by Noah Layton
I hopped from the boat, landing ankle deep in watery mud. My boots kept me mostly dry as I pushed to the more solid path that led into the darkness of the swamp, followed closely by Ariadne and Lara.
‘Best of luck, keen adventurers!’ Captain Archie shouted, using one of the oars to push his boat from the shore before drifting off and out of sight.
Before I knew it, we were alone in the unknown wilds. With no immediate threat present I drew my sword, and the girls did the same with their own weapons.
Nodding to them silently, I turned and led us into the darkness.
Chapter Four
The moment we entered the Black Patch, I knew it was a place that I had no desire to visit again.
The path that we walked switched at random intervals between relatively stable sections of stone and stretches of mud that took us ankle-deep. If that wasn’t bad enough, the path spun off into other paths that either drifted into the unseen reaches of the swamp or re-joined our path further ahead.
We could only move forward.
Sunlight slipped through occasionally, lighting up a place that didn’t want to be seen. All around us there were thin, reedy trees that swarmed together to create the floating canopy overhead that stopped the sky from finding us.
Insects chirped persistently in the dirty water, refusing to let up until there was a rapid splashing from an unseen creature that put us all on edge, then silence.
At every sound we halted, searching the reeds, but saw nothing.
‘I don’t think this place is as big as it seems,’ I said. ‘A mile or two across, maybe.’
‘That is still a big enough space to contain plenty of secrets,’ Ariadne said, her twin blades hanging from her hands at her sides.
‘Maybe, but hopefully this ship should be easy enough to find.’
‘It is more likely to be split into parts,’ Lara said. ‘When the flood swept in it would likely have destroyed the ship, or at least separated it in two.’
‘Let’s just hope that the Old Molly is still on-board. I really don’t feel like heading off the path.’
‘Shh…’
Ariadne and I spun to look at Lara. She had raised a hand to silence us and was staring at the ground, focusing on listening. We both followed suit, I relying almost solely on Ariadne’s fox-ears; they might have been more sensitive to sound, but Lara had spent more time in the wilds than both of us put together.
Snap.
We all looked off to the right, raising our weapons. I searched through the reeds, the silhouette of each bouncing off the next and the next, forming an endlessly moving canvas.
A gust of wind swept by. Suddenly something moved among the shadowy lines – it seemed to rise up from the ground, pass between the reeds and dip back down.
‘There,’ I whispered.
‘What?’ Lara said, aiming an arrow into the reeds without a target. ‘What do you see?’
I continued searching for the thing, but it had vanished.
‘Nothing. Let’s keep moving.’
Every sound set my senses alight. When a stimulus sets off in your surroundings, your ears are the first thing to hear and therefore the first to react. They inform everything else – your balance, your sight, even what you can taste and smell. When it comes down to it, your ears rule supreme.
The only problem was that right now, the drippings and the insects and the occasional splashing of water all collectively ruled my sense of sound.
It had been a few hundred yards since crossing the riverbed when we turned a corner and saw the first living thing for miles that didn’t live in the water.
It was crouched along the path just ahead, its hands occasionally splashing against the water.
I didn’t have time to register whether it was a threat or not.
I attempted to approach quietly, my sword at the ready. I intended to bring the blade to its throat, but with a single footstep – one that I thought was quiet – the being stood sharply and spun around with the reflexes of a soldier, brandishing a large hunting knife.
‘Back away, fiends!’ The gravelly but feminine voice shouted. She swung a torch with her other hand, illuminating a fierce human face belonging to a woman in her 40s. Her grey hair was tied back in a tight bun behind her head. She was wearing brown leather clothes that were stained with mud, both dried and soaking wet.
My wives drew their weapons sharply over my shoulders, and I kept mine at the ready.
‘Slow down,’ I said loudly. ‘We’re not seeking to cause any trouble.’
‘Who are you?’
‘We’re just…’ I tried to think of an excuse. I didn’t think I would need to come up with one in the middle of nowhere like this, so I decided to go for broke. ‘We’re out here looking for a shipwreck, if you want me to be real with you. We don’t want to get into a fight.’
The woman eyed me for a moment, then lost interest in me altogether as she looked past me.
I followed her line of sight to Ariadne.
‘You…’ She said, staring at my foxgirl. ‘Who are you?’
‘You don’t get to ask questions,’ I said, returning to the woman. ‘There are three of us, and one of you. Let us past.’
The woman continued to eye Ariadne for a moment longer before returning to me and lowering her knife.
‘Come with me. My camp is just a short walk from here.’
I frowned at her, but before I could ask any questions she started walking.
‘Do we follow her?’ Ariadne asked in a hushed tone.
‘We don’t have a choice,’ I replied. ‘There’s only one way ahead. She seems to like you.’
‘I noticed that.’
‘Could she be part of the expedition?’ Lara asked. ‘The one that Captain Archie was talking about?’
‘It’s possible. Let’s keep moving, but like she said, keep your weapons drawn.’
We continued onwards, catching up with the woman and following her along the makeshift trail through the darkened swamp. My eyes were on her at all times, while Lara kept a lookout on our six and Ariadne scoured the dark water either side for any signs of a threat.
‘My name is Mavis,’ she called back suddenly. ‘I am the leader of an expedition group.’
‘We’ve heard of you,’ I called ahead.
‘You have? Have you also heard that I do not appreciate visitors?’
‘I have now.’
That simple exchange told me everything that I needed to know about her.
Up ahead, a series of lights appeared either side of the trail. Small lanterns were hanging from intermittent reeds, and eventually we came upon the camp.
The research expedition had formed their base on a large, relatively stable patch of rock that stood a few feet above the marshy water level below. Torches filled the place, which were being constantly checked upon by another woman doing the rounds. A series of tents surrounded a large fire at the centre of the camp, while crates, barrels and tables scattered with vials and papers sat around, unmoving out here in the absence of any wind.
The woman led us through the expedition’s camp, past further members of the team. Heads turned in our direction briefly before returning to their work.
‘Tell me,’ Lara whispered over my shoulder. ‘Why is it always we humans that are doing things like this?’
‘Things like what?’
‘Stupid things. Getting on rickety boats, researching in predator-infested swamps, and…’
‘Ariadne?’
Only Lara and I knew my foxgirl’s name out here, so when it was said in the voice of a person I didn’t know, we both stopped and looked across the campfire.
‘Lola?’
Ariadne was staring across at a woman who had just appeared in the firelight. She was as pretty as Ariadne but her face possessed a weathered wisdom that had come with age. At my best guess she was in her 50s, wearing a pair of toughened leather pants and a ragged overshirt.
She had no boots on, though, nor any
shoes to speak of; they wouldn’t have fit her large, pawed feet, which bore the same dark fur as that which sprouted from the large fox-ears upon her head, stemming up between the dark, unkempt hair that fell down to her shoulders.
Ariadne rarely ever let herself go, but in that moment I thought that she was going to walk through the fire just to get to her lost tribe member a second faster.
She managed to stave off the need, rounding the fire and embracing the first member of her old tribe that she had seen in months.
***
‘After I knew that we were going to be overrun I managed to escape. I was in the forest for days before I arrived at an outpost far upriver. Many tribes promised safety but it was evident that they all had ulterior motives. I stumbled on the expedition there – their aims seemed dangerous but they were a group outside of a tribe that could offer safety in numbers.
‘I have been out here for many months now, but what are you doing out here? Our tribe may have been destroyed but there are much safer places to be than here. Believe me.’
We were sat around a large campfire in the expedition’s base.
I told her the story that Rook had told us. She listened intently the entire time.
‘Have you seen it while you’ve been out here?’
‘I have. In fact, I know exactly where it is. The entire group does.’
‘Shit,’ I muttered. ‘If you already know where it is then I don’t doubt there are plenty of others who know too. It’ll have been totally ransacked.’
‘That is simply not the case,’ Lola replied. ‘It is mostly intact, and largely untouched.’
‘… Why?’
‘It is better for you to see for yourself.’
We each took a torch and lit them before setting off deeper into the swamp. We travelled along more secure routes guided by a series of further torches lining the path, all the while clutching our own. A quarter mile along the main path we split left, where the torches became less frequent.
‘Are these torches here as markers?’
‘To some extent. But most are here to keep away the sirens.’
‘The what?’
‘Sirens. There is a large hive of them in the Black Patch. Light is the only thing that keeps them away.’
‘Like, actual sirens?’
‘What do you think sirens are?’ Lara asked curiously.
‘They’re those beautiful women that wait on rocks and entice sailors, only to drown them when they get too close.’
‘That is a somewhat accurate description,’ Lola said. ‘We have had a few of our team fall victim to them over the months, but we have largely stayed out of their way, and they out of ours. That said, there is no way that I would go a single second without having an abundance of light to protect us.’
‘What state were your team members in when you found them?’
‘Nothing but bones. The sirens have a taste for human flesh. They may look beautiful in their deceiving forms, but when presented with enough light their true form manifests. They are horrific beings.’
‘We’ll keep an eye out,’ I said. ‘What about the torches leading to the Mossley? Is that so you know how to get back to it?’
‘No – so we would know to stay away from it. You will see.’
I had more than a few questions, but as the path through the reeds arced left for 50 yards then straightened out, I managed to keep my mouth shut.
The path ended abruptly, and the Mossley laid right before us.
The expedition team had set out torches around roughly half of the wreckage, lighting up the old ship. It was like a pirate vessel, with a huge deck and two large masts, one intact and one that had snapped. The wreckage itself had split in two down the centre.
The current state of the ship was strange, though – rather than the two sections splitting outwards, they instead seemed to have begun to concave inwards. It was as if they were fighting against each other to crumble into the ground, but had instead become stuck.
‘Watch your footing,’ Lola said, holding up her torch and indicating the point where the path fell off. The mud beyond it, surrounding the vessel in a gigantic pool, sat flat and unmoving. It looked almost like concrete. ‘Would you hold this, please?’
She passed me her torch and grabbed a nearby reed, snapping it and guiding it over to the mud. It was easily five yards long.
Lola turned it and pressed its end carefully into the mud. She was pushing it down at a diagonal angle, and it just kept going and going.
‘How deep is this thing?’ Lara exclaimed.
‘Very. Here.’ Lola handed the reed to her. ‘Press it down right there. Do you feel that?’
‘Yeah. It’s solid. Can’t be the underside of the ship, though. It’s not far enough out. Is it the ground?’
‘No. That’s Radley. He was part of the expedition. Stumbled out here drunk in the night and found it by complete accident. Drowned trying to get to the boat. His shouts for help are the only reason we found it in the first place. By the time we got here he was already up to his shoulders. We tried to get him out but there was nothing we could do. It’s like falling into a pool of tree sap.’
‘My god,’ I muttered. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘I’m not. He was an incredibly unpleasant man. I was glad to know he was gone. At least now I can sleep well without having to endure his drunken ramblings through the night.’
Lara glanced over at me and smiled before laughing, causing me to start too.
‘What’s so funny about that?’ Ariadne said. ‘It’s a valid point.’
‘Nothing,’ I smiled. ‘Just the way you said it, Lola. And because I must be out of my mind.’
‘Why?’
‘Because I still want to get on board that ship, even if it runs the very real risk of drowning in mud.’
We returned to camp shortly after and considered various ways to get to the Mossley. By my best calculations the ship was six yards from the end of the path. I could probably jump that and reach the ship with my hands, but it would likely mean a dip in the mud that would kill me.
There were stacks of junk that the expedition team had brought with them, including barrels, wooden planks, empty supply crates and long lengths of toughened rope.
In my mind I had an image of me throwing the crates in and jumping from box to box like Super-freaking-Mario, but that was way too sketchy, and this mission was stupid enough already without me roleplaying a plumber.
After a few trips we had ferried all of the wooden planks and two crates to the end of the path, as well as several lengths of rope. With a little experimentation I found that the objects could support my weight.
That said, there weren’t enough planks to support my weight and get me to the ship.
Which meant I was going to need to jump at least a short distance.
There were twelve planks in total, all measuring around four feet each. I stacked them into piles of three, then overlapped and tied them them halfway to create a gangplank that was just shy of nine feet in length. That covered half the distance across the mud.
The crates were light but durable now that they were empty of supplies. Aiming carefully, I hurled one to the spot a yard before the ship.
It bumped into place. The mud was so thick that it hardly even splashed in response.
‘That’s comforting,’ I muttered. I half-meant it, though. It was so thick that it remained in place. It was sinking, but it would take at least another minute to dip beneath the surface. I could hop onto the second once I reached the end of the planks.
I couldn’t help but think about Radley from the expedition team. He would have sunk slowly, holding onto some hope that he would survive until the mud reached his mouth.
Even if the guy had been a dick, it was a horrible way to die.
‘Okay,’ I said. ‘Here’s the plan. You girls stand on the end of the planks and keep it steady. I’m going to get across it while you leverage my weight, jump onto the crate, and then…’
There was a makeshift ladder grafted into the side of the ship used by sailors to save themselves if they went overboard.
‘I’ll jump to the ladder and climb aboard. I’ll keep this rope tied around my waist. If I say pull drag me back out.’
I proceeded tie the end of the longest length of rope around me. Whether it would get me out of there was anyone’s guess, but I had to try something in the event that everything went wrong.
I looked towards the ship and nodded, then looked to the girls. All three of them were looking back at me awkwardly.
Lara drew a long breath.
‘So…’ She said. ‘I know its dark out here, but by my best guess it’s around seven hours till sundown.’
‘Right…’ I nodded. I looked back out to the wreck of the Mossley. ‘There better be some serious fucking treasure onboard this thing.’
I checked the rope around my waist, pulling on the knot and tightening it as much as I could.
‘Take this,’ Ariadne said, passing me one of her scimitars. ‘If you have to fight in close quarters that two-hander of yours is not going to serve you very well.’
I got a feel for the weight of the sword.
The girls got into place on the end of the series of planks. I pocketed the sword in my inventory and picked up the crate, mentally calculating the motions ahead of me.
It’s a series of movements, I thought. Just like flying your jet. There’s a procedure and a methodology. All you have to do is carry out the actions.
Or, you know, you could realize that this is completely fucking insane, go home to your tribe and live happily ever after… Until you let your guard down for too long, somebody finally discovers your land, and you’re overrun by some rival tribe.
I nodded to the girls, all three of them standing awkwardly together on the end of the tied planks.
I hurried forwards, rushing quickly and lightly across the wood.
One step, two step, three step.
I threw the crate and hopped onto it.
It held my weight but began to sink faster than I had anticipated, throwing me off balance.
‘JACK!’
One of my wives’ voices called out, but I had no idea which. I was too busy focusing on leaping for the Mossley’s ladder.