and forcing one to strain to hear what might be coming through the dark waters.
Isabel woke tired and irritable. It was impossible to tell what the weather looked like above the swamp. Within, it was a dull grey in every direction, limiting visibility to less than a hundred feet, the world beyond fading into the unknown.
“Well, at least we know the algae will cover our tracks,” Hector said, motioning to the uniformly green water as if presenting an act on a stage.
“Unfortunately, we also have no idea which way we came from or where we’re going,” Horace said.
Isabel tipped her head back and closed her eyes. Slyder was perched in the high branches at the top of the cypress tree they were tied to. She could see that the day was clear and bright above the swamp, the winter sun climbing gradually into the southern sky. Off in the distance, a craggy stone mountain jutted abruptly from the swamp, a lone high point in a sea of level green.
“We have to go that way,” Isabel pointed, her eyes still closed.
“That way it is,” Hector said, unlashing the raft from the tree trunk. As he and Horace shoved off, Scales broke the surface and started out ahead of them. Ayela shivered, but held her tongue.
It was cold under the cover of the fog and the air was so still, they left a wake of swirling eddies in the mist, momentarily marking their passage. Isabel guided them with Slyder’s help, keeping them moving in the general direction of the mountain. The algae covering every inch of the swamp gave way about midmorning, revealing inky black water that stank of rot and decay, but the thick mist persisted.
The water grew shallower, revealing patches of land covered in thick vegetation that obstructed their path. Isabel found herself relying on Slyder more and more to get her bearings as they wound through the confusing maze of passable waterways. By midafternoon the water grew so shallow and the vegetation so dense that they were spending more time working to free the raft from entanglements than they were moving forward … until they came to a place where they ran aground, the raft sinking into the thick mud and becoming stuck.
“Looks like we’re on foot for a while,” Isabel said.
Scales slithered out of the water, his tongue flicking the air.
“We should probably disassemble the raft and take the rope with us,” Hector said.
“I agree,” Isabel said. “There’s no telling how far this patch of high ground goes.”
It wasn’t long before they were trudging through the muck. The ground was coated with a thick layer of mud and the vegetation was dripping from the heavy blanket of fog. Isabel found her feet growing heavier by the step, mud caking to her boots. Within a few hundred feet, they all needed to stop to scrape their boots clean.
“We haven’t seen much life,” Horace said. “I’m starting to wonder if the biggest danger in this place is just disorientation.”
“I wouldn’t bet on it,” Hector said.
“Nor I,” Ayela said. “I’ve heard stories of terrible monsters living within the gloaming swamp. Things that occasionally wander into the jungle to hunt before disappearing back into the mist with their prey.”
Their progress was slower on land than it had been by raft. The ground was riddled with pools of stagnant water, all of it black and cold. Late in the day, they came to a place where their path was blocked by a channel of water about twenty feet across.
“We could backtrack and see if there’s another way,” Horace suggested.
Isabel shook her head. “We’re still being pursued. I doubt the Regency soldiers have our trail anymore, but the Sin’Rath probably do and I’d rather avoid them if at all possible.”
“That looks pretty deep,” Hector said.
Scales slipped into the water and vanished, reemerging on the far side after a minute or so.
“Any predators down there would have probably taken issue with the snake,” Horace said.
“Maybe,” Ayela said. “Predators come in many sizes.”
“I can get across without getting wet,” Hector said. “Once I’m on the other side, toss me a rope and then tie it around your waists so I can help you cross.”
He transformed into vapor, floating gently and slowly across the surface of the water.
Horace tossed him a coil of rope and he tied it off to a nearby tree. Isabel, Ayela, and Horace then tied the rope around themselves, leaving a space of five or six feet between them. Isabel took a long