David Wells - Cursed Bones

“I wonder if Asteroth can hear me from here,” Isabel said.

“Even if he could and even if he could get past Andalia, where would he land?” Alexander asked, motioning to the jungle around them.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Isabel said. “The swamp it is.”

“Try to get there as soon as possible,” Alexander said. “You’ll need time to make a raft, and it doesn’t really matter if you leave a trail because you’ll be able to lose them easily enough once you’re on the water.”

Isabel nodded and looked over at his projection, smiling sadly. “I wish you were here,” she said.

“Me too,” he said, fading out of sight.

They pushed through the day, moving as quickly as possible through the dense brush. Isabel periodically checked on the progress of the Regency soldiers through Slyder’s eyes and was relieved to see that they were falling farther behind.

Midway through the afternoon she heard an odd chittering coming from above. When she looked up into the thick canopy she thought she saw movement. Stopping to look more closely, she was sure of it.

“Tree rats,” Ayela said. “We must keep moving.”

“Tree rats?” Isabel said.

“Large rodents, maybe twenty pounds, with very sharp teeth and claws,” Ayela said. “They hunt in packs and have been known to take down creatures much larger than themselves.”

“Hector, Horace, keep your eyes open,” Isabel said.

As they continued through the jungle, the tree rats followed in the canopy above. Isabel thought there must be about twenty. A few times she got a good enough look at one to know that she didn’t want to see them any closer.

She tried to link her mind with them but failed, a fact that made her even more nervous. These little beasts weren’t natural creatures. She presumed that they were yet another of Siavrax Karth’s creations. What purpose he’d intended them for was beyond speculation.

When they reached a clearing, Isabel stopped, smiling at the patch of odd flowers near one side of the open space-deathwalker root. “We’ll stop here for a few minutes,” she said, as she started pulling flowers from the ground, one by one.

“Be careful,” Ayela said. “The powder in those flowers will make you sleepy.”

Isabel smiled up at her. “You know about the deathwalker root?”

Ayela nodded. “Healers often use the roots to make a poultice, and the powder in the flower sacs is a potent sleeping agent that can be prepared in a variety of ways. Some tribes use it to create a poison for their darts, others use it to help sick people rest through the night.”

“We’re going to use it to make a healing salve,” Isabel said. “Your brother took my potions, so this might come in handy.”

“We still have one healing potion each and a jar of Master Alabrand’s salve between us,” Horace said.

“Good,” Isabel said, continuing to work. “I fear we’re going to need everything we can get before this is over.”

Ayela knelt down to help Isabel. She seemed familiar with the process, pulling the root out of the ground and carefully breaking it from the stem.

The noise of the tree rats started to grow as more arrived.

“Any chance we can lure those little monsters down here?” Hector asked. “I’m tired of constantly looking over my shoulder.”

“Doubtful,” Ayela said. “They’re skittish, preferring to attack only by surprise and in large numbers.”

“Looks like they have the numbers,” Isabel said, surveying the trees surrounding the clearing.

There were well over twenty now, all looking down at them through their beady little eyes and chittering angrily, as if scolding Isabel and her friends for trespassing.

Shadowfang strolled into the clearing and rubbed up against Isabel’s leg. The tree rats grew more animated at his sudden appearance. Isabel was debating whether she should try to scare them off with a light-lance when she felt a sudden stabbing pain on the back of her neck. It was so sharp and unexpected that she yelped, slapping at the source.

She killed a bug that looked almost like a horsefly, only twice as big or more.

Ayela looked closely at it and worry creased her brow. “This could be very bad,” she said.

“What is it?” Horace asked.

“A lightning fly,” Ayela said. “They create the shocking power of lightning itself and use it to overpower their prey. Usually, they only attack small animals and birds, but a swarm of lightning flies has been known to overpower a horse.”

“Then what?” Hector said. “A horse is more than a meal for a swarm of bugs.”

“They’re parasites,” Ayela said. “They lay their eggs inside their victims, usually in early winter. Come spring, the eggs hatch and the larvae eat their way out of the body, then feed until they’re ready to cocoon for several weeks and emerge in their adult form.”

Isabel looked around at the tree rats. “Maybe these bugs will go after them instead of us,” she said.

“Perhaps, but the tree rats will return to their nests at night,” Ayela said, “which is when the lightning flies come out to hunt.”

“So how do we defend against them?” Hector asked.

“Either find some form of shelter or build a fire,” Ayela said.

“All right, let’s keep moving,” Isabel said. “Everyone keep an eye out for a cave to hide in for the night.”

When they started moving, the tree rats started following again, always staying well above them and out of reach but making an unsettling racket with their incessant chittering.

A dark mood started to come over Isabel. The threat of the little rodents coupled with all of the other threats surrounding her in this unfamiliar place started to wear on her nerves. Before she knew what she was doing, she unleashed a light-lance at the nearest tree rat, burning a hole through the predatory rodent and sending its companions scattering into the jungle.

She stopped and looked at her hand in near surprise. “I’m sorry, I’m not sure what came over me,” she said.

But she knew. Azugorath was pushing her to act against her will again. It seemed that the Wraith Queen worked on her sporadically, pushing with great effort to gain a foothold within her psyche and then leaving her alone for long periods of time. She didn’t understand why, but she did know that she couldn’t afford to let her gain control. She resolved to redouble her vigilance within her own mind.

At nightfall, she took one last look at the Regency soldiers following in the distance. They were half a day behind and they’d come upon the tree rats. It seemed that the little rodents were just as unsettling to them as they were to Isabel. She smiled, calling Slyder back to her.

“There,” Ayela said, pointing into the growing darkness.

Isabel thought she saw a flickering, electric-blue spark in the distance.

“We need a fire,” Ayela said. “Where there’s one, there are more.”

“A fire will give away our position,” Hector said.

“Yes, but without fire we won’t survive the night,” Ayela said.

He and Horace looked to Isabel. She nodded reluctantly and the two men went to work rounding up wood while Ayela and Isabel prepared a fire pit and collected kindling.

“We’ll need a supply of firewood sufficient to last the night,” Ayela said.

Hector muttered something under his breath on his way back into the jungle, looking for more wood. By dark, they had a roaring fire burning hot and bright.

Shadowfang was reluctant to venture into the light of the flames, but the increasing number of crackling blue-white sparks Isabel saw in the darkness prompted her to impose her will on her pet and soothe his anxiety at being near the flame, lest he be killed by the lightning flies in the night.