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She wouldn’t let anyone get by without a fight.
It was a good thing I’d come to fight. Over the years, I’d learned enough to fight to protect myself. The little magic that I welded was for protection, never for evil.
The man who taught me was long gone. That was a story for another day. He’d tell me how stupid I was for facing off with Deidamia, which I’d not argue against.
This is stupid.
Once I made it to the bottom of the hill, I stared out at the boggy swamp and the mossy grass surrounding it.
There wasn’t much life here but that grass screamed snake hotel to me.
Just because I couldn’t die didn’t mean I enjoyed the pain.
Wading through the grass, I let the moon guide me around the bayou. I wasn’t sure if there was a path directly to the castle but maybe a place with shallow water.
The wind picked up bringing in the smell of brimstone.
One lone light shined in the castle. I knew there wasn’t any electricity, so it had to be from candles.
Something heavy pierced my chest.
Did Deidamia have Josephine in that room? From the outside, it looked like the second or third floor. Heat scorched down my spine. Deidamia wouldn’t hurt her before she found what she was looking for.
Which brought up another round of questions.
What did they take from her that was so important?
Her father and mother knew about other realms, but neither seemed to know how to get there on their own.
It didn’t matter.
I planned to kill Deidamia.
Whatever they had of hers was of no importance to me.
I took another step, noticing a track in the mud beneath my foot. Bending down, the size of the paw print gave me chills.
It looked like a wolf or a dog. Some type of canine and with it being in this realm the possibilities were endless.
Standing up, I followed the tracks until they veered up the valley.
I wouldn’t go looking for trouble.
I stayed on the path to make it around the bayou. No crickets or bugs sang to me as they did back home.
Everything seemed dead, or afraid because they knew what evil lived around them.
The bayou became shallow several feet away and I ventured into the water. The bottom attempted to drag me down, but with each step, I pulled harder and pushed myself toward the castle.
Several yards into the water, I sank deeper into the mud, sinking to my knees.
You’ve got to be kidding me.
Slowly I felt vines begin to slither up my pant leg and pull me into the water. Groaning, I opened my palm and my sword appeared in my hand. Using what leverage I had, I sliced the vines with my sword until one by one they disappeared into the water.
Slowly, because the mud felt like drying cement, I proceeded through the bayou.
The closer I got, the more aware I was of the feeling of being watched.
