opened wide. He landed with one leg on each side of the alligator's jaws just as the creature was snapping them shut. Natia screamed as she frantically rolled away from the creature, and the alligator's jaws clamped down on nothing, its expected meal suddenly gone. Mikal brought his sword down and drove the tip through the closed snout of the beast and deep into the soft earth below. The reptile thrashed about, its tail whipping from side to side and its claws digging furiously at the ground.
"It's not dead," Karl Gree called out.
"I can see that," Mikal snapped back, "but I am not withdrawing my sword to take another try at it. Someone kill this beast."
Tedi stepped forward with his staff, but Shawn's hand shot out and grabbed Tedi's arm. "You'll not be killing him with a staff," warned the Ranger, "and you have to be careful of the tail. I would suggest an arrow to the back of the head behind the eyes."
Lyron raised his bow and sent an arrow flying. It hit the creature between the eyes, but it did not kill it.
"Further back," warned Shawn. "There is a bony plate just behind the eyes, but there is a soft patch just beyond that. That is where you must strike."
Lyron nodded and sent another arrow into the alligator. The arrow hit the mark, and the creature shuddered and fell still. Mikal remained poised above the alligator's snout for a few minutes before pulling his sword free.
"You did say that you wanted to get an early start," Max said, breaking the silence. "I suggest we do exactly that."
"Aye," Mikal agreed. "As long as we are up, let's put some of this swamp behind us."
As everyone prepared for the third day of trudging through the swamp, Mikal walked over to Clint.
"How far are those huts the fairies saw?" he asked.
"The first one is about an hour away," answered Clint. "Are you planning to go there?"
"I am," replied Mikal. "We have come to this land to learn as much as we can about it. Why not start as soon as we can?"
"I doubt anyone living in this swamp will know much about the invasion of Alcea," shrugged the Ranger, "but I can lead us to the hut if you wish."
"I do wish," replied Mikal. "You are the trailblazer for this morning. Head out when you are ready."
Clint set a good pace through the swamp and an hour later they saw a small hut come into view. The hut was a simple structure, seemingly made out of woven grass. As the column of warriors approached it, a figure darted out of the single opening in the hut and ran into the tall grass behind it. The grass instantly swallowed the fleeing man, leaving no trace of his passing.
"That is a strange welcome," declared Max as the group halted in front of the hut. "Should I go after him?"
Mikal peered into the one-room hut and shook his head. "I am sure that he was afraid of strangers. Who can blame him out here in the swamp? From the looks of his home, the old man has lived here for many years. I doubt that he has anything to offer to us. Let's head for the next hut, Clint."
As Clint led the group onward, Mikal kept looking over his shoulder to watch for the old man returning to his hut, but the building was soon lost to the tall grass. A little over an hour later, the second hut came into view. Mikal called softly for a halt as soon as they saw it.
"We will proceed silently," Mikal quietly ordered the group. "Lyron and Gerant will try to capture the inhabitants if they try to run away."
When everyone nodded in agreement, Clint led the group forward. As they broke out of the tall grass, a man ran out the doorway and raced away. The two elves sprinted forward in pursuit as the rest of the group continued their walk forward. Gerant's longer legs swept him past Lyron and into the tall grass in chase of the human. The trail of bent grass was not hard to follow, and the tall elf kept his eyes level as he searched for any sign of the human. That was a mistake. In his haste to catch the fleeing man, Gerant stumbled into a bog. It was not a necessarily large bog, but it felt bottomless as the elf's body was sucked into it. Gerant called out a word of warning in time to halt Lyron's advance. The shorter elf slid to a halt and stared down at his kinsman. Gerant was up to his chest in muck, and he was disappearing rapidly. Lyron grabbed his bow and extended it over the small bog. Gerant grabbed the bow with both hands and clung eagerly to it, even as he continued to sink.
"Pull!" urged Gerant. "I am going under."
"I am pulling," scowled Lyron. "It is sucking you down with more force than I can muster."
The muck on Gerant's hands made it difficult to maintain his grip, and finally the bow slipped from his fingers. Lyron fell backwards on the ground, and Gerant felt himself being pulled under. His shoulders sunk below the surface, and he felt himself slipping away. He closed his eyes as he realized he was going to die.
Chapter 11
Haditha
Gerant had known that he might die on the journey to Zara, but he never expected to die in such a humiliating way. To die in battle would at least be a credit to his people, but to die accidentally in a bog would be a disgrace. He chastised himself even as he sunk deeper in the mire.
Unexpectedly, he felt a breeze blow against his neck once more, and he opened his eyes to find himself hovering over the pit. Lyron was staring up at him with an expression of relief and awe.
"That is not the kind of swimming hole you should use," lectured Bitsy as the tiny fairy levitated the elf to drier ground.
"I wasn't swimming," snapped Gerant. "I just wasn't paying attention to the trail."
"I know," giggled Bitsy. "We use that same trick on ogres all the time. I bet the human knew that pit was there and led you to it. He jumped over it and left you to die. I thought elves were smarter than ogres."
Gerant started to snarl out a bitter reply, but Lyron's laughter caused him to pause. The shorter elf could not contain his laughter as he gazed at his kinsman, and suddenly Gerant began laughing as well as the bitterness drained from his body, replaced by an overwhelming feeling of relief and rebirth.
"Thank you, Bitsy," offered Gerant. "You are quite right. I was not thinking very smartly."
"You can see the errors of your ways," grinned the fairy. "That is what makes you smarter than ogres. I will not have to save you from a pit ever again."
"Let's hope not," interjected Mikal from behind Lyron. "We still have a fair bit of ground to cover today if you three are ready to move onward."
"What about the man who fled?" asked Lyron.
"He is long gone," answered Mikal. "While I am sure that you could track him down, I think our time is better spent getting out of this swamp."
"Let me help Gerant scrape off this muck and then we will be ready," answered Lyron.
Mikal nodded and returned to the hut. He stepped inside the single room of the building and looked around. The room was empty except for a woven mat on the floor in one corner. Mikal shook his head at the spartan existence of the swamp dweller and returned to the group outside.
Lyron and Gerant soon joined the group and within minutes the group was traveling through the tall grass once more, leaving the abandoned hut behind them. Streams became more numerous, but the information provided by the fairies helped Clint chart a path across them without too much delay. After two hours of hiking, the third hut came into view. It was larger than the other two, and it appeared to be constructed of mud bricks rather than woven grass. It had an actual doorway and a window cut in each of the other sides. The land around the hut was clear, as if someone maintained it. Two streams flowed past the structure, one on each side of it, but not very close to it. Again, Mikal called a halt and spoke softly to his warriors.
"We will surround the hut before approaching it," Mikal explained in whispers. "No one is to be hurt, but I do not want them to escape either. The elves will take
the far side and Rangers get the rear. Tedi, Natia, and Karl will take the near side. Yolinda and I will approach the front."
Everyone nodded in agreement, and the Alceans crept forward. They split into four groups to approach the four sides of the hut. The elves were the first to notice something strange. On their journey to the far side of the building, they stumbled across a wide stream that they had not seen before. Alligators were abundant in the stagnant water, and the elves halted their advance. Prince Rigal turned and headed back until they saw the Rangers. He led his party of elves towards the Rangers and found them standing on the bank of a similar stream.
"We also came upon a stream," reported the elven prince. "We need to find another way."
"I don't understand it," Clint shook his head. "We are also blocked by a stream, and this one is alligator filled. It shouldn't be here."
"Ours also had alligators," stated Gerant. "I am not swimming across it."
Moments later, the rest of the Alceans arrived. Mikal asked to see the chart, and Yolinda peered over his shoulder. Her eyes alternated between the chart and the distant hut.
"This is impossible," declared Karl. "We are surrounded by streams filled with alligators. This just can't be."
"We didn't cross any of these streams," asked Natia, "so how can we be surrounded by them?"
"Magic," Yolinda said softly. "We are imprisoned on our own private island, and our moat is filled with monsters."
Mikal raised an eyebrow as he turned and looked at his wife. "Are you saying that the streams are illusions?"
"I said no such thing," corrected Yolinda. "I said the streams were created magically. The water is quite real, as are the alligators."
"For what purpose?" asked Natia.
"To keep us away from that hut," answered Yolinda. "Whoever lives there does not want to be disturbed."
"That is silly," remarked Shawn. "Do they think that we will just meekly stay on this island and starve to death?"
Some of the Alceans laughed at the absurdity of such a simple defense.
"Yes," replied Yolinda, cutting short the chuckles of some of the others. "That is exactly what is expected of us. I would imagine that after nightfall all of those alligators would be drawn up onto the land to feast upon our bodies."
"Are you serious?" asked Natia.
"Can you think of a way to leave our prison?" retorted Yolinda. "You could try jumping over one of the streams, but I would caution you against that. A mage, who can bend the water to his will, could easily increase the width of the stream while you are jumping it. Are you eager to land among the reptiles?"
The mood of the Alceans grew somber as they contemplated their situation. Mikal drew Yolinda aside and spoke softly to her.
"You could fly over the water," he whispered. "Perhaps you could get the mage to break his spell?"
"Her spell," corrected Yolinda.
"Her?" questioned Mikal.
"She is certainly curious about us," nodded Yolinda as she gazed at the distant hut once more. "I saw her looking out the window a few moments ago. While I could indeed escape this trap, what of the rest of you? I cannot guarantee that I could force her to set her spell aside, and if I can't, you would not have my help when the alligators attack."
"Surely," frowned Mikal, "you do not think that she can stand before your power?"
"That is a strange question to come from your lips," Yolinda smiled tautly. "Is it not you who always preaches against underestimating your opponent?"
"Guilty," sighed Mikal. "Still, I would rather face the alligators alone than risk your loss. I am sure that our group can fight them off during the night. Our island is quite large and the alligators are not nearly as fast on land as they are in the water."
"While that may be true," retorted Yolinda, "this island will not be quite so large tonight."
"What do you mean?" asked Mikal.
"Look at where Max stands," answered Yolinda. "Was he not several paces from the stream when we arrived?"
Mikal turned and saw the Ranger standing on the bank of the stream, seemingly unaware of how close he was to the edge. He called the Ranger's name and pointed to the stream. Max turned and gazed into the water with shock evident in his expression. The Ranger moved quickly away for the stream.
"It's moving?" asked Mikal. "Or is Max just not conscious of how close he was?"
"The island is getting smaller," declared Yolinda. "I would wager that if you sent runners out, you would find the other streams moving closer as well."
"This makes no sense," scowled Mikal. "If she is intent on destroying us, why do it so slowly? Surely she could have just taken the land from beneath our feet and been done with it?"
"While I do not claim to understand her abilities," Yolinda replied, "I suspect your words ring true."
"Then why is she toying with us?" asked Mikal.
"I think she is testing us," answered Yolinda. "She is not sure of our intent in coming to visit her, so she has designed a test to determine our character. Or maybe it is just a warning, and she will reverse the spell and let us leave. I cannot know for sure."
Mikal fell silent as he digested Yolinda's words. He stared at the hut and then his men. The Rangers were removing jars of fire glue from their packs, and he nudged his wife and nodded towards them.
"Put a halt to it," Yolinda said softly. "We need time to dwell on this."
Mikal nodded and marched over to the group of Alceans.
"We have an idea," Max grinned as Mikal approached. "We plan to ignite the stream by firing fire arrows into several of the alligators. When they are just about destroyed by the fire glue, we will ignite groups on either side of the original ones. While those new fires are burning, we should be able to swim across without being molested by the alligators."
"That might work," Mikal conceded, "but I want you to wait before doing anything. In case you haven't noticed, the island is getting smaller by the minute. Move the men towards the center of the island and wait for me."
"I thought I was going daft when you called to me earlier," gasped Max. "This is not a good situation."
"Move the men," commanded Mikal as he turned and strode back to Yolinda.
Max spoke with the rest of the Alceans and the group moved away from the water. Yolinda nodded approvingly as Mikal returned.
"Their plan was clever," remarked Mikal. "Using fire glue to clear the stream just might work."
"And it would show her that we are violent people," retorted Yolinda. "I think the method of our escape is very important to our longevity. We still have many days left in this swamp, and if she can move the waters, she could make our escape impossible."
"So you do not think that threatening her is the answer?" asked Mikal.
"No," Yolinda shook her head, "I don't. Were she a violent person, we would not be standing here talking."
"Yet she plans for us to die before morning," scowled Mikal. "That is hardly nonviolent."
"It is in her mind," countered Yolinda. "She is just helping nature take its path. I suspect that she is fond of the alligators and sees us as their next meal. I assume that she justifies it by calling us intruders in their swamp."
"I think her mind is not quite right," retorted Mikal. "Perhaps you should fly over there and straighten her out. The rest of us will handle the alligators as we must."
"I will go and talk to her," smiled Yolinda, "but the time is not right yet."
"What are you waiting for?" asked Mikal.
"For the other fairies to return from their mapping expedition," answered Yolinda. "While Bitsy could remove your men from the island one by one, it would take too long, and she would be bound to notice. With five fairies, all of you can be levitated over the streams in short order. If I can keep her occupied for a short while, she will not know that the rest of you have escaped."
* * *
The sun was just slipping below the horizon when the eagle soared down and landed silently outside the brick hut. Had anyone
been watching, they would have seen the eagle blur for a moment before a beautiful woman appeared in its place. Yolinda inhaled deeply with her back to the wall of the hut near the front door. With a final glance towards the shrinking island that held her friends imprisoned, she stepped away from the wall and walked through the doorway. A woman's gasp split the silence as Yolinda entered the hut. Yolinda stared at the old woman. The witch was short, and her skin was severely wrinkled. What was left of her stark white hair hung shoulder length in thin strands. The witch's hand rose reflexively and pointed at the newcomer.
"That would hardly be a warm welcome," Yolinda smiled thinly.
"Tis cause no welcome has been extended," spat the witch as she released her spell.
A torrent of sickly green water spewed forth from the witch's fingertips, but the stream splashed off Yolinda's invisible shields. The witch's eyes grew large and her mouth opened wide in surprise.
"I would prefer tea," smiled Yolinda. "I have never been fond of green water. You do have tea, don't you?"
"Who are you?" demanded the witch. "And what do you want of me?"
Even as the witch asked the question, she clicked her fingers together at her side. Yolinda sensed movement in the dark corner, and a large alligator started crawling towards her. A shiver ran up her spine, but she held her face impassive. She could not afford to appear weak before the witch. Yolinda pointed at the alligator and a stream of blue ice shot from her fingertips and enveloped the reptile.
"How dare you?" screamed the witch.
"It has not been harmed," Yolinda said quickly but steadily. "It is merely frozen so as not to interrupt our little chat. I am Yolinda. Who are you?"
"You do not know who I am?" the witched asked suspiciously.
"Would I ask if I knew?" shrugged Yolinda.
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