Shadows in the Trees: Book 1

Chapter 49

Mud. Mud, everywhere. She had never seen so much mud.

Sand and grass she was used to, but mud? 

It was disgusting. 

Rhiannon fought back tears as her leg sank into the muck up to her knee. She pulled it out with a sickening squelch. 

"My shoe!" Julian wailed. 

He stooped down, digging for his shoe in the soupy filth. His already tattered clothes clung to his body in strips, pasted onto his skin with mud and sweat.

"Don't bother," Jaida said. "I lost both of mine days ago. You'll never find them in this mess." 

"That's got to be some sort of hazard to our health," Julian said, still searching for his shoe. 

"Everything in this damned place is a hazard to our health," Jaida said. "Now come on, let's go before the -- "

"Humans!" Jubil called from ahead. The Sylph, with their long legs and seemingly endless stamina, were far ahead of them. "Keep up!" 

Julian finally abandoned his shoe after an excessive amount of grumbling. The humans slogged ahead.

Julian swatted away a bug. "We should have never come with them." 

"And where would we have gone instead?" Rhiannon snapped. "We would be both be killed if we went home." 

"You don't know that I would be killed," Julian said, his voice shrill. "I could still go home." 

"Then why haven't you?" she shot back. He was silent. "Look. The only way we can go back is if we can remove the people who stand in our way. As horrifying as she is, Vess is our best ally right now. She can take us home." 

Julian sniffed. "I just want to go home." 

"We all do," Rhiannon said, softening her voice. "We just have to wade through some shit first. Literally." They all laughed a little.  "Trust me, Prince. I'll get us home." 

He nodded, and they continued their trek in silence. Rhiannon looked up. Though it was cloudy, she could see the sky was darkening. 

"Hey," she called to the Sylph. "Nightfall will be soon. We should look for somewhere sturdy to camp." 

"We cannot. We must keep moving if we are going to get to Thrael before Roltandre," Jubil said.

"She can't have that much of a lead on us," Rhiannon said, crossing her arms. "We need rest." 

Jubil and Vess exchanged a look. "Cerridwen has been having visions. Roltandre is already marching her army north." 

"I am sorry," Cerridwen said meekly. She cowered behind Jubil. 

Even Cerridwen hadn't been able to escape the mud. Her once bright clothes were covered in brown stains and her braids were a mess.

"North? But how could she know where we are?" Rhiannon said. 

"I do not know," Vess said. "It seems she has spies everywhere." 

Rhiannon felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. She looked around suspiciously, as if Roltandre would suddenly leap from the shrubs or rise from the mud. 

"She could watch us through animals, I suspect," Cerridwen said. "If she resurrected them, perhaps she has some sort of bond with them." 

"That should be impossible," Julian sputtered. 

"So should Sylph," Jaida said, rolling her eyes. "It doesn't matter. We're almost out of the marsh, and then we'll come to Thrael's capital shortly, it's close to the border. I don't want to sleep another night here in this forsaken place."