They bolted through the swamp, struggling through heavy veils of leafy tendrils and hacking aside vines. Judd had quickly lost sight of the girl. The only tracks he was following were the disturbed leaves, the ripples in the water and the fading footprints in the mud. Eventually even those tracks became too faint for him to see. He continued in the general direction, Aalis, Verne and Caste sprinting to keep up.
Then Judd gave a yell and they climbed over the roots of a mangrove to see him writhing on the ground, clutching his right calf, howling in pain.
“What happened?” Aalis cried, running to his side.
“Stay out of the water!” He managed to squeeze out between screams of agony. “Something…a plant bit me!”
“A plant?” Aalis tore his trousers, exposing his calf. Her spin tingled at the sight of a curve of angry red teeth marks in his skin. And in the veins around the bite, she could see the evidence of dark poison starting to flow.
Verne looked over her shoulder. “That is one angry plant…” He said in his low voice.
“I need to halt the poison’s advance,” Aalis gasped, hunting frantically through her pack and drawing out a length of bandage, “Judd, try to hold still!”
“It burns!” Judd whimpered. “Aalis…it hurts so much!”
“Verne, hold him down!” Aalis wrapped the bandage around Judd’s upper leg and forced herself to tie it tightly. Judd’s screech made her fall back as his back arched then he collapsed on the ground. “Judd?”
“I…I’m alright.” His white complexion and dilated eyes said otherwise.
“We need to get out of this place,” Aalis looked at the water fearfully, “but I’m not sure we can risk moving him…”
“Help me up.” Judd groaned and grunted, leaning heavily on Verne. “Caste!”
“I’m safe here, thank you very much.” Caste said, clutching all their packs on a mangrove root.
“The more Judd moves his leg, the faster the poison will spread. You need to help him!”
“And go where? Have you any idea where we are or where we should go?”
Aalis’ soft temperament began to flare up. “Caste, you selfish human being, we cannot just give up!”
“I told you shortcuts were a bad idea!”
“That is not helping!”
“Why don’t we follow the girl?”
Aalis and Caste looked at Verne who nodded towards a tree trunk where a pair of fearful eyes peered out at them from around its girth. As they watched, she wriggled her fingers at them to come closer.
“She wants us to go with her…”
“Yes, because that’s not going to…”
Caste’s words were cut off as Aalis’ hand slapped over his mouth.
“Judd’s life is at stake!”
“It could be all our lives!” Caste roared, ripping her hand away.
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“What do you want to do, Judd?” Verne asked.
Judd’s lifted his head, his screaming stopped but the pain evidenced by the tears streaming down his face.
“Follow her…”
They stumbled and tripped in their haste to follow the girl, Judd’s weight becoming heavier with every step. His arms were around Verne and Aalis’ shoulders and he tried to hop in sync with their steps but even the smallest jarring of his leg made him cry out. Because he would not carry Judd, Caste was expected to carry both his own and Judd’s pack, doing his best to keep up despite his protestations.
“Do you have any idea where we are?” Verne whispered urgently at Aalis.
She shook her head. The girl wove and darted, leading them across a series of small solid islands that ended at a hedge of vines and willowy tendrils. She urged them forward and pulled the vines aside like a curtain. The four travellers squeezed through the opening then gazed at the settlement they had come upon with astonishment.
Reed and stick domed huts were built on bamboo scaffolding and connected with numerous tunnels of arched and bound reeds. The scaffolding and bridges were all above the water, at least a foot high so Aalis suspected that the residents were well aware of the danger lurking within the green opaque depths. The only way to reach the village, unless you dared to foolishly swim the swamp water, was by swing bridges.
The start of one such bridge was nearby and the girl leapt onto it and waved them to follow her.
“We have come this far…” Aalis swallowed. They could not walk three abreast on the swing bridge so she had to let Verne take Judd’s weight. Judd clung to the rope rail, wincing and moaning, panting through the pain. There were insects aplenty buzzing in the air and Caste swatted wildly at them.
“Keep still.” Verne snapped at him, Caste’s frantic motions rocking the bridge.
“Ah, they’re in my tunic!”
He flapped his clothes madly as they crossed the swing bridge.
“Where did the girl go?”
Aalis couldn’t see her for a moment, a smoky haze surrounded the strange waterlogged village. Then the girl appeared from around one of the huts, leading three women with the same swamp stained skin, wild matted hair and reed and leaf clothing.
“Please,” Aalis said, edging forward, her arms outstretched, her palms facing upwards in what she hoped was a peaceful gesture, “please, help us…my friend was bitten by a plant in the water…”
The lead woman with skin like crumpled parchment and eyes as dark as monster blood, glared daggers at them. The girl spoke in a strange voice and so fast, her words were one continuous blur. The woman lifted her head and nodded then gestured for them to come.
Aalis let out the breath she was holding. “Come on,” she urged Caste as the woman bade them to enter one of the huts, “they said we could go inside.”
“I’m not going in there! We’re probably on the menu for their supper!” Caste swiped endlessly at the insects.
“There are no bugs in here!”
Caste dove into the hut, a beaded string curtain clattering aside then falling back into place, keeping the creatures outside. The floor of the huts was spongy, made from lashing reeds and bamboo together. All the huts were circular and joined together by the arched, reed tunnels. Smaller circular rooms also existed off the larger ones and into one of those Judd was lain. He panted and puffed, his face as white as powder and streaked with sweat.
“Can you help him?” Aalis implored the woman whom she guessed to be the village leader or hopefully, a healer.
The woman looked to the entrance to the hut where three young women had appeared, the girl at the front probably less than fifteen summers. The woman chattered in her rapid way and the girl came forward and knelt by Judd’s side, Aalis shifting out of the way to allow her to inspect the wound. She touched the tourniquet and looked at the older woman who said something unintelligible.
The girl leaned down to the wound and put her lips over the bite marks.
“What is she doing?” Caste hissed.
“Sucking the poison out.” Aalis guessed, feeling terrible that she had not thought to do the same.
The girl sucked strongly until the older woman barked something at her then she raised her head. Aalis expected her to spit the poison to the side but to her horror, the girl swallowed.
“What are you doing!” Aalis cried as the girl slumped backwards, her eyes rolling around in her head. “You just drank poison!”
The older woman waved at the other two girls who helped their friend or sister to her feet and half carried her out of the hut. Then she turned back to Aalis, Verne and Caste.
“If the man child is strong, he will survive what remains of the proving.”
“Proving?” Aalis demanded as the woman walked away, Caste cringing to the side as she passed by him. “What proving?”
“Strangers are not welcome here. Whether or not he lives, you will leave tomorrow.”
At the end of her clipped, awkward speech, she turned on her heel and left.