by Logan Jacobs
Maruk opened his mouth to protest, but before he could get a word out, the bridge shuddered again.
“What was that?” Lena asked nervously as she looked out at the ripples that traced across the water.
“Looks like there’s one more of those leeches,” I answered gravely. “Get ready.”
Merlin squawked from his perch on one of the bridge posts and took to the air just as the bridge was knocked again, this time hard enough to rock the platform.
I summoned my mana blade and scanned the water for any sign of the leech. It wasn’t that deep, six feet at most where Sulla and Urim had been. Was it possible that a swamp this size could support so many giant leeches?
Then, as a column of muddy swamp water shot up on my right, I realized with a sinking feeling that it wasn’t another leech. It was the swamp itself.
The creature that reared above us wasn’t entirely unlike the leeches with its long serpentine body, beady eyes, and rows of fangs. The difference was that this monster wasn’t made of skin and muscle, and its teeth weren’t bone. Every part of it was churning, swirling swamp water run through with faintly glowing veins of magic.
I had read about creatures like this. It was an elemental, created by mages or druids to serve as guardians of natural places, and they could lie dormant for hundreds of years, long after their creator had passed away, as long as the place it protected was undisturbed. We must have alerted this one when we’d killed those leeches.
“Oh, shit,” Lavinia muttered behind me.
Unsurprisingly, Sulla and Urim didn’t share that sentiment, and they charged forward with the same enthusiasm as before and threw themselves at the elemental.
“Wait!” I called, but the orcs had already jumped into the water before I could warn them that a creature like this, water that was given life through magic, would be invulnerable to their attacks.
“They’ll be fine,” Maruk told me. “What do you want us to do?”
I thought quickly. We’d taken down the leeches with arrows and axes and fire, all of which would be useless against a water elemental. My magic could destroy it, and the obvious answer would be to have Lavinia shoot it with an arrow that I’d enhanced, just like we’d done with Captain Quikk at Edward’s estate. The problem with that was that the elemental was made of the swamp water, and I was afraid that the explosive effect of the mana attack would kill Sulla and Urim when it hit, as well as any other living thing in the water.
Though mana-enhanced weapons were too dangerous, I reasoned that I should be able to subdue the elemental and kill it by suppressing the magic that animated it, and hopefully I could pass off such manipulation as water magic to Emeline. All of that was easier said than done, of course, but at least Sulla and Urim were keeping the thing distracted.
“I’ll see if I can use water magic against it,” I called to the others behind me, though my statement was more for the panthera mage’s benefit than anyone else’s.
I could tell by the steady, bright light that shone around the elemental’s body that strong magic animated it. Countering that magic would take a great deal of focus, and no doubt the creature would try to resist my influence if it could.
“Be ready to distract it,” I warned the rest of the guild. “I doubt it’ll go down easy, and it’ll probably come for us when it realizes what I’m doing.”
I felt Aerin’s hand on my shoulder then and heard the chime of bells as her healing mana flowed through me and bolstered my strength. I turned and gave the healer a grateful smile before I stepped forward, braced myself on the bridge, and turned to face the elemental where it was locked in battle with Sulla and Urim. Though the orc pirates had no way of wounding the creature, they were indefatigable in their attacks, and every time the elemental wrapped around one and slammed him beneath the water, the other would take the opportunity to charge forward and try to wrestle it down again. Still, I knew that even they wouldn’t be able to last forever in a fight like this.
I raised my hand up in front of me, fingers outstretched toward the water elemental. I could hear the flow of the magic that gave it life as a deep hum like a whale song, at such a low pitch that it was just barely audible beneath the splashing and cursing of the battling orcs. At first, the creature was still completely preoccupied with the pair of pirates who were trying their hardest to cut it apart with axe and sword, but it paused in its latest attempt to drown Urim as I flexed my power and tested my control over it.
The elemental was almost twenty feet away from me, but I could feel the surge of magic that animated it like a physical thing, heat and a slight, prickling sensation against the skin of my outstretched hand. As I began to close my fingers into a fist, it was as though I was wrapping my hand around a charged wire, and the elemental’s magic sparked like an electric shock against my skin.
The elemental stopped short like it had been paralyzed, and I felt a surge of triumph, but then the light of its magic flared brighter as it broke free of my control and turned toward me. As its murky, swamp water eyes met mine, a chill ran down my spine. Sulla and Urim redoubled in their attacks, but the water elemental didn’t so much as glance their way as it flowed forward like a tidal wave toward the bridge.
Stinking greenish water sloshed up over my feet as the elemental reared over the bridge. I heard the others rush forward to meet it and try to keep it distracted, but I kept my gaze locked on the creature’s eyes and my hand out as I concentrated on its mana. I curled my hand even tighter in the air, and the elemental paused again, but holding it in check was like trying to hold on to an electrified rail. The elemental’s mana burned my hand, and my arm began to tremble as I fought to subdue the creature.
Aerin slashed at it with her axe, Maruk tried to beat it back with his shields, and Lavinia, Lena, and Emeline shouted to get its attention, but the elemental hardly paid attention to them, and it wasn’t affected in the least by any of my guildmates’ attacks. Only my will and the tenuous control I maintained over it kept it from retaliating, and it twitched and struggled as I tried at least to hold it still.
Sweat or swamp water, I couldn’t tell which, trailed down the side of my face as I fought to close my hand into a fist, and my head began to pound. I was only vaguely aware of the others around me on the bridge, of Sulla and Urim as they waded back to help, as I stared up at the serpentine body of swirling green water before me. The elemental continued to thrash as it tried to break my influence over it, but the light of its mana was growing dimmer.
The headache which had begun at my temples had spread to pulse against the rest of my skull, but I gritted my teeth as I finally, finally, closed my fist, and the water elemental’s mana blinked out. As soon as it did, the creature’s serpentine form broke apart, and the water rained back down into the swamp.
I let my hand fall with a gasp and staggered back as a wave of nausea rippled over me, but then I felt Aerin’s hands on my arm and the warm sensation of her magic as it spread through my body again.
“Easy, now,” the healer murmured as she rubbed my back. “Do you need to sit down?”
I shook my head in response, and then another, much larger hand clapped me on the back.
“Excellent, Ragat-it-zur!” Urim congratulated. The orc was soaked through and smelled strongly of the swamp water, but he grinned broadly at me all the same. “You strangled the beast without even touching it!“
I didn’t bother to correct the orc about the nature of my attack against the elemental with Emeline a few feet away, and I supposed quelling its mana was similar enough to having strangled it, anyway.
“Yes, yes, we all did very well,” Maruk agreed, “but perhaps we can postpone celebrating our victory until we’re out of this foul place? I’m already afraid I won’t be able to get this smell out of my clothes.”
This suggestion was met with eager assent by the rest of the group, and we paused just long enough for Aerin to put stitches in Sulla’s arm before we set off again, as quickly as we dared down the ol
d bridge across the swamp. I kept an eye out for any more giant leeches or elementals, but all I saw were mosquitos and ugly, red-eyed turtles with lumpy shells that basked on the cypress knees.
Finally, mercifully, dry land and sunlight were ahead of us once again.
We decided to carry on another few miles before we made camp, just far enough that we wouldn’t still have to smell the swamp while we tried to clean up and rest. In a spot of good luck, we found a nice spot on a hill by the road that was sheltered by a copse of aspen. What was even better was that a meadow of wildflowers encircled the hill, and their sweet smell helped to cover up the lingering odor of the swamp water on our clothes, and Lavinia reported that there was a creek nearby where we could refill our canteens and wash up.
We still had some of the food that Yvaine had packed for us left which Maruk and Lena began to pass around while we got the rest of the camp set up. Thanks to Emeline’s magic, we didn’t have to struggle with flint to start our fire, and within just a few minutes, we were all more comfortable than we’d been since we’d left Kepa.
Sulla and Urim had little interest in Yvaine’s food, but they sat with us around the fire anyway as they produced from their own packs a few of the swamp turtles that I’d seen earlier. They cracked open the turtle’s shells with their bare hands and ate the meat raw which caused Rezo to turn a pale shade of green. Merlin, however, was quite interested in this new food, and the orcs took great pleasure in tossing bits of turtle guts into the air for the puca to leap after and catch.
“Perhaps your pet is not so useless,” Urim mused as he offered Merlin a turtle skull to chew on. “When it turns into an eagle, anyway.”
Merlin sniffed, apparently offended, but not so offended as to abandon his treat.
“He’s turned into a gryphon before,” I told the orc, “and a giant dog.”
“Really?” Sulla raised his eyebrows. “If it can turn into something as great as that, why do you have it be so tiny like this?” He gestured with a broken piece of shell at Merlin, who had gone back to his ordinary form, small and lemur-like with long ears.
Merlin narrowed his eyes and brought his turtle skull over to my feet to show that, special treats or not, his patience was growing thin.
“I mostly let him do what he wants,” I replied as I scratched the puca behind the ears. “He hasn’t let us down yet.”
Sulla shrugged and stuck a bone his mouth.
“We should reach the ogre’s keep by about mid-day tomorrow,” Lavinia reported. Her voice was mostly back to normal, but it still sounded a little hoarse. The glare she leveled at Maruk made sure he knew that she wasn’t to be teased about that fact. “Then we can probably get back to the princess by the next evening.”
“Lady Yvaine is a marchioness, actually,” Rezo and Maruk said at once.
Lavinia arched her brow. “Right.”
“Can I see that map?” Emeline asked as she edged closer to the ladona ranger. Lavinia showed it to her, and the two of them began to discuss the road ahead while Maruk and Rezo talked amongst themselves about the hierarchy of nobility.
Aerin insisted on checking Sulla’s stitches again, and I decided that it might be a good time to slip away down to the creek for a bath. I had just started to push myself up when I noticed Lena stand as well, and our eyes met.
“I think I still have some leech vomit in my hair,” I told her. “I was just going to go wash it out.”
The elf smiled and blushed slightly. “I guess I’d better help you since I was the one who made it sick in the first place.”
“I’d appreciate that.”
We left the others to their conversations in the camp as we slipped off down the hill toward the little burbling creek nestled in the woods. The sun had almost finished setting, and the tops of the trees were burnished with golden tones against the soft navy hues of the sky. Crickets chirped in the distance, a welcome and relaxing counterpart to the drone of the swamp bugs from earlier in the day, and the air was pleasantly cool and fresh.
When we reached the creek, I began to take off my boots and frowned.
“We probably should have brought a light,” I admitted with a chuckle. I hadn’t meant much by it, but Lena jumped up.
“Oh, hang on!” she said eagerly, and I paused as she reached into a pouch at her waist and pulled forth a few small vials of pale, milky liquid with what appeared to be a small dark blue bead suspended within. “Remember that idea I had for mustache wax that would glow in the dark?”
“I do,” I replied with a curious look and reached for one of the vials. “Is this it?”
“It’s better!” Lena insisted. “Aerin helped me develop it. Shake it until the bead dissolves.”
I did, and after a few seconds of vigorous shaking, the blue bead broke apart and disappeared, and the liquid began to glow like an LED.
“It’ll stay bright for hours, and then you just have to replace the bead which is actually just a mixture of some dried herbs and a few other ingredients,” Lena explained. “It’s safer than a candle or a torch, too. No risk of burning yourself.” She smiled proudly as she hung the light on a tree branch by a little loop of thread attached to the bottleneck.
“This is brilliant, Lena,” I said with a smile, and the elf blushed again. I took her hand. “You’re brilliant.” I drew her closer and kissed her.
Lena wrapped her arms around my shoulders as she met my kiss, and I heard her moan softly as I pushed my tongue between her lips. Somehow, despite our ordeal in the swamp, she still smelled faintly of cinnamon, and her hair was smooth as I threaded my fingers through it.
We sank down onto a patch of grass, and I knelt as Lena straddled my hips and moved to unfasten my cloak and the lacings of my shirt. Her thin fingers traced over my chest and paused on the necklace that I always wore, the one that helped to conceal my identity as a manipulator. Then she leaned down and pressed a kiss to my collarbone, then another, and another until I guided her face back toward mine with a hand on her jaw.
She shrugged off her shawl, and I helped her remove the rest of her clothes before I settled us in a more comfortable position over my cloak spread out on the grass. Lena sighed as I pushed inside of her, one hand clasped in hers, the other on her thigh, and began to move my hips in a steady rhythm.
With her free hand, Lena cupped the back of my neck and bent down to me, and we kissed again. The burble of the stream, the songs of crickets, and the cool breeze all drifted out of my awareness until all I felt was the warmth of Lena’s body pressed against mine, the sweet smell of her hair, and her soft breaths as they caressed my cheek. At last, she gasped and gripped my hand tighter as she clenched around me, and when she pulled away, just slightly, her violet eyes glittered beneath their thick lashes.
I kissed her mouth again, and then her cheek, then moved to sit up with her in my lap. I continued to thrust, and Lena rolled her hips against mine with little moans of pleasure as her eyelids fluttered closed.
Without breaking our rhythm, I bent my head to trail kisses along her collarbone and breasts, and the elven woman’s breath hitched again. Spurred on by that little gasp, I began to snap my hips more vigorously as I pressed Lena against my body with both hands on her back.
She climaxed for the second time a moment later with a warm breath against my ear, and I shifted our position again so that Lena was on her back. The soft shadows of the leaves in the moonlight wavered over the delicate arch of her neck as she bent her head back, and I leaned down to nip gently at the skin of her throat.
Lena’s fingers pressed eagerly into my shoulder blades, and I thrust faster as I felt my own release coming on. Lena gasped again and twitched beneath me as she climaxed for the third time, and I followed seconds later and came deep inside of her womb.
As I shifted so that I was lying next to her, Lena moved to face me.
She hummed slightly as she ran her fingers through my hair, her full lips pressed into a smile. In the dim light, she seemed to glow of her own
accord, and her eyes glittered as she trailed her gaze down my body.
For a few minutes, neither of us said anything, but then Lena sighed.
“We still have to wash our clothes,” she reminded me as we lay stretched out together on the cloak.
“I know.” That was our excuse for having come down here, but I didn’t want to get up just yet.
Lena trailed her fingers over my chest as we took a few more minutes just to lie there and enjoy a moment’s peace. The sky was clear above, and now that the sun had fully set, we could see the first of the night’s stars. I breathed deeply as I mapped out the unfamiliar shapes in my mind and idly traced them on the back of Lena’s hand against my chest. It was so rare to have a quiet moment like this on the road, and I wanted to enjoy it, especially since I had such a beautiful woman next to me. Then Lena angled her face up toward mine.
“If we put them under a rock, the current will do all the work for us, and we can do... other things… again.”
“You are a genius,” I replied with a grin.
Chapter 10
The next morning, I was awoken by Merlin sitting on my chest and gnawing on the last bits of a turtle skeleton that he’d gotten from his new orc friends the previous night. The puca flicked his tail in a pleased sort of way when he noticed that I was awake and loudly crunched up a piece of bone as if to brag about what he had.
“That’s all yours, buddy,” I assured him as I lifted him off my chest and set him on the grass next to me. Then I brushed the crushed turtle bone off of my blanket before I got up and began to pack up my bedroll and other belongings. Across the fire which had burned to a low smolder, Lavinia stirred and sat up.
“Sun’s up,” she observed with a frown, and I guessed that she was disappointed to have slept past the sunrise. The ranger had an uncanny ability to wake up before dawn no matter where we were or how late we’d been up the night before.
“Barely,” I replied with a teasing smirk. “You are allowed to sleep in every now and then, you know.”