Chapter 53: Swamp
Junk could feel the blade of the battle ax against his neck.
If the witch moved the weapon a bit closer to him, the Minotaur would have his throat sliced up immediately. Even though Junk was wearing a large and thick and heavy armor, his throat was one place where there wasn't as much protection as it should have been the case. Junk was fully wearing his set of armor, save for his helmet. The helmet was what granted him more protection for his throat. The helmet was nowhere to be seen on his head. It was nowhere. Big mistake for the bull-man. He should have thought about keeping his helmet on his head at all times, which would have provided him with the neck and throat guard he needed so much right now.
All of a sudden, everything stopped on the side of the road. April was still covered in Junk's thick semen. His cock was still semi-erect and still between the elvish big breasts. Junk swallowed the increasing amount of saliva he had accumulated inside of his mouth and waited for the witch to make her move. April looked up in awe. She didn't say anything. She simply watched as the sperm was slowly and beautifully dripping down and sliding down her body in slow motion. The autumn witch was serious about this. She was threatening the life of her new soldier. Menacing the life of the one who was supposed to be guarding her. He understood that he was pissing her off because he wasn't that interested in pursuing this strange training she kept rambling about like an old, nagging woman, but never could imagine that this was a life and death matter.
"Sep! What are you doing to him?" April shouted at her.
"What are you waiting for, witch? Do you really want to murder me in cold blood? Is that what your grand plan is now?" he asked.
"You always lower your guards, Minotaur. You always do."
"You are not making sense! We are among friends!" April desperately tried to reason with the former Witch Queen as more and more semen began dripping and sliding down her beautiful body.
"Is this still about the training?" the Minotaur asked her.
"You have been disarmed. Your enemy already killed you. You are nothing. But if you accept to continue the training we already began together, you could then completely change the outcome of such a situation," the Autumn witch began explaining to him.
"How?" The bull-man was intrigued on top of being absolutely frightened for his life. He didn't enjoy it when September was being as serious and as menacing as this. It was way too much for no good reason. Everyone, well… Everyone save for September was having a great time here on the side of the road. There was no decent reason to go all berserk all of a sudden. September interrupted the climax of the quick one on the side of the country road. What a shame… The Minotaur could still feel the blade of his own battle ax (well, the one that had been given to him by the old, ghost Minotaur) against his throat. The coldness of the blade was driving him mad.
"Like this," the Autumn witch replied to him. Then, all of a sudden, the battle ax she was holding in her hand began metamorphosing into a different version of the same weapon. The battle ax turned into a pumpkin version of the item. It was now orange and there was a light, a candle inside of it. The battle ax had changed into a jack-o-lantern. Menacing eyes, a nose, and a mouth with sharp teeth had been carved into both blades of the weapon. "And then, when you turn the weapon of the enemy into yours, you prepare your final move," the witch continued, giving him a lesson. The kind of lesson that left the Minotaur simply speechless.
"And then what?" Junk demanded her as it felt like the rest of her sentence was never going to come. He had to know.
"And then you finish them," all of a sudden, a sharp and deadly orange spike swiftly erupted from one of the eyes on the battle ax, turned into a jack-o-lantern weapon and went through the belly of the witch. The weapon backfired on her. She would be dead in an instant. The deadly spike was on both sides of her body. Both Junk and April couldn't believe their eyes. September had just murdered herself. Was that supposed to be an accident? Was it what she had planned to do all along? It didn't seem to be the case, as September had this suddenly shocked expression on her face. She wasn't expecting that. This had backfired on her. She was paying the price for attempting to be edgy with Junk and to teach him a lesson.
"Witch Queen?" Junk murmured her title as it happened.
"Sep!" Meanwhile, April shouted her name as loud as she could. "What have you just done to yourself?" she kept screaming. However, the witch never fell down. Blood gushed out of her belly. But she wasn't falling down. She stood there next to Junk and April for a short while. Eventually, her shocked expression changed. She suddenly smiled. She laughed a bit. She wasn't going to die.
"Witch Queen? Are you alright?" the Minotaur asked her.
"What is that all about? So, you were joking all along?" April realized a bit too late what had just happened. She didn't enjoy it.
"You should have seen your faces," the orange spike was retracted. It came back into the carved eye on the weapon. She pulled it away from under Junk's throat and handed it back to him. As soon as he took it from her and that she was no longer touching it, the battle ax shifted back into its normal state. It was no longer orange. It was no longer a jack-o-lantern nor a pumpkin. It was normal again. The witch stepped back from Junk and April.
"You are cruel," the Minotaur told her when he also realized that it was all a joke. The perforation wound caused by the sharp spike healed itself. It was all fake.
"So, are you going to do the training now?"
"Yes, ma'am," he listened to his Queen.
"Good. Alright. Let's hit the road. We have to reach the swamp before sunrise," the warned Junk and April.
"The swamp?" Junk asked her.
"Oh, no… Not the swamp…" April lowered her head in disappointment.
***
Deeper into the night, the trio of renegades reached the swamp, the witch had spoken to them while still being on the side of the road. Everywhere where they went in the swamp, everyone was surrounded by this green water. The roots of dying trees could also be seen in these waters. Fortunately for them, there was a long wooden bridge that traversed the entire swamp. April and September were able to use it just fine, but it wasn't exactly as easy for someone such a Junk who was, unfortunately, a lot heavier than the girl. Every time he took a step on that long, never-ending wooden bridge, the bridge felt like it was going to sink into the swamp. Everyone noticed it. It was still dark out, so the idea of having their wooden path sinking into the green water wasn't exactly ideal. Through the darkness, they couldn't see too well in the water. What if there was something waiting for them in it? What if there was something dangerous lurking in here?
"I don't want to say this, but Junk, do you think you could swim while we use the bridge? You are too heavy. It's about to sink."
"What are you talking about? The bride is strong, and it goes through the entire swamp. It's not going to…" but then, the Minotaur was interrupted as everyone heard a cracking noise. The wooden bridge was breaking where they were. A few boards broke and April almost fell into the green water, but luckily for her, she was caught at the last second by Junk. He grabbed her hand and pulled her back up. Even though he was the one who was accidentally responsible for making her fall, he rescued her. The Autumn witch barely didn't even react when the bridge partially broke and she fell. She sighed and then kept walking. She was too far ahead of the group to slip in the same crevasse the elvish young girl just did.
"That's exactly what I am talking about, Junk. So, do you think you could swim while we walk on that bridge or something like that? I'm only trying to find a solution here…" April mentioned. She was so adorable and cute when she asked Junk about this again. She blushed and she didn't want to be disrespectful to him in any way, shape or form. She wasn't that kind of person. Especially since Junk and I were becoming so close all of a sudden as they continued adventuring and battling against their enemies who tried hurting them. This trip was definitely in survival mode at the moment.
"You want me to swim? How is that going to be possible? Do you know just how much this set of armor is heavy? I'm going to sink in those waters," the Minotaur tried reasoning with her.
"That's a good point. Um… I wonder what we should do. Do you have any idea, Sep?" April asked her old witch friend.
"As far as I am concerned, I can take flight with my broom at any time I want…" she slowly mentioned to them as she nodded.
"That doesn't help us too much, Sep," April responded.
"Well, I don't know about that, April, I remember one time that she carried all of us on her broom. Perhaps she can do it again?"
"I don't think so, Junk. It took everything out of her broom to make this happen that one time. We don't want her broomstick to break or something. Especially since her broom is also her scepter."
"No one is going to be flying with me on my brook. But you should not be worried about the dense waters of this swamp. I've trained as a young child here. I've spent a good chunk of my life in this swamp…" She looked around a bit. Stopped walking as she did so. Breathed the natural air all around her. Breathed the life and death surrounding them that made this swamp what it was. "The Morgan Swamp. I've missed this place," September continued speaking.
"The Morgan Swamp? This swamp have a name?" the Minotaur asked her, almost dumbfounded by this news. To the horned beast, this place was a complete shithole and nothing else.
"Every swamp in the Autumn Veil province has a name."
"I don't know a lot of things about our province. I just happen to live in it," the Minotaur mentioned to her, not caring.
"Speaking of which, I'm starting to miss my own province…" April said as she was trying to avoid the hole in the bridge. April wasn't wearing a lot of clothes at the moment. She was still wearing the same nightgown she had on her back when she was still in her coma. The purple nightgown September gifted her. Still, she wasn't cold or anything like that, but she didn't want to get herself wet with the green waters of the swamp. She only had so much that she could wear. The three continued moving forward.
"Why would you even want to go back to that place?"
"Because that's where I was born and raised, September."
"..." September didn't dare to respond to her. She kept quiet as the three continued marching on the wooden bridge. Slowly making their way deeper in it. Being careful on the wooden bridge. They could hear creak at all times. It was awful. They never knew when another rotten board was going to break or when another part of the bride was going to sink because of the heavier weight of the Minotaur with them.
"So, I gather we didn't find any solution for my weight and the bridge collapsing bit by bit?" Junk changed the subject.
"What are we even doing here, Sep? Are we truly only here for Junk's training, or do you have something else up your sleeve that we don't know about?" April questioned her. She lost it.
"As she usually does."
"..." September stopped walking again. Stayed silent.
"I'm tired of how you…" April charged at the Autumn witch, to tackle her at the exact moment something suddenly came out of the waters of the swamp.
Something was about to assault the two women.