Several moments of silence go by. I peered into the shadows to try and see something, nut my eyes weren't nearly good enough. Then I heard a faint noise. It was a very quiet hum, then it turned into a watery noice. A silouette appeared from the tunnel. I stood still, like Tokage was. I realized that the colors of her scaled matched almost perfectly to her surroundings, the brilliant green, with dappled off-white and yellow as the sunspots on the ground. The man emerged completely, then several more appeared behind him. They bore axes and swords. The two of us didn't stand a fighting chance. Without warning, Tokage bellowed out loudly. The low sounds seemed to vibrate the entire swamp. The soldiers tightened their grip on their weapons and waited impatiently, trying to see where the replying trogs would come from. The answer was everywhere. They crawled up the side of the waterfall like cockroaches, and slithered in the tall grass unseen. Before the men realized it, they were almost surrounded by bloodthirsy reptiles wanting revenge for earlier.
The battle began once a trog had leapt at someone farther to the dry land than the others. The trog dug his talons into the man's back, and using his clawed forearms, reached around and sliced open the man's throat. He screamed for a moment as clashing of steel and spikes soon filled the atmosphere. I felt helpless, and if this was going to be my new home, I had to help defend it. I ran over to the man with a bloody mass on his neck and grabbed his sword. Realizing how heavy swords are, I tried to swing it, but could barely lift it. Mustering up my strength, I rose it above my left shoulder and swung it to the right, slashing a soldier's stomache, and spilling blood and entrails into the water. My arms were killing me, so I had to drop the sword, but it didn't matter. This fight was almost over with. Two trogs had a man cornered, the last living soldier. One jumped up and clung to his chest while she went to slash his throat, but he slung her into the rock wall behing him and started running towards me. He stumbled on a rock and fell, still coming towards me. Thinking fast, I stomped on the hilt of the sword, tilting the blade upward. The soldier's face was driven right through the blade, only its crimson tip now visable, emerging from the back of his head. The limp body just lay there. After staring at the mass of blood along the water's edge, it struck me that I actually just killed someone. I had taken life from another to keep my own. Making sure no trog was part of the bloody mass, I used a dead branch to knock it all into the flowing water, which took it down the waterfall. I sat down next to the same tree again, panting. The other trogs were catching their breath too. I rubbed my shoulder. Just swinging that sword once about pulled my arm right out. Tokage skurried over the water to where I was. She looked at me and smiled, showing blood covered fangs.
"That was awesome, Kiara! I forgot you had aposable thumbs, so that sword trick caught me by surprise!"
"Well, I'm glad you liked it… 'Bout dislocated my arm… Swords are too heavy for me to dash around with. If I'' gonna be fighting, I need a nice, convienient light-weight weapon."
"Well, what about claws? They aren't too heavy, and they certainly are convienient… Just use that biologic magic on your nails."
"…Biologic magic? Didn't know it held such a title…" I looked down at my hands. I covered one with the other and said an incantation. My fingers trembled and felt like they just exploded. I gritted my teeth to keep from screaming, but when I removed my hand, I had claws instead of nails. They were silvery, and were certainly heavier than one would think. They were about an inch long, and looked sharp, and a great deal stronger than a human's regular nails. I clenched and unclenched my hand, trying to get rid of the sharp pains and that tingley feeling. Well, I guess I had to do it to the other hand too. I placed my clawed hand over the other, then repeated the same spell. Baring my teeth, I managed not to yelp. After the reddish light had faded, I moved my hand to find one with the same claws. I shook it out to get the feel of it.
"Wow, that's perfect! Use 'em on something."
"Use them?" I looked around. There was small fencing leading up to the wooden brige, probably from the humans who'd tried to inhabit the Shadowmire before they discovered trogs. I walked over to the wooden posts, drew my hand back, then through it forward, claws outstretched. My hand went right through the tough wood like a hot knife to butter. Scraps of wood flew out, and the grass was covered with small wood chips. I just stood there and blinked, looking from my claws, to the shredded post, then back again to hy claws.
"See? They almost never dull, and you can't beat convienience!"
"So, if I am going to stay here, where would the best place be?"
The others had already gone back to whatever they had been doing before. Tokage yawned and thought for a moment. "Hey, I got it! You probably won't want to sleep in the swamps, there's almost no dry place, and we have the place booby trapped in case any creature had entered undetected, so it's best not to wander around. There's a tunnel northeast of here, which lets out at the legendary Tree of Mourning. I've heard it's a beautiful clearing, with the tree in the very center. I've always wanted to visit it, but I've never had a legitimate reason. You could build a shelter there, using materials from the swamp."
Hmmm, Tree of Mourning… Sounds like something you'd hear in a story. "Well," I said, smiling at Tokage, "let's see about this tree, eh?"
She nodded her head. We turned to face the wobbly wooden bridge. I walked over to the first plank, and kneeled down. Placing my hands on the edge, I used alchemy to rearrange the planks to form a nice, sturdy but narrow board. I stood up, and placing one foot in front of the other, I tiptoed across the board and hopped onto the other side. I turned around to watch Tokage, who scampered along with her tail straight. We traveled down the steaduly sloped land until we reached the lower part of the swamp, where you had to practically swim where you wanted to go. The water came up above my waist, and right at Tokage's shoulders. There were spots of land, and we would crawl onto it and rest our legs. There were frequent caves along the watery path we were taking, and Tokage said that they are used as torture rooms for humans. As we neared another cave, we heard a faint voice. It was a human's voice.