The trail parted after half a mile and revealed a small patch of hard earth before the world turned into a mess of weed-choked ponds. A dozen trails led off into the marshes, much of which I couldn’t see because of the trees that dotted the landscape. The tall, dead trees were covered in the curtains of moss and hid the stinking marches.

  A group of some half a dozen people stood at the edge of the last patch of dry earth. One of them was a very distraught woman who held her face in her cupped hands. Her shoulders quivered and a few stifled sobs came from her. She was surrounded on either side by two other women.

  “He’ll come home safe and sound, Nora, you just see,” one of the women comforted their distressed friend.

  Nora shook her head. “He’s been gone for so long! They’ve both been out there for hours!”

  “Don’t you worry about your husband. Patrick knows his way around these paths as good as anyone,” another assured her.

  One of the others in the crowd turned at our coming and stiffened. “Everyone!”

  They all turned at her worried shout and likewise met us with a defensive stance. Tegan held up his hands and offered them a smile. “Burke told us about the troubles and we offered to help.”

  A rather burly woman crossed her arms over her chest and scrutinized him. “Help how?”

  Tegan held up one hand and a flame appeared. “He thought my fire magic might prove useful in lighting the way.”

  Nora nodded. “Your help is most welcome, sir. My little boy Finn disappeared about two hours ago, and we fear he may have followed one of the wicked lamps.”

  Tegan turned his head this way and that inspecting the many paths. “Are there any quarters that haven’t been searched?”

  “The far side of the marsh hasn’t been touched and you can take any path you want,” Nora told us.

  Tegan looked down at me. “Let’s go and stay close.”

  We slipped past the distraught mother, though with our coming some hope was rekindled in her eyes. I only hoped myself that it wasn’t misplaced.

  We passed through a curtain of moss and I beheld the marshes proper. The mucky mire was rimmed by the tall trees of the forest and stretched out beyond sight. Dead trees dotted the mess and from them, the curtains hid much of the watery fen. The stench of hellfire now invaded my nostrils and I clapped a hand over my face to keep from choking.

  The path on which we found ourselves was some three feet wide and made of dark brown dirt. It meandered its way through the murky ponds. There were no bushes, but tall rushes surrounded the pools. I eased over to the one on our left and leaned over the reeds to get a peek at the water.

  The dark depths were too deep for me to see the bottom, but the walls were lined with thick blades of marsh grass. The strings floated listlessly in the otherwise calm water. They reminded me of ghostly hands stretching out to grab some hapless victim. I scuttled back to avoid becoming part of the body count.

  A yelp escaped me when my back hit something. Tegan grasped my arms and his face was grim. “Stay close. These pools are so deep I would never find you.”

  I nodded and gladly let him lead the way. An oppressive silence fell on us as we traipsed down the damp trail. My eyes wandered over the pools and their dark depths, and a question struck me.

  “What are the ‘wicked lamps?’” I asked my guide.

  “They’re the lights I warned you about that lead people to their deaths,” Tegan told me.

  I winced. “Just in case, what do they look like?”

  Tegan shook his head. “They appear differently to every person. Sometimes they show themselves as a friend, other times it’s a person in need.”

  Some of the color drained from my face. “So if we find the boy we might not actually be finding the boy?”

  He nodded. “That’s why you need to be mindful of who and what you follow.”

  “You there!”

  The voice was deep and growly. A werewolf burst out from behind a curtain ahead of us and I nearly had a heart attack. The creature leaped in front of our path and hunkered down on all fours as it curled its lips up in a growl. He also wore a ragged pair of pants and a necklace of gold with a slightly glowing howlite stone hung around his neck.

  “Who are you?” he snapped.

  “Friends here to help find the boy,” Tegan informed him.

  The werewolf looked us up and down. “You look like you’d just get lost like the kid, so run on out of here before you-”

  Tegan held up one hand and a column of fire exploded out of his palm. The flames cast a bright light on our gloomy surroundings. It also made the werewolf retreat a few steps.

  The werewolf snapped his jaws at Tegan. “What are you?”

  “A friend,” Tegan told him as he subdued his fire, but didn’t extinguish it. “Is there any sign of the boy?”

  The werewolf continued to glare at Tegan as he shook his head. “No, but we haven’t reached the far edges. He could have gotten that far if he was led away.”

  Tegan held up his illuminated palm. “Then we’ll search there with our light.”

  He trudged forward and the werewolf skittered onto a byway. I followed close behind, especially when the wolf man gave me a low growl.

  “Friendly fellow,” I whispered after we were a safe distance away.

  “The werewolves are generally an independent lot and prefer to solve their problems on their own,” he told me.

  “But the guy at the inn invited us. Or was he not a werewolf?” I guessed.

  “Those who take up a trade that involves hospitality are generally more hospitable.”

  I looked over my shoulder where the werewolf had sat but a curtain of moss hid him from sight. “I’m glad he didn’t find us in the woods.”

  “So am I,” Tegan mused as he raised his illuminated hand in the air and increased the flame. A soft light surrounded us. “I’m a little rusty on fighting werewolves and they’re known to play dirty.”

  “How dirty?” I wondered.

  He turned his head to one side and a twinkle was in his eye. “They use their teeth and they’re not known for brushing them.”

  I snorted. “I guess that would be pretty dirty.”

  We continued on our way. A few shadows hurried along other paths and we could hear shouts from other people, but nobody came close to us. That is, until I saw her.

  My head snapped around for a double-take and the consequence was a sharp pain in my neck. “Mrs. Gerst?”

  The elderly cashier from the corner store was indeed standing fifty feet away. She was huddled against herself with her arms squeezed so tightly against her chest and I could hardly tell her flowery sleeves apart from the rest of her dress. Her chest moved up and down and she whipped her head to and fro. She had an expression of complete bewilderment and terror.

  “W-where am I?” I heard her whisper as a soft breeze made her jump. “W-what is this place?”

  One of the pools lapped up onto the dry land near her feet. She screeched and stumbled back. Her heels hit a thick mess of rushes and she toppled backward out of sight. I heard a hard splash.

  “Mrs. Gerst!” I shouted as I raced toward her.

  “Kate!” Tegan yelled at me. “Stop!”

  I reached the spot where Mrs. Gerst had fallen in. The water was as still as the grave.

  Something was wrong. Horribly wrong. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.

  A bright orb shot out from the thrushes in front of me and flew into my face. I yelped and stumbled back waving my arms in front of me. The glowing ball flew at me and its touch left a patch of heat on my arms, but nothing more. The creature retreated when I swung too close, but I was the one who was losing ground.

  And then I ran out of ground.

  CHAPTER TEN

  One of my feet fell into a deep end of the pool and the rest of my followed. My scream was interrupted by a mouthful of water as I sank into the black depths. The ghostly grasses I had earlier noticed wrapped around me, clinging to my limbs like the jealous dead. I thrashed in their hold but my struggles only seemed to tighten their grip.

  By this time my lungs were burning and my head was spinning. I couldn’t tell up from down. All was shadowy darkness.

  I barely felt it when an arm wrapped around my waist. There was a flash of claws and I was freed from my plant captors. My lungs were nearly empty by the time we reached the surface. Tegan tossed me onto land and I proceeded to puke up all the water I’d inhaled.

  He threw himself onto the shore and crawled out before drawing me the rest of the way out of the water. I clung to him as my whole body shivered, more from fear than the cold that now permeated my flesh and bones.

  Tegan knelt on his knees beside me and drew my wet hair out of my face. “I told you to stay with me.”

  Tears sprang into my eyes and I managed to wheeze out a few words. “I-I’m sorry.”

  Tegan sighed. “I should send you back with one of the men.”

  I tightened my grip on his arm and shook my head. “Please don’t leave me.”

  He pursed his lips. “You’ll stay close this time?”

  I looked down at my dribbling clothes. “I-I think I’ve learned my lesson the hard way.” The dripping wetness of my attire made me realize that Tegan, too, was soaked to the bone. My heart skipped a beat and I whipped my head up. “Your fire!”

  “Extinguished but not lost,” he told me as he looked about us. “We shouldn’t linger here long. Do you think you can stand?”

  I nodded and he helped me to my shaky feet. In a moment I had regained my land legs but not my dignity. Shame colored my cheeks now and I couldn’t look him in the eyes as he studied my face.

  “You’re sure you want to keep going?” he asked me.

  I managed a shaky smile as I nodded down at myself. “I couldn’t go back now looking like this, not without finding the boy.”

  He didn’t look pleased but he helped me down the path without argument. The shadows of the others I had seen earlier became few and far between until I felt an unpleasant loneliness surround us. All was quiet and calm, but the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.

  That’s when I saw it. A ball of light some fifty yards off. It moved in and out of sight behind the many moss curtains but stayed at roughly the same height and in the same direction. Tegan, too, had noticed the orb and he took my hand, as much for comfort, I imagined, as to ensure I kept my promise.

  We crept along the path and I soon realized the orb itself was following the same trail. My heart pounded in my chest as a great wall of moss blocked our view. Tegan drew the curtain aside and revealed a small island of sorts with a single causeway.

  In the center of the island lay a young boy.

  The fair-haired lad lay so still that for a moment I thought we’d arrived too late. Much was my relief when I realized his chest moved up and down in shallow breaths. Tegan’s attention, however, lay more on our surroundings.

  I noticed something awry. “Where’d the light go?”

  Tegan shook his head. “I don’t know, but keep an eye open for it.”

  We carefully moved toward the young lad with half our attention on the dark depths that surrounded the small island. Tegan bent down beside the boy and set his hand on the child’s shoulder. His touch stirred Finn to consciousness and the boy blinked up at us in confusion.

  “Where’s my mother?” he asked us as panic crept into his innocent face. He sat up and leaned back on his arms. “Who are you?”

  Tegan grasped his arms and offered him a smile. “We’re friends sent by your mother Nora to find you. You are Finn, aren’t you?”

  He nodded. “Yes, but why did she send you? I was just following her in here.”

  I caught Tegan’s eye and pursed my lips. “The wicked lights?”

  Tegan had an equally bleak expression on his face. “Undoubtedly.”

  “Can you take me to my mother?” Finn pleaded as the bleak darkness around us began to dawn on him. “Please?”

  I knelt on his other side and smiled. “Of course. That’s why we’re here.” A question nagged at the back of my head and I looked up at Tegan. “But why didn’t they try to drown him like the one did with me?”

  Tegan’s eyes widened and he shot to his feet. “We have to get out of here-”

  Too late. A dozen more orbs shot out of the water and surrounded us. A cry of fright came from the lad. I clutched the boy against my chest as he clung to me.

  “What’s going on?” Finn screamed.

  I looked over to Tegan whose grim expression made my heart skip a beat. “What do they want?”

  Tegan’s words made my blood run cold. “To drain us of our life. They used the boy as bait to lure us here.”

  “I wanna go home!” Finn shouted.

  The wicked lights formed themselves into a crescent shape and slowly floated closer to us. We stepped away from the encroaching lights and I looked at where we were headed.

  Straight for one of the pools.

  “Tegan!” I shouted.

  “I know!” he replied as he stepped between Finn and me and our foes. He held out his hands with his palms turned upward, but there wasn’t so much as a sizzle. His fire was still extinguished.

  “Can’t you transform and blow them away?” I asked him.

  “My girth would send you both into the pool!” he pointed out but his wings sprouted from his back.

  One of the lights came within striking distance of Tegan and darted forward. He drew his ragged wing on either side of him to protect the lad and me from the marching foes. One of the balls touched his leathery hide, creating a scorch mark. Tegan winced but knocked the light away. The ball merely retreated to its brethren.

  The quivering boy clung harder to me as the crescent ring of light floated closer and closer. Tegan tried to deflect them with his scaled arms, but they only bounced back into the ever-encroaching line. I stepped back and my heel splashed into ice-cold water.

  A cry of fear came from the lad as I stumbled forward with him still gripping me. My frantic mind tried to think of something, anything to stop the brilliant onslaught. I shut my eyes and prayed for a miracle.

  A soft warmth exploded in front of me and I opened my eyes to a wall of mist. The fog wrapped completely around us, blotting out anything a foot in front of me. A gasp escaped Finn and me when a bright flame burst out of the mist and burned the white air away.

  Tegan stood before us dry and practically on fire. The flames I’d so often seen in his hands now climbed up his arms to his elbows and completely encased the scales. The rest of him let off steam, the source of the thick mist that he now burned away.

  The wicked lights stopped in their tracks and seemed to twist around in deliberation. One of them took the initiative and dashed forward. Tegan grabbed hold of the creature in mid flight in his clawed hand and squeezed. The light burned brightly before it exploded like a supernova, but with only a pitiful blast of air that spread the sparkling remains of its body.

  That was enough for the other wicked lights. They turned bright tail and fled into the marshes. We were safe.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Tegan drew his hand back to himself, and as he did so the flames on his arms vanished. He looked down and studied his clawed hand with a furrowed brow.

  Finn jumped up and down in my arms. “That was so fantastic!”

  Tegan turned to him with a smile but the confusion remained in his eyes. “It was quite something, wasn’t it? Now we should be getting you back to your parents.”

  Finn was all smiles as we led him back toward the town, though he did keep a tight grip on my arm. We had traveled a quarter of the way across the marshes when one of the werewolves appeared from behind a curtain. Judging by the familiar raggedness of his pants, I recognized him as the ‘friendly’ local from before.

  His eyes widened as he beheld our young companion. “Finn!”

  “Conroy!” Finn shouted as he raced up to the wolf and hugged him.

  Conroy stared dumbly at the boy before he looked up at us. He wrapped an arm around the boy and bowed his head to us. “Thank you for returning him to us.”

  Tegan shook his head. “We were glad to help.”

  Conroy lifted his head and let loose a powerful howl. More howls echoed from all corners of the marshes and soon other werewolves barreled through the curtains to join us.

  One of them crashed through the moss so violently that he tore the whole piece down. He skidded to a stop and stared dumbfounded at the young boy in Conroy’s grip. A hoarse word passed his lips. “Finn. . .”

  Finn whipped his head up and a smile illuminated his face. “Father!”

  The young lad raced over to the new werewolf and embraced him in a tight hug. The wolf wrapped his arms around him and squeezed him tight. “My boy. My precious child.”

  Conroy clapped a hand on Patrick’s shoulder and nodded in the direction of the entrance. “We should get to Nora. She’ll be wanting to hug Finn, too.”

  Patrick nodded and lifted his eyes to us. “You found him?”

  Tegan bowed his head. “It was our pleasure.”

  “Then please come with us,” Patrick requested as he knelt on his stomach.

  Finn gave a shout for joy and climbed aboard his father’s back. Conroy and another wolf moved over to us and lay down. I looked uncertainly at Tegan.

  “When in the forest,” he teased as he climbed aboard Conroy.

  I gingerly crawled onto the hairy back of my werewolf and clutched two healthy handfuls of fur. The werewolf rose, still on four legs, and I pressed myself close against their back. The pack took off at a quick lope and covered the remainder of the marsh in half the time it would have taken Tegan and me. We soon arrived at the start of the muck where the women waited in breathless, fitful anticipation.

  Nora gave a cry when she saw Finn atop her husband and rushed to meet them. Finn slid off and right into the eager arms of his mother. “Finn! Praise the moon, you’re alright!”

  Patrick stood up, and as he did so his furry exterior was absorbed into his body until he was a man once more. He nodded at Tegan and me as we slid off our own rides. “We have these people to thank, Nora.”

 

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