The Trio of Trouble

Chapter Three, Reaching the Swamp

Chapter Three

Reaching the Swamp

"Marco are you sure you know where your going?" I questioned.

"Yeah," Jacos agreed, "I think I've seen that tree before. Are you sure we aren't walking in circles?"

Marco huffed in frustration. "This is a lot harder than you think!" he snapped, "And yes I'm sure we're going the right way."

I chuckled along with Jacos at Marco's reaction. It had been two days since we had decided to go to the hunt for our lost magical items, and we had been following Marco the whole time, trusting his spells in finding the swamp. We where all abut tense and worried about returning to the swamp. I could still remember vividly the creatures that lurked beneath the surface of the muddy water.

      I never got to see all of any of the monsters, it happened so fast we could only catch glimpses of them. They had tried to drown us first, grabbing our feet with they're slimy, webbed hands. I remembered being submerged in water, and I felt all of my possessions, besides my cloths, ripped away from me. I struggled, and tried to find who had taken my things, but most importantly whatever was pulling me deeper into the swamp waters. When we had walked across, it had never seemed to be that deep. I was able to kick the hand off my foot, and swam frantically upwards. When I broke the surface, I gasped for air, but was quickly grabbed and pulled back under. They grabbed my shoulders, and legs this time making it harder for me to struggle. Under the water, there was a blinding flash; Marco.

     The creatures screams echoed though the water, and I felt them let go of my arms, and swim away at amazing speed. I swam up, wanting nothing but air. But, before I could reach the surface, something grabbed my leg and pulled down into the depths again. I screamed, water poring into me throat. I coughed, but there was no air for me to breath back in. My vision started turning red, the pain in my lungs where unbearable. I woke up to Marco and Jacos' extremely worried expressions. They had been able to save me, but we left the swamp without going back to save out possessions. That incident I had been more scared than I had ever been in my life. The mystery of what was in the waters, making my heart pound. When I under the murky water, blind to everything, with no air to breath, thinking this was my end. It had made me afraid of water for months after.

    I looked over at Jacos who was striding along beside me. His short blond hair was tussled and clearly dirty. He kept his green eyes on the ground, watching his step for roots and tree stumps. Jacos was a little taller than Marco, and had a few inches on me as well. He was very muscular and stocky, with massive shoulders and arms. He wore a pair of light brown pants, and dark mud caked leather boots. His once blue tunic was now a shade of brown, his once white shirt underneath was just as dirty. On his belt was a six inch, curved dagger that he had stolen from a merchant a few weeks ago. Jacos' jaw was tight, I could tell he was tense, teetering between completely freaking out and being calm.  Jacos still wasn't conferrable with water, our incident in the swamp had left him shaken and he still feared deep amounts of water. I wondered how Jacos would do when we reached the swamp.

     Marco grumbled in front of me. I smiled in amusement. Marco tromped a head of us, he claimed he was using a spell to reach the swamp, and he had been tried and frustrated our whole journey. He was very eager to get his staff back; when he had had it he had grown quite attached to it, and when I had awoken the day we where attacked at the swamp, he had wanted to go back to it. We had been putting it off for months, not wanting to return to the marshes. I still wasn't sure about our trip. Even if we could find our things in that massive sized swamp, we still didn't know if those creatures were there, and if they would try and kill us again.

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     It had been four days since we had decided to retrieve our magical items. It was mid-day in the fifth day when we reached the edge of the swamp. It seemed to stretch out for miles. A thick layer of fog gave us a small perimeter for sight. Plants sprouted from the dark, green black water. A nasty green mushy plant sat on the top of the water, and I remembered pieces like that where hard, and those chunks of land where the only way to get over the swamp. Marco was grinning, clearly exited. I turned to Jacos. He was staring at the swamp skeptically, fear and nervousness in his eyes. I swallowed hard. My heart had already started to beat faster, just by seeing the swamp and thinking about my paste experiences there. I regained myself. You have got to be brave Jack, I told myself, You can and will do this. You can't let those stupid swamp monsters stop you from getting what you want.

"We better get moving." I said, "be as quiet as you can, and don't even touch the water, unless we are sure our stuff is there. Marco, do you think you can locate our things?" 

"I'll do my best," He said, then he closed his eyes and concentrated. 

I put my hand on Jacos' shoulder. "We'll be okay." I whispered in his ear.

He nodded, but he still looked worried. This troubled me. I had never seen Jacos this afraid and nervous. I wondered if he had seen the monsters, and he was souly afraid of them, or if it was the deep waters that made his timid.

"I think I know where they are!" Marco exclaimed.

I took a deep breath, and put my hand on my dagger. "Lead the way then."  

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Hey so, its still a bit short, but I wanted a cliffhanger! I'm evil I know...

I hope you enjoyed! Vote, comment, fan, add this to your library, and check out my other stories! I promise as the story goes on, the chapters will be a lot longer! You will not be disappointed!!

Until next time my graceful elves,

-Jack