AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It only follows you because of your former eagle-prince thing. You probably still retain some of that King of Beasts mind control power.”
There never was any mind control, Sorin didn’t bother to argue back. And he was no longer a King of Beasts. Though, to be fair, he’d never fully tested his influence over raptors in his phoenix form.
When he used to command the giant eagle flights during the Age of the Gods, it wasn’t because of a birthright or some inherited power through his bloodline. It was simply that he was the strongest amongst them, able to fly the longest, highest, with the widest wingspan.
Now, if a beast of land followed him, it was because it wanted to. Trusted that he would take care of it, protect it.
And probably because it liked him better than Ere, when all was said and done.
By now, the three of them with their animals had waded a third of the way across. All was eerily silent. No birds circling overhead; no animals could be seen on land.
The mud beneath their feet tried to suck them down. It took extra effort to put one foot in front of the other, so the trek across was slow going. But at least the bottom remained level. The bog was only waist-deep.
“You know, whatever we’re slogging through, it doesn’t even feel like water,” Ere noted, starting to pant a little from the exertion.
“It feels more like slime than water.”
He dipped his arm into the slush and raised it before his face to examine.
“Look. It doesn’t leave water droplets on your skin. It’s thicker than water, viscous and kind of sticky. And it has color.”
He narrowed his eyes and peered closer.
“What is this color? Gray? Pewter? It looks like snot.”
Things could be worse, Sorin didn’t say out loud. The liquid could have a harmful effect. It could have been corrosive or poisonous. He didn’t mind wading through snot as long as they reached the other side without issues, whole and hearty.
“Hey,” Ere said next, looking down at the surface of the swamp.
“I think I can see my reflection. How is that possible with the murkiness and opacity? Wait…I don’t think that’s my—”
One moment Ere was there, and the next he was not. Something sucked him into the swamp in the blink of an eye.
Both Kai and Sorin were there in two strides, converging on where Ere had disappeared. They reached down to search, circling the area, spreading their arms.
Then, Kai opened his mouth and eyes wide in a silent exclamation, before he, too, was pulled under.
The donkey brayed as if in warning, only it came too late. The horses pranced uneasily, eyes rolling, neighing with fright. Sorin met each of their eyes to project calmness and determination and slapped the animals on their rumps.
As he watched them settle and step through the sludge, more determined than before to reach the other side, he dove under with eyes wide open, uncaring that the unknown liquid might do him harm, even potentially blind him.
Having sight was pointless if there was no Ere to see.
Beneath the top layer of slushy mud, however, the fluid was clear enough to see in. It had a gel-like consistency, ten times harder to slog through than water.
At first, there was nothing around him but a gray, deathly, silent stillness. No weeds, no aquatic creatures, and definitely no Ere or Kai.
And then, a ghostly form materialized a few feet away. The silhouette of a white dragon.
Rai.
It seemed both within reach and far, far away. Too small to be real, like a distant mirage.
A giant eagle joined it, feathers flaming, wings spread in a slow-motioned flap.
The dragon and the eagle circled each other, nipping with their jaws and beak, grappling with their claws.
They wereplaying.
