The Druid Queen - Douglas Niles [107]
Still the princess pressed onward, growing desperate in the few minutes since she had left her company of men. In fact, she suspected that the trail behind her was now inundated, since by the time she had left the troops, some of the men had already hoisted themselves into the lower branches of trees in order to keep their feet dry. The source of the water remained a mystery, but finding a path through the swampland formed a far more significant problem to Alicia.
Codscove wasn't far away, she sensed. Yet now her entire force threatened to bog down in this impenetrable swamp. Why now, of all times?
The dark forest dripped around her, pressing close on all sides. She felt as though something watched her. Nervously, sword in hand, the princess spun through a circle. As far as she could tell, she remained alone.
She wondered, with a flash of irritation, why Keane had been reluctant to accompany her. She hadn't ordered him to do so, but when she had asked he had quietly dissuaded her, suggesting that it was best right now if he remained with the rest of the company. It surprised her and, if the truth be told, it annoyed her, too, this feeling that she needed Keane's presence before she could feel comfortable. But, still, he should have come with her!
"What's he going to do, fly the men out of here?" she muttered, brushing strands of sweat-soaked hair back from her face.
The trees around her seemed healthy and firmly rooted, not what she would expect to find in such a swampland. After her previous experience with the quicksand, she had learned to walk carefully, but even the ground felt surprisingly firm.
Yet in every direction, she quickly found herself facing an expanse of placid, murky water. It pooled around the trees, dark and fetid, concealing the ground, deceptively obscuring any pitfall or irregularity in the terrain. Finally, with considerable disgust, she made her way back to the column of Corwellian men-at-arms.
"Nothing-there's no dry path out of here," she said to Keane in disgust. "Not that you would have helped find it!" she added bitterly.
Keane smiled thinly, ignoring her tone, which only made her more irritated. "What did you stay back here for, anyway? Checking to see if it's going to rain?"
"No," he said, quietly. "No rain would make any difference in this flood."
"What do you mean? How can the water level be rising when there isn't any rain?"
"That's the big question, isn't it? If you'll notice, there hasn't been any rain for several days, yet the water flowed in behind us as soon as we passed a certain point."
"And now we're surrounded," Alicia added. "But I'm not so concerned with why the water got here as I am with finding a way around it!"
"Then you're making a great mistake," Keane replied bluntly, meeting her indignant gaze with a thoughtful look of his own.
Still annoyed, the princess bit her tongue and tried to understand what he meant. "Well? How did this water get here?"
"As near as I can tell, it isn't really here at all. It just seems to be."
"And what's that supposed to mean?"
"Perhaps he means that the righteous wrath of the gods wishes to direct your faith in more proper directions," said Parell Hyath, who had approached, unnoticed, to join in their conversation.
"Speak plainly!" Alicia snapped, in no mood for theological discourse.
"I mean this tired obeisance you show to an ancient and withered goddess! You tell us not to trample the grass in that 'sacred' place. You forbid the taking of game for food, and treat each wildflower as some kind of miracle! This goddess holds you in thrall, and by doing so, she holds you, holds your people, back!" replied the patriarch, his tone equally firm. "It is time for these isles to welcome the pantheon of deities that are known to all the rest of the Realms."
Alicia's eyes blazed, and for a moment, rage swept through her, fomenting a torrent of angry