3rd Day of Needfest, 566 CY
The Lone Heath, Great Kingdom of Aerdy
It was like another world to Aslan.
To be sure, his homeland of Rekamifoke and the other nearby kingdoms back in Gravoland on Aarde had their fair share of swamps, although most of the ones that the paladin had personally ventured into for one reason or another were more like marshes, where tall swamp grasses like cattails, reeds and sedges like papyrus predominated. The vista that surrounded him now on all sides was as alien to his experience as the second level of Hell, which he had seen with his own eyes.
Aslan could only assume, or at least hope, that it wouldn't prove to be quite as hostile.
Trees were abundant here, although there were none that he could recognize. Argo and Caroline, eager to show off their familiarity with this terrain (to themselves more than him, it seemed to Aslan) identified the most common species as bald cypress; trees standing nearly a hundred foot tall (the paladin hadn't expected that) with branchless trunks that split into what almost looked like wide elephant's feet to the paladin as they entered the water. The tree trunks, including those of the red maples, black willows and cottonmouths that complimented the cypress, were all a gray or black color except on their north faces, where various green mosses covered them.
A thick, chilly fog surrounded them. Aslan estimated the visibility in any direction to be no more than sixty feet at best. Given the calculations he and Tojo had made back at the Brass Dragon before he had started teleporting, the time of day here should be just before sunset.
The paladin could hear a constant, indistinct whine in the distance, but could not identify it. The sound of numerous frogs were closer and much more familiar.
A blue heron, its long, lanky legs slowly stepping through the bog, eyed the newly arrived trio warily before resuming its intense examination of the shallow water beneath it.
The environment was so humid, the paladin felt like he was breathing in as much water as air. But the single most distressing aspect of this place for Aslan was the ground.
Or rather, the lack of it.
He and the Bigfellows were standing in freezing water to a depth of perhaps six to eight inches. Below it was nothing but mud; mud that made a sucking sound every time one of the three humans lifted their foot to take another step.
The sound was apropos, since the suction of the mud very nearly tore the leather boots from their feet with every step.
For Aslan and Argo, this would not normally have been an issue. The bulky plate mail that both warriors wore included metallic boots that were attached by straps to the greaves that protected their legs.
Those two particular suits of armor, however, were now a thousand leagues away.
"I know wearing light armor in this environment makes sense," Aslan grumbled as he tried to tug the hard leather spaulders of his armor into a more comfortable position for the fifth time in as many minutes and again without success, "but I think now I'd rather have chanced it. I haven't worn this type of armor in going on ten years now, when I first started on as Svorlin's apprentice."
"It's only been about three for me," Argo replied as he inspected his own suite of leather armor that he, along with Aslan, had appropriated from Yenom's caravan, "but I'm forced to agree with you. This feels strange."
The big ranger gave the paladin his famous pained smile.
"Once you go plate, going back is too late."
Aslan gave Argo a sour eye. "Is that really an Oerth expression?"
Bigfellow shrugged. "Nah. I just made that one up."
"Do us all a favor and leave the poetry to the bards," Aslan replied with a sigh.
That whine he had noticed on their arrival was growing louder.
"The first time you tripped and fell over in those metal caskets would be your last," said Caroline Bigfellow, looking at both men but mostly at Aslan. "How many times could you teleport yourself out of a mass of quicksand, Aslan, before you exhausted your Talent? Besides, swamp water rusts metal faster than sea air. Even this shirt I'm wearing now feels uncomfortable," the young woman added, tugging at the layer of fabric padding, getting moister by the minute, that lay beneath the chainmail links of her shirt.
"We'll have to manage," Aslan said, trying to sound resolute and eyeing the big ranger with an expectant air, "In any case, this is more or less the spot on our map where Gastar and Yenom indicated the new location of Orzdi should be," he said, using the unofficial Old Oeridian name of Argo Bigfellow Senior's encampment, which was one of several rebel enclaves in the Lone Heath. "Any idea where we actually are?" the paladin finished with an expansive gesture of both hands indicating the complete and utter lack of any sign of human habitation around them.
Argo bit his lip as he examined their surroundings once again.
"Yes, but somewhere in a swamp is probably not what you're looking for."
"You're lucky my metal gauntlets are back home," Aslan responded with a half-hearted attempt at a wry smile.
"We can't go traipsing off blindly now," Caroline said, shaking her head. "We need to find some high ground and get a shelter up quickly."
Her husband nodded in confirmation, then blew air through his lips as he squatted down to examine the water more closely.
Aslan frowned. "We're all well-rested and we've got plenty of light sources with us. Why can't we get right to the case at hand and find your people, Bigfellow?"
Argo straightened up again but addressed his wife, not the paladin.
"Bit of a current heading east. Best chance of finding firm terra would be west," he said, pointing in the direction Aslan assumed was west, although in this fog he hadn't a clue.
Caroline nodded and set off, the other two right behind her.
A bit annoyed now, Aslan was about to repeat his question, to which he had yet to receive a reply, when he noticed the ever-present whine was rapidly increasing in volume.
"What is that?" the paladin asked. "Should we be worried about it?"
The big ranger's pained smile now held a healthy dose of genuine solemnity.
"Technically yes, but since there's absolutely nothing we can do about it, don't waste your sweat," he replied. "That'll only make it worse, anyway."
"What are you talking about?" Aslan persisted. He was about to physically stop Argo from walking any further when he notice Caroline looking back at him and pointing back in the direction they had come.
A huge, indistinct, fuzzy black mass was emerging from the fog-induced limits of their visibility and flying directly at them.
"Sunset in the swamp," Aslan heard Argo say without a trace of humor in his voice as the whining cloud enveloped them.
Aslan had never experienced a mosquito assault- there was simply no other word for it- like this in his entire life. The ones they'd experienced in the Vesve a few months ago were nothing compared to this.
They were everywhere. Biting, clinging, climbing, sticking, burrowing. The sensation was swiftly moving from irritating to maddening.
Soon enough, it would become deadly. Already Aslan could see reddish welts covering his hands where he'd he squashed numerous bugs, only to have them replaced a hundredfold seconds later.
Worse, he couldn't think of a single application of his Talent that would be effective in this situation although to be fair, thinking coherently was rapidly becoming a losing proposition.
"Come on!"
With his hand tightly covering his mouth for reasons that were intuitively obvious, Argo's voice was muffled but still understandable from context. The three broke out into as much of a run as the bog would allow with the big ranger in the lead.
Aslan couldn't begin to fathom how Argo had been able to locate the patch of dry ground, which was perhaps twenty to thirty feet across at the most and a foot above the water level at its height in this encroaching darkness, but it was such a glorious sight to his now-swollen eyes that after the paladin gave silent thanks to Odin in his head for their deliverance, he threw in a quick one to Zeus as well.
The three lay in the darkness on their bedrolls inside the tent.
The Bigfellows had been prepared, Aslan had to admit. Now he knew why Argo had insisted on packing a four-man tent instead of individual pup tents for each of them. It has seemed an additional, unnecessary weight for Argo, the strongest among them, to have to carry but now the big ranger's forethought had been all too clear. Three people in a four-man tent allowed them to huddle close in the center, away from the tent walls.
Even with the bug netting draped over them, those walls were alive now with the sharp proboscises of thousands of mosquitos, probing and poking in an attempt to pierce the warm, breathing flesh they could sense lay on the other side.
Aslan assuaged himself with the knowledge that he had helped. Once the tent had been assembled but before they scrambled into it, the paladin had motioned for both Bigfellows to lay down flat on the ground.
He had then expended his remaining Talent by firing off several psionic blasts, covering a circle around them as he rotated around clockwise. Every mosquito caught in the field had dropped dead, but the respite had only been enough for about ten seconds, which fortunately was just long enough for the three to scramble inside. Once safely ensconced, Aslan had used his paladin's grace to heal everyone. Even Argo had not made a single wisecrack, only a weary nod of thanks while receiving the divine blessing.
Aslan knew enough not to use any kind of light source, for that would attract ten times as many insects to their locale in a matter of minutes. The muffled, continuous whine made sleep a lost cause, so the trio just lay there in the darkness.
Eventually, Caroline spoke.
"Aslan?" the young woman asked. "What do you think about Elrohir's plan?"
The paladin took a deep breath while considering the question.
"I'll be honest, Caroline. I just don't know," he admitted. "In theory, it could work; I can't imagine the Emerald Serpent passing up a chance to destroy us once and for all like that if they think we're vulnerable."
Aslan tried to put a smile into his voice. "Especially with you and Argo now dead."
He heard Argo chuckle. "And in the prime of my life, too."
"Now we all know the Serpent members are paranoid to a degree that would put Cygnus to shame," the paladin went on. "It all boils down as to whether we can sufficiently estimate and counter whatever precautions and reconnaissance our enemies are sure to employ if they do decide to take our bait."
He shook his head in the dark.
"It's risky, Caroline. Very risky and I don't like that. Add to the fact that we'll be putting the lives of Yenom and Gastar on the line along with ours, not to mention that of Ukansis, if he agrees to this."
"We help them, Aslan; they help us," came Argo's voice again.
"They've never dealt directly with the Emerald Serpent before," the paladin responded. "There are too many variables involved for me to be comfortable with this and most of them involve magic, which I'm obviously not familiar with."
"But you agreed."
Aslan sighed again.
"Yes, Caroline. I agreed. Elrohir is our leader and my friend," he said softly. "I think the die is cast. The sooner we can find Orzdi and I can teleport home, the easier I'll breathe."
Silence settled in again for a few seconds.
"This is for either of you," Aslan asked after a bit. "How do any of you ever manage to sleep here? Does this happen every night?"
"Most nights above freezing, it does," responded Argo's voice. "But we developed a paste we call mosquito murderer; it's an alchemical substance brewed from local plants and it does a very good job at keeping them at bay. Every single child here is taught how to create the stuff once they come of age."
"I used the last of mine back when the Brass Dragon was attacked by the Outlaws last Planting," Caroline added, her voice soft from the memory. "It was a placebo; I was trying to save Jack the bartender's life."
"You didn't try, love. You did save his life," her husband said and even in the darkness Aslan knew that the ranger had placed an arm around his wife.
Caroline shrugged. "It was Monsrek who saved him," she said,
"And who kept him alive until he could do that?"
Not having a response to Argo, Caroline fell silent.
"The worst enemy we've ever faced is not Nodyath," the ranger said quietly. "Or the Emerald Serpent or the Slave Lords or Iuz or even Kar-Vermin. The worst enemy we've ever faced is ourselves."
"We conquer doubt," Argo Bigfellow Junior's voice carried through the darkness, "and we can conquer anything."
Aslan could hear him settling down in the bedroll.
"That," Argo said, "is one of the few good things I actually learned from my father."
There was no more conversation. Aslan heard Argo and Caroline kissing each other good night and murmured words of devotion and then the Bigfellows turned in.
Despite the noise, Aslan would later be surprised at how quickly he actually fell asleep.