by E. Molloy
Lillian could hear the tiny feet scurrying for only a minute before there was complete silence, but there was nothing she could do to help herself in their absence. With nothing but sheer determination on her side, the princess managed to waggle a finger. A sigh escaped her as she realized that really was all that she could do, but the breath caught as another howl rang out, this time much closer, followed by a crow's call. It was so loud that it sounded as if it could be right at the door.
The woods around her fell deadly silent, and the creatures didn't return. She lay motionless and defenseless on the ground, eyes fixed on the doorway as she knew that all she could do at this point was wait. One way or another, something would come through that door eventually. Or she would die here of starvation and rot in the swamps.
Through the darkness beyond the tiny doorway, a large muscular man poked his head through the tiny hole. He had a gruff look to him, with a short black beard and scars riddling his arms and one on his cheek. He wore animal pelts, furs sticking out of the seams of them. His dark brown eyes met hers, and he smiled playfully with a little wave.
"Well well, look what we have here," he mused, crawling the rest of the way into the little hut with no small amount of effort. The sticks and mud that held the doorway together broke off in chunks around him, but the rest of the hut remained intact. Once inside, the large man couldn't even stand up fully in it, having to slouch his back so his head didn't hit the ceiling when he straightened, though his shoulders still pressed against the top of it. He moved toward her with purpose, and she tried to pull away but only managed to flinch a few seconds after she had told her body to move.
"Don't look too excited to see me, darlin'," he said with a grin as he knelt beside her to pull the apple from her mouth, and then examine the rest of her. His gaze was surprisingly appropriate for the situation, and it landed finally on the little dart in her arm.
"Oh, well that would explain why you aren't jumping for joy," he said, pulling the dart out and tossing it to the side before reaching underneath her and lifting her up.
"Sorry for the intrusion," he said, looking down to her with a perfectly white smile to compliment his golden eyes. "I hope I wasn't interrupting anything too interesting, but I just saw this place and couldn't help but poke my nose in for a little sniff."
Her expression was incredulous. Of course, she was glad to be rescued, but then she wasn't even entirely sure that that's what this was. It took her a moment to respond as the strangely attractive beast of a man stared at her. When she did speak, her words were weak, her lips and mouth still numb from whatever had pricked her before. "There's a wolf out there, and those swamp rats might come back. If you're here to save me, then we should get a move on," she dictated, however lazily it may have sounded. Even with the weakness, she seemed to be barking orders.
The man's deep chuckle shook the both of them as his eyes analyzed the room. "You don't need to worry about that. They're off chasing birds," he said.
"Birds?"
He looked down to her with a wink of his golden yellow eyes, and his nostrils flared a little. He sniffed a few times, and then looked around the room more intensely. "So, you didn't get stuck here all alone did you?"
"No, there was someone with me, but he's..."
"Dead?" the man interrupted surprisingly quickly.
She hesitated, and then replied, "Well, I think so. I don't really know, honestly."
"Hm. Well, I'd bet my top dollar that he's around here somewhere," he said, sounding too sure of himself.
"If you knew him, you might not be so sure," she said, sounding exhausted. Really, if Daveth had survived whatever these things had planned for him, she would be very surprised. By now, Lillian was starting to wonder how the guy had even made it to the tower in the first place.
"Maybe you don't know him as well as you think," the man replied, a strange snap to his voice that might have made him seem irritated had he not maintained his toothy grin. His nostrils flared again as he looked out the little doorway, then to the pile of treasures in the corner.
"They take anything you need?" he asked, lifting his chin to point in the direction of the pile.
She felt dumb even mentioning it, but she had to. "Well if he's still alive, he's going to need his stuff."
"I'm sure he'd like to have his armor, but I doubt we could carry all of that out of here without playing a little dress up with ya," he said, chuckling to himself, though Lillian wasn't amused.
"He will be fine without it, I'm sure," she replied. "There were supplies, though," her voice trailed off as she strained to look around the room for the pack Daveth had had before. She didn't know what else was in it, but she knew that the order from the royal castle was tucked in there somewhere. For the time being, it was the only thing that would keep Daveth from being locked away for kidnapping her if something happened.
He looked around the room, and his eyes landed beside the fire where a rack of large bones sat, completely cleaned of meat. "So, you guys came on horseback," he said, seemingly undeterred by the gore on the ground.
"How did you know that?" she asked, still unable to turn her head to see what he was looking at.
The hefty man shrugged, and her whole body moved with it. "Well, you definitely won’t be leaving on horseback, I can tell you that," he said with a dry chuckle that for some reason scared her. "Sorry about this," he said, and before she could ask why he swung her over his shoulder. Her butt stuck up in the air and the front part of her body hung limply over his back. The burly man moved toward where the pack was on the ground, knelt, picked it up and swung it over his other shoulder, before moving toward the pile of weapons and armor. He grabbed the shield, not even bothering with the armor.
"You travelling with an Order man, huh?" he asked, inspecting the shield. He moved it toward his face and sniffed it, and a curious expression came on his face. His golden eyes darted to the princess as his nostrils flared again, and he pushed whatever thought he’d had to the back of his mind as they continued their conversation.
Lillian sighed a little, "Yeah, something like that."
Chapter 11
With the swamp rat following close behind him, Daveth's feet carried him swiftly across the swampy floor. His feet stuck a little in the mud, but he remembered fairly well the path that he’d taken to get to where he was. The air was freezing against his naked flesh, and he could feel the sting of the sores that covered his body from having stayed in his armor for too long. He found himself reveling in the pain, though, and the stinging in the balls of his feet from stepping on pebbles and rocks and possibly other horrible things that he'd regret later. His heart pounded hard as he raced forward, adrenaline likely all that was keeping him moving anymore. The huts drew nearer, and a loud howl echoed through the swamp. His graceful step faltered, and the young man slipped on the slick mud. The sword flung from his hands before his face planted into the mud. As he moved to push himself up, a weight pressed against his back. He could feel the tiny feet of the creature that had saved him pressing hard against his back, and one hand slapped over his mouth before he could yell about it.
"Shhhhhhhh," the thing said adamantly, pressing its suction-cupped fingers against his face. Daveth tried to pull the webbed hand off, but it wouldn't budge. "Hunter," the creature said, "It's here. Shhhhhh."
The howl rang again, and he could see near the hut in the distance more than a dozen of the things that looked just like his companion rushing out of their little swamp huts. They circled the buildings, chattering amongst themselves in a hurry. A large crow followed them silently, and Daveth could feel the creature on his back quivering. Whether it was cold or terrified, he didn't know, nor did he really care. He tried to remove its hand again, but it was stuck.
The thing spoke again in a hissing whisper, its free hand pointing after the crowd. "We eat bird or wolf eats us," he said, as if that was supposed to explain everything.
Daveth watched as the crowd moved out of sight, pa
st the buildings and into the wetter areas alongside them. They seemed to sink into the swampy land and disappear beneath it. None of them seemed to notice the bird behind them as it followed them into the darkness. Another howl sounded, followed by a few squeaks and some gurgling in the direction that the party had gone. Neither the bird nor the swamp rats emerged from around the building. Instead, a large man appeared, wading through the swamp that only came up to his knees. Gruff in his appearance, he definitely looked to be a woodsman of some sort, and Daveth reasoned that this must be what the thing had called hunter. On the one side of him was strapped a hefty one-handed axe that Daveth couldn't really determine if it was meant to be a tool or a weapon.
"Hunter," the thing warned, removing its hand from Daveth's mouth and confirming his suspicion. Daveth stayed on his stomach on the ground, trying to figure out what to do next.
"What kind of hunter?" he asked quietly.
"All kinds," the creature explained, hopping off of him. The creature offered a webbed hand to help the young man up, as if that would have done any good. Daveth ignored it, lifting himself with his arms into a crouching position to watch the swamp huts from the darkness of the woods.
"It never comes to swamps. Hunter comes, the rest are dead," he said, as if that solved that.
Daveth stood. "So he's here to help?" he asked, and the creature hugged at his leg. It was a really weird feeling, having something that gross and sinister looking acting like a terrified child, and his impulse in that moment was to kick the thing away. Of course, being the nice guy that he was, Daveth wasn't going to do that. After all, the thing had saved him, and it probably wasn't its fault that it was disgusting.
The thing shook its head as it gripped his leg tightly. "It comes to hunt," it said. An ominous feeling accompanied the thing's words.
"Hunt what, though?" he asked as he watched the man drop to his stomach and crawl into one of the huts.
Its beady yellow eyes turned up to him, and even past the frog-like features he could see the fear. "Everything," it hissed quietly, now tugging on Daveth's leg a little in the other direction. "Please, it must escape," it begged again.
Daveth, instead, leaned down to get his sword, and then moved toward the huts. He still had to find out if the princess was actually dead or not. The creature let out a small whine, and then jumped on Daveth's back. It wasn't very heavy, though it did cause him to sway a little at first. Its slimy arms wrapped around his forehead, fingers suctioning to the skin there, and its feet gripped onto his naked back.
"What do you think you're doing?" he said, trying again to pry the thing loose from him, though he already knew that was pointless. The suction cups held him securely in place.
"We're scared," it squeaked meekly, and Daveth let out a sigh. Clearly, he wasn't getting rid of this thing any time soon, so he'd just have to deal with it.
They made their approach quietly, the thing on his back keeping a sharp eye out around the side that the others and the crow had gone. He could feel the small creature quivering on his back. Once they reached the entrance, Daveth knelt down near the doorway, poking his head carefully around the corner to look inside. In that moment, he came face to face with shin guards. Turning his eyes upward, he saw a scruffy bearded man with a scarred face and a too-white grin.
"Perfect timing, sir knight," the man said in a jolly tone. Daveth was taken aback, and gasped as he fell backward onto his bottom in the swampy muck.
Booming laughter came from within the hut. "Might wanna step back, kid," he warned. Daveth scrambled to his feet, moving away from the entrance. A moment later, the entire front of the mossy mud-building crumbled to the ground, revealing the hunter in full with the princess slung over his back. In one of his hands, he held Daveth's shield. In the other, he held a large hand axe that was now covered in mud. The large man seemed unconcerned with the filth, dropping his axe into a loop on his belt that seemed designed to catch just beneath each side of the axe head. The small creature on Daveth's back tucked its head behind his, hiding from the others.
"What did you do to her?" Daveth demanded of the man, his gaze fixed on the princess that was hanging like a ragdoll from the man’s shoulder.
The big guy laughed, offering out Daveth's shield to him. Daveth hesitated, and then reached out to take his equipment carefully, still giving a suspicious eye. From over the large man's shoulder, Lillian replied, "You're alive?" She sounded just as surprised as Daveth was, at the moment.
"Hate to tell you this, kid, but you’ve got some filth on your head," the hunter said, motioning toward the cowering creature on Daveth's head.
Daveth looked up as he felt the thing try to hide even more behind his head. The young man wasn't yet fully convinced of this man's innocence, though, and evaded the comment. "Who are you, and why are you carrying her like that?"
"Name's Ragen," he said, reaching out a hand for Daveth to shake. Daveth, hands full with sword and shield, simply glared at the man longer. Seeming undeterred by having his courtesy be ignored, the man lowered his hand and replied, "I'm carrying her like this because she can't walk on her own. Not until the poison wears off."
"Poison?" Daveth inquired suspiciously.
The man grinned, his white teeth glinting as a stray stream of light hit his gnarly features. "Why don't you ask your new friend, there," he said, gently removing the woman from his shoulder. He set her feet on the ground carefully, but kept a strong arm under hers and wrapped around her back. She wavered on her feet a bit, but the man's arm was enough to keep her stable.
"Figured you'd want to see this," he said out of the side of his mouth toward the woman as she sort of just hung from his arm. Her eyes went to the creature and her face grew red with rage.
"Just when I thought you couldn't get any more stupid," she snapped at Daveth. "That thing is going to eat you, don't you get that? And what are you doing out here anyway? How did you get free? Were you going to just leave me? Why didn't they kill you?”
The hunter's eyebrows went up and his lips pursed as he stared at Daveth. "Yikes," he mouthed at him silently, a look in his eyes that said he didn't envy the boy, though he'd had no problem starting this fight to begin with.
Daveth, holding the shield in his left hand still, lifted both arms in resignation. "I came BACK to save YOU!" he said, but he knew it was no use.
She scoffed, but didn't seem to have anything else to add. That was a little out of character, he thought, but he was grateful for the small victory. The creature on Daveth's back poked at his shoulder with one of its webbed feet, and then whispered loudly in his ear. "It can't be trusted."
"You're darn right it can't be trusted!" the princess snapped. "You tried to eat me!"
"No, not us!” the beast pleaded, lifting itself a boldly to show its whole face to the girl as he replied, “We don't eats peoples."
The hunter suddenly busted out in a loud boisterous laugh. The birds in the dense trees above them scattered at the sound, and a few leaves fell. "Well that's a joke if I ever heard one. A swamp rat that doesn't eat meat. I suppose next you'll expect them to believe that your friends back there are vegetarians too, hm?"
The creature hissed at him wordlessly, probably the only violent sound Daveth had heard it make yet. "We are not them," it snapped, and he could feel its soft suction fingers tightening around his head. Daveth let out a sigh.
"Can we just get out of here?" he asked Lillian, who managed to turn her head to look up at the hunter.
He, in turn, seemed to check the trees for an answer, and, with eerie timing, the crow flew down from the trees and landed gracefully on his shoulder. "Ready when you folks are," he said.
Daveth gave him a confused look. "I didn't mean you."
"What? You planned on getting out of here all by yourself, with that thing and the dead weight girl? No offense, lady."
Lillian attempted a shrug in response, but was unable to.
"We managed to get here just fine, I'm sure we can get out," Da
veth replied, though he realized how dumb that sounded as soon as it came out. Still, he just had a bad feeling about this guy, and it was making him feel as though they would be better off without him, despite all logic.
The man let out another loud laugh. Daveth couldn't help but think bitterly that at least someone was enjoying themselves. "Right," Ragen continued, "I don’t know if you remember how you got here ‘all on your own’, but I’d wager it had something to do with being kidnapped by man-eating swamp-beasts. In a perfect world, kid, you'd make it out of here alive just fine on your own. As I'm sure you're startin' to figure, though, this ain't a perfect world. You're gonna need a guide, and nobody knows these woods better than me."
"Fine, if you want to follow, you can."
Gesturing out grandly with his free hand, the hunter replied, "By all means, then, lead the way." He swung the pack down off of his free shoulder and tossed it to the young man who caught it clumsily in his free hand. Giving Ragen one last glare as he hung it over his own shoulder, the swamp rat on his back shifting so it wouldn't be in the way, Daveth looked around for any sign of direction.
He assumed the route the rat had taken him was the way out, and so headed in that direction. The hunter didn't follow, and Daveth only got a few steps before he heard the large man clearing his throat loudly behind him. He turned to look, and saw the raven flying off in the opposite direction. Ragen winked a golden at him, and Daveth could feel his blood boiling.
"I think you got a mite turned around, Sir Knight," he said before turning to follow the bird, his muscular arm still helping the princess along as she slowly regained her motor functions.
"My name is Daveth," he corrected with emphasis on 'name', before also following. There was no point in going the wrong way, and even less point in going the wrong way without the princess.