15
SIREN
Several weeks later, crawling across the slopes between the Vamilion Mountains and the sea, Archer found his way to a river, wide and deep. It spilled into a swampy area with vast marshes that threatened to drown him, but the compass guided him unerringly the whole way, almost step-by-step through the drier patches. He followed it faithfully, for the device proved far wiser than he when it came to hunting and shelter. It guided him to spring roots to eat, fresh water to drink, a covey of doves to shoot, and windbreaks to protect him in his travels.
Slowly, winter lifted as he trekked west, and spring rose up around him. Mists, fens, and strange outcroppings formed a maze he wandered. He half-expected the compass purposely led him on tangled paths, for it meandered, and as the l
