The frog tasted cold and slimy against his lips, with a taste like brackish water, mud, and old compost. But Keric gave it a dutiful smack on its mouth, hoping that it wouldn’t suddenly turn in to the fat old king, who had also been enchanted, along with several more desirable members of the royal family. But the frog just looked at him, squirmed, and then urinated on Keric’s palm. Nothing. Again. He took a dab of red pigment from his pouch, smeared it on the frog’s head, and then tossed the creature through the trees and marsh grass. He listened to it plop in another pool. Another one tried and failed. Around him, the sounds of thousands of frogs croaked in the dense swamp, loud enough to drown out the whine of mosquitoes, the constant dripping of water, and the occasional belch of a crocodile. Sweat and dirty water ran in streaks from his brown hair, down his cheeks, and avoided the frog slime around his mouth. He had caught and tested more than three dozen frogs already, but it would be years before he could find them all—and that was only if any members of the frog-cursed royal family remained alive in the deep swamps.
