The stench of burning flesh permeates the air. We all stand frozen as Gebo frantically scoops wet mud onto an a froggy mound. It’s unclear how much of it was charred but judging by the smell and reds and blacks pooling around the pile, it was a lot. Gebo does what he can with his left arm, for his right hangs limp from the shoulder down.

“NO! NO! NO! Jambo why did you save Mago! Mago was the fool, not you!” he shouts, tears flowing down his face.

The Flame Swan, seeing as we all have stopped attacking, coughs out the shrimp claw. The claw bore the scars that most wands and foci did after overloading them with fire magic. Ashen cracks run along its length and the mud sizzles as it lands. All the while the swan’s neck arcs upward, readying a swing below. Gebo is too preoccupied to notice.

I snap out of my stupor. I have to do something. Mago and Tuuk are missing. Gando has been sprawled on the ground unmoving since he got hit. Jambo’s fate is unknown, but Gebo’s doing what he can with whatever’s left. That left me, Rouk, Daru, and Kigo to finish this thing off.

Rouk was the most experienced, but he couldn’t talk. Daru was strong but not a strategist. Kigo was adept at magic but impulsive. That left me—the injured mage—to be the brains. Taking a deep breath, I shout.

“Kigo throw your spear just above your father! Follow the arc and aim for the head!”

“Rrribit.”

I don’t waste time bothering to see if he even has a spear ready, I just have to trust he can do it because he has to. Clapping my palms together, I throw away all my inhibitions and begin to speedily chant, “Oh light of the heavens, bless we your wretched children of the earth your warmth and let it shine like a halo above those most deserving of grace, Angel’s Halo!”

Visualizing various motifs I’d seen in churches, I attempt to manifest a light so blinding it burned the retinas. Mana flows out my hands, through the air, until a fluorescent ring forms around Kigo. Even as the caster, I’m forced to avoid directly looking at it. A black tipped beak swoops through the hoop.

I catch the Flame Swan slowing as it flinches from the light that appeared before its eyes just as Kigo’s spear punches it right below the eye. The bird shrieks in pain as its head gets whiplashed violently to the side. Though not fatal, Kigo’s hit had saved his father from a direct hit.

My knees begin to get weak as the feeling of nausea washes over me. I shake the feeling off. Not yet. I can’t fall just yet.

“Rouk, I leave the other leg to you! Kigo, Daru. Do whatever you have to do to kill it. Hurry while I can keep it blinded!”

I hold the flow of mana to maintain the halo of light and send it spiraling up to meet the swan’s face. Anticipating an attack, its neck whips downwards and is again met with Kigo’s power spear. My ring of light passes harmlessly through its neck like a collar and I trace the length to bring the light to the birds eyes. The bird seems mightily confused by this behavior and begins to erratically swing its head left and right to shake it off. By this point I taste bile my mouth and my hands have begun to turn a shade of yellow, yet I persist.

Rouk reaches its remaining leg and leaps. A snapping sound is heard as the full weight of a Grouak slams itself onto the ankle. The flame swan topples. Likewise, I fall to my knees vomiting as my halo sputters out. Constant output of mana like that demanded of light magic caused the body to likewise evacuate everything it could.

Despite the enormous pain it must have been in, the Flame Swan flaps its wings to try to get off the ground. Daru and Kigo both clip the right wing with spears and feathers fly. Rouk holds down the left in a vice grip.

Still resisting, the swan begins to regurgitate, signaling it was about to do its flame attack. As the cylindrical shape of a claw snakes its way up the bird’s neck, Daru jumps to grapple the moving mass. The swan chokes as Daru wraps himself around it—literally—using his arms, legs, and tongue to lodge the weapon in place. Despite the claw being nowhere near the entrance, air rushes into its mouth. It’s head twists in the mud and looks to me with wild eyes.

“This is your fault. I’m taking you down with me,” those eyes seemed to say.

I’m too exhausted from casting magic unprotected and just glare back with an equally wild smile. “So much for being a legend.”

Just as the rush of air begins to slow, a Grouak leaps in and kicks the Flame Swan straight in the eye.

“MAGO WILL NOT HAVE ABRAHAM DIE TO A CHICKEN!!”

The force of the kick against its head redirects the blast several feet to my side. Daru holds firm, and slowly, the light fades from the Flame Swan’s eyes.

~~~

We won. I pinch my cheek to make sure I’m not dreaming and feel sharp pain biting down. I smile and wave over to Kigo to celebrate, but he runs straight for Gebo.

Oh, that’s right. The fight may be over but that didn’t mean we were out of the woods just yet. Following, we find Gebo kneeling over Jambo’s body. Save for a dislocated shoulder, Gebo seems to fine. Jambo on the other hand lay belly up unconscious yet breathing. Mud covered his lower half. Bending down to peel it away reveals legs that have turn turned to the color of charcoal. They look unsalvageable. Several of his toes are already crumbling away.

Jambo’s body twitches, and he coughs out blood as his eyes flutter open.

“Ugh…what hit Jambo…,” he trails meets everyone’s eyes and looks down at his legs, “…ah.”

I ready words of encouragement seeing as losing his legs must be devastating for Jambo, but he just smiles wider.

“Why do you all look so sad? Jambo takes it we won, no? Do not worry about Jambo’s legs, it is but a flesh wound,” he thumps his chest, “the pride of a fighter!”

Gebo embraces him crying, “Jambo! Gebo is so sorry! If only Gebo did not run in, then maybe you-…” Gebo is immediately interrupted by a punch to the face from Jambo.

Jambo shouts at him annoyed, “Jambo is fine if Jambo says Jambo is fine! Hug your son Kigo if he is dead! Hug your wife Uka if she is dead! Your Granpa was almost dead so hug him instead! Jambo is a man! Jambo does not need to be treated like a tadpole—GEH!”

Despite the tough act, he flinches from the pain. Daru rushes over to where Gando lay and runs back with a whole slew of salves, powders and bandages and gets to work patching up what he can of Jambo.

Mago is standing over Gando’s body and shakes his head in our direction. Gando is dead. Anyone that took a hit like him, no matter how strong their shield, would have died on impact. It was a miracle he remained as intact as he was instead of splattering against a tree like the mosquitoes did.

I then realize someone is unaccounted for.

“Wait, Mago. Where is Tuuk?” I ask.

Again, Mago shakes his head and points vaguely towards the trees. There, I see Tuuk’s head twisted at an angle it shouldn’t have been.

The Grouaks went silent after that. Despite winning the battle, it was their custom to avoid speaking if any of their comrades were found fallen. They believed it disturbed them on their path to the afterlife and would possibly cause “ghosts of the hunt” to haunt everyone involved. Tribal customs for sending off the dead involved placing the body on a lily pad and pushing it away until it sank or was ‘consumed’ by the swamp. Grouak’s laid their eggs in the water so they believed the souls of the bodies would eventually be reborn, so long as the dead and the unborn were submerged.

And so, the bodies of Gando and Tuuk floated off before slowly sinking into the bog. Afterwards, a victory song was sung by all of us. “GRO-KAH-KAH-GO-RO. GRO-KAH-KAH-GO-RO,” it went. As it died out, Mago looks at all of us.

“So…who dealt the killing blow?” he asks.

Everyone looks to each other, then to Mago, before all eyes fall on Daru.

He seems heavily surprised, “GEH!? Daru??? Are you all sure you want to credit Daru? What about Kigo? He dealt many strong blows to the head and saved his father as well! Or Rouk—he broke two of the Flame Swan’s legs with his bare hands! Even Abra made his ring of sunlight so bright even Daru could not see if Daru turned Daru’s head!”

Rouk crosses his arms and shakes his head, “RO-KO. RO-RO-RO.” He taps Daru three times in the chest, “RO. RO. RO.”

“Yeah, if it weren’t for you choking it’s neck, it would have all turned us into frog roast,” Kigo agrees.

“I don’t think I’m fit for the Elder position sorry. Plus, I did zero actual damage,” I say.

Mago steps up, “Then it is settled. Daru, whether you consent or not, you are the reason we survived this day. Two of our best died. Mago, a Grouak with the status of Elder, did nothing to help. It brings Mago great shame.”

“Daru was just lucky!” he objects.

“Luck is a blessing from fate,” Mago says shaking his head, “and fate has chosen you.”

Daru stammers as he continues to find excuses but gets continually rebutted by everyone until finally, he says, “OKAY FINE! Daru accepts the title of Elder!”

Mago smiles, “Good. Mago will see to it that the village accepts you. A trial is meant to be done alone, but this time was special.” He looks to me, “You had to defend others and came out the winner. That makes you strong, Daru.”

Daru seems at a loss for words and bows his head. “Daru will make sure no shame comes to Daru. Daru owes it to the others that put Daru where he is.”

Satisfied with the answer, Mago continues, “The next order of business, Abra. This is as far as we go. Past those trees there you will find grass, and beyond the grass you will find the world of man. This is goodbye. Abra is always welcome in the village of Grouaks and will hold the title of an Adult.” He pauses. “Congrats on no longer being a tadpole,” he says with a smile.

I bow to Mago in gratitude. “Thank you,” then I look to the rest, “for everything really. I couldn’t have made it this far without you.”

I then pull three sheets of paper out of my pack and hand them to Gebo. “A copy of the love letter,” I say. “Try not to get it wet. It’s embarrassing and it’s the only copy I’m giving you. It has all my feelings from the ordeal piled into about five short poems. Maybe use them as inspiration to write your own to Uka,” I add jokingly.

G

ebo—still with one of his arms hanging—beams like a child as he grabs the paper. “Yes! Gebo will take good care of it!”

“Now then…” I say but then am interrupted by a light orange frog. He stands about a foot shorter than me, but he has his arms held wide as if blocking my path.

“WAIT! Kigo has something to say!” a serious look is on his face. “Kigo has proven as an adult not once, but twice! Kigo also learned a lot of magic, but Kigo knows Abra has more! Kigo really wants to learn the magic stories Abra tells to summon the big spells. No one can teach Kigo that in the village. Also, Kigo wants to be an Elder like Granpa. The Flame Swan is dead, which gives Kigo less options. That is why…,” he points to Mago and Gebo with both hands while flinging his tongue to suction against my forehead. “…Papha and Granpha will leth Kigo helph Abra find his girlff-rend.”

Mildly disgusted, I pull his tongue off my face and have it snap back in his mouth. Me, Mago, and Gebo begin to speak at the same time.

“I/Gebo/Mago was about to suggest…”

We all stop and look at each other.

“So we agree?”

“His fire has been lit and we cannot stop it.”

“My son has the strength to surpass his Granpa.”

Smiling, I look to Kigo, “I’d love to have you. I’ll teach you everything I know about magic and you keep me safe okay?”

“KEKEKEKEKEKE! WOOHOO!” Kigo quite literally begins bouncing off of the trees and mud in excitement.

~~~

I say my goodbyes to the rest in kind. I give Daru my congratulations and to keep a closer eye on his sister in case she tries to pull stunts like she did with Kigo sneaking out. Jambo cut me off as I started being verbose with thanks and condolences, so we compromised with laughs and a hug goodbye.

The body of the Flame Swan was butchered into all its useful components. Not a feather was wasted. To my surprise, we found two fist sized stones within its kidneys. Daru took one, and he insisted I take the other. They shone like gems in the sunlight and residual heat constantly emanated from the stones, almost like they held the fury of the Flame Swan within. With a proper jeweler, I could probably make a decent staff topper out of it. Thanking them all yet again, me and Kigo set off.

With that, my journey in the swamps came to and end and the rest waited just beyond the tree line. As me and Gebo cut through the grass, I recall at how Mago shouted as he kicked the swan and saved my life. I grin and I shake my head as I realize the old geezer could say my name after all.