The Shady Adventures of Fabian

Chapter 21

Night was already beginning to fall when they arrived at the swamp. They could hear a faint buzzing sound and every once in awhile they caught sight of a glowing light, not unlike the one they had followed when they first entered the woods. There were bright red leaves growing out of the ground everywhere.

"Well, this is the stuff she was talking about," Fabian said. "Let's pull one and be on our way."

"She said it had to be pulled at midnight or it would lose all of its power," Brandon said.

"Nonsense," Fabian replied. "Midnight's hours away still and I don't know about you, but I don't want to wait. We'll just pull one out now. I'm sure it'll be fine. That dryad chick won't even know the difference."

"Well, okay, if you say so, but I really think we ought to follow her instructions."

"Are you second guessing me again, Scrote? Am I going to have to slap you around? Now, step aside and let's get on with this."

Fabian reached over to the nearest set of red leaves and began pulling. A plump, brightly colored red root emerged from the soil. Instantly a sharp, piercing sound not unlike a bloodcurdling scream erupted from the root. It began to spray fountains of red liquid in all directions and then it deflated like a balloon. Then it shriveled away into dried out threads that crumbled to dust in Fabian's hands.

"Okay, then," Fabian said. "It looks like we're waiting until midnight. In that case I propose we make camp and get a little shut-eye while we wait."

"That's good," Brandon yawned. "I'm starting to get a little sleepy."

"Of course one of us is going to have to stand watch and I nominate you. I'm glad we decided that. I'm going to get myself some well-deserved rest. Wake me at midnight, would you?" Fabian scraped together a pile of leaves and flopped on top of them. Within a minute he was snoring loudly.

"I wonder what I'm supposed to stand guard against?" Brandon said as he stifled another yawn. "I sure am tired. I wonder if Mr. Fabian would be too upset if I just closed my eyes for a couple minutes?" He sat down beneath a tree and rested his back against it. He was starting to nod off when something buzzed loudly by his head.

He opened his eyes blearily and saw a blindingly bright green light hovering in the air in front of his face. A short distance behind it floated several more lights colored red, yellow, and orange. The lights danced around the air in a series of complex formations and then suddenly darted off deeper into the swamp.

"What the heck was that all about?" Brandon wondered and started to close his eyes again. No sooner had he started to doze off when the buzzing sounded again loudly in his left ear.

He forced his eyelids open and saw the yellow light floating a few inches from his face. He swatted at it with his hand but it dodged nimbly out of the way and then resumed its spot right next to his face. There were more lights flying around behind it than last time. Now he could see every color of the rainbow whizzing around back and forth.

"Can I help you with something?" Brandon asked.

The lights all darted back into the swamp.

"This is getting kind of annoying," Brandon said as he closed his eyes again. Within seconds he heard the buzzing sound louder than ever. He opened his eyes and saw lights of every color imaginable swarming all around him. He batted at them with both hands, but couldn't seem to make any contact.

"What do you stupid things want? Do you want me to follow you into the swamp or something?" He pulled himself to his feet while the lights continued to dart around him. Several of them began to orbit his head rapidly. He couldn't see anything because of the dazzling effect of the blinding lights. He tried to break free, but couldn't seem to escape them. All of a sudden he felt his feet starting to sink into the ground. He tried to pull them free but they were stuck and struggling seemed to cause him to start to sink more. The lights seemed to have lured him into some sort of bog. Once they seemed satisfied he was good and stuck they darted away into the swamp again.

Brandon didn't dare move for fear of sinking further into the morass. Instead he called out at the top of his voice. "Mr. Fabian, sir! I could use a little help here."

Fabian stopped snoring abruptly and sat up. "What's going on? Is it midnight yet?"

"I don't think so, sir, but I've managed to get myself stuck in this bog. I think it might be quicksand, sir."

"For crying out loud," Fabian muttered. "I put my trust in you to stand watch and you go and get yourself stuck in quicksand? How long has it even been? Like fifteen minutes? It'll probably be a couple hours at least before you sink to your chin. I'm going to sleep a little longer. You'll be okay until then."

"Um, Mr. Fabian, sir, with all due respect, I'm not sure it's safe to sleep in this area. Some weird flying lights herded me in here. They're gone for the moment but they might come back and I don't know what else they might do."

"Flying lights? Aw, crap. It sounds like we might be dealing with will-o'-the-wisp."

"Will-o'-the-wisp, sir? What's that?"

"Nobody really knows," Fabian said. "They're very mysterious creatures. If they're even alive at all. No one has ever captured one to study it. They're possibly magical in origin, which means they can't be trusted. No, I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to sleep here with those things lurking about. I'll have to find somewhere else to catch some z's."

"Sir? Do you think you could help me out of this bog?"

Fabian sighed loudly. "I suppose I should. I might need you to perform some menial tasks that I don't want to do. You owe me for this, though."

"Yes, sir," Brandon said. "Quite understood, sir."

Fabian found a broken tree branch on the ground and held it out for Brandon to grab onto. Slowly, he was able to extricate himself from the mud and pull himself back to solid ground.

"All right, well I don't want to get too far away from these nightshade roots. Let's duck back into the forest just a bit and find a grassy clearing or something. Hopefully it'll be far enough away from the swamp that the will-o'-the-wisp won't bother us."

They found a spot that Fabian deemed suitable a short distance away. He tossed and turned on the ground for a few minutes before sitting up with another loud sigh. "This is no good. You completely woke me up with your idiocy and now I can't sleep."

"Do you mind if I catch a quick nap?" Brandon asked. "I'm very sleepy and I've just been through a bit of an ordeal."

"Absolutely not," Fabian said. "We've got a couple hours to kill and I'm not going to sit here twiddling my thumbs. I need you to stay up and keep me company."

"I'd really love to, sir, but I'm... just... so..." he nodded off before he finished the sentence.

Fabian slapped him across the face. "Wake up, Scrote. I require entertainment. Amuse me."

"How would you like me to amuse you?" Brandon said groggily.

"I don't know. Get up and do a silly dance or something. Or tell me a funny joke."

"Uh, okay. What did the knight say after he stabbed the orc? Are you orc-kay?"

There was a moment of awkward silence.

"Was that supposed to be funny, Scrote? I'm not laughing. Jeez, that was really bad. I ought to make you go gather firewood or something just for offending my ears with that terrible joke."

"I'm sorry, sir. I'm just exhausted. Here's another one. Why shouldn't you invite a goblin to your feast? Because they're always goblin up all the food."

"Just stop," Fabian said. "That was not only unfunny, it was also inaccurate. Everyone knows you don't invite a goblin to your feast because they're evil, murderous thugs that would kill everyone in attendance. Plus, they smell really terrible. You know what? Go ahead and take a nap. But you owe me another favor."

"Thank you kindly, sir," Brandon said. "You're the best boss a fellow could hope for." With that he fell soundly asleep.

Fabian took the opportunity to rifle through all of his pockets, but didn't find anything of interest. He was starting to get a little hungry so he went off and snared a small field mouse, which he cooked and ate by himself without sharing, even though at his present shrunken size there was more than he could possibly eat. After that he started to feel a bit drowsy, so he settled in and took a little nap.