Chapter 12 Scene 3

Phato stands on a small grassy bluff, about a meter high, at the edge of the swamp in the middle of his island. The swamp is roughly one hundred meters in diameter, and is filled from a waterfall near the north point of this island and eventually empties into the ocean. While he has not been here in several days, Phato remembers that the snakes he seeks reside near the center. The brackish water is so murky that he cannot see the bottom, but on his past expeditions here the depth has ranged from his knees to almost his waist, depending on the recent rainfall and the tide. The deeper the water the more challenging the hunt, but Phato is prepared for either extreme.

He sits on the edge of the bluff and prepares to slide into the water carefully. Just as he pushes off, something feels wrong. The bluff should have been higher, closer to a meter and a half than one meter. Moreover, there had been a more gradual slope from the water to the edge of the bluff. It had been a simple matter to scoot down and climb back up, but now the drop was almost sheer. Either he wasn't in quite the same place before, or ... there had been some erosion and the water level is a lot higher. Phato quickly finds out the latter is the case as he plunges in well past his waist. He stands there in shock for a few seconds, and then recovers enough to adjust his quiver so all twenty arrows don't fall out. The bottom of the quiver is under water, as is the bow when held normally.

Phato takes a few steps through the chest-deep water but it doesn't get any shallower, matching his recollection that the water depth is pretty constant throughout the swamp surrounding a mound in the middle. If he had been hunting for himself he would have turned around and scrambled out, waiting for a better day. But he is on a mission that might save someone's life.

The young native is determined to overcome any obstacles the Spirits throw at him, but he is not reckless. He realizes he needs to practice under these unusual circumstances. He holds his bow, draws an arrow, and shoots at a spot on a cypress tree. His shot lands several centimeters below his target. Adopting a more stable stance by kneeling will not work in this situation as his head would be below the surface of the water. He tries holding the bow sideways, horizontally, but doesn't get as much power behind the shot and it's less accurate anyway, below and to the side of his first shot. Phato resolves to compensate correctly while holding the bow vertically, which he does after four more practice shots.

But this is still not good enough. To kill the swamp snakes Phato has to be able to fire off three accurate shots in rapid succession, and with the back end of his quiver sort of floating the angle is not the same as on solid ground. This requires more practice than anticipated, and twice Phato runs out of arrows and has to retrieve them. He gets a short break from the water when he climbs the cypress tree to get his arrows, but doesn't want to get to used to the feeling. The tree is too far away from his target to shoot from.

Finally, after half an hour, Phato is prepared to go after the snakes. He resumes wading through the deep water toward the center of the swamp. His progress is slow for he must move silently lest he become the prey. In another ten minutes he comes within range of his target, the mound in the center of the swamp which has some trees and rocks. After waiting silently five more minutes, a snake emerges from behind a tree. Phato draws his arrow and shoots the snake. It hisses and turns toward Phato, but another arrow strikes and immobilizes it. The third shot finishes it off and it slides off the mound into the murky water. Phato notes where it fell and holds still for a second opportunity. It doesn't come for another fifteen minutes, but when it does the process is repeated.

Next, Phato makes his way to where the snakes fell. They are about ten meters apart, and he has to dunk his head under the water to reach them. This causes his quiver to fill with water and makes the return trip more awkward. He carries the two snakes, with the arrows still attached, in his hands with his quiver and bow slung over his shoulders. He turns his head around frequently in case there are any pursuers, but there are none. He reaches the edge of the swamp under the bluff and throws the snakes over the edge of the bluff onto the solid ground. He then notices the top of the bluff is too high to reach, even by jumping. When the water level was lower there were obvious handholds and footholds making climbing out simple, but now he can't see them. Most likely they have been worn away by the same erosion that has made the bank below the bluff almost vertical. He feels for them through the water, but when he attempts to climb the footing isn't firm enough and he falls backwards. It is too awkward to climb with the water-filled quiver. A humiliating feeling overtakes Phato as he realizes that for the moment at least he can't get out of the swamp.

Phato unslings his quiver, holds it over his head, and tilts it so the water comes out but is careful not to lose his precious arrows. He then wades north along the swamp edge, looking for a shorter bluff to climb out, but it only gets higher. He reverses direction, but the point where he threw the snakes appears to be where the bluff is lowest. Wading farther south, he encounters a mass of seaweed. He goes a little farther to see if it will thin out and he can reach the beach, but it gets too thick to proceed. He turns back, but his legs are tangled in the seaweed and he trips and falls. He bounces back up but his legs become more entwined in the seaweed to the extent that he can't take a step in any direction. The water is still very murky and chest deep, so Phato can't see how to untangle himself. Phato is mad at himself for getting stuck in the swamp.

After taking a deep breath, Phato remembers that he is still carrying his arrows - arrows sharp enough to cut through the seaweed. He takes an arrow and saws away at the seaweed below the surface, careful not to cut his legs. In a few minutes the seaweed is cut away enough for Phato walk free from it.

Free of the seaweed, Phato wades back to where he first slid into the swamp. The top of the bluff is still too high to reach or jump, but he realizes he can jab some of his arrows into the side of the bluff, which is comprised of mainly hard dirt, and use the arrows as handholds and footholds as a type of ladder. To get started, though, he can get a boost by placing his quiver on the end and standing on that. Of course he has to remove the arrows first, so he shoots the ones not used for handholds over the edge of the bluff. He gets up on the quiver, bracing himself against the edge of the bluff and using the handholds, and loops his foot into the strap of the quiver so as not to lose that. This gives him enough height to reach the top of the bluff and pull himself over. He then retrieves the arrows he used as handholds by leaning on his stomach over the edge of the bluff, and then collects the other arrows and the snakes.

Phato makes his way across his island and washes up in the ocean. Then he climbs the palm tree connected to the other palm by the liana he strung between the two, and crawls along and under the vine to the castaway's island, careful not to drop any of his collection. Then he shimmies down and goes over to where Amelia, Sophia, Tom, and John are waiting, and sets the snakes on the ground in front of Tom.

Quest 3 complete!

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