man’s chest in a blink, then recoiling just as fast, leaving the man still standing for just a moment before he realized he was dead and fell over.
Trajan buried the knife to the hilt and started sawing across the snake’s body. It started to unwind, but Trajan held on, cutting crosswise, trying to cut it in half, until it tore free and vanished into the swamp. He got to his feet and handed Isabel her dagger with a nod of thanks before retrieving his club and turning toward the fire. He made it just one step before he collapsed, coughing up blood.
Chapter 45
They carried him to the fire and laid him down, but that only seemed to make things worse. He seized up in pain, gasping in short breaths, rolling on his side and curling into a ball. His men looked from one to the other and shook their heads in resignation. He’d been crushed by a giant snake. Most people didn’t survive such a thing.
Isabel walked over and picked up the club, Ayela forestalling any protest from Trajan’s men with a withering glare while standing over her wounded brother. Isabel walked away into the swamp, far enough for Hector’s last healing potion to work. Without it, Trajan would die. With it, he’d be on his feet in a couple of days. When she asked Ayela if they should use it, given Trajan’s feelings about magic, Ayela insisted they use it immediately.
When Isabel and the Goiri bone were far enough away, Ayela administered the potion, much to the consternation of Trajan’s men. They protested loudly but she ignored them as she tipped her brother’s head back. After swallowing the draught, he fell into a fitful sleep, becoming feverish in the night and waking frequently.
By morning, he was sleeping soundly and it looked like the worst of his injuries were mended. Isabel kept the club away from him while the potion did its work. She didn’t know if the Goiri bone would stop the potion from working at this point, but she didn’t want to take the risk.
By evening, he was up and mended well enough to walk. Isabel gave him back his club.
“Ayela tells me she demanded magic be used to heal me.”
“Yes,” Isabel said.
He nodded, frowning. “Thank you,” he muttered, turning away from her.
They set out the following morning on a maddening journey through a maze of high ground that didn’t often connect. Without Slyder, Isabel felt blind. She’d always taken him for granted, or at least the power he gave her … now she recognized just what a blessing he really was.
They reached the far side of the high ground several frustrating days later. Tensions were high. The mist was starting to bear down on them, pressing in from all sides like it meant them harm, creating anxiety, fear, even panic. They’d had to backtrack dozens of times and they’d gotten turned around several times, but they’d finally reached deep water. One last stretch and they would be free of the insistent desolation all around them.
It took a day to harvest the wood for the two rafts they would need and another day to build them. They set out at dawn the following morning, poling across the water with two men working together on each raft to move them at best speed. By dark, they’d traversed the majority of the band of water circling the outskirts of the gloaming swamp, but they chose to tie off to a tree and wait for dawn before proceeding.
By dark the following day, they were several leagues into the jungle and feeling much better for it. Spirits were high when they stopped to make camp. The chittering, burbling, singing life all around was a stark and welcome contrast to the lifeless desolation of the swamp. Isabel was buoyed by the abundance surrounding her, wishing she could share it with Alexander as she drifted off to sleep.
The journey to the hidden keep took several days along a path selected by Trajan to be both direct and little used. What it turned out to be was an overgrown game trail. On the second day, two dozen tree rats attacked by surprise, but they all targeted the last man in line, swarming over him, driving him to his knees and killing him in a matter of seconds.
Everyone watched with a mixture of fear and revulsion, stunned by the sudden speed and overwhelming violence of the attack, until a number of tree rats turned toward them