Free Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li: The Morcyth Saga Book Three by Brian S. Pratt

know,” says James. “They were getting on
my nerves too.”
    “It doesn’t smell as bad this time,”
observes Miko.
    “Probably because you’re used to it,” James
explains. “You’ve been smelling it all day.”
    “Suppose you’re right,” he admits.
    When the critters have cooked sufficiently,
each takes one off the fire and proceeds to eat. The only water
they have left is the lone water bottle that Miko had attached to
his belt when they went into the sea after the breaking of the
dinghy. All the rest of their packs and things are sitting at the
bottom of the sea.
    They share the water, conserving it as best
they are able.
    “How’s your leg doing?” Jiron asks while
they’re eating.
    “Still throbs something awful,” he replies.
“I just hope this swamp doesn’t get it infected or some parasite
gets into it.”
    “Parasite?” asks Miko.
    “Parasites are small creatures that you can
barely see that take up residence inside you,” he tells him. “Some
are fairly harmless and your body can get rid of most of them on
its own. Others will feed off you until you die.”
    Shuddering, Miko looks at him and asks,
“What can you do if you get one?”
    “Here?” James says, gesturing to their
surroundings, “not very much. Back where I come from, they have
medicine that will remove most of them. But here, you’d have to
have them cut out of you, assuming you could even find them. But,
if we’re careful, you should have nothing to worry about.” Having
finished his meal, he yawns and stretches out next to the fire,
getting comfortable.
    Jiron says to Miko, “I think we should split
the watch and let him sleep. It looks like he could use it.”
    Nodding, Miko replies, “You want first watch
or should I take it?”
    “Can you stay up and keep the fire going?”
he asks him.
    “Not really tired right now,” Miko says.
“You go ahead and sleep and I’ll wake you in the middle of the
night.”
    Settling down next to the fire, Jiron looks
over and sees that James has already fallen asleep. Closing his
eyes, he lets the pop and crackle of the fire lull him to sleep as
well.
    Sitting there by the fire, Miko keeps watch.
Throughout his shift, he jumps and starts at every noise coming
from the darkness around them. At one point, a roar could be heard
coming from far off and he jumped to his feet and was about to wake
Jiron but he hesitated. He listened to the roaring for a while
longer and realized it wasn’t coming close to their camp. So he
settled back down and didn’t wake anyone.
    Putting more fuel on the fire, he sits in
close and manages to stay awake until it’s time to wake Jiron for
his turn. Before falling asleep, he tells him of the roar he’d
heard earlier.
    Jiron nods his head and steps out of the
firelight into the darkness as he does some investigating.
    As Miko falls asleep, he can hear Jiron’s
footsteps as he walks around the campsite.

    The next morning when James is awakened by
the lightning of the morning sky, he discovers Miko lying near him
still asleep but Jiron is nowhere to be seen. Sitting up, he has a
sudden sharp stab of pain from his leg which causes him to gasp.
The blood on his makeshift bandage has turned brown and the bandage
itself seems to be attaching itself to the wound as it scabs
over.
    Hoping the pain is just from the trauma of
the wound and not something more serious, he grabs his stick and
pulls himself up to a standing position. He scans the surrounding
area but fails to see any sign of Jiron.
    Worried, he hobbles over and wakes up Miko.
“Do you know where Jiron went?” he asks him once he’s awake.
    Sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of his
eyes, he glances around and shakes his head. “No,” he replies. “He
was here when I went to sleep after my watch last night.”
    Grimacing, James again looks around but is
unable to see very far through the trees and undergrowth.
    “Where is he!” he says to himself
quietly.
    “Jiron!” Miko hollers