Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li - Brian Pratt [25]
“We’ll just have to wait until he returns,” he tells him.
They wait for another ten minutes or so before they hear the sound of someone approaching. Standing up, they turn in the direction the sound is coming from and wait. Soon, Jiron emerges from the trees and makes his way over to them.
“Where did you go?” James asks, accusingly. “We were worried about you!”
“Sorry about that,” he apologizes. “Was just doing a little scouting.”
“And?” Miko asks.
“I think it’ would be best if I just show you,” he says, then motions for them to follow him.
Not liking the sound of that, James nods his head as he follows Jiron away from the camp, Miko close behind.
He takes them several hundred feet deeper into the swamp, during which they notice that the state of the trees they pass progressively deteriorates. Where some back at the campsite were dying, here they were positively withered.
“I see what you mean,” James says as he pauses to examine one of the trees.
“This ain’t it,” Jiron says as he continues leading them on.
James and Miko look to each other as they continue following him, their apprehension growing.
Leading them a little bit further, he suddenly stops and points to a spot further ahead of them. “That is what I’m talking about,” he says.
James looks to where he’s pointing and sees a pyramid shaped stack of white stones up ahead. He glances to Jiron who nods his head.
Moving closer, James begins to feel the prickling sensation he feels when magic is being worked. He stops suddenly when he realizes that it’s not stones that comprise the pyramid, but human skulls stacked in layers.
Backing up, he motions for them to back away from it as well. Once they’ve backed far enough away that he no longer feels the prickling, he says, “It’s magical in nature, I can feel it.”
“Could this be why the natives don’t come this way?” Miko asks him.
Jiron looks to James who nods his head. “I would think so,” replies James.
“What do we do?” Jiron asks.
“Find another way,” he replies. “I don’t know what it’s doing, but I really don’t think we want to go that way.”
“Alright,” he says. Once again taking the lead, he turns back and tries to find a way around the pyramid. Miko hurries along behind, anxious to put as much distance between them and the pyramid as quickly as possible.
He takes them west back toward the waterway and when they reach it, turns north again. But the waterway curves and brings them back to the area where the trees are withering. “Not this way,” he says, turning again to the south as he back tracks.
Retracing their steps, they find their way back. Taking them to the east this time, he’s able to find a path where they can walk without having to take the chance of slipping into the fish infested stagnant water.
They move a short ways east when a noise can be heard, like something moving through the undergrowth. He has them wait for a moment while he continues down the path and sees what it is making the noise.
He disappears through the trees ahead of them for a moment and then they suddenly hear a crashing sound as he comes running back toward them. Bursting out of the trees behind him is a rhino-lizard, charging fast.
Miko screams as he turns to flee.
James also tries to run, but on his injured leg, realizes he’s unable to move quickly enough to stay ahead of the charging rhino-lizard.
He turns to face it and in a flash, releases the magic.
Crumph!
The ground in front of it explodes upward, startling it. Roaring loudly, it comes to a stop. Taking advantage of its startlement, they move further away and hide behind some trees. They wait for several minutes in their hiding place but fail to hear any noise that might indicate it had come their way. Looking out from behind the trees, Jiron says, “I don’t think it followed us.”
He motions for them to remain there as he gets up and moves back toward where they encountered it. Returning quickly, he says, “I can’t see it anywhere. It must have gotten scared when the ground