IV. Danger (Chapter Two)

A flood of light nearly blinds you as you manage to locate your friends in the muddy waters, clinging onto each other and trembling. You squint about for the source of the light as your eyes adjust to the glare and see two gigantic orbs, beaming like lighthouse tops, hovering far above your heads. You can see now why the place is so dark; the trees that grow around the marsh have broad leaves that overlap each other so densely they form an impenetrable canopy above.

You are horror-struck as you take in the scene; in front of you stands a giant frog, though calling it such is a gross understatement. It is impossibly tall and built more akin to a mountain than an amphibian, with limbs the width of grain silos. Its hide is mottled with lumps the size of huts and there are all sorts of aquatic plants and trees that grow from its skin. You watch in terror as its throat bulges like a hot air balloon, and the creature unleashes a croak so devastatingly loud that the ground shakes and you are left with a tinny ringing in your ears.

“Are you deaf, you little squirts?” the amphibious king roars as his great glowing eyes scan the waters for his target. “Tell me who you are or I’ll swallow you whole!”

Soraya lets out a sound halfway between a squeak and a cough as she finds her voice.

“Oh…oh King Bates of the Marsh Frogs, sir. My name is Soraya Mudpearl…”

“MUDPEARL!” King Bates thrashes his feet so violently a towering wave of bog-water sends the three of you crashing backwards.

“Mudpearl! You of that accursed family. I sit here day and night watching my kin fall one by one to your so-called business. Well, no more!”

He opens a cavernous mouth and dives at you. You are forced to conjure the largest frost shield you can muster. It is barely the height of a few whiskers and would be of no use against the attack, except the sudden gleam of the ice startles King Bates. Burt whimpers beside you and Soraya leaps forward to take advantage of the opportunity.

“King Bates! I beg you not be so hasty! While I do not deny that my family has brough much pain and misery to you and your great clan, I believe you knew my mother, Leila Mudpearl,” Soraya says in a steady voice. You and Burt look at each other. Soraya never mentioned that her mother knew King Bates. “My mother was a strong campaigner against the monstrous acts committed by her own family and was an ally of the frogs of the Marsh.”

King Bates growls and flicks a wide tongue dangerously through the air. He seems to be contemplating something before saying, “I know for a fact that this Leila Mudpearl slayed my brethren without a second thought in her younger days.”

“Uh, yes I do not deny that either, sir,” Soraya stammers. She turns to you and Burt and mouths, “Help me.”

“Oh, majestic and oh-so warty, kingly Bates frog, sire,” Burt shouts. “I am but your humble card-dealing servant, and I am definitely not here on suspicious business.”

“You sound like the most suspicious of you lot,” King Bates says. “Enough of this nonsense. I don’t know how you stumbled upon my innermost lair, but I can’t allow you to go back alive, especially now that I know you’re a Mudpearl. Next thing I’ll know, I’ll have an army of you filthy whiskers at my doorstep.”

“No, your majesty! I swear on my honor,” Soraya says.

“Mudpearls have no honor!” King Bates lunges again but this time you notice something down the side of his belly. It is an awful gash, running from the top of his midriff up to his neck. It is bleeding slightly and you see the drops of blood dripping freely into the water. You yell and grab Soraya, pointing at the gaping wound. Soraya gasps.

“My King!” she screams, waving her arms. “You’re hurt!”

King Bates jerks to a stop. “

Hmph, it was caused by your kind, Mudpearl. My size counts for nothing against the sorcery made specifically to use against me.”

He takes a step back and sits in the water, sending tall muddy waves out to the corners of the marsh. Soraya tentatively edges towards his tremendous figure.

“Forgive me, sir, but I believe if you wanted to truly kill us, then you could have easily done so by now,” she says. “Please tell me what you know of my mother.”

“I will do nothing of the kind,” King Bates spits. “Leave before I change my mind.”

“Did she give you something? An artifact? An egg? Did she say anything about me?”

“LEAVE!” King Bates bellows. In the distance, you hear a sound as though several trees are crashing down.

Soraya turns back in dejection, but her eyes suddenly light up as she spots Burt sneaking away into the twisted forest. She beckons you to grab him, so you quickly wade to Burt and pull him back.

“King Bates,” Soraya calls. “I have a proposition. Tell me all you know and I will heal your wound.”

King Bates is slightly taken aback, but flatly declines.

“Forgive me yet again, sir, but I know that to be a magical wound. It will not heal on its own accord.”

King Bates shoots Soraya a look of pure disgust.

“Mudpearl. You know nothing of what goes on in this world.”

“It is my duty to find out,” she replies defiantly.

King Frog stares hard at her, then slowly lifts his massive arm, exposing the bloody wound.

“Ssthp. Show me what you are capable of then. Go on. Then, we might talk.”

“Mighty fine,” Soraya replies. She grabs Burt by the arm, as he is trying to escape again. “Burt. You said you know how to use the Phoenix Heart. Please, now is the time to use it!”

“What? I’ve never even tried using it for real, let alone on a giant slimeball! Plus, I don’t want to lose all my magic here. What if ol’ Bitey comes back again?”

“Burt.” Soraya puts both hands on his shoulders and looks straight into his eyes. “Please.”

A dazed look steals over Burt’s face and he heads obediently towards the giant frog. He flicks his tongue at the approaching Burt.

“The Mudpearl squirt can’t even use her own spells,” King Bates spits.

“Be quiet, old man, and be still,” Burt shouts.

From the depths of his cloak, he pulls out the ancient Phoenix Heart scroll. You and Soraya look on with bated breath as Burt mutters the incantation, screwing up his face in immense concentration. Time seems to stand still. You begin to worry if Burt really mastered the spell, but Burt suddenly begins to glow a bright orange. He rises in the air and bursts into flame. The flickering embers expand until they form the shape of a magnificent phoenix, before condensing rapidly into a swirling red sphere within Burt’s open palms. Even King Bates watches on in quiet wonder. Burt slowly outstretches his arms and the sphere flies at the open wound. King Bates utters a stifled cry as the sphere melts into his body and before your eyes, the wound begins stitching itself.

“I have never witnessed this magic before,” King Bates grunts as he feels his healed skin. “Who are you, traveller?”

“Uh, I’m Burt.”

“Ssthp,” says King Bates. “Well, listen closely, young Mudpearl. I knew your mother. Leila. It is true what you say. She alone fought the fruitless battle against the atrocities of her family. She came to me day after day with her deepest sympathies, that she was doing everything in her political power to prevent the murders of my brethren.”

Soraya looks up at King Bates with eyes brimming, but holds her tongue. King Bates lets out a tremendous sigh that rattles the trees surrounding the marsh.

“She was a brave whisker. Stupid, but brave. One day she came to me with a request. She gave me a tiny egg, saying that whatever hatches from it will give us the power to finally overthrow the Mudpearl Luxury. I told her she was daft, but she never listened. Something about a prophecy. But she feared for its safety and asked me to take care of it for the time being. Well, she never came back after that, you see.”

“And,” Soraya says breathlessly, “And where might it be now?”

King Bates half-closes his eyes and leans on his hindquarters. You hear the sound of distant falling trees again. You turn to Burt who shrugs.

“It was in my keeping until a few days ago,” King Frog says in an embarrassed undertone.

“What?!”

“Do not blame an old king for losing a tiny trinket such as that!” roars King Frog.

“I do not blame you for an instant,” Soraya says quickly. “But you must have some idea of where it went?”

“I don’t! I was minding my own business. In the evening I went to check up on the Mudpearl’s egg but all I found were empty eggshells and the hatchling nowhere to be seen. I looked everywhere, but I found nothing. Couldn’t even figure out what creature hatched, it happened so quickly.”

Soraya slumps her shoulders and turns back. The look of despair on her face is difficult to take in.

“Cheer up, Soraya,” Burt says. “Come on, we’ll look elsewhere.”

You nod vigorously, giving Soraya’s arm a squeeze.

“Er, listen,” King Bates says. “I am a king of my word. However much I resented that Mudpearl for pushing her possession onto me, I cannot allow myself the mistake of losing something that is entrusted to me.”

The king reaches into the branches of a particularly knotty tree beside him and pinches out what looks like a magical scroll. He peers at it before holding it out to Soraya.

“What is it?” Soraya says, her eyes wide with wonder. “Oh, the paper is coated with something special.”

“Frog wax,” King Bates grunts. “Keeps the dampness away. Anyway, I hope you take that as my pardon. Your kind might know this spell as the Song of the Lyrebird, but the Marsh Frogs know it simply as the Lullaby.”

“It has music notes written on it,” Soraya says, her hand to her mouth. “And an empty space to write a rune or something.”

“It must be activated by a specific hieroglyphic, or so I am told,” King Bates says. “In any case, the scroll states you need an instrument to play it. It’s called the Lullaby, like I said before, so the spell is quite self-explanatory.”

Soraya looks at it beaming and tucks it safely into her cloak. You and Burt smile at each other. The baby bird in your hood gives a feeble squawk and you reach in to pat it. King Bates suddenly looks alert and sniffs deeply.

“You.” He points at the three of you. “One of you is carrying something you shouldn’t be.”

You look at each other, confused.

“Yes, I know this smell,” King Bates continues. “I have been distracted by your arrival, but no, you should not have brought it here.”

“What are you talking about, sir Frog?” Burt says.

“You,” King Bates takes another deep sniff and points at you. “It’s something you have. No, this is no good. She’ll know you have it. My sanctum carries special enchantments, but not when they’re intruded upon by the likes of you. She’ll come after you!”

The sound of crashing trees you had heard over and over suddenly sounds extremely close at hand.

“Though I’d gladly give my life for my own kind, I will not throw it away for your blunder!” King Bates declares. “Farewell, child of Leila.”

He claps his boat-like hands and the entirety of his enormous bulk turns into a shimmering liquid and melts away into the bog.

“Incoming!” Burt yells as a wide hole is torn open in the thick canopy of trees directly above you and blinding sunlight streams through. In the corner of your eyes, you see countless creatures of the darkness swimming and wriggling away from the sudden light.

“It’s the Skullpicker!” Soraya screams, as the gigantic heron shoves its way through the broad leaves, squawking angrily, and lands with a tremendous splash in the water. You gulp. With its wings outstretched, it is dozens of whiskers long.

You fire off as many ice and water spells as you can while Soraya weaves complex earth magic but none of it slows the advancing bird. Burt backs away towards the forest, having spent all of his magic casting Phoenix Heart. The enormous heron turns to the helpless Burt so you rush to his side.

You focus your remaining magic and fire a Water Shuriken with pinpoint accuracy, striking the Skullpicker directly in its eye. The heron lets out a furious cry and flaps its colossal wings, lunging and clamping its claws around Burt. Burt screams as you try to cast another spell, but you are completely exhausted. You spin around to Soraya, but she has her eyes closed and is muttering something. You watch in despair as the Skullpicker takes off to the skies through the gap in the tree canopy with Burt between its long beak. With tears in your eyes, you wade to Soraya and shake her.

“All is not lost, Adventurer, calm yourself,” Soraya says. She speaks softly but she looks extremely pale. “We will find Burt. We must find Burt. Oh, I’m the one who brought this upon the both of you. All for a stupid egg that hatches and disappears days before we get to it!”

Tears stream freely down her cheeks. You feel terrible for shaking her, and you apologize profusely.

“It’s okay, Adventurer,” Soraya says, sniffling. “All we have to do is find Burt.”

You nod, but can’t help but feel perplexed at her words. The Skullpicker heron must be miles away by now, way up in the sky with the clouds. You shiver at the thought of Burt holding onto dear life and you feel sick with worry.

“You think I wasn’t doing anything while Skullpicker was taking off,” Soraya says indignantly. “I was almost out of magic myself, so I cast the only spell I could manage. The Watcher.”

You gasp.

“On Burt. So don’t worry, I can feel his location and his Shard of End. He’s scared stiff but safe. And if anything happens to him…well, it’s my responsibility. I’m now tethered to him via the Watcher.”

You assure her that Burt is certainly not her sole responsibility, but you appreciate her dedication to the rescue mission. You ask her to point the way. Soraya nods and pulls out her Watcher scroll. The same golden Lyrebird of smoke rises and drifts off into forest.

“Giant herons tend not to eat their prey right away. They’ll take them back to their nest and, if we’re lucky, she’ll leave Burt there for some time.”

Soraya tightens the buckles on her pack and wades steadfastly after the Lyrebird. You follow, tugging at her sleeve as a thought occurs to you.

“What do I think King Bates meant? I don’t know, what could you be carrying? To be honest, I’m so worried about Burt. I’ll think about it later.”

The baby bird in your hood wriggles about and yawns, before falling back asleep.