around the island to the other side. In the distance is a dark landmass that looks like a continuation of the woods we came from.
I also can’t help noticing the clear, clucking stream that runs into the swamp from somewhere in the middle of the island. For the last hundred feet before it pours quietly into the mud, it flows through a bank of white sand that makes the whole thing look like a beach.
I shake my head. “No, this is definitely a trap. In fact, I bet this creek starts at an idyllic pool that’s much too tempting to not bathe in. Because what do you want when you have worn yourself out wading through that damn swamp? To eat sweet fruit and get clean. Let’s check.”
As it turns out, I’m almost right. There is a crystal clear pool, but there is also an adorable little waterfall that twinkles silvery in the sunlight. A salen tree bends in an arch and dangles its delicious fruits over the pool, so that if you were standing in it, you could pick them.
I put my hands on my hips and shake my head. “Good grief. How stupid do they think we are?”
Caronerax scratches his black beard, which grows as perfectly as the rest of him. “This is tempting to you, somehow?”
“Well, yeah. It is. Like, I bet that waterfall gets the water from a hot spring up there, so the pool is the perfect temperature to take a bath in. Look at the bottom! Did you ever see finer, more perfect sand? Heck, my feet are aching to stand on it and dig into it. Some of the girls have seen traps like this before. Like, a single fruit tree with a single, super-ripe fruit on it, just happening to be growing in a beam of sunlight inside a dark cave. And then when you touch it, a monster pounces on you and devours you. This is more of the same. Give me a break, Xren.”
The dragon dips his toes into the water. “I detect no malice here. Granted, I’m not at the height of my powers, but it seems a lot of effort to go through to catch the only creatures that have been here for what I would guess are many, many years.”
I kick at one of the perfectly smooth rocks that line the pool. “Yeah, well. Monsters can be patient, I’m sure.”
Caronerax looks around. “Then let’s provoke it. If there is danger, reveal it and I will do battle with it and defeat it and rip it into several pieces. I ache to murder something big, not only those ridiculous attackers we’ve met recently.”
I frown at him. “Seriously?”
He shrugs. “Or we can keep going. Get up on my shoulder again.”
Okay, that’s not tempting me right now. “Wait a moment. You think you could take the monster? A really big one?”
“I imagine we’ll see.”
I take him in. He’s boot-less, his ripped pants that used to be beige are now a dirty brown all over, and he’s splattered with blood and mud. “But you’re not feeling good. And you are in human form.”
“Thank you so much for informing me. Truly, you have the most remarkable powers of observation.”
“I mean, if the monster is as huge as that bobont we saw, but as fierce as a dactyl — could you take it?”
“Again, I imagine we’ll see.”
I stick a foot into the pool. Yeah, pretty much the right temperature, not too cold. “Because if you can’t, then… well, you know. We die.”
“I doubt it.”
I look around at the totally perfect little island. “You really don’t think this is a trap?”
“I see nothing that points to it.”
I look down myself. I’m caked in mud, and I must look like a demented sewer worker. “If I take a dip, will you be ready in case someone pounces? I mean, that pool is the obvious place for the monster to live. The sand probably covers a huge mouth of some kind.”
The dragon gives me a merry smile. “Probably!”
I make a quick decision. “Fine. You and the monster win. Hey, is this your trap? Did you make this island to trap innocent human females?”
Caronerax looks at me emptily. “I honestly wouldn’t see the point.”
“I guess you’re right.” I pull my now wet and muddy dress over my head, not concerned about the dragon seeing me bared. He’s seen it before, and he didn’t do anything then. I kind of want him to do something now.