Miko nods his head as he lies down and says, “Sounds good enough to me.” He glances over to James and says, “Be sure to wake me when it’s my turn.”
“I will,” James assures him. Then he makes himself comfortable as his fellows settle down to sleep.
Chapter Seven
When James awakens in the morning, the sun has already begun to lighten the day. Miko is snoring peacefully off to the other side of the campfire and he finds Jiron walking around the outer edge of the camp in amongst the trees. He looks over to James as he sits up and comes over when he waves at him.
“Good morning,” Jiron says to him as he approaches.
“Everything okay?” James asks.
“Oh yeah,” he assures him, “just walking around a bit. I hate sitting in just one spot for very long. How’s your leg?”
James straightens it and says, “Better. I think it may not hurt as much today.”
“Let’s hope not,” he says. Sitting down next to him, he asks, “How far do you think it is to Cardri?”
Shrugging, James says, “I couldn’t even begin to guess. It took us over a week to make it to the mines, and that was on good roads with horses. Trudging through this,” he continues as he gestures to the swamp, “who knows?”
“Would like to see Tersa again,” he tells him.
“So would I,” agrees James. “I’d really like to find some place to just rest and not have to worry about being eaten by some damn rhino-lizard, or have to sneak through an area filled with the Empire’s forces.”
From across the campsite, Miko’s voice says, “I’d like that too.” Sitting up, he glances over at them. “I hate the swamp, give me a good old city any day.”
“If we keep forging on through to the north, eventually we’ll get out of here,” James assures him.
“I hope so,” he says as he gets up and comes over to them. Sitting down, he asks, “How much longer are we going to be in this damned swamp anyway?”
“Like I was telling Jiron,” James says, “I don’t know. All I do know is that they don’t last forever.”
“Then let’s stop sitting here talking and get going,” Miko says as he gets back up.
James reaches over and grabs his walking stick. Using it for support, he gets to his feet without nearly the amount of pain that maneuver had caused him the day before.
Holding the stick loosely, he waits for Jiron to get up and lead the way.
“You feeling better?” Miko asks as they continue on their way.
Nodding, James says, “Much better, actually. Don’t think I could run any distance, but the constant pain and throbbing seem to be easing.”
“That’s good,” replies Miko. “I was worried about you.”
“I was worried about me too,” he says with a slight smile.
They travel for several hours before they hear Miko’s voice coming from where he’s lagging behind, “I’m hungry.”
“Might be a good time to stop and eat,” James says to Jiron who’s up a ways trying to find the way through.
Jiron stops and comes back to them. “I was hoping to find a clearing where we could build a fire,” he tells them. “We’ll stop then, okay?”
“Sure,” James says to Miko’s dismay, “we can wait a little while longer.”
Just then, Miko’s stomach lets out a loud growl.
James and Jiron turn and stare at him, then break out in laughter.
“Well,” he says, “I’m starving. We haven’t eaten all day!”
“Just a little while longer,” Jiron says, “and then hopefully we’ll run across a spot where we can build a fire without worrying about setting the whole area aflame.”
He glances to James and they both smile when they remember the last time they’d set the woods on fire.
Miko sees them and asks, “What?”
“Oh, nothing,” James replies.
Taking the lead again, Jiron once more makes his way through the trees and undergrowth, searching for the way out. With the waterway on his left for a guide, he’s able to maintain going in the correct direction. Without it, they’d soon be turned around and lost.
After trudging through the swamp for a while, they begin to see another waterway off to their right. As they continue moving north, the other waterway moves closer to the one they’re following until they join where a larger river has split into two branches.
To their dismay, they find themselves on the inside of the fork. In order to continue, they’ll have to cross one of the waterways. The area on the inside of the junction of water is relatively flat and clear, so they decide to stop there and find something to eat while they consider how they’ll get across.
James picks up some small rocks from the ground and quietly goes into the brush to hunt for lunch. Jiron and Miko begin building a fire while he’s gone. He returns several minutes later with three dead animals that Jiron takes from him and begins preparing for the fire.
Miko walks over to the water and says, “How are we supposed to cross this?”
From where he sits by the fire, James hollers, “Swim, it’s not that far.”
Turning back to him, Miko exclaims, “But what about the fish? They’ll eat us for sure.”
“We’re not even sure if they’re in the main waterway,” he says.
Jiron picks up some of the innards of the animals and gets up. Walking over to the river, he announces, “Only one way to find out.” He throws the bloody mess into the water.
They watch it for a second and he says, “See, nothing to…”
Then suddenly, the water starts to broil as the fish begin consuming the innards.
“See!” Miko cries out.
Jiron glances over to James and says, “That’s going to be a problem.”
“Yeah, I was hoping they’d not be in the main river,” he says.
Coming back over to them, Miko plops himself down and asks, “Now what?”
James looks to him, and says, “Let’s just eat while we think about it. There’s bound to be a way.”
While the animals are cooking, they continue pondering the situation.
“How about a raft?” suggests Miko.
“What would we use?” Jiron asks him. “No logs or large limbs to use, and nothing with which to secure them together.”
“We could try to swim fast?” James offers much to the horror of Miko who shakes his head violently.
“Just kidding,” he says to Miko who flashes him an ‘I’m not amused’ look.
“There’s got to be a way,” Jiron says.
“I’m sure there is,” says James. “And not one that requires us to enter the water, either,” he adds for Miko’s benefit.
“Could you get us there with magic?” Jiron asks.
“I don’t know, maybe,” he says. “But if something should happen to break my concentration, we would fall to the river below.”
They sit there in silence for a while longer until the animals are fully cooked. When they’re ready, Jiron hands each of them one and they set to with a hearty appetite.
During the course of the meal, Jiron suddenly asks, “How about a bridge?”
“That would take too long to build,” James tells him.
“No, no, no,” he says. “I mean a natural one.”
“That would be nice,” James says, “but I don’t see any around here.”
Jiron glances toward him and says, “But you could make one.”
“How?” James asks him.
