"It's an entire city," I marveled as they walked me with hands tied down the narrow walkways, ducking under the reaching tears of the weeping willows and through the weeds that sprouted from the patches of land. I was flanked by guards dressed in the same green as the water wielding staffs made from the hardwood of the forest surrounding the swamps.

"Left," the guard behind me grunted, giving me a gentle push. To the right a house sat bordering the murky water, the roof patched with planks and sheets of wood. Down below, the house turned to a pier and a small boat sat tethered. The path to the left led to what could only be a palace. We entered through a door carved as a fish, ducking through the mouth and entering its belly. "Kneel," the guards demanded and I knelt before an ancient man dressed in a fine green robe made of woven algae.

"A traveler," he croaked, waving a hand to dismiss the guards. His fingers were webbed like a frog's, a thin flap of skin connecting each member save the thumb. I remained on my knees, counting the floorboards as I waited for my summons. "Rise," he said quietly and I glanced upwards, taking in the room. It was larger than the fish mouth door suggested, built around a tree larger than I had ever seen, its first branches starting well above where the ceiling closed the room. It seemed a hundred men could circle the tree and still not be halfway around. "What brings you here, traveler?" the old man demanded, his wise eyes boring into my soul.

"A maiden, your Grace," I answered quietly, my face turning a shade of red and the man chuckled. I had been more lost than anything in the swamps when the guards came across me jumping cautiously from land to patch of land, trying to avoid the crocodiles and serpents and bottomless pools that could swallow whole armies in a single gulp. If their word was anything to go by, they had been stalking me for a better part of the week, tracking me as I wandered aimlessly haplessly pleading to the gods. I had lost my sword a long ways back as I thrust it into the mouth of a monster that nearly tore my arm off. All I carried was a dagger and a stick that served more as a crutch than as a weapon.

"The maiden?" he asked with a smile. "And what might she be called?"

"Gaea she is called, the Lady of Water. They say she lives where the lakes and rivers are born. I have taken that to mean where the swamps give birth to the rivers that let the kingdom flourish." I paused before continuing. "I intend to find her." The old man laughed now and a few of the guards standing at attention near the door chuckled.

"And did they tell you not of this town, traveler? This kingdom hidden in the swamp?" I marveled at his audacity, daring to suggest that this band of sophisticated swamp dwellers could be considered a kingdom. He smiled as I arched my eyebrows. "Below the swamps is another world of the type most men never see. Elsewhere, the same stone that builds castles builds the earth and men must fight with pick and axe to carve caves and crypts in the damp underground. Here, the trees rule. Downwards as far as the roots can reach are passageways and chambers larger even than this one."

If I was doubtful, it must have shown. He raised his hand again and one of the guards moved forwards to tap his staff sternly against the floorboards below the throne carved of the tree. They slowly opened, the wood creaking as hidden ropes and wheels churned. I looked downwards, expecting a bottomless pit or a cesspool of swamp water infested by leeches and snakes but instead was greeted by a flight of stairs. At the bottom, people bustled past carrying loads of dirt and roots and worms that wriggled and occasionally dropped as children rushed behind, eating them whole. "It's a city," I marveled and the old man chuckled.

"More than a city. The passages reach as far as rivers and trees go until the southern mountains and the dead deserts of the north."

"How do men not find them? When they build castles and dungeons?" I asked curiously.

"They find them. Each day I get reports of a passage collapsed somewhere in the far reaches of my kingdom. They find them each time they dig but they blame it on luck and gods and such and never suspect the tunnels that lead to the Lady of Water."

"So she exists?" I asked cautiously, renewed hope flowing through me.

The old man swept his hand in a wide arch. "This is she," he said with a smile. "Gaea, or the Lady of Water or Mother Nature or Earth. Whatever you might call her. We live at peace with our surroundings, free of fear of earthquakes or floods or the fury of the beasts. Many travelers have found her much as you have and now find themselves amongst the people of my kingdom. A life of peace and harmony instead of the cold stone and steel of the warring kingdoms that build castles and bathe in blood." He stood slowly, seeming to tremble under the effort. "We welcome you, traveler, and invite you to join our kingdom."

I looked around at the thick roots and the massive trunk and the knotted eyes that seemed to stare at me from each plank. "And if I don't?"

"Then she is no friend of yours and I invite you to find your way back home," he said quietly but sternly. I nodded and I felt my hands cut free of their ropes and he gestured me down the staircase that led to the kingdom in the swamps.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this, please check out more stories at /r/MatiWrites. Constructive criticism and advice are always appreciated!