The journey into the swamp was gradual. With Beowulf in the lead, they passed through a narrow margin of slender trees giving way to a marshy field of tall, green reeds. The ground beneath their feet became soggier with each step until they passed out of the reeds and into the weeping willows, drooping maples, and water-logged oak trees of the actual swamp. As they moved through the trees, it became harder and harder to avoid the still and stagnant water surrounding them. Dry patches came farther apart, forcing them to wade through scum-covered water reaching up past their knees.
The disappearance of sound matched their pace through the swamp. It reminded Alex of slowly turning down the volume on a record player. Each step was quieter than the last. The more they trudged through the water, the less they could hear the splashing of their passage.
By the time Alex found himself waist deep in swamp water, he was completely deaf, save for the sound of his own heartbeat in his ears. Ahead of him, Beowulf paddled through the dark and murky water, his wide ears floating out to the side and rippling with the waves caused by each stroke of his small paws.
Alex looked back over his shoulder to find Victoria had accepted Nina and Daphne as riders on the back of her horse half. The water only came to the tops of Victoria’s legs and would have been near the necks of Nina and Daphne. Clark had scooped up Ben, who now rode perched atop Clark’s broad shoulders. Eleada had opted to stay on her feet in the water, although she walked with her bow held high to keep the string from getting damp. Nathan followed Eleada, looking as wet and uncomfortable as Alex felt.
At least the rainstorm had left them all so water-soaked that the swamp water was not a shock. While filthy, the water was actually fairly warm, likely the result of the unnaturally hot weather of the past few days. However, the stench of rotting vegetation made the slog unpleasant. Alex looked up into the sky and saw Rafael and Kendra circling above as ravens and felt a pang of envy. He couldn’t wait to get dry again.
Looking down, he saw his hands. His fingers had become fleshy, brown prunes. Getting dry was nothing that would happen soon. After twenty minutes of silently splashing through the swamp with not even the sound of his own breath in his ears, Alex suddenly heard a voice in his head.
“Mar moo shmur mat mog mows mhere me’s mowing?”
The voice sounded like Eleada. He looked back at her and gave her a thumbs-up sign. She rolled her eyes. He took the opportunity to smile at Victoria, because he knew she would smile back and it would brighten his mood. She did and his mood responded instantly. Unfortunately, looking at Victoria meant he was not looking where he was wading through the swamp.
He turned around to see a large snake head staring at him as it floated on the water’s surface. His good mood faded fast. Almost as fast as the snake snapped forward, diving down into the water and wrapping around his legs. Alex had only a moment to reach down and grapple with the snake before it pulled him from his feet and down into the black swamp water.
Underwater, Alex kicked at the snake, grabbing it below the neck with both hands and squeezing tight. Even as he did so, half a dozen mangled voices assaulted his head.
“Melp, melp!”
“Makes! Makes!”
“Mare mall mover mu mace!”
“Mi mate makes!”
Alex held his breath as he held on to the snake’s neck, its head whipping about as it slowly lost strength. Just as Alex was certain he could hold his breath no longer, the snake abated its attack and relaxed its hold on Alex’s legs.
Alex stood up, still holding the reptile by the neck and gasping for air, struck by the silence of his struggle with the snake even as the sounds of his friend’s jumbled voices bombarded his head. He gasped again as he saw the entire party was under attack by snakes. Hundreds of snakes. The water churned with the battle between the snakes as they emerged from the swamp and attempted to bite Alex’s friends and pull them under.
Alex watched as the heads of two large snakes wrapped around Eleada’s waist and dragged her down. Even under attack, she had the presence of mind to hold her bow above the surface of the swamp water. Ben sat on Clark’s shoulders and loosed an arrow into a snake’s head as a clutch of the reptiles wound around Clark’s legs and tried to pull him under.
Beowulf had transformed into his larger, grizzly bear size, and had two snake necks in his massive jaws, thrashing them back and forth. Victoria and Nathan were dancing in the water, attempting to knock the snakes away with their hooves. Victoria raised her hands at a large snake curling up before her and flame suddenly erupted from her palms, engulfing the snake’s head. The last thing Alex saw before three snakes twirled around his ankles and pulled him beneath the water was Nathan copying Victoria’s attack on the snakes near his own legs.
As Alex struggled beneath the water with the snakes, several thoughts struggled for dominance in his mind. The first was that he needed to get above the surface of the water soon because he had not had time to grab more than a fleeting breath when the snakes had pulled him down. The second was that Victoria and Nathan were the group’s only hope of survival. They were the only ones who could perform magic without speaking the words aloud.
Alex had managed to perform magic with only his thoughts when he had saved himself from being drowned in the Azure River by the runaway bicycle, but that had been a simple spell. Creating enough fire to combat the snakes would take far more concentration. Attempting that level of concentration would be a sure way to end up drowned by snakes.
The third thought was how odd it was he had not seen the tail of a single snake in the entire attack. This led to a fourth thought, really more of a memory, that right as they had been attacked, he had seen a tree that did not look at all like the others they had passed, its bark a deep, scaly black.
Alex held one hand around the neck of a snake and used his free hand to pull his pocketknife from his pants, opening it one-handed to slash at the second snake’s head that menaced him. The blade made contact, thick, black blood oozing from the snake’s hide. Both snakes pulled back momentarily, allowing Alex to surface, spitting fetid water from his mouth even as he used his teeth to hold onto the mumbling marble.
“Ma mlack mree!” Alex mumbled into the marble, trying to gesture with the knife in his hand toward Victoria and Nathan that they should attack the large, leafless black tree at their side. They were still flashing flames from their hands at individual snakes surfacing from the dark water.
Nina and Daphne were clinging to Victoria’s horse back as snakes pulled at their waists. In the air above, Alex glimpsed two small dragons, one red and one blue, belching flame at the rippling water. Rafael and Kendra had been able to change form to assist in the defense against the snakes.
“Ma mlack mree miss ma makes. Ma makes mar ma mlack mree.”
As the snakes around him redoubled their attack and dragged him once again into the water, Alex hoped Victoria and Nathan had been able to interpret his hasty and garbled pleas. As he thrashed and fought with the snakes holding him in the muddied swamp water, Alex could make out the stone gray clouds above. He could hear his heart pounding in his ears while his mind filled with the frantic and largely unintelligible voices of his friends shouting as they fought off the snakes.
For a moment, he was certain it would be the last and final sound he ever heard as his lungs gave way against the powerful muscles of the snakes squeezing at his chest and air burst from his mouth. Then clouds of tangerine and ruby-tinted fire filled the sky above the water. A moment later, the snakes were gone.
Alex staggered to his feet to see Victoria and Nathan assaulting the black snake-tree with walls of flame even as Rafael and Kenda belched fire into the tree’s branches from above. Hundreds of snake-roots writhed in the water, their mouths open in silent shrieks of pain.
The group needed no signal to know what to do. They ran, Victoria and Nathan shooting steams of fire over their shoulders as they fled, Rafael and Kendra continuing the assault the snake-tree and covering the grou
p’s escape. When the snake-tree was several hundred yards away, Alex and the others finally stopped and gathered around.
“Mi mate makes,” Victoria said through the magic marble voice in Alex’s head.
“Memusa’s magots,” Daphne said. “Mat mas mlose.”
“Mow mid moo mink mov ma mree?” Eleada asked, wringing swamp water from her hair.
“Muck,” Alex said. It had been luck. But it had also cost them more time. Now they would need more luck to find Esmeralda before she and other carnies could find the sword. “Me mould mo,” Alex said. “Me mon’t mave much mime.”
The others nodded and they resumed their trek through the swamp. Nina and Daphne once again took their places on Victoria’s horse back while Ben climbed up to Clark’s shoulders. Beowulf remained in his bear-sized form as he continued to lead them through the swamp. Alex no longer cared how wet he was. Wet was fine as long as he could breath. They all kept a watchful eye on the water for any more signs of snakes, and avoided the vicinity of any tree that looked like its bark might be even a little scaly.
Alex was beginning to lose hope of ever catching up to Esmeralda, Mr. Apollo, and the evil carnies when Beowulf stopped and held still, gesturing with his nose toward a small clump of trees with knarred roots and wilted branches. The dog only paused a moment, long enough for Alex to see where it was going, then it paddled forward again. As they approached the cluster of trees, Alex could discern movement from within and between them. He motioned to the others to take cover as they approached, moving from tree to tree, as they came closer to the spot where Beowulf led them.
Alex held up his hand for the others to stop as he reached down and placed his hand on Beowulf’s collar and halted the dog’s hunt. An outer ring of knotted trees circled a single gigantic tree in the center. Around this tree, Alex could see four people — Esmeralda, Mr. Apollo, and the two Siren Sisters, Medea and Elektra.
Esmeralda and Mr. Apollo were hacking at the tree with long daggers, digging into the meat of the tree’s trunk, one soundless blow at a time. Alex could not see what they were digging at, but he saw something green and glittery behind the blades of the daggers. Mr. Apollo stopped and pulled at something within the trunk of the tree, straining as he heaved at it. Then the thing was free and Alex could see what it was as Mr. Apollo turned to show it to Esmeralda.
The Sword of Silas.
Nearly four feet long and encased in a rusted metal sheath with rotted leather straps dangling down, the hilt of the blade held a large emerald stone gleaming even in the dull light of the heavily clouded sky. Lord Elvodar’s vassal had hid the sword well, apparently strapping it to the bark of a young tree and allowing the trunk to grow around it over time, eventually hiding the sword from any who might seek it out. It made Alex wonder how Esmeralda had managed to find it so easily. It was a conundrum, but one he did not have time to contemplate.
Alex turned to the others, gesturing for them to spread out in a ring. He pointed to Victoria and Nathan, pantomiming with his hands to indicate fire, and then spreading his hands out to show them to circle and attack from opposite sides. He gave similar silent instructions to Eleada and Ben. It was actually easier than trying to communicate with the mumbling marbles.
Alex and the others moved quickly to take up positions around the stand of trees as Esmeralda withdrew the sword from its sheath. Alex was unsure what the Dark Spirit Mage was intending until he saw her swing the sword at one of the nearby trees. The blade was far too big and weighty for Esmeralda to wield with anything like grace or composure, but she could manage to swing it in a wide and wavering arc that bit into the bark of the tree with considerable force.
As the bark of the tree and then the tree itself dissolved into ash around the edge of the blade, Alex knew what Esmeralda was doing. She was testing the sword. Making sure it was the Sword of Destruction she sought. As the large tree rapidly turned to ash and collapsed into the shallow waters of the swamp, Alex saw a wide smile break out across Esmeralda’s face. It chilled his heart.
Alex glanced around at his companions and they greeted him with similar looks of distress. He turned back to Esmeralda and waited until she had resheathed the sword before he motioned with his hands to begin the attack. Fire erupted from either side of the clump of trees as two arrows flashed through the air, one striking Mr. Apollo in the leg and the other ripping through Esmeralda’s arm.
Alex splashed through the water toward Esmeralda and Mr. Apollo as Beowulf bounded ahead of him. Victoria and Nathan surrounded the trees in flames as Ben and Eleada loosed two more arrows.
Esmeralda and Mr. Apollo hid behind one of the trees as the Siren Sisters, Elektra and Medea, hid behind another. Alex wasn’t sure how the next part of this plan was going to work. It was vague in his mind. Somehow, he had to convince Esmeralda and Mr. Apollo to relinquish the sword. How he was going to get them to release a sword that could destroy anything it touched was the vague part.
Esmeralda made a gesture toward Elektra and Medea as Alex reached into his shirt and withdrew the whistle his father and mother had given him. Maybe he and the others didn’t need to convince Esmeralda and Mr. Apollo to give up the sword by themselves. Maybe they needed to hold them captive long enough for his parents and reinforcements from the town to arrive. How long would that take? Alex thought as he placed the whistle to his lips.
As he started to blow the whistle, a sound miraculously pierced his mind, a sound so hideous and overpowering, he immediately released the whistle to fall back around his neck as he clamped his hands on his ears.
The sound in his head ripped through his mind and tore at his brain, like something wild and vicious digging into his skull — dying animals screaming in pain as metal scraped against stone and a thousand misshapen bells all rang at once. The soundless sound erased all ability to think or react.
Alex could see the sound had an identical effect on the others. They had stopped their assault and were clutching at their heads in a vain attempt to stifle the agonizing noise assaulting them. Even Beowulf shook his head in pain, unable to cover his ears.
Alex could barely stay on his feet with the excruciating wail stabbing into his head. As he watched, the Siren Sisters, Elektra and Medea stepped out from behind the trees to face Alex and the others. Their mouths were open, seemingly in song. Behind them, Esmeralda was helping Mr. Apollo limp away from the trees and back into the swamp. For some reason, they seemed unaffected by the mental shrieks of the Siren Sisters.
They were getting away and Alex could do nothing to stop them. He could barely breathe under the strain of the noiseless screeching in his mind. Somehow, the Siren Sisters’ magically melodious voices became warped and transformed by the Silent Swamp into banshee-like howls that, while not carried through the air as sound, could nonetheless shatter the minds of those nearby.
Alex watched through tear-blurred eyes as Esmeralda and Mr. Apollo ran through the swamp behind the Siren Sisters, past a huddled Eleada and an immobilized Nathan. The Siren Sisters could choose whom their voices would normally affect and this skill remained intact in the magical environs of the swamp.
Just as Alex began to think he would pass out from the splitting pain in his head, he looked up to see two dark shapes hurtling from the sky. He blinked tears from his eyes and stared as the two speeding shapes struck the Siren Sisters, one apiece.
Blissful silence.
Alex took a deep breath and shook his head to clear it from the remnants of the Siren Sisters’ searing song. As he looked toward the clump of trees that had sheltered the Siren Sisters, he saw them each floating unconscious in the swamp water. Two dragons, one sapphire, one cobalt, flapped above them, reaching down with long talons to drag the women from the water before they could drown.
“Manks,” Alex said via the magical marble in his mouth as he stepped over to take Elektra, or was it Medea, from Rafael’s claws.
“Monly ming me muould mink muv,” Rafael said with a flick of his dragon tail.
“Mow mhat mo me moo?” Victoira asked as she grabbed the other twin siren and held her while Clark removed a length of twine from his knapsack and began binding her arms.
“Mag mem,” Daphne said, shoving a handkerchief from her pocket into the mouth of one of the twins and securing it with a length of twine. Eleada swiftly did the same with the other twin. Alex noticed neither handkerchief looked particularly clean, but he didn’t mention it. The very least the Siren Sisters deserved were snotty handkerchiefs in their mouths, even if they were under the influence of Esmeralda’s Dark Spirit Magic.
“Mhat’s miss?” Nina said, pulling a large sheet of scorched paper from the surface of the water.
“Mooks mike ma map,” Alex said as he helped Nina hold the creased parchment up to examine it. The size of a newspaper, burn marks blackened the edges of the map. Flames appeared to have punched right through several places in the middle of the paper, likely by the fires Victoria and Nathan had created.
The map looked like it represented part of the Rune Valley. Looking more closely, Alex saw the lines depicting the Dead Forest and the Silent Swamp waver and shift, flickering to a view of the entire Rune Valley, and then back to a closer representation of the swamp. Alex knew what the map was and how Esmeralda had found the Sword of Silas.
He carefully folded up what was left of the map and turned to the others.
“Mhow moo me mrack mem?” Nathan said, frowning. He clearly didn’t like sounding like an idiot as the magic marble mangled his speech.
“Me moant mave mo,” Alex said. “Me mow mer may mar mowing. Me must mave mo met mar mirst.”
Summer's Cauldron (The Young Sorcerers Guild - Book 2) Page 24
