The Dawn of Light

(24)The Predator's Jungle Den (Part 1)

The Predator's Jungle Den (Part 1)

Malreus' POV

We were dropped off by Boro near the edge of a jungle. Mania's jungle terrain was scarce and not very wide, but it was deep and flowed straight down into a valley.

The surrounding mountains were high and covered with rain clouds. The weather was windy and the approaching storm from last night hadn't brought any rain- only loud thunderstorms and lightning as a warning.

But the rain was coming and it was coming in fast...

"Have fun, scum." Boro threw us a map and left in the carriage, back to the safety of Manos' palace. I glared after him, my dark gaze following the mud-splattered carriage. I was going to enjoy ending Boro's insignificant existence when all of this was finally over.

Simos grabbed the map from the muddy floor and wiped it clean with the palm of his hand. "Right. Let's see what Keya has in store for us."

I looked around the jungle- it was dark and densely packed with overgrown plant life. The sky was overpacked with heavy, grey clouds and no sunlight made it through the condensed growth of the treetops. The ground was muddy and it was only going to get worse.

I felt a raindrop fall on the bridge of my nose.

"We'll need to move under the denser part of the jungle to avoid getting too wet."

Simos looked up at the sky and examined the grumbling clouds. The thunder was starting up again. "What about lightning?"

"It's a jungle, Simos." I said dryly and moved to unsheathe my sword, but remembered that the guards had taken all of my weaponry before we'd left. I sighed and looked around for something to use, but the jungle was unkind. "Everywhere we walk there will be a tree within one foot of us."

"Oh, gods..."

I turned my head back to glare at him; "What now?"

He held the map up to the path and walked ahead of me, following a route Keya had drawn for us. "I just realised I have to spend the next few hours listening to you."

My hand ached to curl into a fist and knock him back into the dirt. I lifted my eyes to the heavens and prayed to all the gods for patience and tolerance. "I'm not too happy about it either..." I gave up on searching for something sharp to use and instead, followed Simos into the murky rainforest.

Simos led us down a muddy path. The rain dropped from the sky in a thunderous speed, but luckily most of it was blocked by the foliage above us. Although, we were still getting reasonably wet and very quickly too. I didn't mind it too much- I was used to being wet in the cold. Sailing early in the mornings was beautiful, but it had its drawbacks too. Simos didn't look like a fan of the cold at all...

"Do you even know if that map is right?"

Simos stopped a bit to wait for me to catch up and then held the map up so I could see the path. "Here." He pointed to a dotted, red line on an old, hand drawn map. The paper was thick and luckily the rain didn't really affect it too much, but eventually Simos would have to put it away before it completely disintegrated. "This is the path that leads to the heart of this valley. I know- I've been here a few times with the Aetos on missions."

"There's a trick, isn't there?" I raised a thick eyebrow in response.

He smiled to himself and started to roll up the map. "The path is lined with traps."

"Of course."

"And a jaguar's den."

"Ah." I nodded and pushed away the vines and palm leaves that blocked our path. "Keya has a sadistic side."