The next few hours were relatively uneventful. The jungle floor skittered with small, furry creatures and huge centipedes that clung from branches and boughs and wiggled their antennae as the group passed. Large snakes curled around branches lazily, and we even passed a fresh carcass of some porcine beasts that had its stomach ripped open and excavated. Once it grew to night, we camped in a bare clearing with only a short fire that lasted long enough for us to cook what little supplies we had. I didn't want to risk a lot of smoke from the moistened wood and we needed to rise early if we wanted to make good time. The conquistadors spoke to one another in their mother tongue, and while I did not know her very well, I decided to keep close to the lady Emmaline so they did not get any funny ideas of witch burning.

After a restless sleep with no incident, we arose and continued on. Luckily we found a clear stream mid-morning and we filled our canteens, though I made sure to tell them we would need to boil the water just in case. They groaned but accepted the logic, and I made sure to cross the stream first to check for alligators. The huge beasts loved laying in wait in any water source, and even though they preferred larger ones, many used the small channels to travel from one swamp to the other. Luck was still on our side and the coast was clear, and we continued to trek across.  

I found out the woman in the apron's name was Callibel, and the older merchant was Fletcher Heronmark of the Heronmark estates. Callibel didn't seem very interested in tell me why she was in this Black Delta, but Fletcher informed me it was his job to check out new prospects for his family's logging business. He wanted to go on one last trek before he passed, and insisted he used to be quite the adventurer. It was hard to see, but then again I probably wouldn't be the best judge. 

Around early afternoon, after we stopped to boil some water for a bit and drank to our leisure, we heard what sounded like a bird call. The others paid no heed to it, but my blood ran cold. I recognized exactly what that was, and though I only whispered, there was an authority in my voice that gave everyone else pause. 

"Stop. Stop moving," I said to them. 

They wheeled on me, giving looks that ranged from annoyance to incredulity. Emmaline began to form a question, but even as she did so, there was a warning snarl from just up ahead, and then a guttural growl that threatened us to our left. The group unsheathed what weapons they had, but I didn't back away. I knew we were about to be herded. "No no, keep going forward." I urged them, and when they hesitated I marched at the head of the group and stepped just beyond the vines where the snarl had originated, axe at the ready. 

Nothing. 

My eyes caught alien shaped, human-sized prints and I turned back to the others. "We need to keep moving. They're trying to get us to go east into a tra-" 

"Beren!" Emmaline cried. I blinked and spun, just in time to see a two-hundred pound raptor leap from its ambush spot behind the trunk of a black-barked tree. As tall as a man and twice as long, with a thick tail for balanced and razor sharp fangs and claws, it was a creature out of nightmare to most anyone. My staff spun, but I only gave the thing a glancing blow from a quick hit across the snout as it's rear leg kicked up, trying to disembowel me. I backstepped, sweat beading as it did not relent, snapping its maw at me. I lifted my staff to block and its teeth sank into the odari wood of the pole. Intelligence gleamed in its eyes as it shoved itself forward, trying to rend me with its claws as I held it at bay. 

I leaped up and kicked out with my foot, striking it at the center of its powerful neck. The blow caused it to wheeze, but it was intent on the kill. I felt a white pain across my arm and a small trickle of blood bead out of the wound into the ground. I grit my teeth, knowing if I let up my guard it would rip me to pieces but not knowing what else to do. Where were the fucking mercs!? 

A scream erupted from the side, and a wide brimmed hat rushed into my vision to the right of my shoulder. The raptor gave a clicking screech and staggered from some attack, and when Emmaline withdrew I saw her sword covered in blood. I couldn't see the abject panic on her face she had, so I assumed her eyes were set like any veteran of combat. I didn't waste the opportunity, withdrawing my staff from its mouth and striking it across the head as hard as I could, the beast now slower from the terrible wound. It swayed as I withdrew my axe, and a whirring cut to the side of its skull sent it to the ground, dead. 

We both panted hard, and I looked at Emmaline, who by that time had regained her composure and gave me a look of satisfaction. 

"You're fearless..." I marveled, suitably impressed at her quick thinking. 

"Like killing orcs back home," She said with a smirk, lying through her teeth I would later find out. She looked back to the dead dinosaur, her expression now hidden again. "What now?" 

The others stepped into view, and one glance at them told me they had been too scared or confused to help. The mercs tried to hide their fear with a stone-visage, and they now looked at Emmaline in envy at her apparent bravery. 

"We killed one of the pack. Their plan didn't work, so they abandoned this one. But we need to keep moving." I said. 

"Witch. She probably summoned the things-" The first conquistador began with an accusatory gaze. Before he even finished the thought, I didn't know whether to laugh at the ridiculous accusation or not, so I settled for punching him. Any one look at me tells you I'm a strong guy, and while I didn't knock him out, he did get some air from the sudden strike. The merc backpedaled unceremoniously and hit a tree, before slumping to the ground. 

"Better being a witch than a little bitch," I said to him, and regarded his friend who did not know whether to draw his sword at me or not. "Pick him up, we still need to cover some ground." 

Hesitantly, he did so. Callibel and Fletcher strayed away from the two Dre Costans, hovering closer to me and looking at the dead dinosaur like it was a slain demon. I knelt down by its corpse, and decided to make the best of the kill. Three chops, and we had the thing's tail. Dinner for later... 

That night, there were three fires. This time we had found a ravine near a waterfall, where the rock wall almost acted as an awning over the group. We figured we could have the luxury of a fire, and to make three just so any watchers figured we were a much larger group that they should probably avoid. The waterfall cascaded not ten paces away, filling the air with a nice spray that reached our sensibilities but not the fires, hidden from the north and east by the stone walls towering above us. 

I sat with Emmaline. Earlier it had been from obligation to keep her safe, but now I was honestly wanting to talk. Snakes were scared of her, and she had fought the murk beast and helped kill the raptor. It had only been a few days but I was thoroughly impressed, not to mention she was pretty. I might be a monk, but I had a taken in a good view of her extravagant backside throughout the trek, as much as I tried to push the thought away. I made it a point not to fraternize with customers, or any northerner. They didn't tend to stay long and that was a different world to me. Plus, she was a baroness! I was a blacksmith who moonlights as a guide for hapless travelers.

"You ever had dinosaur tail before?" I asked her, handing her a stick piercing a steaming piece of raptor steak. She took it and looked at it dubiously, before taking her hat off and shaking her long golden locks. It looked like waves of flame in the dancing firelight. She bit into it just as I did, and it felt a bit stringy, but it was juicier than one might expect. She shrugged, and then turned the stick on its side and placed it in her teeth, much like the raptor had earlier in the day. Unstrapping her baldrics and belts, she took her coat off and thrust her chest out as she said "needsh shome shaushe." 

"Yeah, that's what IIIIIIIIWwwwwooooouuuhhhh-" 

It was probably the dumbest, most ignominious thing I had ever done on one of these treks. When I saw her take her jacket off and reveal just what assets she had, my brain just died and my tongue went limp. I swear, that wasn't normal. But I was not expecting it at ALL, and gods forbid I could have gotten a warning. I saw her eyes look at me, and my eyes went to hers and met the gaze. My face colored and I looked away. If I was alone I would have laughed my ass off at how stupid I was, but I wasn't alone. 

"Sorry," I said, clearing my throat. I stood up, guiltily. "That was uncalled for and unneeded. You don't deserve that, especially from some guy you don't know. I'll just take my dumbass and leave..." 

I was fully about to walk away.