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Harlin kicked a skull that lay close to his foot. “Seems to me that there are a lot of dead things here too.”
Ghul Lykos shrugged. “The whole of the Swamp is covered with dead things. It’s on this high ground alone that the remains haven’t sunk into the swamps yet. If you would rather we keep marching into the night, ankle deep in brackish water . . .”
“No, I wouldn’t,” answered Harlin. “But we can’t let our guard down for a moment.”
“In that we are agreed.”
“This spot here will do for a fire,” said Harlin.
“Is that safe?” asked Daemona.
Harlin looked to Ghul Lykos who gave a shrug but answered, “Fire can alert others to our presence, but also aid in keeping away most animals.”
“And monsters?” she asked.
“It wouldn’t matter if we had a fire or not for those.”
Daemona frowned.
Harlin and Ghul Lykos gathered a bit of tinder, kindled a small blaze, and then unrolled their blankets. Harlin put a kettle over the fire while Ghul Lykos strode back out into the darkness to gather more wood.
Daemona sat at the base of the largest tree and leaned back, trying to get comfortable. “Why did I agree to do this?” she asked herself. “Oh yes, I’m a glutton for punishment.”
“Daemona,” Harlin interrupted her thoughts as she cast wary glances about the gloomy hill, “how about if you come clean about why you are doing this?”
“What do you mean?” she asked, sounding as incredulous and innocent as possible. “I want to be cleared of my crimes and have a clean record in the kingdom.”
“You know what I mean. You were going to run off at Tish’s. You only stuck around because of the witches’ attack, but you’re still here now. That’s what I want to know. Why?”
Daemona frowned at that. She didn’t usually have to answer to anyone. “Maybe I just want to make a difference.”
Ghul Lykos scrutinized her as he dropped an armful of firewood. “It wouldn’t have anything to do with looting Ghul Tark mansion, would it?”
“Why? Does he have anything worth stealing?”
“Only broken dreams,” Ghul Lykos lamented.
Harlin shook his head, saying, “I want to believe people can change, but sometimes it’s hard. I just want to know where you stand. Are you really with us?”
Ghul Lykos grunted at that.
Daemona snorted in argument toward Ghul Lykos.
“I do what I wanna do,” she said with a bit of venom.
Harlin nodded, then changed the subject. “You take the first watch? Wake me when the moon is near the Dragon Star.”
“All right,” she answered reluctantly.
Once the others were asleep, Daemona tossed the occasional twig on the fire to keep it alive. Orange coals gave dim light but comforting warmth to her toes. They had lined their wet boots around the fire to dry them. The desire to run away from the entire princess-rescuing business still teased at her brain, but the foreign sounds of the swamp at night made a much stronger argument to stay put.
She nestled against the tree and found that she was as comfortable as she had ever been since this journey began. That is, except for a rock that was poking her in the back, so she rolled over slightly to readjust her sleeping position. It would be time to have Harlin take over soon enough, and then she could relax and sleep.
Unfortunately, the spot she found had two rocks poking her like bony fingers on either side of her spine. She sat up against the tree and felt her hair cling to something. Reaching around, her hand caught hold of sticky webbing.
“Yuck!” she said, wiping away at the gossamer shroud. She adjusted herself again and tried to get comfortable.
The fire had died down to only soft orange coals peeking out beneath black clumps. Daemona thought she heard something in the tree. Glancing up, a hairy thing moved gracefully amongst the leaves. It scrambled over a limb and vanished. At least it wasn’t too big. Probably a squirrel.
