As morning turned to afternoon, Fletcher was pleased that Malik’s team had shared their guide’s knowledge. Mason taught them to leave fewer footprints by avoiding the wetter ground and staying near the firmer soil beside tree roots. To remember, when they examined the prints of others, that wild cats walked with claws retracted and hyenas, the orcs’ preferred pets, did not. How a few days of wind or a single night of rain would wipe it all away.
He showed them how to mask their scent and keep off mosquitos by rubbing wild garlic into their skin and hair. He told them of the natural highways of the forest, made more pronounced by years of passing animals. Some of this, Fletcher knew from his own hunting on the Beartooth Mountains. But to hear it said and taught, rather than just relying on his own instinctual understanding, was fascinating.
As Mason spoke, Jeffrey rummaged around the forest edge, collecting plant-life and stowing various specimens in his bag. When it was his turn to speak, it was his knowledge of botany that was most impressive, rather than the spells he revealed at the end.
‘See here, the water vine,’ he said, pointing to an unassuming liana that hung stiffly from the treetops. He sliced it at the bottom with a slim knife and held it to his mouth. Water flowed out, as easily as water from a tap.
‘Fresh as a mountain spring,’ he grinned, wiping his mouth. ‘If you can’t get rainwater or coconuts, this is the next best thing.’
He moved on to another plant nearby, a palm tree sapling. With some gentle sawing, he removed a core of white from behind the bark and crunched down on it with relish.
‘Palm heart. Tastes like celery,’ he mumbled through a full mouth. ‘Nutritious though!’
He sliced the core into sections and handed them out. Fletcher found it to have a plain taste, with a hint of nuttiness he quite enjoyed.
Further out from the camp, Jeffrey showed them a flower with purple and white petals. He tore it from the ground to reveal a knobbly orange legume attached beneath.
‘Sweet potato,’ he grinned, shoving it into his pocket for later. For another hour he guided them around the jungle, all within one hundred feet of the camp. Papaya, guava, coconut and passionfruit hung from the treetops, only to be snatched down by the more acrobatic of demons. Malachi and Azura, Rory and Genevieve’s Mites, snipped the various fruits from their stems to bring them to the ground with meaty thuds. Verity revealed her demon to be a Damsel, a demon that appeared as an iridescent dragonfly twice the size of a Mite. It had a sting and sharp mandibles to add an element of danger to the multicoloured insect swooping in and out of the trees. A low-level demon for a noble summoner, and Fletcher suspected it was not the only demon she kept in her roster.
But it was not all fun and games. Jeffrey stopped at a large, single-stemmed plant with heart-shaped leaves that grew close by. It didn’t seem particularly impressive but for the translucent, bright pink berries that hung from it like bunches of grapes.
‘This is the gympie tree. See here, the fine hairs that coat its fruit and leaves?’ He held an arm out to keep them away, but lifted one of the leaves with his knife for all to see.
‘Each fibre is infused with neurotoxin that will cause the fiercest pain imaginable. Worse still, the pain will linger for months, some say even years. Keep an eye out for it. Sergeant Musher, you will know of it?’
The grizzled veteran who was Seraph’s guide shook his head sadly.
‘Young lad of seventeen was caught short on patrol one night. Goes into the trees, does ’is business. Wipes with one of them leaves there. The screamin’ could ’av woken the dead. Definitely woke some orcs, ’cos we ’ad to get out of there sharpish. Took ’im back to camp, ’ad a doctor look, even ’ad a summoner heal ’im. Didn’t make a blind bit of difference, the screamin’ went on and on. Poor lad shot ’imself two weeks later.’
The mood took a sombre tone and Fletcher shuddered. The plant had not been far from where he had released Blue. This jungle was both a paradise and a death trap.
Again, Jeffrey led them away, this time stopping beside a larger tree, just as unassuming as any other.