Brian Pratt - Warrior priest of Dmon-Li

As he eats, he also contemplates James and what he’d just been told. Fantastic to say the least, the story would hardly seem plausible but for the events he’d been party to since joining with him. What happened back in the underground complex lends credence to it all.

“What are we to do now?” he asks James.

“Remember that mural we saw back in the ruins?” he responds. “The one showing the countryside?”

Jiron and Miko both nod their heads, and Jiron says, “Yeah, I remember.”

“It looked like the main waterway that flowed near here will lead to a lake nestled up in the mountains,” he says. “I figure if we go that way, we might avoid any Empire forces which may be on the lookout for us.”

“Maybe,” he replies. “At least it’s going north.”

James nods, “That’s what I was figuring too. Since the swamp has been free of their patrols thus far, if we stay within it then we should be able to make it north without detection.”

“Then what?” he asks.

“Then we just see what our choices are as they present themselves,” James says. “Not much else we can do.”

Miko sets his skewer and what’s left of the carcass on the ground as he gives out a large belch.

James glances to him and smiles, “Ready to go?”

Patting his stomach, Miko says, “Yeah.”

Jiron takes a few more bites of his and then tosses it off to the side as well. Standing up, he begins kicking dirt upon the fire until it’s smothered.

James looks to him and says, “Lead on.” Grabbing his walking stick for support, he shuffles along after Jiron with Miko right beside him. His leg and side still hurt considerably but he manages to maintain a quick pace.

They begin to head toward where the waterway flows past the complex and shortly arrive next to its bank. Jiron turns to follow it as he leads them north, keeping the river to their left.

As they move north, the state of the vegetation quickly improves until there’re no signs of the withering that had been evident nearer the complex, much to everyone’s relief. Having to forge their way through the undergrowth, not to mention maneuvering around stagnant pools of water, doesn’t allow them to make great time and they soon have to stop for the night.

James’ leg and side are hurting abysmally bad, and it’s all he’d been able to do the last few hours just to stay upright. When they finally stop to make camp for the night, he collapses. The others allow him to rest as they go about building a fire and acquiring some food for dinner. After he’s eaten his fill, he promptly falls into an exhausted sleep.

Jiron and Miko take turns that night in keeping watch, allowing James to sleep the night through.

When morning dawns, they have to wake him up once they’ve gotten breakfast ready. His leg and side are still throbbing badly, and he’s afraid they’re becoming infected. But when Jiron examines them, he says they’re healing fine. Relieved, James takes the offered food and begins eating ravenously. He’d been worried about infection, not having any antiseptic or anything.

Even after eating, he’s still feeling weak, tired and hurting badly. But somehow he’s able to bring himself to his feet though he still leans heavily upon his walking stick. With Jiron taking the lead, they continue moving north along the waterway.

Ever since the morning, James has noticed how the life of the swamp has begun to return. Back when they were by the complex, there’d been no birds or any other sign of life. But since they’ve left it far behind them, the sounds of the swamp have begun to return. Off in the distance, they can hear the cry of the rhino-lizard. James is glad that it is far off, they’re not in any shape to defend themselves from an attack.

When the bugs and mosquitoes become unbearable again, he coats them with another dose of the noxious bug repellent. The stench doesn’t bother them nearly so much, now that they’ve been around it for so long.

Much to everyone’s displeasure, they’re still in the swamp when night falls. They find a suitable stretch of land to make camp upon and Miko begins to build a fire while Jiron goes in search of food.

James feels a little better than he did earlier in the morning, the day’s walk seemed to have worked out most of the kinks.

After dinner, when Jiron and Miko begin talking about standing watch, James offers to take the first couple of hours.

“Are you sure?” Jiron asks him. “If you need rest, then rest. If something should happen, we’ll need you strong, not weakened from lack of rest.”

“Yeah James,” Miko adds. “Your leg needs to heal, so rest.”

“I appreciate your concern,” he tells them, “but I’m not really that tired right now. So I’d just as soon take a turn. I feel bad when you two stand watch and all I do is rest.”

Jiron looks at him a moment and then shrugs, “If you feel up to it, alright. You take the first watch.” Turning to Miko, he says, “You take the midnight watch and I’ll finish it off.”

Miko nods his head as he lies down and says, “Sounds good enough to me.” He glances over to James and says, “Be sure to wake me when it’s my turn.”

“I will,” James assures him. Then he makes himself comfortable as his fellows settle down to sleep.

When James awakens in the morning, the sun has already begun to lighten the day. Miko is snoring peacefully off to the other side of the campfire and he finds Jiron walking around the outer edge of the camp in amongst the trees. He looks over to James as he sits up and comes over when he waves at him.

“Good morning,” Jiron says to him as he approaches.

“Everything okay?” James asks.

“Oh yeah,” he assures him, “just walking around a bit. I hate sitting in just one spot for very long. How’s your leg?”

James straightens it and says, “Better. I think it may not hurt as much today.”

“Let’s hope not,” he says. Sitting down next to him, he asks, “How far do you think it is to Cardri?”

Shrugging, James says, “I couldn’t even begin to guess. It took us over a week to make it to the mines, and that was on good roads with horses. Trudging through this,” he continues as he gestures to the swamp, “who knows?”

“Would like to see Tersa again,” he tells him.

“So would I,” agrees James. “I’d really like to find some place to just rest and not have to worry about being eaten by some damn rhino-lizard, or have to sneak through an area filled with the Empire’s forces.”

From across the campsite, Miko’s voice says, “I’d like that too.” Sitting up, he glances over at them. “I hate the swamp, give me a good old city any day.”

“If we keep forging on through to the north, eventually we’ll get out of here,” James assures him.

“I hope so,” he says as he gets up and comes over to them. Sitting down, he asks, “How much longer are we going to be in this damned swamp anyway?”

“Like I was telling Jiron,” James says, “I don’t know. All I do know is that they don’t last forever.”

“Then let’s stop sitting here talking and get going,” Miko says as he gets back up.

James reaches over and grabs his walking stick. Using it for support, he gets to his feet without nearly the amount of pain that maneuver had caused him the day before.

Holding the stick loosely, he waits for Jiron to get up and lead the way.

“You feeling better?” Miko asks as they continue on their way.

Nodding, James says, “Much better, actually. Don’t think I could run any distance, but the constant pain and throbbing seem to be easing.”

“That’s good,” replies Miko. “I was worried about you.”