James looks to him and says, "Lead on." Grabbing his walking stick for support, he shuffles along after Jiron with Miko right beside him. His leg and side still hurt considerably but he manages to maintain a quick pace.

They begin to head toward where the waterway flows past the complex and shortly arrive next to its bank. Jiron turns to follow it as he leads them north, keeping the river to their left.

As they move north, the state of the vegetation quickly improves until there're no signs of the withering that had been evident nearer the complex, much to everyone's relief. Having to forge their way through the undergrowth, not to mention maneuvering around stagnant pools of water, doesn't allow them to make great time and they soon have to stop for the night.

James' leg and side are hurting abysmally bad, and it's all he'd been able to do the last few hours just to stay upright. When they finally stop to make camp for the night, he collapses. The others allow him to rest as they go about building a fire and acquiring some food for dinner. After he's eaten his fill, he promptly falls into an exhausted sleep.

Jiron and Miko take turns that night in keeping watch, allowing James to sleep the night through.

When morning dawns, they have to wake him up once they've gotten breakfast ready. His leg and side are still throbbing badly, and he's afraid they're becoming infected. But when Jiron examines them, he says they're healing fine. Relieved, James takes the offered food and begins eating ravenously. He'd been worried about infection, not having any antiseptic or anything.

Even after eating, he's still feeling weak, tired and hurting badly. But somehow he's able to bring himself to his feet though he still leans heavily upon his walking stick. With Jiron taking the lead, they continue moving north along the waterway.

Ever since the morning, James has noticed how the life of the swamp has begun to return. Back when they were by the complex, there'd been no birds or any other sign of life. But since they've left it far behind them, the sounds of the swamp have begun to return. Off in the distance, they can hear the cry of the rhino-lizard. James is glad that it is far off, they're not in any shape to defend themselves from an attack.

When the bugs and mosquitoes become unbearable again, he coats them with another dose of the noxious bug repellent. The stench doesn't bother them nearly so much, now that they've been around it for so long.

Much to everyone's displeasure, they're still in the swamp when night falls. They find a suitable stretch of land to make camp upon and Miko begins to build a fire while Jiron goes in search of food.

James feels a little better than he did earlier in the morning, the day's walk seemed to have worked out most of the kinks.

After dinner, when Jiron and Miko begin talking about standing watch, James offers to take the first couple of hours.

"Are you sure?" Jiron asks him. "If you need rest, then rest. If something should happen, we'll need you strong, not weakened from lack of rest."

"Yeah James," Miko adds. "Your leg needs to heal, so rest."

"I appreciate your concern," he tells them, "but I'm not really that tired right now. So I'd just as soon take a turn. I feel bad when you two stand watch and all I do is rest."

Jiron looks at him a moment and then shrugs, "If you feel up to it, alright. You take the first watch." Turning to Miko, he says, "You take the midnight watch and I'll finish it off."

Miko nods his head as he lies down and says, "Sounds good enough to me." He glances over to James and says, "Be sure to wake me when it's my turn."

"I will," James a.s.sures him. Then he makes himself comfortable as his fellows settle down to sleep.

Chapter Seven.

When James awakens in the morning, the sun has already begun to lighten the day. Miko is snoring peacefully off to the other side of the campfire and he finds Jiron walking around the outer edge of the camp in amongst the trees. He looks over to James as he sits up and comes over when he waves at him.

"Good morning," Jiron says to him as he approaches.

"Everything okay?" James asks.

"Oh yeah," he a.s.sures him, "just walking around a bit. I hate sitting in just one spot for very long. How's your leg?"

James straightens it and says, "Better. I think it may not hurt as much today."

"Let's hope not," he says. Sitting down next to him, he asks, "How far do you think it is to Cardri?"

Shrugging, James says, "I couldn't even begin to guess. It took us over a week to make it to the mines, and that was on good roads with horses. Trudging through this," he continues as he gestures to the swamp, "who knows?"

"Would like to see Tersa again," he tells him.

"So would I," agrees James. "I'd really like to find some place to just rest and not have to worry about being eaten by some d.a.m.n rhino-lizard, or have to sneak through an area filled with the Empire's forces."

From across the campsite, Miko's voice says, "I'd like that too." Sitting up, he glances over at them. "I hate the swamp, give me a good old city any day."

"If we keep forging on through to the north, eventually we'll get out of here," James a.s.sures him.

"I hope so," he says as he gets up and comes over to them. Sitting down, he asks, "How much longer are we going to be in this d.a.m.ned swamp anyway?"

"Like I was telling Jiron," James says, "I don't know. All I do know is that they don't last forever."

"Then let's stop sitting here talking and get going," Miko says as he gets back up.

James reaches over and grabs his walking stick. Using it for support, he gets to his feet without nearly the amount of pain that maneuver had caused him the day before.

Holding the stick loosely, he waits for Jiron to get up and lead the way.

"You feeling better?" Miko asks as they continue on their way.

Nodding, James says, "Much better, actually. Don't think I could run any distance, but the constant pain and throbbing seem to be easing."

"That's good," replies Miko. "I was worried about you."

"I was worried about me too," he says with a slight smile.

They travel for several hours before they hear Miko's voice coming from where he's lagging behind, "I'm hungry."

"Might be a good time to stop and eat," James says to Jiron who's up a ways trying to find the way through.

Jiron stops and comes back to them. "I was hoping to find a clearing where we could build a fire," he tells them. "We'll stop then, okay?"

"Sure," James says to Miko's dismay, "we can wait a little while longer."

Just then, Miko's stomach lets out a loud growl.

James and Jiron turn and stare at him, then break out in laughter.

"Well," he says, "I'm starving. We haven't eaten all day!"

"Just a little while longer," Jiron says, "and then hopefully we'll run across a spot where we can build a fire without worrying about setting the whole area aflame."

He glances to James and they both smile when they remember the last time they'd set the woods on fire.

Miko sees them and asks, "What?"

"Oh, nothing," James replies.

Taking the lead again, Jiron once more makes his way through the trees and undergrowth, searching for the way out. With the waterway on his left for a guide, he's able to maintain going in the correct direction. Without it, they'd soon be turned around and lost.

After trudging through the swamp for a while, they begin to see another waterway off to their right. As they continue moving north, the other waterway moves closer to the one they're following until they join where a larger river has split into two branches.

To their dismay, they find themselves on the inside of the fork. In order to continue, they'll have to cross one of the waterways. The area on the inside of the junction of water is relatively flat and clear, so they decide to stop there and find something to eat while they consider how they'll get across.

James picks up some small rocks from the ground and quietly goes into the brush to hunt for lunch. Jiron and Miko begin building a fire while he's gone. He returns several minutes later with three dead animals that Jiron takes from him and begins preparing for the fire.

Miko walks over to the water and says, "How are we supposed to cross this?"

From where he sits by the fire, James hollers, "Swim, it's not that far."

Turning back to him, Miko exclaims, "But what about the fish? They'll eat us for sure."

"We're not even sure if they're in the main waterway," he says.

Jiron picks up some of the innards of the animals and gets up. Walking over to the river, he announces, "Only one way to find out." He throws the b.l.o.o.d.y mess into the water.

They watch it for a second and he says, "See, nothing to..."

Then suddenly, the water starts to broil as the fish begin consuming the innards.

"See!" Miko cries out.

Jiron glances over to James and says, "That's going to be a problem."

"Yeah, I was hoping they'd not be in the main river," he says.

Coming back over to them, Miko plops himself down and asks, "Now what?"

James looks to him, and says, "Let's just eat while we think about it. There's bound to be a way."

While the animals are cooking, they continue pondering the situation.

"How about a raft?" suggests Miko.

"What would we use?" Jiron asks him. "No logs or large limbs to use, and nothing with which to secure them together."

"We could try to swim fast?" James offers much to the horror of Miko who shakes his head violently.

"Just kidding," he says to Miko who flashes him an 'I'm not amused' look.

"There's got to be a way," Jiron says.

"I'm sure there is," says James. "And not one that requires us to enter the water, either," he adds for Miko's benefit.

"Could you get us there with magic?" Jiron asks.

"I don't know, maybe," he says. "But if something should happen to break my concentration, we would fall to the river below."

They sit there in silence for a while longer until the animals are fully cooked. When they're ready, Jiron hands each of them one and they set to with a hearty appet.i.te.

During the course of the meal, Jiron suddenly asks, "How about a bridge?"

"That would take too long to build," James tells him.

"No, no, no," he says. "I mean a natural one."

"That would be nice," James says, "but I don't see any around here."

Jiron glances toward him and says, "But you could make one."

"How?" James asks him.

He points down where the other fork of the river continues on and says, "Look, there's a tall tree down there on this side of the river that might span the water."

"How are we to cut it down?" Miko asks. "We don't have any axes or anything."

Nodding toward James, he says, "He could knock it down with magic. After what I've seen you do to buildings, this shouldn't be too hard.

Looking at the tree in the distance, he slowly nods his head and says, "Might be able to arrange that. Give me a moment to think about it," he tells them as he finishes up with his lunch.

Once he's done, he tosses what's left into the river and watches as the little fish consume it. Then, with the other two watching, he walks over to the tree and begins to figure out the particulars of what he's going to do.

It definitely looks tall enough to span the water after it falls, providing it falls in the correct direction. That shouldn't be a problem, he just needs to direct the magic to steer it that way. Ready to try, he motions the others to stand back several yards behind him as he begins to concentrate.

Miko watches him as he stands there, five feet from the base of the tree. Suddenly, the base pops as bark flies in all directions. The top begins to topple and at first it looks to be falling more along the river than across it. But then, as if a giant hand grabs it, the tree swings more toward the opposite sh.o.r.e. With a loud crashing, it lands with the top of its branches well on the other side of the river.

They come over to where he's standing, congratulating James as he watches the water pa.s.sing just under the trunk of the tree. "Good job!" exclaims Miko.

"If we're careful, it's unlikely we'll fall in," Jiron says as he climbs up onto the trunk. "Let me go first, and if it's safe, you two can follow," he tells them.

Miko and James stay next to the trunk while he makes his way across the water to the other side. The trunk is fairly stable, the branches beneath it forming a secure contact with the riverbed.

They watch as Jiron makes his way through the limbs to the other side and finally comes to stand on the opposite sh.o.r.e. "No problem!" he shouts back to them.

"Wanna go next?" James asks Miko.

Nodding, he climbs up onto the trunk and makes his way to the other side. Once he's there, James begins his way across and finds carrying his stick with him will be impossible. So he tosses his walking stick into the water and goes on across. The multiple branches extending away from the tree give him ample handholds with which to maintain his balance, even with his injuries. There was one heart stopping moment when his injured leg lost its balance and he almost fell. But by grabbing a couple branches in a death grip, which renewed the pain in his side, he was able to right himself and continue on.