Cordelia and Volsair packed up their gear and set out on the beginning of next time daylight came. Taking into account the terrain of the route, Stormbringer, stayed with the Fae, Volsair knew he would be taken care of.
The trek was uneventful until they reached the swamp. It grew dark faster because of the canopy of foliage above them. Cordelia stayed close to Volsair when he lit the oil lamp they had brought with them, the warm glow of the lit wick emanated from the glass panes of the lamp.
The air was thick with humidity, and there was the scent of rotten eggs. Frogs croaked to one another, lightning bugs hovered over the green scummy looking muck of water. There was a narrow path that was made of irregularly shaped smooth stones that were a spaced a pace apart.
As far as Volsair could tell, if it rained the path would be flooded. "We're on a deadline." Volsair sighed, anxiously scanning the tree line, then he walked out onto the stone path, Cordelia following him.
Cordelia wasn't afraid of the swamp, as far as she knew few magical beings cared for a swamp. Since they were on a job for a Faerie Queen, the duo was pretty much untouchable. What made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end was the constant feeling of being watched. It also didn't help with the occasional glowing red eyes that when it caught the lamplight and the unseen figure that would slink away.
"Let's just get through here as quickly as we can. Something isn't sitting right with me." Cordelia said adjusting her blue scarf, so it would lay closer to her neck as if it would create a barrier between her and whoever or whatever was watching them.
The scenery hadn't changed much when Cordelia and Volsair decided to stop and rest for a little bit. They stopped on an island that had one thick trunked cypress tree in the center of the island. The island had little vegetation other than the cypress tree. After taking a look around the island, they lifted up the lantern to look up into the tree above them. Seeing no danger in the tree, they sat on the sandy ground at the base of the tree.
Volsair unsheathed his sword and laid it across his thighs. Cordelia sat next to him, with her knees close to her chin. They were quite until Volsiar jumped. "What's that?!" he exclaimed, pointing out into the swamp.
Cordelia sprang to her feet with her knives drawn expecting an attack. Seeing Volsair's sword hadn't moved, she took the hint and sat back down, knives still in hand. She peered out past their island, Volsair had been right, there was something there. Cordelia saw a bobbing pale yellow light, like someone signaling them. "Who would be out here at this hour?" Cordelia asked.
"Besides us?" Volsair asked, "No one in their right mind. Does it look like someone is trying to signal us?"
"I think we should ignore it and move on." Cordelia said re-sheathing her knives.
"Why do you say that?" Volsair asked. He agreed with her, something did feel off about the light. But, he wanted to hear her opinion on it. Even with his talisman on, he still cared about how Cordelia felt about things.
"It gives me a feeling of unease. How many people have gotten lost by following mysterious balls of light off the path?" Cordelia asked.
"Good question. And the answer to that is oddly less than you would think." Volsair said then he muttered to himself "It would have been a good idea to have made a working map of the paths of the swamp in case we had to backtrack. Too late for it now."
"Fine with me, no one will get past me, I'm dead weight when I'm asleep." Cordelia said watching the bobbing light, she vaguely remembered some story about hopping lights, that wasn't the will-o-the- wisps. All she could remember was the warning against following them. She shook her head, trying to break her concentration on the light.
Volsair was able to break Cordelia's concentration, "Let's get moving. I keep feeling like we're being watched." He said touching her arm.
When Cordelia felt his touch, it felt like when she drank a potion that kept her wide awake and alert for three days and nights. She felt jittery, but at the same time, she liked his touch, even though it had just been her arm. "Yeah!" she blurted out, "Let's get going, I probably won't sleep decently until we get out of this swamp."
Moving down the path, Volsair and Cordelia stayed close to each other, Volsair leading the way. It wasn't that Cordelia couldn't lead, or that Volsair designated himself as the leader, Cordelia just thought that since Volsair was a Fae Champion, that he should walk ahead of her, in the event of danger.
On the dawn of the second day, Volsair and Cordelia decided to stop and have a bite to eat, a moderate amount of sunlight filtered down into the swamp, showing the yellow-green pollen practically suspended in midair.
Cordelia and Volsair sat down on another, but different island. Volsair pulled, the loaf of bread out of his pack, tore off a hunk and passed the loaf to Cordelia.
Cordelia took a hunk of bread and passed the loaf back to Volsair, he took another chunk of bread. The bread was nutrient-dense and tasted like toasted legumes. The bread was tan and brown in color, with various nuts and seeds baked throughout the loaf. They ate in near silence, comparing the swamp to how it had been the night before, it was quiet, you could barely even hear the frogs croaking.
"I wonder why the swamp is so quiet." Cordelia pondered, "I think it's unlikely the swamp to be this quiet, just because we're here." She took another bite of the piece of bread, savoring the taste.
Volsair thoughtfully knitted his eyebrows and took another bite of his piece of bread. He could taste the faint sweetness of honey in the bread, along with the rich taste of toasted nuts and seeds. Probably used as a preservative. he thought, commenting on the taste.
Volsair was silent, even his mind was, he took in everything of the swamp. From the frogs to the chattering of the insects, the slight bubbling of the swamp water to the varied bird calls. He even took in the sound of the wind moving through the treetops.
Or at least that was what he was expecting to hear. Except for the sounds of the swamp water barely bubbling, and him and his companion chewing, all was still. It was unearthly quiet, and there wasn't even any wind. Volsair finished his bread, re-wrapped the loaf and put it back into his pack. "We should probably get a move on." He said looking around as he got to his feet, and re-sheathed his sword.
Cordelia stood up and finished off her piece of bread. "Did you notice something that I missed?" Cordelia asked, looking across the swamp to the other pathway. This time she didn't see any of those bobbing lights. Perhaps those lights only come out after dark? she thought, still unable to recall the creature. It was the same feeling she got when something was on the tip of her tongue. Instead, it was on the tip of her brain, just out of her memory's reach, she could feel the creature's name and description taunting her.
Then Cordelia got a feeling. The feeling said Why don't you just ditch the knight in the clanking armor and swim out and see the creature. It'll rejog your memory. Also, you'll leave him behind, he was dumb enough to follow you anyway. The feeling spoke in a voice that Cordelia found both tempting and at the same time like something was pushing her back from it. She also had this sneaking feeling that if she went ankle-deep in the water that something would drag her into its depths.
If I do the Song of Shifting I should be fine. Cordelia thought looking down at her boot covered feet at the murky water's edge. I dunno though, that water looks rather thick. Even with my ability to breathe underwater, I still might suffocate. Cordelia shook her head, her golden tresses shimmered in the filtered sunlight.
Volsair right then had to look at her, it wasn't her magic pull on him, his talisman had sorted that out, he didn't know why exactly, but he just felt the need to look at her. This time though, he could talk without any need to fill in the blanks.
"Are you alright?" Volsair asked, breathing in the smell of the swamp, it smelled like decay, but at the same time abundant life, coexisting in perfect harmony, there was also a faint smell of rotten eggs.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Cordelia said, snapping out of whatever kind of trance she had been in.
"I think we should get going, best get out of this swamp while we still can." Volsair said, taking Cordelia by the hand.
"Good idea. Something's not right about this place." Cordelia replied.
Cordelia and Volsair headed deeper and deeper in to the swamp. This time, they stayed to the path, if they stopped for food, they stayed together, and they stayed away from the water's edge.
________________________________________________________________________________Well if that's! If you liked it ,or if you don't please comment and fav the story!
'TIl next time!
~Laura-the-bard