Gregor groaned and swatted another clik out of his face, the tiny, grotesque insect buzzing around his body, searching for another sip of his blood.

After leaving the City of Barenter, Lorna had decided that the quickest route to reach Caldasher was to take a ship from the port of Minos in The Land of Dreams and head inland. Which meant going through the swampy marsh of Tarstone, a blighted piece of land infested with annoying insects, the stench of rancid meat and trolls. Lots and lots of trolls.

Of course he had argued vehemently against this insanity, saying that it was pure stupidity to walk out into the middle of a swampy marsh known far and wide for having trolls that like to dine on flesh, but had been outvoted once again. Two to one. Not that it was much of a vote, Gorrack as usual would always side with Lorna, no matter what he said.

Sighing again, he paused to catch his breath and gaze around at the massive trees that loomed overhead, the sunlight filtering in from above to create patches of light. The green, oozing moss, which seemed to cover everything and the swarms of cliks that buzzed through air seeking warm flesh to stick their fangs into.

"What happened to wanting to get out of here as soon as possible?!" called out Lorna, her brown hair a complete mess with mud on cheeks, and neck which made her look even more beautiful.

Snorting, he looked over at Lorna and Gorrack, who were a feet ahead of him waiting and grunted back. "Just taking a breather, walking through this muck is much harder than it looks."

Gorrack lets out an amused chuckle, before pressing on, Lorna quickly following after him. "Well, you'd better hurry then. We wouldn't want to run into trolls here," she says dryly, clearly enjoying his discomfort.

Rolling his eyes at their backs, he stretched his back, before continuing to slog through the slimy, green water that reached his waist, the ground beneath his feet slippery and treacherous. All the while cursing Lorna and Gorrack for their stupidity in taking this route and for his own stupidity in listening to them.

Wiping the muck that had somehow gotten onto his cheek, he tried to quicken his pace to try and catch up to them, when he felt something bump against his back. Heart almost leaping out of his throat. He stopped moving, hoping that he had imagined it, when he felt it again, bumping against him much harder.

Half panicking now, he started jogging towards his companions, the water splashing all around him and saw Lorna look back in confusion. Before gaping at him in horror and pointing to something behind him. Too terrified to turn around and see what it was, he started running like his life depended on it, soaking himself from head to toe in the slimy green muck and raced for the driest piece of land he could find that wasn't covered hip deep in water.

When abruptly Lorna began to laugh, startled he looked up and almost fell head first into the water. Uncertain as to why she would be laughing at a time like this, he swung round to look back at the creature chasing him and had to shake his head in annoyance.

The water bottle Lorna had purchased for him in the marketplace had gotten loose from his belt somehow and was floating in the water behind him being dragged along by the string that he had used to tie it to his belt.

Glowering up at her, he wiped his face that was now covered in muck and swore he would get her back for this.