Page 4 of X'nath

“Uh..we’ll pass!” Greag shouted, nearly tripping over himself to back away. “We’re good. No snacks needed.”

The crone’s laughter turned to a rasping wheeze. “Suit yourselves, but the swamp remembers. It hungers, and it will take what it desires.”

With a shudder, I turned, and we bolted, the crone’s laughter ringing in our ears, an ominous echo that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

As we stumbled back onto the path, I could still feel her eyes on us, like a noose tightening around our throats. “Never thought I’d say this,” I gasped, "but I’d take my chances with the frog over her any day.”

“Agreed,” Greag panted, glancing back nervously. “Let’s just get to the shore before we run into something worse.”

We pressed on, the fog thickening to a suffocating degree. The air felt heavier with each step, and a sense of unease gnawed at my gut. I could hear something moving in the darkness—dragging across the ground, something unseen but very much present.

Then, out of the mist, it emerged.

A massive shape slithered from the swamp—a mutated crocodile, its scales slick with slime, its body bloated and distorted. Its eyes glowed with an unnatural yellow hue, and its gaping maw revealed rows of jagged teeth like sharpened rocks. The creature was easily the size of two orcs, its massive tail whipping behind it, sending sprays of mud into the air.

“By the ancestors…” Karg muttered, his eyes widening in horror. “How does a creature even become this way?”

It lunged for the closest orc who immediately leapt back and swung his weapon down, missing the creature’s head by a breath.

“This thing is unnaturally massive,” Vakgar growled, firing his pistol at the creature. The shot echoed in the air, but the bullet ricocheted off its tough hide and struck a tree with a sharp crack. He cursed and swung the butt of his weapon against the creature's back with a grunt. “We’re not going to win this one with just numbers!”

I scowled, my hand instinctively gripping my axe. “You should’ve stuck with a proper weapon. Those pistols are a pain—they need reloading every time, and in a fight like this, there’s no time for that.”

Vakgar shot me a quick glare, but he knew I was right. The pistols, while powerful, were useless in the heat of a fast-moving battle. Reloading them was a hassle, and in a moment like this, where every second counted, it was more of a liability than a help.

The croc hissed, snapping its jaws with a deafening crack, the ground beneath it trembling. It lunged at us again, its huge body crashing through the trees, faster than something that size should be able to move.

With little time to react, the creature surged forward again, swinging its tail like a battering ram. Greag and I scrambled to avoid the blow, but a younger orc wasn’t quick enough. He was sent flying, landing with a sickening thud.

“Get up!” I shouted, helping him to his feet. "We’re not dead yet!"

“Hold your ground, you fools!” Korrin shouted, his voice a gravelly command. The seasoned warrior didn’t hesitate, slamming his jagged hammer into the croc’s side with a brutal, earth-shaking impact. The creature roared, its glowing eyes narrowing in fury.

“Come on!” Gorruk barked, his voice barely audible over the chaos. "Hit it now, while it’s distracted!"

With Korrin’s hammer blow to its side, the croc reared back, and for a moment, its deadly attention shifted. It was just enough for the rest of us to regroup.

“This worth it?” Vakgar muttered, breathing heavily, his jagged hammer dripping with swamp water. “I’m starting to wonder if we’re wasting our time here.”

“Shut up and keep fighting!” I snapped, though his words seeped into my skin more than I cared to admit.

The croc lunged again, but the older warriors, grizzled and relentless, were quicker. Korrin and Gorruk dodged its jaws, landing strikes that caused the beast to stagger, weakening itbit by bit as the rest of us added our own attacks when the opportunity arose. Together, we pushed forward, driving the creature back. Adrenaline surged through me, shifting the fight from uneasy tension to a rush of exhilaration. With a final, brutal blow from my axe, the massive beast collapsed, its body crashing to the ground with a wet thud.

The swamp fell eerily silent, save for the sound of our labored breathing. Yargol swiftly climbed onto my shoulder, his whiskers twitching as he scanned the area, ever alert.

“We’ve got a shipwreck to raid,” I muttered, wiping mud from my face. “And we’ll do it, no matter what this damn swamp throws at us.”

3

Snared in Shadows

X’NATH

We stumbled deeper into the fog, the oppressive silence broken only by our labored breathing. The mist curled around us like a living thing, its tendrils wrapping tighter as if trying to pull us into the depths of the swamp. I could still hear the echoes of the crone's laughter, taunting us from somewhere in the shadows.

“Can someone remind me why we thought this was a good idea?” Karg panted.

“Because we’re orcs, and orcs don’t back down from a little adventure!” I shot back, though even I wasn’t convinced. “There’s treasure and pretty faces waiting for us.”

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