Leaving the island behind, they set out upon the trail as they keep an eye out for any warriors who may return, seeking retribution for the death of their witch doctor. On Miko’s mind however, are the rhino-lizards who seem to pop out from the trees with little or no warning.
A couple of times they observed one of the natives moving among the trees off in the distance, but none ever came close enough to pose a threat.
“They must be keeping an eye on us,” assumes James.
“As long as that’s all they want to do,” Miko says as he continuously scans the sides of the trail, as well as behind them, for natives and rhino-lizards.
“Think they’ll attack?” Jiron asks.
Shrugging, James replies, “Who knows? I wouldn’t think so since we took out their most powerful person. Though, you never know.”
“They may be out there preparing to attack us at any minute!” asserts Miko.
“If it happens, it happens,” James tells him, annoyed at his negativity. “But until it does, there’s not much we could do in anticipation anyway, so relax.”
Miko is anything but relaxed as he continues to jump at every noise coming out of the swamp.
The trail suddenly begins to run along the banks of a larger waterway that’s moving very slowly, almost like it’s standing still. Large creatures can be seen out in it, cow-like creatures that act an awful lot like hippos, though they sure don’t resemble them very much. They seem harmless, only lifting their heads when James and the others pass by on the trail.
“The fish aren’t eating them,” observes Jiron.
“No, they’re not,” says James. Taking a closer look at the water, he continues, “It doesn’t look as if those fish are in these waters. Maybe they prefer the stagnant water in still ponds.”
“Hopefully we’ll not have to put it to the test,” Jiron says.
“Yeah,” agrees Miko as they continue alongside the waterway.
The trail slowly becomes less distinct the further from the island they go, until it all but disappears. “Did we go the wrong way?” asks Jiron when all traces of the trail finally disappears.
“The fact the trail ended would suggest the natives don’t go into these parts,” reasons James. “Of course that could either be a good or bad thing.”
“What do you mean?” asks Miko.
“Well, it’s good in that we’re unlikely to run across any band of native warriors,” he says to which Miko sighs and smiles.
“However, it would stand to reason that there may be a reason why they don’t go here,” he explains further and watches the smile disappear from his face.
“Why, uh, what would keep them from coming here?” he asks, a touch of nervousness entering his voice.
“I don’t know,” James tells him. “But relax, it could be as simple as it is far away from their village.”
“I hope so,” he says.
“Where should we go now?” Jiron asks as he takes in their surroundings.
James pauses a moment and considers their options before saying, “Going back the way we came is out, I think we can all agree on that.”
Miko nods his head in agreement.
“Then lets try to maintain a northerly direction, staying on as firm a ground as we can,” he suggests.
“Sounds reasonable,” Jiron says a he studies the ground ahead of them and then heads out, leading the way.
James goes next, still hobbling with his stick. His leg continues to throb and he’s beginning to feel weak and tired from the loss of blood, not to mention the magical exertions during the battle with the witch doctor.
“Ahhhh!” Miko screams from behind them.
Turning quickly, they see him staring at a little furry creature sitting at eye level in one of the trees close to the road. It’s just sitting there, staring at him as he stares back at it.
To James it looks like a little monkey, similar in nature to the one that had enthralled Miko back in Willimet. “It’s a monkey,” he tells him.
Turning red in embarrassment, Miko turns a sheepish look to James and says, “A monkey, I knew that.”
“Leave it alone and let’s get going,” Jiron tells him as he resumes trying to find a halfway decent way through the swamp.
As Miko catches up to them, he says, “It just popped out of nowhere and startled me is all.”
“I know, we’re all on edge,” replies James as he pats him on the back, trying to reassure him.
They continue for a while, at times having to force themselves through the dense, tangled undergrowth. The stench of decay and stagnant air is at times almost overwhelming, but they cover their noses and press on.
It starts getting dark and that’s when Miko begins to realize that they’re going to have to spend the night here. The thought of being here in the dark totally terrifies him, thoughts of rhino-lizards having him for a midnight snack keep running through his mind.
Jiron brings them to an area that will do for a campsite. It’s not very large, but it’s on dry ground and wide enough to accommodate them.
As he goes out to try to get some food, James and Miko clear a spot for a fire and begin gathering wood. “Let’s make sure we get enough to last the night,” James tells him as he brings in a load. “Try to find the driest pieces you can.”
“It’s all soaked from the rain,” complains Miko, “but I’ll do what I can.” He continues gathering wood and then says, “All the trees in this area seem to be either dead or dying.”
“Yeah,” James replies, looking around at the wilted vegetation. “I noticed that too.”
“What do you suppose happened to them?” he asks as he deposits an armful of wood. Near the edge of their campsite lies a pile of dead wood. He moves the top ones to the side as he tries to see if there are any dry ones at the bottom, but isn’t having much luck. Picking out the driest, he collects another armload before returning and adding it to the pile of wood already collected.
“I don’t know,” admits James. “Several possibilities come to mind, like too much water in the root system causing rot. Who knows?” Taking some of the wood Miko had already collected, he begins stacking several of the smaller pieces together. Once they are set to his satisfaction, he makes a small fire starter spell and catches the wood on fire. Feeding the flames with more of the smaller sticks, he gets a good sized fire burning.
Jiron returns with a trio of animals that James has never seen before. “What are they?” he asks as Jiron brings them into the camp.
Shrugging, Jiron says, “Don’t know, but roasted they should taste good.” He then proceeds to skin them and places each upon a skewer which he fixes upon a makeshift roasting spit over the fire.
The smell of fat dripping into the fire makes their stomachs growl in anticipation of the meal to come. The light from the fire seems hell bent on attracting every bug in the vicinity. Not only that, but the bug repellent has begun to lose its effectiveness. So James redoes it, only this time he coats the entire area; ground, trees, as well as themselves. When the spell is over, the bugs are gone.
“Thank god!” Jiron says when they’re finally left alone. The incessant buzzing in his ear had begun to drive him crazy.
“I know,” says James. “They were getting on my nerves too.”
“It doesn’t smell as bad this time,” observes Miko.
“Probably because you’re used to it,” James explains. “You’ve been smelling it all day.”
“Suppose you’re right,” he admits.
When the critters have cooked sufficiently, each takes one off the fire and proceeds to eat. The only water they have left is the lone water bottle that Miko had attached to his belt when they went into the sea after the breaking of the dinghy. All the rest of their packs and things are sitting at the bottom of the sea.
They share the water, conserving it as best they are able.
“How’s your leg doing?” Jiron asks while they’re eating.
“Still throbs something awful,” he replies. “I just hope this swamp doesn’t get it infected or some parasite gets into it.”
“Parasite?” asks Miko.
“Parasites are small creatures that you can barely see that take up residence inside you,” he tells him. “Some are fairly harmless and your body can get rid of most of them on its own. Others will feed off you until you die.”
Shuddering, Miko looks at him and asks, “What can you do if you get one?”
“Here?” James says, gesturing to their surroundings, “not very much. Back where I come from, they have medicine that will remove most of them. But here, you’d have to have them cut out of you, assuming you could even find them. But, if we’re careful, you should have nothing to worry about.” Having finished his meal, he yawns and stretches out next to the fire, getting comfortable.
Jiron says to Miko, “I think we should split the watch and let him sleep. It looks like he could use it.”
Nodding, Miko replies, “You want first watch or should I take it?”
“Can you stay up and keep the fire going?” he asks him.
“Not really tired right now,” Miko says. “You go ahead and sleep and I’ll wake you in the middle of the night.”
Settling down next to the fire, Jiron looks over and sees that James has already fallen asleep. Closing his eyes, he lets the pop and crackle of the fire lull him to sleep as well.
Sitting there by the fire, Miko keeps watch. Throughout his shift, he jumps and starts at every noise coming from the darkness around them. At one point, a roar could be heard coming from far off and he jumped to his feet and was about to wake Jiron but he hesitated. He listened to the roaring for a while longer and realized it wasn’t coming close to their camp. So he settled back down and didn’t wake anyone.
Putting more fuel on the fire, he sits in close and manages to stay awake until it’s time to wake Jiron for his turn. Before falling asleep, he tells him of the roar he’d heard earlier.
Jiron nods his head and steps out of the firelight into the darkness as he does some investigating.
As Miko falls asleep, he can hear Jiron’s footsteps as he walks around the campsite.
The next morning when James is awakened by the lightning of the morning sky, he discovers Miko lying near him still asleep but Jiron is nowhere to be seen. Sitting up, he has a sudden sharp stab of pain from his leg which causes him to gasp. The blood on his makeshift bandage has turned brown and the bandage itself seems to be attaching itself to the wound as it scabs over.
Hoping the pain is just from the trauma of the wound and not something more serious, he grabs his stick and pulls himself up to a standing position. He scans the surrounding area but fails to see any sign of Jiron.
Worried, he hobbles over and wakes up Miko. “Do you know where Jiron went?” he asks him once he’s awake.
Sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he glances around and shakes his head. “No,” he replies. “He was here when I went to sleep after my watch last night.”
Grimacing, James again looks around but is unable to see very far through the trees and undergrowth.
“Where is he!” he says to himself quietly.
“Jiron!” Miko hollers out.
“Shhh!” James says, shushing him. “You’re going to attract anything wandering around out there.”
Suddenly nervous, Miko looks around fearfully, expecting a rhino-lizard or something else equally nasty to come out of the swamp. When no monster is forthcoming, he gradually relaxes. Turning to James he says, “Sorry.”
“We’ll just have to wait until he returns,” he tells him.
They wait for another ten minutes or so before they hear the sound of someone approaching. Standing up, they turn in the direction the sound is coming from and wait. Soon, Jiron emerges from the trees and makes his way over to them.
“Where did you go?” James asks, accusingly. “We were worried about you!”
“Sorry about that,” he apologizes. “Was just doing a little scouting.”
“And?” Miko asks.
“I think it’ would be best if I just show you,” he says, then motions for them to follow him.
Not liking the sound of that, James nods his head as he follows Jiron away from the camp, Miko close behind.
He takes them several hundred feet deeper into the swamp, during which they notice that the state of the trees they pass progressively deteriorates. Where some back at the campsite were dying, here they were positively withered.
“I see what you mean,” James says as he pauses to examine one of the trees.
“This ain’t it,” Jiron says as he continues leading them on.
James and Miko look to each other as they continue following him, their apprehension growing.
Leading them a little bit further, he suddenly stops and points to a spot further ahead of them. “That is what I’m talking about,” he says.
James looks to where he’s pointing and sees a pyramid shaped stack of white stones up ahead. He glances to Jiron who nods his head.
Moving closer, James begins to feel the prickling sensation he feels when magic is being worked. He stops suddenly when he realizes that it’s not stones that comprise the pyramid, but human skulls stacked in layers.
Backing up, he motions for them to back away from it as well. Once they’ve backed far enough away that he no longer feels the prickling, he says, “It’s magical in nature, I can feel it.”
“Could this be why the natives don’t come this way?” Miko asks him.
Jiron looks to James who nods his head. “I would think so,” replies James.
“What do we do?” Jiron asks.
“Find another way,” he replies. “I don’t know what it’s doing, but I really don’t think we want to go that way.”
“Alright,” he says. Once again taking the lead, he turns back and tries to find a way around the pyramid. Miko hurries along behind, anxious to put as much distance between them and the pyramid as quickly as possible.
He takes them west back toward the waterway and when they reach it, turns north again. But the waterway curves and brings them back to the area where the trees are withering. “Not this way,” he says, turning again to the south as he back tracks.
Retracing their steps, they find their way back. Taking them to the east this time, he’s able to find a path where they can walk without having to take the chance of slipping into the fish infested stagnant water.
They move a short ways east when a noise can be heard, like something moving through the undergrowth. He has them wait for a moment while he continues down the path and sees what it is making the noise.
He disappears through the trees ahead of them for a moment and then they suddenly hear a crashing sound as he comes running back toward them. Bursting out of the trees behind him is a rhino-lizard, charging fast.
Miko screams as he turns to flee.
James also tries to run, but on his injured leg, realizes he’s unable to move quickly enough to stay ahead of the charging rhino-lizard.
He turns to face it and in a flash, releases the magic.
Crumph!
The ground in front of it explodes upward, startling it. Roaring loudly, it comes to a stop. Taking advantage of its startlement, they move further away and hide behind some trees. They wait for several minutes in their hiding place but fail to hear any noise that might indicate it had come their way. Looking out from behind the trees, Jiron says, “I don’t think it followed us.”
He motions for them to remain there as he gets up and moves back toward where they encountered it. Returning quickly, he says, “I can’t see it anywhere. It must have gotten scared when the ground erupted and ran back to the others.”
“Others?” asks Miko, nervously.
“Yeah, there were several of them over there,” he tells him. Looking to James he says, “We can’t go that way either.”
“Now what?” asks Miko.
“Seems we are faced with several unpleasant choices,” he says as they gather around.
“East are the rhino-lizards, west is the river which may or may not have those flesh eating fish in them,” he says. “South are the natives, and I’m sure they’ll not welcome us back. Finally, to the north is that odd pyramid of skulls that feels like it’s radiating magic in some way.”
“South and east are definitely out,” Jiron says. “We could never survive unscathed if we take either of those routes. Not in our present condition.”
Nodding, James says, “I’d have to agree with you there.”
“Not the water!” pipes up Miko. “I couldn’t go in there!”
Sighing, James says, “Then we must chance the pyramid and whatever lies beyond it.” He glances at each of them before continuing, “This could prove worse than any of the other choices, you know.”
Shrugging, Jiron replies, “We don’t know that for sure. Until we do, it’s our best route.”
“Alright then,” James says as he gets up and readies his stick for travel. “Lead on.”
Taking the lead again, Jiron takes them back toward the pyramid of skulls. Worry and dread fill their hearts as they make their way through the dead and withered trees. The ground around them seems almost grey in the light, the grass and bushes upon it are twisted and warped, just like the trees. When they can at last see the pyramid ahead of them once more, Jiron pauses for a moment. Glancing first to James and then Miko, he gathers his courage before continuing down toward it.
When they are but scant feet away from it, Miko gives James a weird look. This close to the skull pyramid, even the other two are able to feel the magic of it. Miko stays as far away from it as the ground will allow him. Any further and he’d be in the water.
Jiron reaches out to touch it as he passes by, but before his hand can connect with it, James cries out, “Stop!”
Startled, as though he didn’t even realize what he was doing, Jiron snatches his hand away and quickly hurries past. “Thanks,” he says. The others step lively as they too pass the pyramid. As the pyramid disappears behind them, the vegetation slowly begins to regain some life, but none of it looks remotely healthy.
The telltale prickling of magic subsides, but doesn’t disappear altogether. Even when they’ve put distance between them and the pyramid, far enough so he shouldn’t have been able to feel anything, still the sensation remains with him. James comes to the conclusion that there may be other sources of magic here other than just that lone pyramid. Keeping his eyes open, he follows Jiron as he continues his way north.
Everyone is on edge while they make their way through such a desolate locale. “Something’s not quite right here,” says Miko in a hushed whisper.
“I agree,” states Jiron.
James begins to notice that there are no animals here, not even birds high in the trees. Never in all the time since being washed upon the shore have the trees been silent, there has always been a bird or some other kind of animal calling out. This eerie silence just makes his anxiety grow.
Jiron suddenly comes to a stop ahead of them.
“What’s wrong?” James asks when he and Miko come to where he’s standing. Looking over Jiron’s shoulder to what lies before them, he says, “Oh.”
The gnarled and withered trees end a short distance ahead at a large clearing. In the middle of the clearing sits a large complex of buildings which have long since fallen into ruin. Portions of some of the buildings remain intact, while others have collapsed completely. Several of the buildings look to have once stood over two stories tall, sections of some still do. The buildings form a semicircle around a weed infested courtyard. All the vegetation within the clearing and bordering it show the worst signs of the withering.
Within the center of the courtyard sits a larger pyramid of skulls, two, maybe three times the size of the one they’d encountered earlier. Looking at it makes James’ skin crawl. “Looks like we may have found what’s killed all the trees,” he says.
“What should we do?” Jiron asks him, not once taking his eyes off the scene ahead. Unconsciously, he’s drawn a knife and is holding it ready in his right hand.
“Can we skirt around this place?” James asks.
Jiron looks around and then nods his head as he begins to move to the right.
James and Miko stay right with him as he slowly makes his way around the area, remaining within the vegetation.
Miko suddenly trips on an exposed root and looses his balance. Trying to remain upright, he ends up stepping out of the vegetation and finally falls upon the ground within the clearing, coming to land a couple feet from the edge of the vegetation.
As soon as Miko’s foot first steps into the clearing, the prickling sensation suddenly spikes. James’ attention is drawn to the large pile of skulls and it almost seems as if he can see an enormous pulse of energy suddenly erupt from the pyramid. Moving fast, the wave washes over them as it moves away into the swamp.
“Miko!” he cries. “Get out of there!”
Getting up lightning quick, Miko scrambles back over to them as he quickly looks around for the reason for James’ warning. “What’s wrong?” he asks, not seeing anything threatening.
Both he and Jiron look to him as he replies, “When you stepped into the clearing, I felt and I think, saw, a pulse emanate from the pyramid.”
“A pulse?” Miko asks, eyes widening in fear.
Nodding his head, he says, “Yeah. It seemed like it fanned out, moving out into the swamp.”
“What does that mean?” asks Jiron, nervously.
“I don’t know,” he says. “I’ve never encountered anything like this before.”
“Well, let’s not wait here and find out,” Jiron says, as he looks around. “Let’s move!” Without waiting for a reply, he heads out and they make it around the complex, everyone taking extra precaution not to step within the clearing.
Upon reaching the far side of the clearing, they put it behind them as they move quickly away from it and the ominous pyramid of skulls. As they leave it behind, the vegetation begins to improve slightly, though only for a while.
Soon, the vegetation once more begins to show drastic signs of withering and decay as they see another of the smaller piles of skulls appear before them. The prickling sensation grows as it did before when James approaches it.
As Jiron begins to pass the midpoint of the pyramid, he suddenly cries out as he falls backward into James, knocking them both down.
“What happened?” James asks as he picks himself up.
“I ran into something,” he says.
“Let me see,” James says as he cautiously approaches the pyramid of skulls. Holding his hand out, he walks slowly toward it. He moves around the skulls to the right, still holding out his hand. When he comes next to the pyramid, his hand touches a barrier.
Stopping, he places both hands upon it and pushes. It feels solid, smooth. He runs his hand along it as he walks several feet to his right. Pausing, he takes his hand and moves it along the barrier as high as he can reach. Unable to find an end, he turns back to the other two. “I think when Miko tripped and fell into the clearing, it activated some kind of barrier,” he explains.
“What do you mean?” Miko asks, confused.
James places his hand against it and says, “Come here and feel it.”
Hesitantly, Miko comes and places his hand upon it, eyes widening. “What is it?”
“Some kind of force field I’d imagine,” he explains. Then he turns to Jiron, “Kind of like the dome I used to keep the sandstorm out, remember?”
Nodding his head, he says, “Yeah, I remember.”
“What does it mean?” Miko asks.
“It means we’re trapped inside,” explains James.