Chapter 92: The Long Fella
One branch at a time the forest thinned until sunlight came through in broad patches instead of narrow streaks. James ducked beneath the last low bough and immediately felt the ground soften beneath his boots.
Brown water pooled where firm earth should have been.
"There it is."
Mary stopped beside him, already ankle-deep in mud. "Told ye it’d turn to swamp eventually."
"Aye, ye did."
James watched the tangled roots, twisted together like old rigging left to rot in a ship’s hold.
"Just didn’t picture it’d look quite this miserable."
"Miserable’s bein’ kind."
She walked carefully through the larger roots. "Mind where you step. I bet any ground that looks solid’ll swallow a boot to the knee, and I wouldn’t drink that water even if you paid me."
They worked their way forward together, stepping from root to root while the mud tried to claim every careless footfall. Clouds of insects burst into the air whenever sunlight reached the swamp floor, and somewhere beyond, some large shadow slipped through the standing water with slow, patient movements.
Neither of them felt any urge to discover what it was.
A familiar haze gathered in the space ahead before James had gone another dozen steps.
🏴 [SITE SURVEY - THE MANGROVE SWAMP]
Terrain : Tidal Mangrove Marsh, Waterlogged, Root-Choked
Resources Detected : Mangrove Timber (Abundant) | Brackish Water | Mud and Silt
Buildable Area : None
Natural Defenses : Natural Quagmire
James let the report fade from his thoughts and looked out across the endless tangle of roots and black water.
"Well, that’s one question answered."
He nudged a patch of mud with the toe of his boot and watched brown water seep up around it.
"No man’s buildin’ a village in this. Even if they cleared the trees, the ground itself would fight ’em every step."
Mary picked her way onto a thicker root before answering. "Aye. Folk settle where they can plant, draw fresh water, and keep their feet dry. This place fails all three, so I’d wager the swamp carries on a fair distance yet."
James followed her gaze north, where the mangroves disappeared into an unbroken wall of green. "That’s my reckonin’ as well. If the ground inland keeps this low, there’s little reason for it to change before the northern shore. Means most of this end of the island’s likely swallowed by marsh."
Mary glanced back over her shoulder with the faintest hint of curiosity. "Ye sound mighty certain for a man who’s never set foot here before."
He laughed as he stepped over a half-rotted trunk. "Let’s just say I’ve spent enough years lookin’ at maps to trust a good guess when I make one."
She watched the swamp stretching ahead of them, then gave a slow nod. "Here’s hopin’ the island proves ye wrong, then. I’d rather not spend another mile wonderin’ whether the ground means to swallow me whole."
They pressed on. The ground never became trustworthy, but James eventually caught sight of some shadow ahead that refused to fit the rest of the swamp.
At first he took it for another fallen trunk lodged among the roots. Then the form lingered in his thoughts a moment too long.
It was too straight, the surface was too dark.
Too smooth.
Nothing like the pale, waterlogged timber drifting through the marsh.
His gaze snapped back just as two ridged eyes broke the water without so much as a ripple.
They were looking straight at Mary.
"MOVE!"
She threw herself sideways as he finished shouting. The thing exploded from the water in the same instant, a mountain of scales and muscle that had seemed impossible only a heartbeat before.
Mary cleared the first lunge, but her boot struck rotten wood instead of a solid root.
The timber splintered beneath her weight.
She crashed into the mud, catching herself on both hands as filthy water splashed across her sleeves. Her knife was still at her belt, and by the time she reached for it, the beast was already upon her.
It surged across the shallow water with terrifying speed, jaws yawning wide enough to shear through a man’s leg in a single bite.
James didn’t remember when he started to move.
One heartbeat and he was already there.
Then Verdict was out of its sheath and driven between those jaws.
The impact hit like a cannonball.
His arm jolted numb clear to the shoulder as the beast’s bite clamped shut on six inches of argentsteel instead of Mary’s thigh. Teeth shrieked across the blade before several burst apart with sharp cracks, snapping free like musket balls striking green timber.
The creature convulsed, wrenching against the sword with enough strength to drag James half a step through the mud before instinct finally overcame fury. It tore itself loose in a spray of brown water and shattered reeds, vanishing beneath the surface so completely that only widening ripples remained.
Silence rushed back into the swamp.
James crossed the last step to Mary and caught her beneath the arm, hauling her onto firmer footing. Mud dripped from both of them, and despite how quickly it had ended, they were breathing as though the struggle had lasted minutes instead of seconds.
"You alright?"
He kept hold of her arm a moment longer than necessary, eyes running over her leg, her hands, the mud smeared across her clothes, searching for blood.
Mary looked distinctly awkward by the inspection. "I’m fine. Me pride’s in worse shape than the rest of me, and I’ve got half the swamp stuffed down one boot."
James let out a breath and stepped back. "Aye, well, pride can limp along without a surgeon. Another inch and we’d have been checkin’ whether ye could still climb trees with one leg."
"I heard that part clearly enough when the thing tried to eat me."
She brushed mud from her sleeve, avoiding his eyes for a second before adding, much more embarrassed, "And... thanks for gettin’ there first."
James’ mouth twitched. "There, that wasn’t so painful, was it? I was beginnin’ to think gratitude might be the rarer creature in this swamp."
A flush rose through Mary’s face for the briefest moment before she snorted and latched onto the safer subject. "Don’t get too pleased with yerself. I think the real hero was that ridiculous sword of yours, any blade that can crack a crocodile’s teeth deserves its own share of the credit."
James chuckled and lowered his gaze to Verdict. Three broken teeth remained wedged in a notch near the middle of the blade where they’d snapped clean off.
"Heard a story once about somethin’ like this."
He wiped the blade against his sleeve. "One of the lads on my crew swore his granddad wouldn’t even say the creature’s name near a swamp along the Georgia coast. North of here, nowhere near this island. Called it the long fella instead, so it wouldn’t come if it heard itself spoken of."
Mary let out a snort.
"Seems that bit of wisdom followed ye farther south than yer friend ever intended."
"Aye."
James slid Verdict back into its sheath.
"Seems it did."
They kept walking until, almost without warning, the ground finally turned firm beneath their boots.
The mangroves opened into a broad space in the canopy. Sunlight poured straight down onto a pool so clear and brilliantly blue it looked as though someone had stolen a piece of another sea and dropped it into the swamp. The perfect circle gleamed against the surrounding brown and green like a silver coin resting in mud.
"Well." Mary stopped at the edge and peered into the water. "There’s your monster’s lair, if the stories have any truth to ’em."
"After today..." James crouched beside the pool. "I’m inclined to believe every story I’ve ever heard."
He watched the light sink deeper and deeper into water so clear he couldn’t judge where the bottom truly lay.
"Even the ones about mermaids."
She didn’t reply.
One hand braced against a root as she leaned farther over the water.
"Captain."
He followed her gaze into the blue.
Far below, where the light finally surrendered to darkness, some object interrupted the smooth curve of the sinkhole’s rocky wall.
Stone resting atop stone.
Ancient, half-swallowed by whatever had grown over it through countless years, sitting at the bottom of a blue hole in the middle of a swamp.
"Tell me that’s just rock."
Mary never took her eyes off it.
"Rock doesn’t stack itself into walls, Captain."
Neither of them spoke again for a long while.
They simply crouched beside water clear enough to reveal something that had plainly never been meant to be found.