by V. Moody
I turned to leave.
“You can’t just leave us here. We’ll die. Amy will come back once she’s calmed down a bit. At least take us back to Fengarad.”
I stopped. She was right, they probably would die. But why was it my problem. Fuck.
“We aren’t going to Fengarad. We’ll take you to the nearest town, and then you’re on your own. Get your stuff together. And you’ll be carrying your own shit.”
She started grabbing stuff. Dudley came wandering in like he’d just been passing and decided to pop in for a cup of tea. “Oh, hello there. It was getting a bit lonely so…”
You would never have guessed he’d just made the shot of the century.
“That’s fine,” I said. “We’ll be leaving once—”
There was a piercing scream from somewhere out in the dark. It was full of terror and then it was cut off, stopped dead, I’m guessing literally, and replaced by a familiar barking laugh.
“We’ll be leaving now,” I corrected myself, and ran.
A faint glow in the west indicated dawn approaching. It provided just enough light for us to
see the ground ahead of us as we ran for our lives. The other two kept up fairly well, not that I intended to slow down for them. They should have got up early and done laps like I had. This is what I’d trained for.
After about ten minutes of solid fleeing, I chanced a look over my shoulder. There didn’t seem to be anyone in pursuit, but I wasn’t going to stop to check. I did slow to a jog, though.
We made it back to the camp much faster than I expected. Not having to drag a corpse through the rushes probably helped. Maurice and the girls were sitting around the fire, the girls on either side of Jenny with their arms around her. Jenny’s face looked a lot better.
They all stood up when we came storming in.
“Let’s go,” I said. “Pack everything up. Time to go. Go, go, go.”
They just stood there, not moving. I should have asked Tin for some tips on giving orders before I killed him. Both Flossie and Claire’s eyes were glued to our new guest.
“What’s she doing here?” asked Claire, her previous gentleness no longer troubling her.
Both girls had reacted very positively towards Jenny, even though she was a pretty girl. But Mandy was a different animal. To sum it up, we were in the middle of a fantasy world, far from civilisation and it was barely morning, but Mandy had full make-up on—immaculately applied—and what looked very much like a push up bra.
The only thing missing was a tattoo that said Ima steal yo man to complete the look. And I hadn’t checked her tramp stamp.
“We’re going to drop her off at the nearest village. The others are dead. Oh, and lizardmen are coming, so...”
This got their attention and we all got to packing. It didn’t take long, although it would probably have been quicker if Claire and Flossie didn’t keep stopping to glare at their partners. I’m not sure what they were worried about, both Maurice or Dudley looked at Mandy like some kind of alien lifeform. Fascinating but also very scary.
Jenny, on the other hand, took great care not to look at Mandy at all. So much tension, it was hard to breathe. Lizardmen at least let you know where you stand (usually in a pool of blood).
Once we had all our gear sorted, we went to the lake to tell the frogmen we were leaving. Mandy was understandably nervous as she watched us talk to creatures she had always seen as monsters.
“Will you be okay?” I asked Nabbo.
“We will go further into the marshes. There are more of our kind and the lizards are less likely to follow.” He looked over my shoulder towards Mandy. “I see you’ve picked out a second mate already. You’re a very surprising human.”
This conversation would have been embarrassing enough in private, but it wasn’t. He was speaking nice and loud.
“She isn’t a second mate. I don’t even have a first mate.”
“Hmm,” said Nabbo, not sounding very convinced. “She looks primed for spawning, if you ask me. And she hasn’t taken her eyes off you since you got here.” Again, very loud. “You, on the other hand, don’t look very ready at all. Are you feeling alright?”
Both Claire and Flossie were glaring at me. Honestly, it’s flattering to be thought of as some kind of stud, but come on. Me and Mandy? I’d have to tie a plank across my arse to stop myself falling in.
The marshes had become too dangerous for all sorts of reasons. We headed north towards Dargot. Perhaps this city would offer us peace and safety.
Perhaps not.
End of Book Two
