David Wells - Cursed Bones

Isabel held her breath when she heard the rustling coming through the brush in the early evening gloom. The first soldier entered the clearing cautiously, stopping and scanning the area a step from the brush line. When the woman saw the dead lizard, she froze in place, looking for any hint of a threat. After a moment, she signaled those following as she quietly, slowly drew her sword.

Several more women slipped into the clearing and spread out, looking for sign of their quarry. Two soldiers carefully examined the tracks and markings from the fight while the rest fanned out and formed a perimeter.

One soldier screamed, then vanished into the brush. Followed by another. The remaining soldiers fell back into a tight group, their shields and swords pointing out toward the jungle, haunted looks ghosting across their faces as they listened to their companions screaming in agony and terror. Then there was silence.

They waited, their tension palpable in the way they flinched at the slightest noise, their fear barely held in check.

“What was that?” one said.

“One of those,” another answered, motioning to the dead lizard.

“Do you think they got Lady Reishi?” yet another asked.

“There aren’t any bodies.”

“Maybe they dragged her off into the jungle.”

“What difference does it make?” another said. “We won’t make it through the night out in the open.”

“Over there!” one shouted, pointing toward the far edge of the clearing. Isabel looked down and saw herself crouching in the brush. Her image got up and raced off into the jungle.

“Stay together,” one of the soldiers said, motioning for the remains of the Regency platoon to give chase. Within a few moments, sounds of their movement through the jungle faded into the distance.

Isabel started breathing a little easier until a scream shattered the calm evening air, followed by another. Several minutes later, three women crashed through the jungle, stumbling back into the clearing.

“I don’t understand.”

“She just vanished.”

“At least we got one of those blasted lizards.”

“Yeah, and they got seven of us.”

Isabel almost felt sorry for them. She started casting her light-lance spell, but stopped when a blurry patch of air pounced on one of the women, pinning her to the ground, taking her head in its mouth and quickly snapping her neck. The other two attacked, stabbing the chameleon lizard in the side, fatally wounding it, then pressing their advantage, they stabbed it repeatedly until it lay lifeless and mutilated.

Bloody and alone, the two soldiers looked around frantically. Night was falling.

“What do we do now?”

“What else can we do? We go back and try to find the rest of our battalion.”

“Shouldn’t we wait until morning?”

“I’m not staying here,” she said, looking around the clearing at their dead companion and the two dead lizards. “This carrion is bound to draw scavengers.”

The first soldier nodded and they started for the brush line. Hector looked to Isabel; she shook her head slowly. A few moments after the soldiers slipped into the darkening jungle, Shadowfang leapt to the ground.

Ayela woke not long after. “Did I hear screaming?”

“It was nothing,” Isabel said. “Try to rest.”

***

Isabel stretched, trying to work the stiffness out of her back from sleeping in a tree. Dawn broke over an overcast sky, but it didn’t look like rain, a small thing that she reminded herself to be grateful for.

Ayela was nearly healed but still stiff and tender from her wounds, yet she was determined to press on. Then she saw the dead soldier. “What happened last night?” she asked, looking around warily.

“The soldiers arrived and the lizards killed them,” Isabel said.

“Most of them, anyway,” Hector said, looking at Shadowfang who was busy cleaning his face by licking his paw and rubbing it along his snout.

“They didn’t even notice us?” Ayela asked.

Isabel shook her head and said, “We had Alexander’s help.”

“I can’t believe I slept through the whole thing,” Ayela said.

“The healing potion we gave you has that effect on people,” Isabel said. Then she turned and looked at the dead chameleon lizards. “I wish we had time to skin them.”

“What for?” Horace asked.

“Remember Jack and his cloak?” Isabel said. “What do you think it was made out of?”

“Really?” Horace said, appraising the two dead lizards, then looking at his brother. “With a pair of cloaks like that, we’d be dangerous.”

“You’re already dangerous,” Isabel said. “Besides, we’d have to get the skins to Mage Gamaliel and he’d have to take the time to enchant them. We have more important things to do right now and I suspect he does too.”

“Pity,” Hector said. Horace nodded.

“I just hope we don’t run into any more of those things,” Ayela said, tenderly touching her nearly healed wound and grimacing.

“On that count, I agree,” Hector said.

“The swamp shouldn’t be far,” Horace said.

Isabel tipped her head back for a moment. “It’s a few hours that way. I see why they call it the gloaming swamp, the place is completely shrouded in mist. It won’t be easy to navigate in there.”

“Hopefully, Lord Reishi will provide us with guidance,” Horace said.

“I’m sure he’ll be there when we need him,” Isabel said, cinching down the straps on her pack.

They set out cautiously. The chameleon lizards had them all a little spooked. Isabel used her link with Slyder to guide their course and watch for any sign of danger while keeping Shadowfang out in front several dozen feet to meet any threat they might encounter. He had proven to be an invaluable ally in the jungle.

Ayela stepped up next to her while they walked.

“I think I understand what you said about surprise better now,” she said.

“Tell me,” Isabel said, taking on the mantle of teacher.

“When you were able to surprise the enemy, they fell quickly,” Ayela said. “When the chameleon lizards surprised us, we barely survived, or at least I barely survived. I always thought that battle was supposed to be like the stories I heard as a child around the campfire … until now.”

“And now?”

“It’s terrifying and it all happens so fast … then it’s just sad and ugly once it’s over.”

Isabel nodded. “Good, you’re starting to understand.”

They walked on for a time while Ayela thought about Isabel’s words. “Not all battles can be won by surprise,” she said.

“No, but surprise is just a small part of the lesson. Surprise is simply your enemy’s belief that they aren’t about to be attacked, thus they aren’t prepared and thus they’re at a sudden and often decisive disadvantage. The greater lesson is about belief.”

“Belief about what?” Ayela said, frowning.

“First, about your circumstances,” Isabel said. “Believing that your enemy is wounded when they’re actually feigning an injury, believing that you outnumber the enemy when they in fact have soldiers hidden from view, believing that an enemy is really an ally, believing that your enemy is more powerful or less powerful than they really are … these are all factors that can decide the day. The most important thing in any fight is knowledge, knowledge of yourself and knowledge of your enemy. If you accurately understand both your own capabilities and those of your enemy, you’ll carry the day because you’ll know how to use your strengths to exploit your enemy’s weaknesses.

“Second, and far more importantly, believing in the rightness of your cause will give you the strength to persevere even when it seems that all is lost. This is the greatest power of those who fight for the light-we’re on the right side and we know it.