Brian Pratt - Warrior priest of Dmon-Li

Miko eyes the carcass as they pass and observes small fish swimming in and around the bones. Not paying attention to where he’s putting his feet, he accidentally steps off the trail and into the water.

Suddenly a flurry of activity surrounds his boot as the water begins to churn. Pulling his boot out of the water quickly, he finds three of the small fish are attached to his boot. Appalled, he rubs his boot along the ground, and quickly scrapes them off before running to catch up with James. This time he’s paying much closer attention to where he places his feet.

From up ahead, they hear the sound someone coming down the trail toward them. James begins to leave the path and enter the water in order to hide in a copse of trees when Miko grabs him by the arm and shakes his head vehemently. Pointing to the small fish swimming there in the water, he warns him quietly “They’ll eat you alive!”

Nodding his head, James turns around and quickly leads them back down the trail to a group of trees they passed just moments earlier. Moving carefully off the trail and making sure not to step into the water, they hide amidst the trees as they wait for whoever is approaching.

A group of four warriors appear out of the swamp as they come their way down the trail. Each is carrying a lethal looking spear as well as wearing a necklace of bones, one of which looks to contain a human ear as well as the bones. They hold very still as the natives come closer.

As they near the trees where James and Miko are hiding, one of them pauses and begins sniffing the air. The bug repellent! James suddenly realizes. He smells the bug repellent. The warrior cocks his head to the side as if attempting to determine from which direction the smell is coming.

James watches as the others suddenly take notice of the smell. After a brief exchange of words, the warriors begin working their way closer to the trees they’re hiding in. They’re almost upon them when a rhino-lizard bursts out of the dense foliage and grabs one of the warriors, dragging him screaming off the trail and back into the swamp. The other three warriors immediately turn, and screaming war cries, give pursuit as they try to rescue him.

“Come on!” James says as he comes out from behind the trees and hurries down the trail as fast as his injured leg will allow. As they rush down the path, screams and roars can be heard coming from where the warriors are fighting the rhino-lizard.

“This is crazy,” Miko announces after they’ve put some distance between them and the battle behind them, “we don’t even know if we’re going in the right direction.”

Pointing off through the marshy wetlands, James says, “Would you rather try to cut cross country?”

Thinking of the little fishes that inhabit the water, he shakes his head no.

“Then we have to stick to the path as best we can and hope that we run across him,” he explains.

The pain in James’ leg continues to throb with every step he takes, perspiration courses down his face. He has to lean heavily upon the stick in order to even remain upright.

Out of the swamp ahead of them, the sound of beating drums begins to be heard. Sure that they’ve found where Jiron has been taken, James hastens along. They soon come to where the trail diverges and he hesitates only a moment as he ponders the best way to go. The one leading left goes more in the direction of where the sound of the drums is coming from and looks well traveled, so he turns that way and follows it.

From up ahead, the beating of the drums become louder the further they progress along the trail. The trees begin to thin and they’re able to make out a village of crude huts sitting upon an island surrounded by stagnant bodies of water. The trail they’re on leads straight to it and he can see several other trails leading away from the island going in different directions.

“Miko, look!” James whispers as he points to a cage sitting on one side of the island. Jiron is lying within the cage, shirt soaked with blood and not looking too good. At first he appears dead, but then he moves and James breathes a sigh of relief.

Looking over to the island, Miko watches as dozens of warriors do a dance with their spears to the beat of the drums. Surrounding them are the women and children of the tribe, all standing and swaying to the rhythm. In the middle of the dancers stands a man dressed in ceremonial attire holding a staff atop which sits the skull of some unknown animal. He looks to James like some sort of witch doctor.

“How are we going to get him out of there?” Miko asks, not liking the odds.

“I don’t know,” replies James. “It doesn’t look as if they’ll be doing anything for a while, though.” Motioning to Miko, they make their way to the edge of the water where several trees grow that will afford them some protection while they observe what’s going on.

Just as they settle into their hiding place, two warriors approach the village from where James and Miko had just come from. They’re carrying two others who have obviously been chewed upon by a rhino-lizard, neither of which look alive. These must be the ones who’d almost discovered them earlier.

When the warriors get to the island, some of the women begin wailing as they see their men folk being carried in. Several of them come and take the fallen warriors away into one of the huts. The witch doctor and the warriors dancing seem not to take any notice of the new arrivals.

The warriors suddenly stop their dance and the witch doctor begins talking to them. Gesticulating wildly and speaking loudly, he begins to work them into a frenzy.

James notices a pile of bones off to the side of the village and points it out to Miko. When Miko sees it, he gasps. For there mixed in with bones of different types of animals are two human skulls.

“Cannibals,” James whispers.

“What?” Miko asks.

Leaning close so Miko can hear him better, he repeats himself, “Cannibals. They eat people.”

“Jiron?” he asks, aghast that that could be his fate.

“Looks like it if we don’t get him out of there,” he tells him.

Shuddering, Miko looks at the cannibals with unmistakable loathing.

While the witch doctor is speaking to the assembled villagers, several of the men begin erecting a large spit. When the spit is fully erected and sufficient wood has been piled beneath it, several warriors go over to where Jiron is being held and open the cage door.

Two go in and grab him, dragging him out of the cage and carrying him over to the spit. “Can’t wait any longer,” James says as he watches Jiron being brought closer. He looks to Miko who nods understanding.

Miko watches as James settles in and begins to work the magic.

The witch doctor stands before the spit, staff held at his side. The warriors carrying Jiron approach and come to a stop before him. With one warrior supporting him on either side, they stand him up in front of the witch doctor. Jiron’s head lolls to one side as if he’s not exactly conscious.

Raising his staff high above his head, the witch doctor begins to sway. He begins chanting as the beat of the drums intensifies. Feet stomping, he continues chanting as he dances his way around the warriors holding Jiron.

He’s gone around them several times when he comes to a sudden stop. The chanting ceases as well as he turns and looks directly over to where James and Miko are hiding. He knows we’re here! Miko suddenly realizes.

The witch doctor shouts something to the warriors near him and points over to where they’re hiding. He’s about to say something else when the villagers as one, gasp aloud. He turns to look behind him and sees what looks like creatures made of swamp mud walking out of the water. Little fishes are wriggling within the mud and occasionally fall out to flop about upon the ground.