The Tail of the Sword and Shield #Wattys2020

Chapter 11: What Purpose Does A Sidequest Serve?

Cordelia and Volsair packed up their gear and set out on the beginning of next time daylight came. Taking into account the terrain of the route, Stormbringer, stayed with the Fae, Volsair knew he would be taken care of.

The trek was uneventful until they reached the swamp. It grew dark faster because of the canopy of foliage above them. Cordelia stayed close to Volsair when he lit the oil lamp they had brought with them, the warm glow of the lit wick emanated from the glass panes of the lamp.

The air was thick with humidity, and there was the scent of rotten eggs. Frogs croaked to one another, lightning bugs hovered over the green scummy looking muck of water. There was a narrow path that was made of irregularly shaped smooth stones that were a spaced a pace apart.

As far as Volsair could tell, if it rained the path would be flooded. "We're on a deadline." Volsair sighed, anxiously scanning the tree line, then he walked out onto the stone path, Cordelia following him.

Cordelia wasn't afraid of the swamp, as far as she knew few magical beings cared for a swamp. Since they were on a job for a Faerie Queen, the duo was pretty much untouchable. What made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end was the constant feeling of being watched. It also didn't help with the occasional glowing red eyes that when it caught the lamplight and the unseen figure that would slink away. 

"Let's just get through here as quickly as we can. Something isn't sitting right with me." Cordelia said adjusting her blue scarf, so it would lay closer to her neck as if it would create a barrier between her and whoever or whatever was watching them.

The scenery hadn't changed much when Cordelia and Volsair decided to stop and rest for a little bit. They stopped on an island that had one thick trunked cypress tree in the center of the island. The island had little vegetation other than the cypress tree. After taking a look around the island, they lifted up the lantern to look up into the tree above them. Seeing no danger in the tree, they sat on the sandy ground at the base of the tree.

Volsair unsheathed his sword and laid it across his thighs. Cordelia sat next to him, with her knees close to her chin. They were quite until Volsiar jumped. "What's that?!" he exclaimed, pointing out into the swamp.

Cordelia sprang to her feet with her knives drawn expecting an attack. Seeing Volsair's sword hadn't moved, she took the hint and sat back down, knives still in hand. She peered out past their island, Volsair had been right, there was something there. Cordelia saw a bobbing pale yellow light, like someone signaling them. "Who would be out here at this hour?" Cordelia asked.

"Besides us?" Volsair asked, "No one in their right mind. Does it look like someone is trying to signal us?"

"I think we should ignore it and move on." Cordelia said re-sheathing her knives.

"Why do you say that?" Volsair asked. He agreed with her, something did feel off about the light. But, he wanted to hear her opinion on it. Even with his talisman on, he still cared about how Cordelia felt about things.

"It gives me a feeling of unease. How many people have gotten lost by following mysterious balls of light off the path?" Cordelia asked.

"Good question. And the answer to that is oddly less than you would think." Volsair said then he muttered to himself "It would have been a good idea to have made a working map of the paths of the swamp in case we had to backtrack. Too late for it now."

"Fine with me, no one will get past me, I'm dead weight when I'm asleep." Cordelia said watching the bobbing light, she vaguely remembered some story about hopping lights, that wasn't the will-o-the- wisps. All she could remember was the warning against following them. She shook her head, trying to break her concentration on the light.