Zally's Book by Jan Bozarth

hadn’t been worried for our safety, it might have been funny. But little alarm bells were going off in my head, telling me that this was dangerous, especially for Kir, who was much heavier than I. That was why, when I heard Imishi giggling behind me, I carefully got to my hands and knees and turned to glare at her.
    â€œThis was
your
idea,” I said. “You should be the one down here in the mud.”
    Her face turned sober, and she looked away. A wave of fear and skittishness hit me as Kir whickered and rolled his eyes. That was when I made the connection: I was actually feeling Kir’s fear! It was
his
nervousness I had felt so strongly before setting off along this road. I was picking up feelings and images, not words. Just as I had sensed what was bothering the troll.
    I sent Kir calming thoughts like
It’s okay, we’re right here
, while I said aloud, “We’ll do this together.” We had to—there was no turning back now.
    Kir stepped forward and put all four hooves on the first island. Still on my hands and knees, I went onward, feeling with my hands for the most solid spot.
There
. “This is solid, but still pretty slippery, and the muck is deeper than on the first island,” I said.
    Where Kir stood, with mud well past the tops of his hooves, reeds and grass grew in the water alongside the islands. I had an idea. Tearing up handfuls of grass, I spread them flat across the mud. “I think this will keep your hooves from sinking in so far,” I explained. I spread another layer on top of that. Kir stepped forward and barely sank an inch into the ooze.
    â€œIt worked!” Imishi said, sounding surprised. “Just one more.”
    I got back to my feet, steadied myself, and faced the next island. The mud road was just a few feet beyond it. I stepped onto the top of the small hillock. This island felt more solid than the first, and I quickly brought my other foot over. I stamped on the mound to show my companions how solid it was. “See? This one’s easy.”
    But when Kir started to follow me, all chaos broke loose.
    Clouds of glowing insects swarmed out of the little island beneath me. In moments, the air was so thick with them I could hardly see. A couple flew into my mouth, and I coughed and spat them out. I pressed my lips together.
    In sheer panic, Kir reared up. I jumped back to avoid his hooves—and plunged into the shallow water between the island and the muddy route we were traveling. Kir leapt onto the third island, reared once more, and jumped over me onto the solid mud. I heard a loud
sploosh
in the murky water beside me.
    Wiping muddy water from my eyes, I looked in the direction from which the splash had come. I gasped when I saw only a pair of peach butterfly wings sticking up out of the water. Not even the fairy-silkblanket had been able to keep Imishi on a wildly rearing horse.
    â€œImishi!” I yelled, choking on a mouthful of gnats. A moment later, she pushed her head above the water, coughing and sputtering, only to breathe in a bunch of the glowing gnats. Her coral hair was plastered to her head, and tiny bugs swirled around it.
    Even though my lips were pressed together, one of the swamp gnats flew up my nose. I sneezed, coughed, and tried to blow it out, all the while flailing my arms against the cloud of gnats that had begun stinging. Holding on to my sopping-wet shoulder bag with one hand, I struggled to get the other hand into my pocket to pull out the fairy-silk scarf. When I got it out, I tied it around my nose and mouth to keep more gnats from flying in. Following my lead, Imishi tore a strip off her dress and tied it so that it covered the lower half of her face.
    Rivers of panic poured from Kir, who reared and neighed on the muddy route. He could have run away to escape the gnats, but he didn’t. With much sliding and falling, Imishi and I scrambled up the slope toward the muddy path.
    â€œYour wings!” I