It was a beautiful place, really, with moss on the rocks, and ferns growing from the sides. The water was clear during the day, allowing one to see all the way down to the sandy bottom. Easy to see any threats, or so you would think.
He shook himself out of his memories, stripped down to his underclothes and dove into the pool. Going all the way to the bottom he looked around, but couldn’t see much in the darkness. His hands dug into the sand and he swam along, repeating what he had done the last time, only calmer, more methodically now.
Still he found nothing. He took his time and covered the whole pool, but there was no sign of a hidden cave, no sudden abyss below him and nothing grabbed at him, pulling him under. He surfaced, and with a sigh, pulled himself up onto a stone to think.
When he was here with Celia it had been daylight. They had taken a swim to find relief from a hot, summer afternoon. Perhaps whatever it was only came out during the day, an opposite of the Soul Gaunts, although just as evil. As much as the thought of wasting the time galled him, he didn’t see any other option. If this didn’t work he didn’t know what would possibly jar loose his memories.
He redressed and was pulling on his boots when he shivered. His clothes were damp now from being put on over his wet body, and he thought that was the cause. But then he noticed that his breath was starting to steam slightly, and realized that the air temperature itself was dropping. He stood up quickly and stared around.
There. Was that a shadow, moving slowly against the darker backdrop of the forest? And it was silent, like in the woods around Lacy’s house. Not a bird call or insect whir disturbed the night. They were here.
He was moving when the first strike came. The bone white claw shot out of the darkness, but Solomon avoided it, slipping beneath it, and spinning to avoid the next one. He reached out and grabbed the things cloak, continuing his movement and throwing it away from him. His momentum and strength launched the Soul Gaunt out over the water.
There was a hiss that turned into a screech as the water in the pool started to boil up. A few splatters got on the Soul Gaunt’s cloak and it started to smoke where it touched. The Soul Gaunt screeched again and tried to flow back to the land, but it was as if it was being held there. More water soaked the bottom of the cloak and the thing began to sink closer to the surface. The closer it got, the more water touched it, and the faster it sank. Soon, it was in the water, and its screeches had turned to a high-pitched wail. Moments later, it was completely submerged, the water stilled and there was no sign of the Soul Gaunt.
But it was still frigidly cold and the sense of menace hung in the air. Solomon looked around and saw them approaching. More than he could fight.
He turned and leapt into the water, bracing himself for whatever would come. But the water remained calm and did nothing other than soak him through. It was much harder to tread water with his boots and sword-belt, so he kicked off his footwear and was unbuckling his belt when he thought better of it. He would hold onto the sword for now, until daylight came and the Soul Gaunts were driven away. It might make it more difficult through the night, but he would deal with that.
The Soul Gaunts surrounded the pool, but wouldn’t come near the water. Instead, they hovered back away from the edge, hissing and spitting.
“Come out,” they called to him, their voices dry and cold. “Come out, or we’ll freeze the water around you.”
Solomon laughed. “Go ahead,” he said. “If you could have, you would have done it already.” He splashed at the nearest one. The water hit its cloak, but had no effect on it. “Guess they actually have to come into it,” he thought. “Too bad.”
He ignored the taunting of the things and tried to concentrate on his situation. If he could outlast them, he’d have to find another way to remember where his sword was, or come up with a plan that didn’t depend on it. There were other things in the Greenweald that were deadly to them; this pool was proof enough of that. Unfortunately, he didn’t think there was going to be much time to do research…
There was a cold squeeze of his ankle and he was yanked beneath the water, not even having time to draw a breath. He kicked, hard, and was able to free himself and get to the surface, where he sucked in a huge lungful of air before he was grabbed again. This time, he let it drag him under.
Looking down, he saw a hand, blue and slim, firmly grasping his leg. A slender arm led to a beautiful face, large eyes staring back at him. Solomon flipped, forcefully bringing his legs up, while his arms went down. He reached out blindly and caught the thing on each side of its torso. He could feel a fragile rib cage between his hands, and he pulled it to him.
The thing fought, twisting and squirming in his grasp, but he hugged it to him, ignoring its flailings. He kicked for the surface and dragged the thing up and into the air. As soon as he broke water, the thing started gasping, its eyes growing larger. It stopped fighting and its hands went to its neck, trying to dribble water into the gill slits located there.
Around the edge of the pool, the Soul Gaunts had gone silent, but they were still there, watching. Solomon took a risk, and dragged the rapidly fading creature to the shallower end, so that he could get his feet under him. The Soul Gaunts nearest slid away, not leaving the area, but far enough back to be out of range of any water thrown from the creature.
He held on to the thing, and its trashing and gasping slowed, and then finally stopped. He kept it raised out of the water for another moment to make sure, and then lowered it back in, submerging it, but holding it firmly by the arms.
At first, the creature simply floated in his grasp, but then the eyes popped open, and it began to thrash around once more.
“Enough,” Solomon said loudly. “If you don’t stop I’ll pull you out again.”
The thing glared at him, and tried once more to pull away, but Solomon acted as if he would yank it up into the air again and it went quiet.
“Better,” he said. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”
The thing nodded its head.
“Good. Is there some way that you can talk to me?”
Again, it nodded, and gently tugged one arm in Solomon’s grip.
“Alright, I’ll let one arm go. But know that I can yank you out of there with the other one. So don’t try anything.”
The thing nodded for a third time. Solomon let its arm go. It pointed at him, then at the water and beckoned him to come under.
“Do you think I’m crazy?” he said. “Why would I do that? So you can drown me like you did her?”
The thing got a confused expression on its face and then motioned for him again.
“What the hell,” Solomon said with a sigh. He moved deeper into the water, still holding the thing and ducked under.
It came closer to him and moved its free arm around in a circle over both their heads. The pressure of the water became less, and he drew a hesitant breath, and found that he was able to.
“There,” it said, “now we can talk.” Its voice was light and almost musical, and clearly feminine. As she spoke, she looked at Solomon out of huge eyes that were the same green-blue as the water of her pool.
“Why did you do it?” Solomon asked. His voice echoed back to him, as if he were speaking into a hollow tube, but he had no problem talking underwater.
“You were not invited to swim in my pool,” the thing answered, as if that were all the reason she needed.
“Why didn’t you just say so? You kicked me out. Why did you have to kill her?” Solomon wasn’t sure if he was crying or not.
He had thought that when he caught the thing that had killed Celia, he would have been furious and destroyed it without a second thought. But now that he was here, he was just sad, and tired. He was tired of killing and of fighting. Yes, he was good at it, but he didn’t want to do it anymore. Not even now. He wanted answers.
“I kicked you out because…” the water spirit started to say, but then dropped her eyes from his face.
“Why? Why not take us b
oth?”
“Because you were too beautiful. Even now, your light shines in my pool like a beacon. It drew me to you then, as it does now.”
“That’s ridiculous. And it doesn’t tell me why you killed Celia! You didn’t have to.”
To his disgust, the water creature laughed and then, “And who says that I killed her?”
Solomon opened his mouth to reply, but no sound came out. There was a sudden ache in his stomach, like he had been kicked. Even in this underwater bubble that the spirit had put them in, there was no air, and he couldn’t draw in a breath.
He struggled, his mouth opening and closing and finally managed to croak out, “No…that’s…it’s not possible. You took her and drowned her…”
“No, that is what you thought. I took her yes, but I merely put her somewhere else. Somewhere far from you.”
Solomon roared, seeing everything around him through a haze of red. He pulled the creature to him and wrapped his other hand around her throat, squeezing. The water spirits eyes bugged out even more and she thrashed in his grasp. She tried to raise her hand, to circle it around them and end the spell that was allowing him to breath, but he shook her violently, and she dropped it.
He pushed off from the bottom and dragged the spirit into the shallows again, standing and pulling her out of the water. She went limp and stared at him in terror. Solomon didn’t care. This thing, this vile, nasty creature had made him think…
He stopped, realizing what he was about to do in his fury. If he killed her, he would never know where Celia was, or how to get to her. He plunged her under the water again, and waded deeper.
Ducking under, he allowed her to recast her spell.
“Where is she?” he said, fighting to maintain his calm.
“In another realm. I can take you there, but it’s far.”
“How far?”
“For me, a mere moment. I can cross as I would, wherever the water takes me. But for you, it will be days to get there, days to find her and days to come back.”
“But you can change that, can’t you?” He squeezed her arm a little, emphasizing the implied threat if she didn’t.
She stared at him and then dropped her eyes again. “No, Solomon. I cannot. It is not my doing, but the nature of the magic. I am sorry. I am sorry for all of it. I didn’t know now much you loved her and only thought…”
Again, she stopped. Solomon found that he didn’t care what she had thought. Celia was alive and he needed to find her, even if it took days. He would let Jediah know…but he couldn’t. He couldn’t leave for days right now. His friends needed him and were counting on him. He looked up through the water to see that the sky was still dark. It was still nighttime and he was sure that the Soul Gaunts were still there, waiting for him to leave the safety of the pool.
Fine, he would go recover Justice, end the threat to the Greenweald and get back here. If he needed to use Justice to boil this whole pool away to force the water spirit to take him to Celia, he would do it. First thing though was to get past the Guardian and…
He remembered! He remembered where his sword was, who he had left it with and why. He had had a very good reason for letting it go, but that didn’t matter now. What mattered was that the Greenweald was in danger, and he had the means to protect it.
First his duty, then he would tell Florian that his daughter was alive and then he would go recover her. After that, he would tell Jediah that he was done with all things warlike and beg Florian to allow him to marry Celia, and settle down to raise a family together. He thought that now, there was a good chance that her father would agree.
But first, he needed to get out of here.
“The cave of the Guardian,” he said to the spirit, “do you know it?”
“I do,” she replied. “But I avoid the area. It is his realm, not mine.”
“I don’t care about that. Can you get me there?”
“Why? The Guardian will surely destroy you.”
“That’s my problem. Yours is getting me there. Can you or not?”
The spirit grimaced. “I can. If I must.”
“You must,” Solomon said. “And then I’m going to come back here, when all this is over. And you’re going to take me to Celia.”
“You are wasted on her, when you could be so much more.”
“Enough. Do we have a deal, or should I pull you out of the water and throw you to the Soul Gaunts?”
The spirit regarded him for a moment. “I believe you would, too. Fine then. I swear.”
“You swear what?” Solomon said. “I’m not so foolish as to let you off with being vague.”
“I swear to deliver you safely to the water nearest the cave of the Guardian. I swear that when you return and call for me, I will come and safely lead you to the realm where Celia now is. More than that, I cannot do.”
“That will be enough,” Solomon let her arm go. “Now, take me there.”
CHAPTER 48
He thought of Cassandra, and the pain was eased. It wasn’t gone, but it didn’t seem to matter as much. Soon, he’d be with her again, and with Celia, and none of this would matter.
The claw came out of the darkness and cut into him again, the hissing chuckle following. Florian drew his breath in sharply, the line of cold fire that erupted across his stomach taking him out of his memories for a moment, but then he focused on her face, and the agony sank into the background again.
She was so beautiful, so gracious and kind, warm and loving. It amazed Florian that she had fallen for him, when they were both so young, before he was the Head of House. Two young lovers, walking through the Greenweald, admiring the trees, exchanging kisses and sighs as they gazed at each other.
He smiled through bloody lips as he recalled the looks that they got. Some with the type of amusement that comes with age, watching back through time and remembering their own moon-struck moments. Others with open disdain, disgusted by the displays of public affection. For someone who would become such a model of decorum and poise, he certainly didn’t care about those looks then.
His quiet laugh became a cry, as a bony finger found its way into the slash on his stomach, spearing deeper, cutting through the layers beneath and opening him further.
“This can all stop, you know,” the voice of the Advocate came out of the darkness. “There would be nothing easier. All you need do is say the things I’ve told you. Your friend already has.”
At that, Florian truly laughed, despite the pain from his many wounds.
“Now I know you’re a liar. As if I needed any more proof of that. If I haven’t agreed to your ludicrous demands, I know he hasn’t.”
“You are wrong, Lord Florian. You have no idea the amount of pain that we can cause. But you’re right, of course. Jediah is much more resilient than you are. We simply doubled our efforts with him. Shall we do the same with you?”
Florian didn’t answer. He knew it didn’t matter. All of this was an excuse. They didn’t need him to go back to Whispering Pines and tell his people to stand down, to bow to their new masters. They would take what they wanted anyway. The Advocate wanted to hear him break.
It wouldn’t happen. Not while she was watching him. Cassandra had been watching over him since she died, the illness taking her so quickly that even the Healers didn’t know what it was. One moment, she was full of life and lighting up their tree like the sun itself had come inside, and the next, she was on the floor, shaking and crying. By the end of the day she was gone, and all Florian had been able to do was hold on to Celia, and promise that he would always be there for her.
But Cassandra hadn’t gone far, not really. He could feel her, watching as he raised their daughter. As time had passed, she had retreated a bit further, to give them time to be alive and whole themselves, but she was always there. Florian had never forgotten that.
Now, she was closer than she had been at any time since he had last held her in his arms. She was there…right there with him. And every time they hurt him,
she planted a soft, warm kiss on the corner of his damaged mouth, and eased the dread and warmed the air a little.
“Don’t be a fool, Florian,” the Advocate said, dropping any pretense of calling him “Lord”. “We can make you scream and scream.”
He ignored that as well, but not because he didn’t believe them. On the contrary he knew very well that they could, and had. He had cried out when they first took him, and yelled defiance when they tore Jediah and him apart, taking them each their own way in the darkness. And then he had truly screamed when they had strapped him to this table and gone to work on him.
But then she was there. Whispering to him and telling him that it was going to be okay. A little longer and she’d be with him again. Strange that she hadn’t said anything about Celia. He was anxious to see her again, too.
This time, they did drag a scream from him when they pulled him from his memories. The agony from his hand was too great to ignore. He couldn’t lift his head to see what they had done, but the cold laughter around him told him that whatever it was, it was something the Soul Gaunts had enjoyed. It wasn’t stopping either. It felt like his hand was on fire, or the skin was being peeled from it, or…
No, one of them flowed up next to him, and in the pale light that came from somewhere in the room, showed him something red and wet, before it opened its mouth and ate it.
“Hope you choke on it…” Florian muttered. And then, mercifully, he passed out.
It could have been hours, or only seconds, before the new pain shocked him awake. It came from his groin. The Advocate hadn’t been exaggerating, they were very inventive in causing pain. He felt no shame in screaming this time either.
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