The Spoiled Land by L J Chappell

Author:L J Chappell [Chappell, L J]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Asquith Publishing
Published: 2019-03-23T22:00:00+00:00

2

True to her word, Ranell led them east through the Spoiled Land the next morning, in the early purple glow. She had supplied them with enough odd-tasting water to fill half of their waterbags, and she wrapped parcels of fresh meat in huge leaves for them.

‘It will not last long in the heat,’ she warned. ‘Sometimes I use a mix of salts and herbs to preserve it, but I have none prepared like that. Sorry.’

‘Next time, we’ll let you know we’re coming,’ Garran assured her.

‘That would be useful,’ she agreed. ‘Then I can obtain some cutlery for you as well.’

From her mountain refuge, they descended to the line of vegetation and scrub, and then on into the jungle. Ranell, always careful and alert, was silent and somehow casual at the same time and they moved much quicker through the Spoiled Land than they had the previous day. In less than two hours, they reached a flat valley where a broad river flowed down from the hills to their left. Its stony bed was clearly visible, and the water would have been shallow enough to wade across, but Ranell had been right – it was just about navigable.

It took them no more than half an hour to build three large and basic rafts – logs tied together with the lightweight climbing rope that they carried. Ranell directed them away from wood that contained poison and irritants in their bark or sap, or that might contain tiny hidden nests of dangerous creatures, or that might strike at them in some other unspecified way. When they were done, they cut two simple poles for each raft, to steer and help with balance, and divided their party into three groups of approximately the same weight.

The rafts sat low in the water and when they floated off from the bank their legs and feet became wet as the water splashed through the gaps between the logs.

Ranell stood and watched from the bank. ‘Don’t drink from the river,’ she warned. ‘Remember where the water comes from.’

They nodded and waved.

She turned and vanished back into the jungle, without waiting until they were out of sight.

The river was shallow and, during the early stretches of their journey, the rafts became stuck from time to time and needed to be pushed free with the poles. After a few hours, though, they were floating freely and their progress was easier, as long as they kept to the deeper channels near the centre of the river. As well as gradually deepening and widening, the water became brown and muddy. It carried them only a little faster than a brisk walking speed, but unlike travelling on foot through the jungle, they didn’t have to cut their own trail, double back or overcome any obstacles or threats, so their progress was far better.

From the rustling they heard on both banks, they guessed that there were creatures watching them, but nothing jumped out into the water or tried to reach them. There were occasional splashes but by the time they turned to look there were only ripples.

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