Never Go Off-Script

Chapter 6 - Archer's POV

"Where the hell are we?"

My voice broke the eerie silence, and after wading through the quiet swamp for hours, it felt like I'd shouted. Every noise we made here was amplified — even the quiet swishing sound of my horse walking through the waist-deep water sounded ten times louder than it should.

My horse whinnied beneath me as if responding to my question. How should I know? she seemed to ask.

I peered down at my map spread across my crossed legs (I didn't want my boots dragging in the disgusting swamp water). If I were as half-witted as the rest of the heroes, it would be useless to attempt to read the map when all it showed was an aerial view of the canopy shielding the swamp. But seeing as I'm me, I studied the map anyway, seeing similarities in the clumps of trees.

If my map-reading skills were accurate — which they definitely were; years of hero work would do that to you — then we should be nearing the thickest area of the swamp, right before it drained into the South Sea.

Honestly, I had no idea where I was supposed to go — I mean, all the quest scroll said was to "take a look around the swamp". And so I had been, for at least three hours. But the most interesting thing I'd seen so far was a glowing bullfrog the size of my head.

I sighed, taking in the swamp around me. "I thought this would be more exciting," I grumbled.

My horse snorted, which is a normal thing for horses to do, but it sounded strangely mocking when she did it.

I glared down at the back of her head. "Don't laugh at me, you nightmare. It's not like you have any idea what we're supposed to be searching for. You're just a horse."

She shook out her mane, and I smirked. "Exactly. Just shut up and keep walking."

As if to spite me, she stopped. The rhythmic swish, swish of her steps halted, and the swamp fell into that eerie silence once more.

"Hey, what did I just say —" My words trailed off when I glanced up from my map to come face-to-face with a cluster of tiny floating lights, dancing around each other in the air before us. They floated leisurely as a group, slowly weaving their way through the trees, as peaceful as a leaf floating in a stream. I couldn't help but watch with bated breath, as if scared I might blow them away if I breathed too hard.

The weirdest part? It seemed like they were guiding me forward.

"Follow them," I urged my horse in a whisper, and she hesitated for a moment before starting forward again, more quickly now that she had a goal.

We waded after the floating lights further into the thicket, and the deeper we ventured, the darker it became until the only light seemed to be coming from the tiny beings ahead of us. A chill settled over me, raising goosebumps on my arms, and I grabbed my cowl cloak out of my inventory, pulling the hood over my head. I guess it made sense, what with all the water and the thick branches blocking out the sun.

The lights suddenly rose higher, and a moment later, I felt myself ascend, too. The sounds of wading through water faded as my horse climbed up onto solid ground, her footsteps muffled, as though her hooves padded across grass — or moss, more likely.

Up ahead, I noticed more lights, swinging gently in the still air, beyond the tiny floating ones. Were those... lanterns?

The tiny lights dispersed, leaving me and my horse alone with the floating lanterns. As we got closer, though, the outline of an awning came into view, and it wasn't long before we stopped in front of a modest hut, silent upon the mossy island.

I surveyed the soft candlelight shining through the fogged windows, probably mineralized from being surrounded by salt water. Or maybe they'd just never been cleaned. Whatever the reason, the grime kept me from seeing inside the hut, and I couldn't help but wonder if it was intentional.