Ambush in the marsh.

Lira slipped through the thorn barrier like smoke, her braids crusted with sand. *She tossed three stolen waterskins at Isaac's feet.* "Tracked their patrol route," she rasped, wiping obsidian blade on her thigh. "Ten more guards all heading in the wrong direction. They would rest up here for the day and set out when the sun had dropped and head back to Saltgrave.

As the sun set everyone prepared to leave the cave and make their way into the night. Tonight there wear clouds in the sky which would block out the moonlight. This was a blessing as it would make it harder to be spotted. However it was also a hinderance as they would have also find it hard to navigate in the darkness.

Katherine "Lets go. Issac and I will carry Doreah first. Lira you take the lead and Shola you take the rear."

Shola *Adjusting her worn leather straps with calloused fingers, Shola peered into the ink-black expanse beyond the cave mouth.* "Rear guard suits me fine—less talking, more listening for patrol boots." Her knuckles whitened around the obsidian dagger's hilt as she imagined the snap of twigs under careless feet. *The darkness felt thick enough to chew, tasting of iron and damp earth.*

Issac *He hoisted Doreah's limp form onto his back with a grunt, her feverish skin radiating through the thin fabric of her tunic.* "She's burning up worse than yesterday," he murmured, shifting her weight while Katherine secured a makeshift harness across his chest. *The cave's stale air suddenly felt suffocating.*

Lira *Slithering out first into the void, Lira paused only to smear wet ash beneath her eyes.* "Quiet as graveworms now," she hissed over her shoulder, her voice swallowed by the oppressive blackness. *Her bare feet found purchase on unseen rocks as she vanished beyond the thorn barrier.*

Katherine "Keep close," Katherine breathed, steadying Isaac with a hand on his elbow, her own knuckles brushing Doreah's scorching cheek. *The scent of illness clung thick in the humid air.* "Shola—listen for shifts in the wind. Anything." Her torch remained unlit, a dead weight in her belt.

The group edged forward like ghosts into the suffocating dark, the thorn barrier scraping against their clothes. Above, the cloud cover choked the stars entirely; the world became a tactile map of jagged stones underfoot and the faint, damp breeze carrying the distant tang of salt marshes. Every snapped twig echoed like thunder.

Narrator: Shola pressed her spine against a crumbling basalt outcrop, her breath shallow. *The stillness was worse than any noise—it pressed against her eardrums.* She strained, catching only Isaac's muffled grunt as he adjusted Doreah's weight twenty paces ahead. Then—a whisper of displaced gravel far behind them. Too rhythmic. Too deliberate.

Narrator: Katherine froze mid-step, her hand instinctively clamping over Isaac's forearm. *The air tasted metallic.* She tilted her head slowly toward Shola's position, eyes wide and unseeing in the dark.

Shola stayed coiled against the rock, her dagger blade pressed flat against her thigh to mute any reflection. *The gravel-scuff sounded again—closer this time—and she caught the faint leather-on-leather creak of armor straps.* Someone was tailing them with military precision.

Katherine's fingers dug into Isaac's arm as she silently pivoted toward the sound, her free hand drifting toward her belt dagger. *The humid air thickened with the sour tang of fear sweat mingling with Doreah's fever-scent.* Twenty heartbeats passed in utter stillness. "Get Doreah into cover and protect her."

*He stumbled backward toward a cluster of jagged boulders, Doreah’s limp form sliding against his sweat-slicked back.* "Rot take them," he gasped, wedging her feverish body into a crevice. *His trembling hands fumbled for his own obsidian blade.* "They’ll taste iron if they touch her."

The gravel-scuffing ceased abruptly. In the suffocating stillness, a bead of sweat traced a path down Shola’s temple. *Her ears strained—no breath, no armor creak—only the phantom echo of boots in the void.* Then, a whisper: "South flank. Move." The voice was guttural, clipped—Saltgrave accent. Close enough to smell the stale fish oil on their leathers.

Shola’s muscles coiled like springs. *She caught Katherine’s silhouette shifting toward Isaac’s hiding spot—too slow.* Two shapes detached from the darkness ahead, blades catching a sliver of starlight through a cloud break. They moved with predatory silence, converging on the boulders where Doreah lay. Katherine spotted them and drew her sword to do battle.

Narrator: Katherine lunged forward, her obsidian blade slicing air where a guard’s throat should’ve been—but he twisted aside with unnatural speed. *Metal scraped stone as Isaac parried a thrust aimed at Doreah’s crevice.* Shola smelled blood before she heard the wet gurgle: Lira’s dagger bloomed from a third attacker’s back as she materialized behind him, a wraith in the chaos. "Ambush!" Katherine hissed. "Shola, the rear—"

Shola: *She pivoted low, her dagger catching moonlight as it carved upward.* The blade bit deep into leather armor, grating against ribs. "Four more closing!" she rasped, tasting copper as her elbow smashed into a jaw. *Footfalls drummed behind her—too many.* She twisted, parrying a spear thrust that scraped her shoulder. "Katherine, they’re herding us toward the salt marsh!"

Katherine *Sweat stung her eyes as she blocked a brutal overhead chop.* "Isaac, hold that crevice!" Her blade danced—a feint left, then a savage sweep right that opened a guard’s thigh. *Blood sprayed warm on her wrist.* She glimpsed Doreah’s pale face in the moonbreak. "Lira! Flank them or we drown in this bog!"

Lira *Materializing like shadow given teeth, she hooked a guard’s ankle with her foot.* He crashed face-first into brackish mud. Her obsidian blade found his kidney before he could scream. "Six total," she hissed, wiping gore on her braids. *Salt marsh stench clogged her throat.* "Shola’s right—they’re driving us deeper."

The marsh sucked at their boots as they retreated. Isaac’s ragged breaths echoed too loud; Doreah’s fever made her moan against his shoulder. *Moonlight bled through thinning clouds, revealing four more silhouettes closing from the reeds.* Leather creaked. Blades gleamed wet. Katherine’s torch finally sparked to life—a beacon or a **** sentence. Suddenly the ground beneath the ambushers started to tremble beneath them. The wyrms had located the vibrations and now they would come to Katherine's party aid.

Katherine’s torchlight danced wildly as mud bubbled violently around the guards’ feet. *A guttural shriek tore the night—one soldier vanished waist-deep into quicksand-like sludge.* Isaac staggered back, shielding Doreah’s face from spray. Lira grinned, teeth stark against ash-smeared skin. "Saltgrave fools," she spat. "Forgot the wetlands bite back."

The ground shuddered again—not footsteps, but deep subterranean thrashing. *Reptilian scales glistened in torchlight as a serpentine head breached the muck, jaws unhinging around a flailing guard.* Bone crunched wetly. Shola tasted bile—this wasn’t aid. This was the marsh claiming its own. Shola knew that while they remained in the marsh they were safe from the guards and the wyrms.

Katherine shoved Isaac toward a gnarled mangrove root island. "Move! The wyrms hunt vibration!" Her torch flickered wildly as another soldier sank screaming into bubbling silt. *The stench of digested flesh and swamp gas choked the air.* Lira slithered past, dragging a dazed guard’s body as a writhing distraction. "Go! They’ll feast slow!"

Shola sprinted through waist-deep sludge, her lungs burning with marsh-fog. *Behind her, wet tearing sounds mingled with fading shouts.* The ground trembled—not from pursuit, but from colossal things shifting below. Katherine’s torchlight caught Isaac’s ashen face; Doreah hung limp in his arms, her breathing shallow as spider-silk.

Mangrove roots rose like skeletal fingers ahead. Katherine stumbled onto solid ground, whirling to haul Isaac up. *Torchlight flickered across her blood-streaked face.* "Lira!" she barked. "Scout the roots—find us shelter!" The marsh’s bubbling receded, leaving only the hungry slither of wyrms below.

Lira *She vanished into the root-tangle, silent as ink spilled on shadow.* Seconds later, her low whistle pierced the gloom—two sharp notes. "Dry hollow here," her voice slithered back. *Inside, the air tasted of wet rot and ancient salt.* Isaac collapsed against moss, Doreah cradled in his lap.

Katherine "Bind her fever," Katherine ordered, thrusting damp moss strips at Shola while tearing her own sleeve for bandages. *Doreah's skin felt like sun-baked clay.* Her fingers brushed the girl's pulse—thready, weak. "Isaac, pressure here." She pressed his hand over a weeping gash on Doreah's ribs.

The hollow’s air hung thick with decay and iron-scented blood. Outside, distant splashes echoed—guards drowning or wyrms surfacing. Shola’s hands shook as she packed moss against Doreah’s forehead. *The girl’s whimper was thinner than reed-snapping wind.*

Katherine tore her last strip of sleeve with a sharp rip. "Press harder, Isaac—her life’s leaking into this damned mud." Her knuckles whitened around the bandage. *Doreah’s ribs felt like cracked pottery beneath her touch.* "Shola, check Lira’s path. If those bastards regroup…"

Shola *She edged toward the hollow’s entrance, dagger slick with marsh filth.* The reeds outside swayed like drunken sentinels. "No boots yet," she murmured, ears straining past Isaac’s ragged breaths. *Salt and decay clawed at her throat.* "But wyrms still churn the deep mud. We’re pinned."

Katherine "Then we have **** but to use the trees as a bridge across the marsh."

Lira *She reappeared silently beside them, her braids dripping brackish water.* "Found a mangrove path overhead—roots thick as castle walls," she whispered, pointing upward into the tangled darkness. *Her obsidian blade traced a faint phosphorescent fungus marking the route.* "If we take it slow and deliberate and cut down on vibrations we should be okay."

Katherine *She nodded curtly, ripping her sleeve into strips for Doreah's bandages.* "Isaac, carry her on your chest—hands free to climb." Her torch flickered as she scanned the root-choked ceiling. *The stench of decay mixed with Doreah’s fever-sweat.* "Shola, lead. Step only where Lira marks."

Shola *She sheathed her dagger and gripped the lowest root, knuckles white.* Her boots found the glowing fungus trail—a ghostly path winding upward. *The mangrove groaned under her weight, vibrating like a plucked harp string.* "Slow as shadow," she breathed, testing each foothold before shifting. Below, bubbles erupted where wyrms circled.