Archon of Strife: Segment Six

Buzzing insects and marsh noises had droned on endlessly throughout the day, and now Kael could scarcely keep his eyes open as he trudged through this new quagmire, both metaphorically and literally. Picking out the dry tufts of grassy soil and rock, he wearily bounded onward. Now more than ever he wished he had stuck to the forest, but for the most part had no idea where he was going. Swatting another insolent mosquito, he winced and rubbed his seared hand. Despite that fact that it had been several days now, the tissue still hadn't seemed to have healed at all, and Kael's concern was growing.

A squish, plot, and gurgle emphasized a misplaced step, instantly inciting regret. Kael tried to shake his head and clear the drowsiness that had settled on him over the last few hours, but the farther he went, the more he seemed to lose attention. Even the silver strands of night now drew away his eyes from the muck he was extricating himself from, floating incoherently around him. Another shake of the head and he was back to his task and hopping from patch to patch again. Disgusting bubbles began to form and pop every so often, and stagnant pools became more frequent. The marsh turned into a series of bogs, making Kael wonder if he would have any chance of finding a place to sleep or if instead the terrain would just become more littered with rotting wood and decay. The canopy, which had also begun to develop, consisted of dead limbs and thread-like moss. The only reason Kael knew what time of the day it was, being late evening by now, as he descended into darker territory and the sky became clouded with promised rain was because he had kept his bearings from earlier in the day.

Again the hint of silver floated around his eyes, which couldn't stop flirting with his eyelids as he struggled to stay awake. The air was thicker already, whereas it had been clear a few minutes before, and strange smells were starting to seep from all around. This time when silver and light caught Kael's vision, he was slumping against what seemed like the only living tree around, and through a thorn-studded thicket gleamed a peculiar collection of jewels and diamonds. No – Kael blinked several times and peered closer, assuming it to be more of a lantern. Then it was swaying and darting, sometimes dipping and slowing, then twirling and dodging through the canopy. The crickets and frogs had quieted to mere ambience noise now instead of the overpowering drawl that had overtaken the swamp by night, and Kael found it increasingly difficult to think of such things, or anything else for that matter, as he became fixated on the scintillating object.

The ground was solid along the path he followed, oddly fully awake now, yet robbed of his senses and blindly in pursuit - that is until he slipped into a puddle. Coughing and sputtering, he readied a sneeze, only to be cut short by some sort of moan nearby. He quickly looked all around him for the light that had made everything so surreal, but with it vanished into the abyss it came from, he blew his nose several times and got to his feet.

"Just great, eww!" Kael wiped his gooey hands on his wet pants, figuring they couldn't get any dirtier. "Huh, good thing Caren can't see this or she'd have a fit." Caren's face came to mind, nagging at Kael constantly for when he used to go fishing – without a pole. But Kael's memory was cut short by another groaning noise, ended by a feminine growl of frustration. Instinctively Kael eased into a crouch and listened for further noise, unsure as to the source; he didn't have to wait long, and now the sound incorporated words, "Of all the damned sludge pits I have to end up in – errrg – the biggest and muddiest cesspool of them al- ungh!" A sucking pop noise attracted Kael’s vision, and he now laid eyes on what looked to be an unfortunate farm girl. She had on what appeared to be a sleeved dress, with her hair in a bun, but Kael couldn't see much by the early moonlight or through all the caked-on mud, which looked to compose more of her outfit than anything else. Currently she was holding up her clothes with one hand and tugging at a boot imbedded in the muck. A matching one was on one of her feet, which were both attempting to grasp at the edge of dry soil as she heaved and groaned again.

Smiling, Kael straightened up and cleared his throat.

"Ah-heh-hem, how goes the er.. whatever you're trying to do?" The girl jolted face first into the muck she was extracting the boot from, then sprang up and waved her arms about as if she'd fire off bolts of lightning at the disturbance.

"Who are you? Stay back!" She paused, waved her arms a bit more, and then wiped the mud from her eyes as Kael unsuccessfully tried to stifle a laugh.

"I couldn't help but notice that you're in a bit of trouble, miss." She returned his comically condescending remark with a cocked head and hands on her hips.

"Well, judging from your looks I'd say you're either just as bad off or the village idiot who hasn't yet realized that swamps don't harbor civilization. A stare-down was prevented only by the lack of light, but each studied the other carefully for several moments before Kael searched for a path over the muddy trench to her side to offer some assistance. When he made a few leaps and strolled up to her, she was still regarding him suspiciously with one hand cocked at an awkward angle, while the other seemed to refuse to let go of her prized boot.

"Well if you're going to look at me like a plague bearer maybe I won't help you at all," Kael indignantly stated. The girl in turn considered her offensive attitude, and after looking back and forth from the boot to Kael she visibly lowered her shoulders and apologized.

"I'm just a little on-end today, as you can imagine. I never wanted to get stuck in this mess in the first place."

"I can't imagine anyone would," Kael replied in a sympathetic tone, "But why exactly are you here?"

Once again she looked a little suspicious before answering with a question, "I don't see how it's any of your business, but I could ask you the same question." Kael hesitated a moment before answering, unready for an explanation.

"I, I got lost when I was collecting firewood." He had been considering a better lie yesterday in case he ran into someone like this, but a rockslide had seemed too farfetched. Still, even this lie was plainly hollow, and his quick addition didn't help, "Just a few miles from here, I took the path my brother usually takes so I didn't quite know where I was going."

The girl gave him a skeptical look like he'd just proved her argument before offering her own sarcastic lie, "Yeah, and I was looking for my lost kitten, Patches." Kael smirked and resigned himself to end the conversation by getting on his knees by the murky pool laying claim to the boot and examining what was keeping it stuck. After a little rummaging around in the surrounding muddy water he located two tree roots, one bending over the front of the boot in an upside down U and the other having both boot laces thoroughly entangled in it. Meanwhile the girl warily scanned the forest around them like a hunted fox, jerking her head in the direction of every foreign sound. This behavior somewhat unnerved Kael, though he didn't show it. If something or someone was after her, he certainly didn't want to get involved if he could avoid it. For all he knew she could be a wanted murderer and he considered a cohort.

"Well, your boot is entangled by some roots, and if you've got a knife I think i can cut them or pry it out." The girl studied him for a moment again, perhaps considering if she would even want to give the stranger a knife, then said that she didn't. "Maybe we can budge it then if we're both pulling at the same time," Kael offered hopefully. After a few futile tugs he held one hand out, palm up and fingers toward the object of effort, as if showing her to a theatre seat. She trudged over, still holding up her dress, and took her place next to him a little uncomfortably.

"Ok, on three," Kael said as they crammed their fingers together to both get hold on the boot top.

"One, two, three!" They both chimed the last word together and the boot came out surprisingly easily this time, causing them both to fall backwards in a heap. The girl tried to stop a smile as she looked at Kael, now covered in mud as well, and as she got up Kael testily flicked some of his mud at her.

"All I wanted was the boot, but I guess half the swamp is a bonus huh?" She said through her smile.

"Nah," Kael replied as he surveyed the dirtiest cloths he'd ever seen himself in, "This is easily three quarters." They both gave a couple curt laughs before looking each other over again, now seeming to have achieved a casual manner. Then nausea slowly started creeping in, followed by the same drowsiness from earlier. Kael scrunched up his face as if to sneeze and lost sight of the girl, but when no sneeze came he opened his eyes again. Several feet away stood the girl with silver light radiating from behind her. Her expression had become vague and blank, while her body seemed frozen stiff from the waist down yet loose and rubbery from the waist up. Only a foot from the back of her head leered a dancing ball of light. She turned her head toward it and the shining ball slowly wavered in front of her, like a cat flicking its tail about, and then it brightened its incorporeal form considerably. While Kael immediately shielded his face, he could tell the girl didn't follow suit, instead doing nothing at all.

"Miss, what is that?" Kael tentatively moved forward and touched her, then tugged at her sleeve as he inched closer, neither of the two beings taking any notice of him whatsoever. "Is this yours? Where in Tempest's name did it come from?" Kael would've pushed her a little harder, or tried to touch the mesmerizing orb, except that at that moment it flickered out altogether as something heavy and entangling descended upon them. The girl fell in a heap - unlike Kael, who struggled furiously with growing panic and bewilderment. Strange hissing noises filled the air from all directions and he could see shadowy forms encircling the net he was trapped under. The only thing he could understand was what sounded like contented laughter flooded with gurgles and whistle-like hisses. Looking over at the girl, he saw her confused face beginning to reflect his own panic. He struggled some more as he was hauled up by the dark figures, as did the girl now, but they were unbelievably strong for their size, easily incapacitating them both. Disgust for this entire situation rose in Kael's throat as he not only realized this to be his second capturing in the same week, but also as he saw the dancing light flutter into a cage one of the figures was holding. As it settled through the opening Kael could clearly see the face of what held the cage, scaly and savage. It resembled a crocodile, lizard, and grotesquely enough, a human.