Sons of Ironstorm - Book 4: Griffon's Stand

A Troubled Hunt

Shiana grimaced as yet another moss-covered branch, sopping with soaked up rain, brushed against her face. Long used to the sensation, she easily stifled the urge to reach up and wipe away the beads of moisture the branch deposited on her cheek. Instead she concentrated on making sure her booted feet didn't find yet another mud hole. It seemed this bloody swamp had nothing but, underfoot. 

Yet it wasn't the only misery the Easterling visited upon the young human princess. The non-stop rain had made her clothing cling to her body like a second skin, the unrelenting heat sapped strength and will, and the humidity made each and every effort drench her with perspiration. Heaped together, the swamp was doing its best to make her pay dearly for each step she took deeper into its embrace. Yet, if she didn't do so, her beloved brother was lost. Her grimace deepening at that thought, Shiana grimly pressed on.

Nearly a tenday had past since they used the rune sword portal to jump from distant Elvenfast into the bowels of the stinking Easterling Swamp. That was nearly a tenday's worth of slogging through nearly impenetrable terrain, avoiding bogs, muskeg and swamp wildlife. And a tenday's worth of futility in their search for her missing brothers. 

'Where are you, Shawn?!' Shiana shouted into the silence of her mind for perhaps the hundredth time this day, ducking another heavy branch as she stepped close to a gnarled swamp tree to peer into the distance in front of her. Or, at least, the amount of distance the tangled undergrowth and twisted tree trunks with their coats of sickly-looking moss would let her look into.

That lack of visibility was enough to send yet another wave of frustration washing through her, the undergrowth as void of signs of progress in their quest as it had been the day before, and the day before that. And that sensation of frustration coupled with futility was enough to make her feel so very alone in this dank and evil place. Only the soft sucking sounds of her brother's wives working their way through the swamp all around her told her different, though the sounds were of little comfort ensconced as she was in her dark frame of mind.

Shiana finally let a long sigh ease free of her nostrils as she stepped forward once again. At least she still had that strange sensation in the back of her mind that told her her brother was still out there, somewhere, alive and hopefully unhurt. And, as she unconsciously oriented her view back along the path they were currently following, it told her Shawn was that way, as if he had somehow left a path for her to follow. 

Taking strength from that, as she had from the very beginning of this strange quest, the daughter of Ironstorm sighed again. Then, brushing a few straggling hairs out of her face, she pushed on with the hope that this day would be their last in their search for the missing Wielders.

The young princess had gone perhaps a handful of steps through the hillocks and oozing muck that stirred fitfully between them when a sharp shout sounded from somewhere in the dense undergrowth ahead of them along the path they were following. Instantly Shiana halted, eyes narrowed as she stared in the direction of the cry, her hand lifting to the hilt of the rune sword where it jutted above her right shoulder.

<<What was that?>> Tamaryn asked softly, appearing out of the trees to Shiana's left to stop at her elbow. The lovely Merisin's oval face was smudged and dirty from the day's trek, her hair matted with rain and perspiration.

<<I don't know,>> Shiana truthfully answered, heart racing even as she extended Wielder senses forward along their path. Something suddenly felt out of place, even more so than usual in this cursed swamp. If she could just put a finger on it, maybe she could even give it a name.

Unfortunately the sensation remained elusive despite her newly enhanced senses, another gift from her brother's sharing of his Wielder abilities. It was yet another frustration as a second shout split the air, this time coming from nearly 90 degrees to the right from the first. To the pair's dismay, it was swiftly followed by several more cries, some of pain, and others of anger and surprise. A heart beat later Shiana felt her blood go cold when the sounds of fighting next reached her ears.