Frogspawn Swamp anung un rama

The panther's retreat from the mountain was slow and steady, although he kept a northerly path and lost his sense of time as he progressed. The forest swallowed him up; it was primarily without light, and he made his way carefully so as not to injure himself. He had no way of telling how long he hiked among those trees, nor how long he slept when the need for sleep came to claim him.

On a couple of occasions Raimo thought he recognized a path or a clearing, his mind reviving thoughts of Jakoul's body and the temporary greed that had possessed them both; it put him off travelling further, and so his route cleaved along the sheer edge of a plateau instead. He followed that until the trees thinned and he faced a mineral-salted slough.

As Raimo made his way across the more solid segments, those kept together by densely growing grasses and their roots, he watched the water. At times it looked shallow and still, mirroring the hazy gray of the sky. From time to time he thought he saw drifting lights; these were nothing more than bugs humming overhead. He knew not to press his luck with the water and did his best to avoid stepping in it.

The humming of those bugs continued for hours, and would strengthen regardless of the direction he chose. It dimmed to white noise around him, puncuated by the inconsistent warbling of the area's native bullfrogs. If it hadn't been so soggy Raimo might have enjoyed it.