Continuing Across the Bog

Kim saw the storm clouds on the horizon when she came out of the lair. The clouds hadn't been in there when they'd first gone in, which meant they were new. It also meant that they were likely heading in their direction and she didn't like the look of them.

Naturally, they could take shelter in the lair, but Kim couldn't say how much water would be coming down and as she thought about it, the lair only had a single place where water would be able to drain from, and given this was a bog, she had the feeling that this lair would fill up with water easily in a heavy rain.

Plus, if they went back to the island that they had before, she wouldn't be surprised if it wouldn't be viable in as heavy of a rain as the cloud seemed to promise. A promise she didn't want to be present to see fulfilled.

"We need to get moving," Kim said, looking around to make sure that there wasn't a rocky island that they could use instead to rest on, even if they had to sit outside in a heavy rain as they waited for it to pass. "I'd like to be as far along the bag as we can by the time it arrives."

"Sure it'll be coming this way?" Patricia asked. "I'd rather take a nap."

Kim merely shook her head. She couldn't be sure that it wouldn't head their way, but she also couldn't be sure that it would. It wasn't like she knew what the weather report would have said if they had anything like that on this world.

"Don't know," Kim said. "Maybe this place will be dry, but maybe it'll fill the lair up with water. I don't want to find out by waiting around."

"Yeah, but if we're walking around the bog, in the rain, we'll have an increased chance to encountering quicksand. And I'm sure you don't need to be told how dangerous that is," Patrick remarked.

"No, I don't need to be told, but are you willing to take that risk? Personally I'd rather be moving along than to find where we're standing would become quicksand."

"And how would that help us if we have quicksand open up under us when we're out making our way to the edge of the bog?" Bart asked, sounding rather rhetorically.

"It's not like the quicksand would disappear after the rain is over," Kim retorted. "If you want to remain here and try to weather it out in the lair, go for it. I just don't think that the lair will remain dry in a heavy rain, nor do I think that it'll drain very quickly after either."

Patricia sighed. "She does have a point. It looks like we don't have any good options here."

"Like we usually have?" Elin asked, drawing an amused smile from Kim. She suspected that Elin only wanted to say something because that way she'd have contributed something, even if it was a little bit of humor towards the end of the discussion.

"I understand what you're worried about, but I didn't think that bogs had quicksand," Bart commented. "Yeah, they have the bog holes we've been going around and avoiding, but not so much as with quicksand."

"Hey kid, bogs can have ground that mimics quicksand, and I don't like when more water gets added to the mix. It's difficult enough to walk through, and I'd wanted to avoid it altogether, but that's what the majority of the group wanted, so I's not like I have much of a choice if I wanted to remain with the group," Kim told Bart, one of the ones who were certain that it was a good idea to walk across the bog in the first place.

"Well, why haven't we encountered any quicksand then," Bart countered, seeming like he was in an argumentative mood for some reason.

"Couldn't say," Kim replied flippantly. "All I know is that adding a bunch of rainwater isn't going to help. Especially since that would also raise the level of the bog holes that you mentioned in the first place."

"Look, we can argue about this or we can start moving on," Patricia said. "I'm actually fine either way. If we wait, I can nap until Jonas and Elmo are done doing whatever they're doing down there and if we head out now, they can catch up later. I'm sure they'll be able to figure out where we went somehow."

Kim nodded ,though she wasn't sure if she should let them know how Jonas would be able to tell, as it really wasn't her secret to share anyway. Besides, she couldn't see how it mattered anyway.

"How far do you think we'll be able to get before we can find out if it'll rain or not?" Elwin asked.

"Not sure," Patricia said. All I know for certain is that it could be in an hour or in a few hours. All depends on the wind."

Elwin sighed as if Patricia had deliberately avoided his question. Though, Kim wondered if he'd have been satisfied if they had given him an exact answer rather than a vague one like Patricia had. She was pretty sure he would, but couldn't see the benefit of mentioning it. Especially since it would only delay their departure that much more when she really wanted to get started moving and be that much closer to the edge of the bog before the rain started.

If it didn't start raining, so much the better, Kim thought, but at least we'll be that much closer to the edge of the bog as well.

In the end, the vote was for them to continue on, though Patricia refused to create an ice shelf for them to walk along. Mostly because it was clear that she wouldn't be able to get them far with how tired she was, or at least that's what Kim was pretty sure the reason was.

Though, Kim wouldn't have minded having an ice shelf for them to walk on, even for a short distance. As that would speed up their pace a little bit.

Besides, it wasn't like Patrick wouldn't carry her. Especially since it was clear that Patrick was pretty much her lapdog.

Regardless, Kim found herself quickly travelling through the mud in the bog again, her bare feet coated with mud and she was hoping not to find any poisonous snakes anywhere nearby. She hoped that the hydra had eaten them, when bigger creatures were scarce, but she couldn't say for sure what the hydra regularly ate for it to survive. It was possible that the snakes were off the menu for it, as it did kind of have a serpentine body itself.

As they moved along, Kim tried to put the clouds out of her mind, but when they kept getting closer and darker, she couldn't say that she wasn't distracted by them. Even through her best efforts.

So, when the first drops of rain started coming down, Kim wasn't surprised, but she was annoyed that the hydra's lair could still be seen over the horizon. As it showed that they hadn't really even close to the distance the dry island they'd found sanctuary from the bog on was. Though, Kim doubted that Patricia's ice would have helped them get all that much farther, so she couldn't see a reason to complain.

"Let's tie a rope around each of us," Kim called to the others as the wind started to pick up. "That way if we end up in some quicksand, we'll be able to pull each other out more easily."

"I have a rope, but sure we have to tie it around everyone?" Elwin asked, sounding like he had someone in mind to let sink in quicksand.

"Sadly, we do," Kim replied, not wanting to deal with that at the moment. "As much as I'm sure a number of us would like to see you go, we still could use your sword later one, I'm sure."

"Whatever," Elwin replied, sounding like he really didn't care. Which Kim found a little surprising. Although, she supposed that it could be his ideal that if something does attack us, or something else, that he'd welcome death with open arms again.

A mentality that Kim had thought they'd gotten out of him after his brother had died. Though, she supposed that his brother being mentioned earlier might have something to do with that, but she couldn't be absolutely sure. Especially since he wasn't making it clear that that's what he was thinking right then, like he had in the past.

"Shouldn't we let him do what he wants?" Elin asked, though not in a spiteful way. "I mean, if he doesn't want to be tied to anyone?"

"Hey, I didn't say I didn't want to be part of that," Elwin protested. "I just thought that maybe there were some people here should be able to avoid being tied together with everyone if they didn't want to."

Kim was pretty sure that wasn't what he was going for initially, but it certainly sounded much better that whatever he likely had been thinking when he'd first brought it up.

"Well, if anyone does want to not be tied together, they can tell me when I'm tying the rope around them," Kim replied, not caring if Elwin wanted everyone to choose right then and there.