by W. D. Newman
CHAPTER 4
AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE
“Whoa!” Hob shouted, pulling tightly on the reins. As the wagon rolled to a stop beside their cabin, the stout dwarf pulled the brake lever back and locked it into place. Getting Dan unhitched was no small task and it took all three of them to do it. Once they had him free from the harness, Hob led him to the rear of the wagon where Gob and Nob had climbed up so that they could reach the bridle. However, once Dan was free, they could not figure out how to rub him down and brush him.
“Ah, he’ll be fine,” said Gob. “It was a short jaunt from where we camped.”
“Yes,” Nob agreed. “He didn’t even break a sweat this morning. A roll in the meadow and he’ll feel good as new.”
“You two quit goofing off and get the wagon unloaded,” Hob called over his shoulder. “I’m going to put the tack up and start packing a few things to take with us on the boat.”
After everything was stowed away, and a quick noon day meal with seconds and thirds, the three dwarves picked up their packs and started down the path to the lake below their cabin. A soft warm breeze stirred the tops of the pines that grew on the hillside and their fragrant scent spiced the air with a pleasant aroma. Somewhere among those branches above them, a mocking bird was busily going through his entire repertoire of songs. The dwarves, however, did not take notice of his happy music. They had much on their minds and were in a very somber mood.
“What do you think about this business with Marcus?” asked Gob.
“I don’t know what to think,” Nob answered. “The whole business is rather frightening.”
“I agree,” Hob added. “Did you notice the fear in Amos’s voice at the mention of Jupiter?”
“You mean Bellator,” Gob corrected.
“Bellator, schmellator,” Hob retorted. “Anyone who can frighten Amos scares the daylights out of me.”
“”It’s not just Amos,” said Nob. “Think about it. This Bellator has captured Marcus; the most powerful elf on Faerie and Camelot!”
“Yes, and he captured him ON Faerie,” said Hob. “If Marcus wasn’t safe on Faerie, and if the elves cannot rescue him, then what are we to do?”
“Garrick did show an interest in Ben,” Gob pointed out.
“I saw that. I’m glad Ben is here, too. If anyone can save Marcus, it will be Ben.”
Gob and Nob mumbled their agreement and they finished the walk to the water in a brooding silence. Down at the lake, their boat was hidden on a small crescent beach of sand that was tucked away neatly between some large rocks. The boat was an elfin boat from an age that had long ago passed away. Their elfin friend Gabriel had officially given them the boat and, although the vessel was very old, it held two enchantments that were still strong and considerably powerful.
The first enchantment would not allow the boat to sink. As a matter of fact, once afloat on the water, the boat could not even be capsized. That was the only reason the dwarves even used it, because, as everyone knows, dwarves cannot swim and tend to sink in deep waters.
The second enchantment was one of great convenience to the three dwarves. The boat could be paddled anywhere, even down the West river into which the lake emptied, but when the boat was turned toward home, it always returned to this sandy beach and it always returned under its own power. Often times the dwarves would paddle across the lake and then ride the current downstream to visit their friends in the Twilight. They would also use the boat to ferry supplies from River Town to their cabin. However, no matter where they went, as soon as they turned the prow toward home the boat would always return under its own power.
“Is everything stowed away?” asked Hob.
“We’re all set,” Nob answered.
Hob gave the boat a gentle shove and, with help from his two friends, managed to climb aboard without wetting his boots. Gob and Nob dipped the oars into the water and began paddling toward the other end of the lake. They would be entering the river soon and, since there were very few rapids, much of the ride ahead of them would be nothing more than a slow and lazy pace, drifting along with the current.
When they neared the center of the lake, the water on the port side started to bubble and froth. Very quickly, the lake around them became turbulent; swirling, splashing, and crashing against the boat. Gob and Nob pulled the oars in and grabbed onto the sides as the boat began to pitch and roll. Then, as suddenly as it started, the commotion ceased and the waters once more became calm.
“What was that all about?” whispered Nob.
“I haven’t a clue,” Hob whispered back, “but let’s wait a moment before we disturb the water again.”
“I agree. Let’s just sit quietly for a few minutes. Gob, are you okay?”
Gob was still gripping the sides of the boat, his knuckles white with exertion and his face white with fear. Last summer he had fallen from this very same boat and had almost drowned. If Ben had not been there to save him, he would have perished.
“Maybe we had better go ahead and tie off now,” Hob suggested. Every time they traveled the river, they always tied a rope around their waists, linking themselves together in case one of them fell out of the boat.
“Good idea,” said Gob, snapping out of his fear induced stupor. He let loose of the sides and began searching for the rope with Hob and Nob.
“Ah ha!” Hob cried, holding the rope up. “Found it!”
At that moment a plume of water shot up beneath the boat, pitching the stern, where Hob was standing, up into the air. Gob and Nob watched in horror as Hob sailed over them, still clutching their safety rope tightly in his hands. When he hit the water, it once more started to bubble and froth.
As Hob thrashed about, trying desperately to keep from sinking, Gob and Nob grabbed the oars and plunged them into the water. They paddled madly, but the boat would not move. Their friend was only a few feet away from them and he was still holding their rope. There was nothing they could do to save him.
“Hob,” Gob cried. “Try to swim towards us!”
“Swim, Hob!” Nob joined in. “Swim!”
Suddenly, Hob quit thrashing and became very still. Suspended, somehow, in the lake with the water lapping about his shoulders, his eyes grew wide and a look of sheer terror came over his face.
“Throw us the end of your rope,” Nob shouted. “Hurry!”
Before Nob’s request even registered in Hob’s brain, the terrified dwarf was suddenly yanked beneath the surface of the water.
Stunned, the two dwarves in the boat stared at the widening rings on the surface of the lake where their friend had just vanished. The water in the area from where the rings were emanating began to vibrate and then slowly, ever so slowly, something began to rise out of the water.
“It’s Hob!” Gob whispered.
Nob watched in horrid fascination as the top of his friend's head emerged from the murky green waters. Up, up he came, first his head, then his shoulders. Something below the surface was raising him upwards and out of the water. Finally, when the dwarf was up high enough so that the water was around his knees, a lattice-work structure of bones began to rise up out of the water around him. Hob looked down at the bones and began to scream.
“HELP! Get me out! Get me out of here! HELP!”
“Quick, throw us the rope!” Gob yelled.
Although his hands were shaking badly, Hob managed to grasp the end of the rope with one hand and then tossed the loops that he was holding with his other hand. The rope sailed across the water, uncoiling as it approached the elfin boat. Gob and Nob reached out to catch it, but just before it reached them a thin tendril of water shot out from the surface of the lake and caught the rope in midflight. The wispy strand wrapped around the cord and held it there, suspended in the air above the surface of the water. Slowly, more water began to rise from the lake and the thin tendril began to thicken and take shape. The curls that wrapped around the rope, though still made of water, formed into a hand w
ith fingers. Below the hand, an arm had formed and was connected to a larger blob of water that was still thickening and transforming. The water continued to shift and morph and, in a few short seconds, a beautiful water nymph floated before them. The creature stared at Gob and Nob for a moment then slowly turned until she was facing Hob.
“You!” she exclaimed with a watery hiss. “I know you!” The nymph was beautiful to look upon and her voice sounded like a sweet gurgling brook, but Hob could only think of one thing; bones. Bones for her boat. The terrified dwarf promptly fainted.
“Hey,” Gob called. “We know you too! Hob told us all about you.”
“Give him back to us,” Nob demanded.
The nymph laughed long and hard, but then suddenly stopped as an idea occurred to her. For a moment, she studied the two dwarves closely and then released the rope. The water that had formed her arm and hand lost its shape and, with the rope, came splashing down into the lake. She glided over to the elfin boat and grasped the side as she rose up higher out of the water. Gob and Nob shrank away from her, fearful of being plucked away from their own boat and being placed into hers, along with Hob. If she ever got all three of them into the water, then all was lost.
“Your friend’s name I know,” said the nymph, “but yours I do not. Tell me your names and perhaps we may work out some sort of a deal?”
“We do not know your name,” said Nob, getting his courage up. “Why should we tell you ours?”
Gob quickly kicked him in the shin to silence him. “Excuse my friend, he has no manners. I am called Gob and my impolite friend is called Nob and, although we have heard of you, we do not know your name. Pray, tell us, and speak of this deal you have in mind.”
“A dwarf with manners?” the nymph replied. “These are strange times indeed. I have been known by many names, but you may call me Arinya. I will not use your friend’s bones for my boat just yet. For now, though, he is my prisoner and I will hold him for ransom.”
“Ransom?” asked Nob, who was still rubbing his shin. “Ransom for what?”
“Ah, not yet,” Arinya replied. “I will allow you to pull your friend back into your boat, but then you must follow me to the small island on the east end of this lake. When you are safely standing upon the Island, I will state my terms.”
“And what if we refuse to follow you?”
“Then I shall have the bones and sinews of three plump dwarves to increase my boat. Do you think for a moment you are safe in your elfin craft?”
The water around them began to roll and crash against the sides of their boat. Gob and Nob crouched low and grabbed onto the sides to keep from being tossed overboard.
“STOP!” Gob yelled. “Stop! We will hear your terms!”
Arinya smiled. The water began to calm at once and the bone boat floated slowly to the starboard side of the elfin boat. When the two boats bumped into each other, Hob woke from his faint with a start. He sat up in the midst of the bones and began thrashing and screaming, while Gob and Nob frantically tried to grab him. When the bone boat began to sink, Hob finally gathered his wits about him and managed to scramble aboard the elfin boat with his two friends.
“Grab the oars and paddle,” Hob shouted. “Quickly!”
“Calm down,” said Gob. “Arinya tossed you into the water once, she can certainly do it again.”
“Arinya,” Hob repeated, with a confused expression. “Who is Arinya?”
“The water nymph that gave you and Gabriel passage across the underground lake in Kahzidar,” Nob answered. “She is right behind you.”
Hob spun around and brandished the oar in front of him, like a weapon. Arinya laughed.
“We have to follow her or she will toss us all into the water,” Gob explained.
“And use us to increase the size of her boat,” Nob added.
“I will speak to you again, when you are on the island,” said Arinya to the three dwarves. “Do not delay. Do not attempt to escape. I hear and know everything that happens on these waters and there will be no second chances.” With that, Arinya sank down and became one with the shiny green surface of the lake. She was gone, but then again, being a spirit that now inhabited Long Lake, she was everywhere that there was water.
“If we turned the boat back toward the shore,” Hob whispered, “do you think she would be able to stop it?”
“She wouldn’t have to stop it,” Gob answered. “She would only have to bump it hard enough to knock us overboard.”
“We could lash ourselves in the boat,” Hob countered.
“No, that wouldn’t work either,” said Nob. “She may not be able to stop the boat once it has started back toward the shore and she may not be able to capsize the boat either, but she could certainly snatch us out of the boat whether we were tied down or not.”
“Then what are we to do?” There was growing panic in Hob’s voice.
“We must go to this island and hear her deal,” said Gob.
“You know what kind of deal she will offer. It will be like the one she had with Ringwald Stonebreaker. She will probably offer to spare our lives and allow us use of the lake if we bring her a steady supply of victims!”
“No, that doesn’t make sense. We could simply agree to that and there would be nothing in place to make us hold up our end of the bargain. We would just simply quit using the lake. She is after something else.”
“Gob is right,” said Nob. “There is nothing for us to do but hear her offer. She warned us not to delay too, so we’d better start paddling.”
“Yes, I suppose you are right,” said Hob. The poor dwarf’s shoulders sagged in defeat. The shoreline was so close. So very close. “Let’s start paddling.”
*****
