“I refuse.” Peregrine said, her arms crossed and her voice firm. “I’d rather drown at sea than on land.”

  “The Great Road is much safer, and these lizardkin aren’t much better than pirates.” Lish pointed out. “If your father knew–”

  “I agree with the countess on this one.” Bastian cut her off, running a hand through his hair and scanning the dark clouds over Servalt. He would have to figure out a way to politely remind Lish that she was about to live in a free city full of non-elves and now is the time to rethink her prejudice… hopefully before they arrived in Peldeep. He should probably discuss it with Peregrine first - she’d otherwise been open-minded and accepting with him, but his growing obsession with the elf could be clouding his judgement.

  Peregrine announced, “We’ll charter a boat and that’s final!”

  Lish bit her tongue. The maid had made a valid point - entering the Dark Enchanted Forest via the Great Road was safer than entering the forest literally anywhere else. The swamp, the wood, the mountains… everywhere that didn’t touch the road shifted and moved around.

  The swamp spread out across the south east of Nilheim. Worst case, they’d land back where they started, or near Lake Loria, or at the brackish sea where the swamp met Drendil. Either way, it usually took three to four days to cross the forest when travelling the Great Road, and they had ten days to reach Peldeep.

  “Let’s return the horses to Cutter’s Edge, get some sleep, and head down to the water first thing. We’ll see if anyone has room for us on their ship.” Bastian offered. “If not, we'll brave the dread rain.”

  …

  “I’m starting to think the forest has it out for us.” Peregrine mused.

  They’d readily chartered a boat headed to Kith Bog at first light and their trip had been uneventful thus far - but for one small problem. No matter which direction they travelled, the boat inevitably landed near the Drendil border in the south west. For the third time today their small vessel had turned a corner and arrived in Pitter’s Pen, a house-sized glade surrounded by wild persimmon trees just starting to bloom. It was a lovely stretch of colour in the otherwise green of the swamp, with a faintly fruity scent that rose above the musty loam.

  Nealith, their lizardkin captain, was not happy. He was sitting at the front of his fishing vessel, using a long pole to push them through the wetlands. The shallow draft boat was wide enough that Peregrine and Lish could sit comfortably side by side without rubbing shoulders on the middle bench. Bastian took up the rear.

  “Thisss is going to cost you for the extra time, I’m afraid.” Nealith’s deep voice pronounced the ess’s like most lizardkin. “And it’sss going to cossst me too.”

  “We’ll cover your expenses,” Peregrine offered readily, sounding apologetic. “If that helps.”

  “That’sss not what worriesss me.” He frowned, shading his eyes from the sun high overhead. “The missesss expected me home today; I don’t want her to worry.”

  A gentle song drifted through the budding persimmons, soft and delicate and beautiful. Nealith jumped to his feet and grabbed a lump of wax from an open crate near his boot.

  “Everyone hurry and ssstuff your earsss.” He said, hastily pulling off clumps of wax and handing them out.

  Bastian did as he was instructed, asking before he put in the second piece, “What is it?”

  “Kelpie,” The fisherman said, “Their songs will [Charm] you into the water. Leave this to me–”

  “We could help,” Peregrine cut in, suddenly holding a longbow in one hand.

  Whatever Neatith replied was lost as Bastian put in the second piece of wax.

  [You have equipped [Enchanted Wax]. Temporary Special Status: Magically Deaf. While equipped, you take 20% less damage to [Sound] based attacks and you ignore Passive [Sound] based effects. Abilities influenced by your hearing are not available.]

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  Nealith held up a hand and shook his head, rejecting Peregrine’s help. He pointed to the bench, then gripped his long pole and pulled it out the muck of the marsh, running his free hand over it as he did so. The water and dirt separated itself from the wood and flew in muddy droplets back into the swamp. Peregrine lowered her bow, but didn't put it away. Bastian was ready to activate a shield if it was needed, and Lish, he noted, was holding a thin fillet knife.

  They waited in silence, though maybe it was just his wax-stuffed ears.

  A ripple of water rocked the boat as a shadow swept past in the dark depths below. The ripples gently lapped out until they faded.

  Peregrine noticed it first, shouting an unheard warning as a dark grey horselike beast with long wicked fangs jumped out of the water straight at Nealith. The beast had black eyes like a seal, and three slits in the side of its neck. It was the size of a draft horse but unnaturally thin, with a straggly wet mane a dark and shiny green almost black. It reeked of fish and death.

  The Kelpie shot out of the water at the front of the boat, it snapping teeth barely missing Nealith’s nape before he dodged. The back of its body was a monstrous tail that struggled to find hold on the pointed curve of the bow and the kelpie fell back into the water, splashing everyone with swamp water. Bastian had to resist the urge to wipe his eyes.

  Nealith clambered back onto the bench and lifted his pole straight up to the sky. He shouted and all of the water in the boat rose up into the air. With a flick of his wrist, it followed the pole’s direction and landed back into the swamp. Then he shook his pole at the lake, shouting something.

  This time there was no warning. The kelpie suddenly appeared on the water's surface without leaving a ripple as if it had teleported there. Gone was it's aquatic tail, replaced with legs. It leapt, zigzaging off of the water’s surface and leaving small ripples where its hooves touched down. The beast launched itself, head down, attempting to butt Nealith over the edge. The lizardkin slid off the bench and ducked, his feet hitting the floor and sending it rocking gently.

  The kelpie landed on the other side, disappearing back into the water.

  Peregrine lifted her bow, but the lizardkin waved her away, holding up a single finger. He frowned and turned his eyes back to the water.

  Bastian was not the kind to sit back in a fight, but he was raised in a militia and knew how to take orders. It didn’t mean that he liked it. Peregrine appeared to share his sentiment. She eyed the water cautiously, but released her nocked arrow, choosing to trust in their hired guide.

  The kelpie circled the boat several times, before approaching in a rapidly accelerating arc. This time it was clearly aiming to ram the boat and capsize it.

  Nealith was ready for it. As the kelpie turned sharply to hit its shoulder against the boat, his pole snaked out and struck the beast’s gills just below the water line.

  The kelpie spasmed, its line of attack moving off course and skidding off of the boat. Its head came out of the water as it whinnied an agonized cry that they couldn’t hear. Nealith took that moment to try and hit it in the gills once more, but its tail whipped out of the water.

  The tail wrapped around the pole, pulling it out of Nealith’s hand and almost toppling the lizardkin off the boat with it.

  Bastian couldn’t hear him, but Nealith definitely cursed like a sailor at the loss of his pole.

  The loss was short-lived when the pole shot out of the water and hit him square in the forehead, sending him toppling over the bench and landing painfully against the crates. With their guide down, Peregrine jumped to her feet ready to defend against another attack - only to get attacked by the newly returned pole shoved at her from a grumbling Nealith.

  Bastian accepted the ferryman's intentions, but moved his hand in between the pair - stopping the pole before it touched his fiancé.

  The lizardkin took out his earplugs. Bastian followed suite, just in time to hear Peregrine ask.

  "Why didn't you let me shoot it?"

  "Because kelpie move in herds, of course!" Nealith shook himself and then staggered unsteady to his feet. Bastian felt the hair on the back of his neck bristle when he used that voice on Peregrine, but he couldn't very well attack or insult their escort.

  Not when they were in the middle of a swamp. And logically, Bastian knew the lizardkin was nursing an injury on one side.

  Nealith added, "And they're cowards - the second you resist their song or land a good hit, they run away. Or swim away."

  "Really?" Peregrine frowned, "All of the stories say they appear alone to lure people to their death..."

  "They lure people onto their back to take back to the herd, or into the water to drown them and then drag them back to the herd. They're just oversized carnivorous water horses." Nealith explained.

  "Technically," Lish interrupted. "They are monsters."

  "Whatever." Nealith glared at the maid. Shifting his pole, he stuck the poor battered thing too hard in the muck and it splintered.

  “That’s it." The lizardkin said, angrily yanking the longer half of the pole out of the mud and then digging it back in to turn the fishing boat around and launch them back the way they'd come. "I’m done! This journey is over!”

  Not that it mattered which direction he chose in a sentient moving forest…