Enchanted Ch. 13

"That's... in the dark?" Steff asked as they peered over the edge.

"Can you conjure up lights?" Red asked.

John sighed and reached inside himself. He shook his head a moment later. "I'm spent," he admitted. "That lock took the last of my power."

"Well, let's take what we can then. I don't trust two of us at a time on stairs or ladders, adding the weight of a loaded iron chest is sure to send us to the bottom the quick way," Red said.

John grimaced and nodded. He opened the largest chest and took out the books. He cast about for some way to carry them but none of the sacks of coins were large enough. He scowled and was about to give up when he remember Zynga.

John snapped his fingers and called out, "Zynga! Where are you."

"Right here," she muttered from behind him.

Red looked at her and frowned. "We could have used your help."

"You could have," Zynga agreed. "You did fine without me though, didn't you?"

John pointed at the books. "I need you to take those to the ship."

Zynga glared at him and then began to gather up the books. "Yes, Master," she grumbled before turning and heading for the stairs.

"I'll take my sister," Red said. "I'll go last too, in case our weight together is too much."

"Steff, you go first," John offered. "That way we don't get separated."

Steff snorted and followed after Zynga. She didn't noticed that the halfling was nowhere to be seen ahead of her. John gathered up the daggers and slipped them into the deep pockets of his robe before tying two more sacks of coins together and hanging them over his staff. He wrapped his thumb around the knot so they wouldn't slide off as he followed Steff down. Red came last, her sister's body slung over her shoulder like a sack of grain.

By the time they were standing on the ground it was fully dark. The jungle was alive with sounds: Rustling of leaves and sticks, insects buzzing and whistling, growls and shrieks of unseen animals, and the whisper of a breeze blowing through the tops of trees. Steff led them back, moving slowly because of her leg and to be sure they weren't making too much noise and drawing attention to themselves.

The sounds of the jungle pressed in on them, adding to the weight of the darkness and forcing them to quicken their step as much as they dared. They smelled smoke before long, causing a mix of hope and worry. Soon the smoke gave way to the tiny flames of a campfire flickered through the trees ahead of them urging them on and boosting their spirits.

Steff emerged from the trail first and then came to a halt. Sticks broken off the huts had been gathered and some were piled together and smoldering. There was no one at the campfire though.

"That's been burning a while," John mused as he looked at the campfire. "All those coals and only a few still burning? An hour maybe?"

"Find them," Red snapped.

"Aye," Steff said and slipped away to look into the huts and around them. John studied the ground and the fire before turning his attention to the dock. He stepped onto it, testing the rotting timbers before risking his full weight on them, and saw the Red Witch was still anchored in the lake nearby. He turned back and froze. He blinked and leaned forward, peering into the darkness on the far side of the campfire.

"They're not here," Steff said as she came around the back side of a hut. She held up a pair of pants and said, "I found these though. They were Barb's."

"Her breeches?" Red asked. She stared at them and then glanced at John. "Why just her pants? If they were going to fuck, why leave the campfire?"

"Maybe she had to relieve herself?"

Red turned on him. "Have you ever seen a woman squat in the woods?"

"Uh... no, actually."

"We don't take our damn pants off to do it!" she said. "Would you?"

John tugged at his robe and shrugged. "I don't see why though, just lower them enough to do your business."

A stick cracked in the jungle. Something rattled some vines and shook some leaves.

"Barb? Alec" Red hissed.

The jungle went silent around them.

"Back to the boat," Red snapped.

John motioned for Steff to go and then made sure Red went next. He grabbed the bags of coins off his spear and held them in his left hand and his spear in the right. He wasn't sure that he'd seen anything a few minutes ago, but now he was wondering. It had been a dark shape taller than a man. Furry to, he was sure... but the head wasn't like any man he'd ever seen. It almost seemed shaped like a wolf or a dog. Or maybe one of the splisskin, a creature that looked like a cross between a lizard and a man? Except splisskin didn't have hair of any sort, let alone fur. Was the dark playing tricks on him?

Steff cursed anew a moment later. "They're gone!" she whispered.

Red spun about, searching the trees and the ground. There were tracks aplenty in the mud at the water's edge, but nothing to explain where the four men set to guard the boat had gone.

"I didn't hear anyone screaming like a maiden about to be ravaged," John said.

Red scowled. "The cowards must have take the boat back to the Red Witch. I'll have their—"

"Captain, the boat's still here," Steff pointed out.

Red twisted away from the jungle and saw the boat. She clenched her teeth and let out a frustrated sigh through her nose.

"It's too quiet," John whispered.

"Into the boat," Red decided. "Steff, climb in, I'll hand you Mare."

Steff didn't bother responding, she just took a long step and landed on her good leg in the mud and jumped up and over the gunwale of the boat. She grunted as she slipped and fell over the bench. She was back up a moment later and reaching out to take Little Red and lay her near the back.

"John, get in," Red told him.

"The boat's too heavy, I'll help you push," he argued while tossing his spear and the sacks of coins into the boat.

"Fine, but if whatever's out there grabs you, it's on you."

John glanced over his shoulder and then turned grabbed the bow of the boat. Red grabbed it from the other side. She opened her mouth when a shrieking howl erupted from the jungle. John and Red locked eyes and both heaved at the same time. John slipped in the mud but the boat pushed free.

Red grabbed his arm and yanked, sliding across the mud and into the water more than helping him stand. He fumbled to his bare feet and felt the slimy mud squish between his toes. He pushed, sending the rowboat further away from shore and doing nothing to help him get over the edge and inside of it.

He heard a snarl right behind him. Instead of looking John pushed again and clung to the gunwale. "Come on then," Red said, reaching over the edge of the boat and grabbing John's robe. She tugged at it but it only pulled his robe up and bared his backside to the creature on the shore.

"Let me help!" Steff said.

"Row, damn it! Row or I'll have your other leg," Red snapped at her.

John kicked in the water but his feet were barely touching the muddy bottom. He hung from the side of the boat and tried to pull himself up. His arms and back ached and gave up, leaving him hanging and his grip slipping fast.

"Help," John hissed. "I can't hold on!"

Red let go. John bit back a curse. She'd gotten the treasure... most of it, anyhow. She didn't need him anymore. Was this how she got rid of him? He looked up and saw her draw her saber.

"Wait!" he pleaded.

Red's swung was high. She missed his head but he felt the air of its passage. He almost let go. Better to wade back to shore and run from whatever was after them than face the crazed sailor.

Fire burned through his back. The agony along his shoulder sent a jolt through him and helped his arms find enough strength to pull him closer to the boat just in time. A snarl and the stink of hot fetid breath washed over him. John gagged and jerked his head around to look back. He saw white teeth amidst dark fur. Red slashed again and John heard the wet impact of her steel hitting the beast behind him. It jerked back and stood still in the belly deep water. It howled a second time, it's cry one of frustration and anger.

Answer howls from the shore sent ice through John's veins. Red was there then, her saber clattering to the bottom of the boat while she grabbed John's arms and pulled. He managed to get an arm over and then swung a leg up. Red grabbed the leg and helped him get it over the edge. With another tug she pulled him into the boat.

"Row!" Red panted. "Get us to my ship!"

John picked himself up. His back was in agony and he had fresh bumps and bruises from crashing onto the bench. He looked over the side of the boat though and saw the dark shapes along the water's edge, not to mention the one that was still in the water. It waded out deeper toward them, shaking dark furry fists tipped with claws. Claws that dripped John's blood in the water.

"This is why smart mages live in towers," John muttered.

"I don't think it can swim," Red said. "We should be safe."

John opened his mouth. Before he could speak the water surged up around the creature and a dark shape made more ominous by the darkness opened a large mouth filled with teeth and clamped down on the furry creature. It thrashed and pulled him under the water. The water churned up and roiled where they struggled for over a minute. The creatures on the shore snarled and howled the entire time until the water grew still. Ripples followed the latest predator as it sped back into the depths of the lake with its prey clutched in its mouth.

John turned around and slumped down in the long boat. He panted for breath and hoped he wasn't getting too much blood on Red's boat.