Even the best intentions...

[HeySeuss]

The caravan bogged down in the mud until the time came for the merchants to abandon it, on horse, back, salvaging what they could of the cargo and returning south. For these men the loss was, to say the least, considerable in terms of gold.

For Porus, the necessity of leaving so much of their cargo, exotic animals, to die, seemed unnecessarily cruel to the animals. But he was resigned nonetheless.

He watched longingly from a distance as the cries of the animals were heard, and as he imagined them starving slowly in their cages.

Before anyone could stop him, he turned back towards the cages.

***

Half an hour later, Gupta's corpse was half-submerged in the water on the trail. He had been bitten multiple times by the animals he sought to release, who lashed out at him in fear.

Birds from all over fluttered away, squawking and calling out a true cacophony of noises from a range of different locales.

Other animals made their way, only to be preyed upon by local predators, or otherwise found their niche in the local ecosystem. These would die out, eventually. There was no real way for them to survive, their numbers were too small, especially the mammals. In the meantime, an array of different animals, including a mated pair of Fossa, and some other hunting cats, and even four crocodiles, ended up stranded in Myrken.

But by and far the worst were the snakes. All kinds of snakes, hardy and survivable in this sort of climate, as it was at the moment, and good enough swimmers, usually, that they could get about.

Porus Gupta was well intentioned, but he was something of an idiot.