Thanks for the extension
I chose Duberry Swamp.
The Adventures of Bif and Ri. A Boy and his Gremlin."We hears em laugh. Sometimes they drop
shinies and we takes them and run away. Never seen one, though. No. Never sees them." Said Ri, The Fall Festival Gremlin, as he rode the shoulders of his human companion through the murky waters of the swamp.
"
Spooky!" observed Bif, holding onto the little fellow's skinny knees. "Cunning too. You know, playing on your very nature and everything to ensnare you. What happens to the Gremlins that do go after the Hags, do you think?"
"Dunno," replied the Gremlin, shaking his head, "Mire Hags is nasty. Ri not going in that cave."
"I know Ri. You don't have to come in the cave," Bif assured the small humanoid with a squeeze to his bony knee. "We'll find you a nice tree to sit in or something. I just wanted a
buddy so I didn't get lost in the swamp. The
buddy system never fails!"
"Never fails!
Buddy!" Chimed Ri cheerfully in time as Bif bounced him on his shoulders.
As far as Gremlins went, Ri was rather a
funny onion. Uncommonly chatty and unusually affectionate in his ways. He smelled oddly
Clericky; though Bif was too polite to ever broach the subject. The Gremlin claimed to be disliked by his own kind. So, while his fellow kin were romping about the Vanguard Guildhall this fall fest, Ri found himself in the unlikely company of a human.
The pair walked in silence together through the swamps for a marc or so, the quiet occasionally broken by the croak of a frog or by the sound of something splashing into the stagnant water. No Mire Hag laughter, though Bif had never heard the sound before. He found himself straining to hear it. Maybe he wouldn't recognise it at all? Perhaps he'd mistake it for the cawing of a bird or the rustling of the reeds?
"I think this is it," Bif commented quietly as they came to an outcrop of rock in the water that heralded the entrance to the cave. Panicked Gremlin fingers dug suddenly into his hair as the small humanoid astride his shoulders began to struggle.
"Ri not go in!
Ri not --!"
"Okay, Ri! Okay!" yelled Bif, swaying as he fought with the clamouring Gremlin, prizing skinny arms from their death lock about his head as he pointed, "You can wait in that tree, look!"
The gangly Enchanter stumbled through the waters, still half-blinded by an agitated Gremlin. Ri pounced from his shoulders scampered easily up the body of the bare tree all too readily as they neared. He hugged protectively it's gnarled trunk and turned fearful eyes back down at the human he left standing in the water.
Bif met the Gremlins wide gaze and sighed, reaching into his coat pocket. "The cave isn't all that big. I won't be long, chap. Here, have some candy while you wait." He offered, holding a crinkled paper bag out to Ri. The Gremlin relinquished his hold on the tree in favour of snatching the bag of candy and Bif smiled as Ri's countenance relaxed.
The rustling of Ri's paper bag could be heard faintly over his shoulder as he stepped into the mouth of the cave. Inside was putrid, dank and still, and a sudden gust of wind blowing into his face from within came unexpected. Bif yelped a small scream and then paused a step, snorting a small laugh at his own foolishness.
"Just the wind," he mused to himself as he took another pace inside. And then again. That same, unexpected blast of foul air from within. This time he was sure; sure that when it hissed passed his ear it spoke,
"Take it'sssss fingerssssss!!"Bif froze. Whipping his head back around to follow the trail of the voice. The swamp outside was as still as ever, save for the curling of fog above the water and the swing of Ri's legs from the tree branch where he sat and ate. He blinked and shook his head. A Fall Fest trick. Overactive imagination, that was all. Ri didn't look distressed; cheeks packed full with candy. And Ri's Gremlin-ears were likely far more sensitive than Bif's own. He surely would've heard.
Again, he shook his head and continued once more inside. Only to be immediately startled again by a moaning swamp zombie. He choked on a gasp and clutched at his chest, silently cursing himself now for his own stupidity: Hearing voices on the wind and now near screaming over zombies.
Overactive imagination, indeed! And the Zombie wasn't even paying him any mind as it morosely pawed the muddy walls of the cave. It's face was like a puddle; where all of it's orifices had melded into one. Bif swallowed down a wave of nausea and continued boldly on.
He retraced his steps from memory and found the
witches place empty. He searched the room quickly, ghostlight giving off an eerie glow and chasing shadows into corners. In fact, there was no evidence of a Mire Hag ever being here. No even a solitary Mire gem littered the floor. Bif's brow knitted as he crossed the room swiftly to the stairs that led deeper into the cave. His foot had just touched the first step when a cry from above cause him to halt. The wind again? Overactive imagination? Bif was just about to snort again in self-admonition when the cry came again, louder and more desperate than before.
Ri?! He tore from the room, knocking shoulders with the Zombie who moaned louder as he passed. Panting and splashing out into the dark, legs tangled in swamp ivy, Bif lifted his panicked gaze to the gnarled tree to find it empty. The discarded paper candy bag floated on the surface of the still, moonlit water. The swamp was hushed, undisturbed and silent.
"Ri!
Riii!!!" Bif's voice rang out hoarse into the mist. He waded quickly toward the dead tree to look helplessly around it's trunk. "Ri?!" He called again, hysteria coloring his tone as he began to whimper and then shamelessly snivel in the dark.
And then all at once, in the silence of the swamp, another noise rose up to join Bif's sobs. It was a sound like icy water: One that could not be mistaken for the cawing of birds or the rustling of reeds. A sound like hail, and creaking doors, and naked tree branches thrashing in the wind: It was the unmistakable sound of a Mire Hag laughing.
Like the bark of an old, sad dog, it grew in ferocity as another Hag joined it. Soon it would sound as though the whole of the swamp were laughing at the wet-faced boy, who clutched at the trunk of a dead tree with white fingers. His feet were numb beneath the water; his brain was numb too. His eyes wide and watery as he stared out into the gloom.
The laughter cut out like the slamming of a door and the darkness seemed to press in more heavily than before. Bif was alone. He never called out again, knowing that neither Ri, nor the Hags, were there to hear him.