CHAPTER FIVE
Ran woke just after dawn. He had no memory of the previous night. He had no recollection of posting a guard to watch over them while the others slept. He had nothing at all. All he could remember after they pulled Malkyr from the bloody surf was watching the darkness fall and the mist surround them. He’d naturally been exhausted, of course, but he still should have established a rotating system of watch.
He turned to his right and felt the stiffness in his joints. Kancho lay a few meters away from him, one hand on his sword. But he let out a snore and then started to turn over. Ran looked beyond and saw that Neviah and Jysal were bracketing the injured Malkyr.
Vargul was gone.
Ran sat up, his left hand grabbing for his sword. He rolled over and nudged Kancho. The old man’s eyes blinked a few times and then opened. “It’s morning?”
Ran nodded. “Did you stay awake last night?”
Kancho rubbed his eyes, seemed unsure of himself for a moment and then shook his head. “No. I don’t think I did. I remember seeing that mist come through the mangrove trees. I remember thinking it looked so fluffy. So comforting. The next thing I remember is you waking me up.”
“That’s about what I remember as well,” said Ran. “We all fell asleep without anyone to watch over us.”
Kancho eyed him. “You say that like—”
“Vargul’s gone,” finished Ran. “I don’t see him anywhere.”
Kancho stretched his arms overhead. “He could have gone to look for provisions. He does seem to require an ample supply of food, after all.”
“I hope you’re right,” said Ran. “But I have a feeling it’s nothing so simple as that.”
Neviah had woken Jysal. They were tending to Malkyr as Ran walked over to them. He noticed that Malkyr was awake. He looked a bit pale, but otherwise he seemed in good spirits.
“How is he?”
Neviah looked up from where she had taken off the strip of cloth that Jysal had supplied yesterday. “The bleeding has stopped, but I’m worried about the discoloration of the skin around the wound. It may be infected. I’m not sure about that yet, though.”
“How will you know for sure?”
Neviah nodded at Malkyr. “He will develop a fever.”
“There is a way,” said Jysal. “If we can locate a cherul root, that should take the sickness away from the wound and leave him able to heal.” She glanced around. “But I do not know if such a thing grows in these parts.”
Ran squatted next to Malkyr. “Feeling any better?”
Malkyr grinned. “You saved my life. You and that old drunk.”
Ran grinned. “Just doing the same for you that we would have wanted someone to do for us.”
“I owe you my life,” said Malkyr. “I won’t forget that debt.”
“Good,” said Kancho’s voice behind them. “You can start repaying us by not swimming with the sharks any longer.”
Malkyr looked up and smiled at Kancho. “Thank you for saving me.”
Kancho grunted and lookedacross the water at the Aqaria. “A shame your crew didn’t make it.”
Malkyr replied. “They were good men”
Kancho nodded. “I don’t think the sun is going to come out today. But it’s getting humid. I already feel wet enough.”
Neviah glanced at Ran. “Where is the portly one?”
“Vargul?” Ran shrugged. “We were just wondering that ourselves.” He stood and walked to the edge of the trees that bordered the black sand beach. A few yards in, he spotted a broken branch. Judging by the color of the broken part, it had happened only a few hours previously.
He looked back at Kancho. “I think Vargul went this way.”
Kancho approached, his hand always on the hilt of his sword. “Show me.”
Ran pointed. “Through there. The broken branch.”
Kancho stayed quiet for a moment and then grunted. “It’s muddy. Shouldn’t be too difficult to follow him. Shall we?”
“What about them?” Ran pointed back at Neviah, Jysal, and Malkyr. “Can we leave them behind?”
“It’s either that or we drag along an injured man who can’t walk,” said Kancho. “You and I can make better time. If we’re lucky, we’ll also be able to get some sort of game to eat. We’re going to need food if we have any hope of figuring our way out of this mess.”
Ran glanced back at Neviah. “We’re going to follow Vargul’s tracks. It might be a good idea to make a fire and look for freshwater. But staywithin earshot of the camp.”
Neviah frowned. “I would prefer to go with you. We are in a foreign land. There may be enemies all around us.”
Kancho sighed. “You’ve got your backs to the sea, and you’re hemmed in by thick forest on either side. You’re as safe as you’d be with us. And you’ve got to look after Malkyr. We can’t bring him along or he’ll die.”
Neviah nodded. “Very well. But if you find the cherul root, please bring some back with you.”
“What does it look like and where does it grow?” asked Ran. He’d studied herbology at the shadow-warrior school, but he couldn’t reveal such knowledge in front of people he didn’t know.
Neviah told him the plant’s appearance and where to look, and then Ran nodded to Kancho. “Let’s get going. The sooner we find him and bring him back, the better. None of us ought to be walking this swamp alone.”
“Agreed,” said Kancho. “And I wonder just what he thought he was doing by going off on his own in the first place. He doesn’t strike me as the type to take risks unless he’s certain of some greater reward.”
Ran pushed into the forest and instantly felt his feet sink into several inches of mud. The ground sucked at his boots, squishing and creeping in to touch any bit of exposed skin with its clamminess. Ran heard the whine of bugs around his head. He waved one of them off, but several more joined in the assault and he soon gave up.
Vargul’s tracks were more difficult to follow than Kancho had led him to believe. Because the ground was so muddy, as soon as Ran removed his foot, the ground would swallow the prints up. He frowned and turned to Kancho. “Tracking isn’t going to be easy.” He grimaced. “And it stinks horribly here.”
“You’ll get used to the smell.” Kancho frowned. “Look for top sign. Branches and the like. He’ll have to push them out of his way to make any sort of progress. And the plants won’t be able to make that type of abuse disappear.”
Ran was an expert tracker, but maintaining his cover meant not allowing Kancho to see his skill at following people. As it was, Ran had already noted the bent branches and mud scuffs on logs and roots ahead of him. Still, as he moved through the swamp land, he made his progress appear unsure. That meant it took longer to move through the area and search for Vargul, but Ran needed to make sure Kancho did not suspect him of being a shadow warrior.
Ran also felt a lot less armed than when he’d been back aboard the Aqaria. Jumping into the water, he’d been forced to ditch his throwing blades, the flat plate metal with sharpened edges that he’d been concealing in his inner tunic pocket. The metal weighed him down, and it had to go. He’d also been forced to part with his length of chain that he’d been fond of using to tie up opponents he didn’t need to kill outright.
At least I managed to hold on to my sword, he thought as he eased over another log and put his feet back into the swampy ground. But it was only one weapon. Not the usual assortment another operative from his school might carry. Of course, Ran could always rely on his unarmed combat skills if need be. But choosing to use them would run the risk of compromising his disguise.
Vargul’s trail led them out of the swampy bog that surrounded the beach and onto higher ground. Ran marveled at the lack of life in the forest. Even the tree trunks seemed devoid of new leaves, their withered, twisted branches seemingly incapable of supporting life. Around them, Ran heard no birds. And there was no sign of any animals in the area. Just buggs and trees
He pulled up and waited for Kancho to approach.
“Is there a problem?”
Ran frowned. “This place feels strange.”
“How so?”
“You haven’t noticed the lack of animals?”
Kancho shrugged. “They could be holing up for the day. Maybe they come out only at night.”
“It’s not just that. There’s no real sound here. No birds. No breezes. It’s just . . . still.”
Kancho looked around them and picked out a break in the trees. “There’s a path there. Maybe it will lead to Vargul.”
“Or perhaps not,” said Ran. “I don’t like this place.”
“Nor I,” said Kancho. “But we owe it to Vargul to at least look for him. There’s no telling where that oaf could have blundered off to. And if he’s in danger, it will be up to us to help him.”
“He could already be dead,” said Ran. He knew that Kancho’s upbringing as Murai would obligate him to search out Vargul and assist him, even at the expense of his own life. Ran wasn’t so ready to throw his away that cheaply.
Kancho laid a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll take the lead for a while. Just watch my back.”
Ran moved back a few paces and watched as Kancho threaded his way down the trail. It wasn’t much of a trail in reality, more of a game run. That fact cheered Ran a little. If there was a game run, that meant animals. Perhaps Kancho had been right. Maybe the animals only came out to hunt at night. If that was the case, then they would need to set up a system of hunting to get some food. Already, Ran’s stomach was grumbling noisily.
Kancho looked back at one point. “You’re as bad as the man we’re looking for.”
Ran smirked. “I don’t think I’m quite that bad. But I am hungry. Aren’t you?”
Kancho shrugged. “You learn to make do without.”
Typical Murai sentimentality, thought Ran. They would forsake every ounce of their own comfort in order to live up to the ideals set forth in their warrior code. It was a noble gesture, he supposed, just not a very practical one. Why suffer through hunger and deprivation if you didn’t have to? Still, Kancho seemed to have little problem quelling his hunger pangs. There was some value in that, Ran knew. He thought back to his own wilderness survival training, spending days on end searching for berries and small game. He wasn’t looking forward to the constant gnawing hunger pangs in his gut.
They traveled several miles, and then Kancho abruptly stopped. Ran approached him. “Something wrong?”
“The trail has vanished.”
Ran looked around them and saw that Kancho was right. The bent sticks and various other top sign they’d been following seemed to have been erased. The two men stood in the midst of leering trees, scarred trunks, and very little else. The effect was almost completely disorienting. Ran glanced back the way they’d come and nodded. “Maybe we should head back to the beach.”
Kancho frowned. “We can’t just leave Vargul.”
“We’re not leaving him behind,” said Ran. “We’re going to come up with a better plan than the one we have right now. There’s no point in searching blind. And we’ve got a wounded man back at camp who is also our responsibility. Besides, Malkyr knows this territory better than us. Once he’s recovered a bit, we can try again.”
“Neviah said something about a root. I haven’t seen a damned thing that even resembles it.”
Ran shrugged. “Nor have I. But that doesn’t mean she and Jysal can’t forage a little closer to camp.” He stomach grumbled once as if to underscore the point.
“And what about food?” asked Kancho. “We’ve seen nothing that we can hunt.”
“True,” said Ran. “But maybe we can trap some small fish in the tidal pools close to the shore.”
Kancho nodded. “All right, but I’m not setting foot back in that water to try my hand at fishing. Not with those sharks out there.”