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Description
Chapter 15

My stomach clenched as Dreyfus walked off into the trees without me.  Not that I was afraid of being in this wierd world alone, or anything, I just didn't want anything to happen to him.  I also didn't want to be in this world without my Fire Blade.  Too many hostile creatures.

"Dreyfus!" I called.  "Get back here!  You're gonna get yourself killed!"  But he did not return.

Eventually, I decided to give up on the Fire Blade for now and go after Dreyfus.  I'd come back for it later.  Stinkin' trees... I thought angrily as I ran into the swamp.  Though it must have taken me longer than I thought cause I couldn't find Dreyfus.  After a while of calling him, I swore, picked a direction, and started walking, hoping this was the way he had gone.

He didn't.  After a long time I was still walking.  Since Dreyfus had apparently not gone this way, I stopped and turned around to start heading back the way I had come when I heard something.

I turned back to the new area of swamp.  I was at the edge of a clearing.  The fog that rose from the murky waters cut out a good deal of the sunlight, though I guessed it must have been late in the day anyway.  The sound sounded like it was coming from the middle of the clearing straight ahead.  It was the sound of singing.  ALmost a kind of blues singing.  Curious, I followed it.

The sound grew louder as I got closer.  It was definitely a group of men, voices generally together in song.  Maybe they had seen Dreyfus.  Maybe it was some kind of magic from the song, but I completely forgot about Baldr's warning against Swamp Sirens.

When I was close enough to make out any words, five male voices sang out "Ooooooooooooooo The Summertime bluuuuuuuues."

I went around the rock and saw them as they began their song.  As I guessed, there were five of them, four of them were sitting on large rocks while the fifth stood.  He was the one who sang most of the words while the other four generally echoed behind him.  They were all dressed like someone out of some black and white detective movie, complete with fedoras and canes.  Their skin was blue-ish with pale-ish blue spots and pointed ears.  Their skin seemed kind of...watery almost, but I assumed it was just their color.  It did kind of look like the water does with sun shines through it, though not as bright.

I don't remember much of their song.  Well, the exact words to it anyway.  It started out as just a song about summer being annoying, which I could easily agree with.  There was a bit of an introduction in song, which I found a bit cheesey.  Apparently they were in some kind of group, the lead singer was the leader and the background singers were just henchmen.  There were many groups like this.  All of them men.  There was one queen, which made the whole thing remind me of an ant colony and spiders I had seen in some spider movie a while ago.  The males would all give the queen a present and she would mate with whichever one gave the best gift.  And apparently the henchmen helped the leader and he would get all the glory if he won.

Then their song got a little more sad.  Summer was their mating season and so most of the good gifts were usually picked out by the other groups by now and this group still didn't have one.  I felt kind of sad right then.  I kind of wanted to help them out.  I walked a bit closer to listen better.  I still say that song had some kind of magic to it.

Big mistake.  As they continued singing, they all got up and started circling around me.  Suddenly I grew uneasy and wanted to find a way away from them.  They went on about what kind of gifts they presented to their queen.  They'd sing their song to attract travelers and the queen would pick the male that gave the best tasting person.

I'm not as much of an idiot as most people sometimes think I am.  I could tell what was going on here by now.  I flapped my wings to fly away from here.

But when I said their skin looked like water, it wasn't because of their colors.  They all litterally melted and shot themselves at me, wrapping around me and bringing me back to the ground.  Then they dragged me under the water and into some kind of tunnel.  THey swam FAST.  We shot a good ways down the tunnel in seconds, faster than falling even.  And just when I couldn't hold my breath any longer the tunnel curved and went up and there was air.

I gasped for air as I was brought onto land.  THe swamp creatures let go of me and changed back to their original forms.

"There is no way you can reach the top of that swamp without drowning and there is no other way out of the caves so there is no point in even considering escape.  You might as well come with us quietly so we don't have to carry you." the leader said.

I stood up and glared at him.  "You know what?  You're an asshole." I said.  I looked to the water I had just come out of.  I thought about trying to escape back the way I had come.

Better to drown than get eaten. I thought.  But I thought better of it.

One of the others gave me a shove towards another cave.  "Just come on." it said.  Sighing, I went with them into the cave.  I'd find another way to escape.  Either that or I'd take them all out.  I did not intend to get eaten here.

Description
Chapter 15

My stomach clenched as Dreyfus walked off into the trees without me.  Not that I was afraid of being in this wierd world alone, or anything, I just didn't want anything to happen to him.  I also didn't want to be in this world without my Fire Blade.  Too many hostile creatures.

"Dreyfus!" I called.  "Get back here!  You're gonna get yourself killed!"  But he did not return.

Eventually, I decided to give up on the Fire Blade for now and go after Dreyfus.  I'd come back for it later.  Stinkin' trees... I thought angrily as I ran into the swamp.  Though it must have taken me longer than I thought cause I couldn't find Dreyfus.  After a while of calling him, I swore, picked a direction, and started walking, hoping this was the way he had gone.

He didn't.  After a long time I was still walking.  Since Dreyfus had apparently not gone this way, I stopped and turned around to start heading back the way I had come when I heard something.

I turned back to the new area of swamp.  I was at the edge of a clearing.  The fog that rose from the murky waters cut out a good deal of the sunlight, though I guessed it must have been late in the day anyway.  The sound sounded like it was coming from the middle of the clearing straight ahead.  It was the sound of singing.  ALmost a kind of blues singing.  Curious, I followed it.

The sound grew louder as I got closer.  It was definitely a group of men, voices generally together in song.  Maybe they had seen Dreyfus.  Maybe it was some kind of magic from the song, but I completely forgot about Baldr's warning against Swamp Sirens.

When I was close enough to make out any words, five male voices sang out "Ooooooooooooooo The Summertime bluuuuuuuues."

I went around the rock and saw them as they began their song.  As I guessed, there were five of them, four of them were sitting on large rocks while the fifth stood.  He was the one who sang most of the words while the other four generally echoed behind him.  They were all dressed like someone out of some black and white detective movie, complete with fedoras and canes.  Their skin was blue-ish with pale-ish blue spots and pointed ears.  Their skin seemed kind of...watery almost, but I assumed it was just their color.  It did kind of look like the water does with sun shines through it, though not as bright.

I don't remember much of their song.  Well, the exact words to it anyway.  It started out as just a song about summer being annoying, which I could easily agree with.  There was a bit of an introduction in song, which I found a bit cheesey.  Apparently they were in some kind of group, the lead singer was the leader and the background singers were just henchmen.  There were many groups like this.  All of them men.  There was one queen, which made the whole thing remind me of an ant colony and spiders I had seen in some spider movie a while ago.  The males would all give the queen a present and she would mate with whichever one gave the best gift.  And apparently the henchmen helped the leader and he would get all the glory if he won.

Then their song got a little more sad.  Summer was their mating season and so most of the good gifts were usually picked out by the other groups by now and this group still didn't have one.  I felt kind of sad right then.  I kind of wanted to help them out.  I walked a bit closer to listen better.  I still say that song had some kind of magic to it.

Big mistake.  As they continued singing, they all got up and started circling around me.  Suddenly I grew uneasy and wanted to find a way away from them.  They went on about what kind of gifts they presented to their queen.  They'd sing their song to attract travelers and the queen would pick the male that gave the best tasting person.

I'm not as much of an idiot as most people sometimes think I am.  I could tell what was going on here by now.  I flapped my wings to fly away from here.

But when I said their skin looked like water, it wasn't because of their colors.  They all litterally melted and shot themselves at me, wrapping around me and bringing me back to the ground.  Then they dragged me under the water and into some kind of tunnel.  THey swam FAST.  We shot a good ways down the tunnel in seconds, faster than falling even.  And just when I couldn't hold my breath any longer the tunnel curved and went up and there was air.

I gasped for air as I was brought onto land.  THe swamp creatures let go of me and changed back to their original forms.

"There is no way you can reach the top of that swamp without drowning and there is no other way out of the caves so there is no point in even considering escape.  You might as well come with us quietly so we don't have to carry you." the leader said.

I stood up and glared at him.  "You know what?  You're an asshole." I said.  I looked to the water I had just come out of.  I thought about trying to escape back the way I had come.

Better to drown than get eaten. I thought.  But I thought better of it.

One of the others gave me a shove towards another cave.  "Just come on." it said.  Sighing, I went with them into the cave.  I'd find another way to escape.  Either that or I'd take them all out.  I did not intend to get eaten here.