by Ren Ryder
“I see that! You, what are you doing?! You’re wasting it!” Erlk screamed, spittle flying from his mouth. “You’ll ruin your flavor!”
Erlk moved with uncharacteristic agility that I didn’t attribute to the aged. He hopped then slid across the cave floor along a sheet of ice, cleaver raised high. His shaggy hair fell back from his face to reveal row upon row of needle-sharp teeth.
“Hmm. No deal? I guess it’s your turn.” Bell sported a look of genuine confusion.
“Yeah, I can see that! Thanks for nothing!”
I threw myself out of the way of the attack.
Erlk’s cleaver chopped off a clump of white hair and whistled past my left ear.
“Stand still so I can get a clean cut!” Erlk demanded.
My bones ground together like millstones. I tried to roll back to my feet but tripped over myself and sort of tumbled to a knee instead.
I knew it.
Mana skin increased my latent physical abilities by several orders of magnitude.
With the increase in strength, speed, and power, I was able to keep just ahead of the Erlk and his cleaver. I hopped to and fro, bounced off a stalactite like a bouncy ball, and almost lost my footing on the jagged cave wall before sliding to a stop amid a pile of leather goods.
“Oooooh~” Bell clapped.
“Stop, stop that! I’ve a system in place here, and I shan’t have it messed with by some whippersnapper!”
Moving from horizontal to lateral surfaces in quick succession was starting to make me dizzy, but to think I’d hit a nerve— it confirmed my suspicion. I leapt from one adjoining treasure heap to the next, kicking my feet and sending stuff flying as I went. Jewels, precious artifacts, and shining plates of armor went flying.
I laughed, feeling a childish satisfaction in disturbing the order of the place.
“No!”
Erlk’s anger radiated into the visible spectrum, causing a thin coating of ice to form on the surfaces all around him. Ice crystals formed in the air, and the temperature in the cave plummeted. My breath fogged and my body broke out in goosebumps.
“That’s… c-c-cold!” Bell complained, shivering.
I felt the change in the air on my skin, but the feeling was out of proportion to the effect. My mana skin partially insulated me from the cold.
I kicked off my back foot and shot off towards a thick stalagmite. I braced myself and bent my knees to absorb some of the shock of impact. My landing was accompanied by an audible crack, but the formation held.
Erlk positioned himself in my way, like a goalie trying to keep me from scoring. “Don’t even think about it. Don’t you dare!”
I leapt off the vertical surface into a sliding kick across the ice. With all the force and momentum of my enhanced body behind me, I slid straight towards Erlk. Right before we collided, he motioned and a wall of ice formed between the two of us.
I crashed through the construct, shattering it, and tackled the shaggy-haired kelpie below the knees. He nicked me in the right forearm as I passed, but I succeeded in sweeping the legs out from under him. Erlk thunked his head hard against the stone floor, banged up his arms and lost hold of his cleaver.
And still, my momentum carried me past him into several adjoining piles of treasure. Jewelry, metal plates, and coins scattered across the cave with the sound of ringing metal.
I’d made a glorious mess of the place.
“Again, again!” Bell cheered.
Erlk didn’t respond in words, but his face darkened with rage and his features stretched monstrously. His arms and legs elongated, and he fell to all fours with the sound of crunching, snapping bone. His neck broke and stretched, and his facial features disappeared into the kelpie’s guise, a gray horse. The shells and watercress remained in his hair, but were reflected now in his mane. Finally, his clothes morphed into the bejeweled saddle I’d gotten entrapped by.
I took a good look. This was the Otherworld’s kelpie, a malevolent water horse.
Erlk neighed, stomped his hooves and reared his head. The kelpie charged me, moving with preternatural speed and grace across the cave floor’s slick surfaces.
I leapt over the top of his head and rolled into landing back on my feet, sliding to a stop against a set of stalagmites in the far corner near where I first awoke. I made sure to avoid contact with the saddle, refusing to make the same mistake twice.
Erlk’s rage had robbed him of reason. He charged straight into a waist-high mound of bristling spears and swords. The kelpie impaled himself the same way one might fall onto a cactus. Metal tips stuck out of the panting water horse’s belly and back, clear through its throat. Blue blood poured out the wounds and dripped onto the cave floor.
A living pincushion.
I walked with purpose to the kelpie’s side, inspecting the damage up close. It was bad. Erlk must have been too injured to shape-shift back into the form of a human boy, for he remained in the kelpie’s horse form.
“It didn’t have to be like this,” I told him.
I started to survey the mounds of treasure. The greedy part of me was already rubbing its hands together in expectation of my haul. Maybe I’d even find magical artifacts.
Cold power radiated from Erlk, and the fallen pools of his blood transfigured into thick blocks of ice that penetrated the cavern floor.
Rage filled eyes met mine. “My— m-mine!” The kelpie rasped.
Bell scooped up a double handful of fresh blood and tasted it with her tongue. She grimaced and spat onto the cave floor, then tossed the rest of the blood and wiped her bloody hands on the kelpie’s flank.
I scowled. “I’m not anyone’s special ingredient, thank you very much.”
“Don’t be like that~” Bell spoke in a cheery voice, trailing a hand along my right forearm where the cleaver had nicked me.
I narrowed my eyes at her as she stuck her hand in her mouth and started sucking on it like a grotesque lollipop. Bell's eyes rolled back in her head and she made a sound of intense pleasure. Disgusting.
“Mine, mine, mine, mine mine mine mine mine mine minemineminemineminemineminemineminemineminemineminemine!” A spiderweb of cracks formed in the floor of the underwater cavern around Erlk, then shot off up the walls and into the ceiling. Stalactites cracked and broke off, shattering into pieces when they hit the ground. The giant cauldron upended, spilling meatless stew all over and extinguishing the cook fire. The globes containing fire elementals glowed, then exploded in their housings, plunging the cave into darkness.
Great.
A localized earthquake caused the whole cavern to shake. I lost my footing and fell to the ground on hands and knees. My night vision was ruined, and I couldn’t wait around for my eyes to adjust. Blind, I scrambled around in my pants pocket to get the flint fragment Fin gave me.
I struck it against the cave floor, and sparks— precious light— granted me reduced sight for an instant.
Moving low to the ground in stages as the cave shuddered and fell apart around me, I struck the flint every time I needed to orient myself. I kept moving that way until I made it to the far corner that housed the pool of frozen-over water that I’d marked as the exit.
If I’m wrong and this isn’t the exit…
A chunk of stone fell from the ceiling and landed dead-center on my spine. Another piece hit me in the head, making me see stars. Pain ripped through me and I stumbled into the cave wall by mistake, otherwise I wouldn’t have remained standing.
Sound distorted. My ears were ringing.
I wiped at my temple and my fingers came away slick with blood.
Stumbling, I crashed the flint against the retaining wall to make sparks fly. Blinking bleary, I thought I saw Bell just ahead of me, pointing at the cracked ice and mouthing, something.
A wall of wind struck me from behind and sent me reeling in the direction of the frozen-over pool. I flailed my arms for balance while I slid and spun across the ice, but was stopped cold when I collided with another wall, hard.
Rocks began falling from the ceiling with increasing frequency. It could be a matter of moments before the whole place came crashing down around us.
I strained to gather mana, pulling from my source, funneling it through my heart, down my arm, into my fist.
I wound my arm back, then brought it down with all my might against a crack in the frozen pool of water.
The ice exploded and I fell through into freezing water. My head went under before I had a chance to take a full breath, so I clawed my way back to the surface to take a deep lungful of air. Shuddering, I took a moment to prepare myself for the worst and then dove back under.
Bigger chunks of rock and stone crashed through the thick sheet of ice. One deadened my thigh and another crashed into my bad shoulder.
Can I even hold my breath long enough? I don’t even know how far I’ll need to swim.
“Hurry up, go! I’ve got you!” Bell screamed.
I dove back under, and Bell wove a delicate weave of wind that encompassed herself and most of my upper body. I swam downward until I reached a corkscrew in the underwater channel that spat me out in the waterhole’s depths.
Chapter Ten
I emerged from the waterhole’s depths like a monster crawling out the abyss.
The ice-water bath had cooled me off so much that I didn’t feel like my limbs were attached. Concerned about freezing, I cast my eyes about for Fin’s bonfire, hoping it was still burning. Spotting its embers licking across the rocky crest, I made a beeline for it.
“C-c-cold!”
“Hah— your lips are blue!” Bell sputtered.
She looked none the worse for wear despite all we’d gone through. If I was being honest, it was infuriating.
“Sh-shut up!”
Freezing, I scurried over to the remains of the fire and threw all the remaining deadwood on top to bring it raring back to life. Shivering, teeth chattering, I hugged my arms around myself and tucked my knees into my chest. I must’ve looked like a wet, cowering dog.
Staring into the fire, I thought about how close I’d come to choosing death. I would never admit it out loud, but Bell’s annoying persistence had been instrumental in my return from the brink.
Nevermore would I discount the intelligence of the fae native to this Otherworld. Had I not been so quick to jump to conclusions and taken the kelpie for a ride, I wouldn’t have put myself in as precarious a position as the one I’d found myself in.
Had I been lulled into complacency by the feast and my interactions with Fin Macool?
This Otherworld was an idyllic place, a beautiful retreat from harsh reality, but its inhabits weren’t innocent angels out to make my life into a wonderland. In fact, they trended towards the opposite. Faeries came in many different forms, but they one and all possessed claws and fangs. And, I kicked myself: most had the wit to match any human, no matter what form they took.
Robin Goodfellow.
I didn’t believe that was the being’s true name, but all the same. He was a force of nature. At minimum, there appeared to be a twofold purpose to these trials. Of course, the recognized purpose was the crowning of the Seven Year King, but given my conversation with the ancient satyr, there was a hidden agenda that required champions to be sacrificed to pay some sort of blood price.
A tithe.
Did Bell know?
And… should I tell her?
I bit my lip.
Knuckling my forehead in frustration, I cast aside that idea and shifted my focus to easier to digest topics.
There was all that treasure, lost. An incalculable waste of wealth. Its loss wasn’t so much of a setback, but more a missed opportunity to get myself ahead. Clothes and armaments would have been helpful, let alone the possibility of ancient artifacts or enchanted weapons.
“That doesn’t look so good.” Bell was squinting at my arm.
“What? What’re you talking about?” I asked, my frustration showing in my voice.
“Hmm!” Bell shrugged. “See for yourself."
I brought my arm up to my face and looked.
The flesh wound on my right forearm was… bubbling black, and dark veins around the cut pulsed in time with my heart. Although the merfolk considered the price for saving my life paid for by the sacrifice of my lesser elementals, the healing factor I’d gained was a separate bargain.
Tricky of them, but I expected nothing less of the fae.
I frowned. “Seems this “gift” may turn out to be more of a curse.”
Bell winced. “Sure seems that way,” she agreed.
What was I supposed to do now? Bare-chested and sopping wet, I looked like a joke.
Something in me finally snapped. “Why are we doing this?”
“What?” Bell asked.
“This,” I made an angry gesture at the world around us, “this Otherworld, why are we galavanting across it like some traveling circus?”
Bell put a finger to her lips. “I don’t get what you mean?”
My frustration and anger spiked, and I felt pinpricks of heat break out all over my body. I let out a forceful breath to contain myself. “Why are we doing this trial, why become the Seven Year King? What’s the point?”
“I didn’t think you cared about the minutiae,” Bell sort of mumbled.
“What?” I asked, my tone sharp.
“I said, I didn’t think you cared why! You have a death wish anyways. What’s the point of explaining anything to you? At this point, and I don’t care to admit it, but I care more about keeping you alive than you do!” Bell yelled.
I forced myself to take a steadying breath. “You’re right,” I said, “I don’t— care, that is. And yes, I do have a death wish. But, maybe,” I cleared my throat, “I can, you know, try, to care— from now on. Anyways, if we aren’t on the same page, how are we going to accomplish anything we set out to do?” I waved my hands around.
Bell’s golden eyes flashed. “You’ll really try?”
“I said I would,” I muttered.
“Really really, pinky swear with a cherry on top?” Bell pushed.
I gritted my teeth and stretched out my pinky for her to grasp with her whole hand. “Swear.”
Bell shook my pinky up and down. “Pinky promise, hope to die, swallow a thousand needles if you lie!” She showed her fangs, looking downright predatory.
I narrowed my eyes at the sylph.
“O-kaaaaay,” Bell said, seeming satisfied. “You know if you get crowned king, you’ll gain enough status that Oberon won’t be able to kill you outright, right?”
“Sure.” I rolled my wrist, still thinking about swallowing a thousand needles.
Bell clapped her hands. “So, that’s when you’re free to decide.”
I humored her, and asked, “Decide what?”
Bell held out her palms face-up, a bit apart from one another to represent two choices. “What’s next. If you plan to stay in the Otherworld forever, or plan to go back and take on Ouroboros… and Sammie with it.”
I rubbed my chest, over my heart.
“And,” I cleared my throat, “you’re coming with me, whatever I choose?”
“Did you think I was going to fly off somewhere? For good or ill, I’m stuck with you… unless, hmm, unless I can find someone else’s coattails to ride to the top…” Bell trailed off, muttering.
I squinted. “What was that?”
Bell whistled. “Nothing~”
“What did you just say?”
“None of your beeswax!” Bell stuck her tongue out at me then buzzed off into the Darkwood.
Letting it go, I scratched at the rune on my neck and let my eyes wander the skies. After my brush with death, the crescent moon appeared brighter, more savage. More in focus, the stars seemed
brighter, sharper. Even the air smelled fresher, so crisp it was cutting.
I started to sweat.
The Otherworld’s Nightside had eyes that watch and teeth that rend, just as vibrantly alive as the Dayside but in a more hungry way. I felt the darkness close in around me like a giant maw. If I let my guard down, I would be devoured.
I clenched my jaw closed and exhaled through my teeth in a hiss.
Sounds of the wood carried to me clear over the rushing waterfall: rustling leaves and branches, chirping grasshoppers and croaking frogs. Rich ambient mana loosened my tense muscles and made each breath feel fuller, put me more at ease, deepened my connection to the Otherworld around me.
It felt like a homecoming.
A few glowing embers played on the wind, catching my eye. I hadn’t noticed that while I was deep in thought, the bonfire had burned down to embers.
“Alright, that’s enough thinking!”
I slapped my cheeks and stood up. The firelight ruined my night vision, so I kicked around at the water’s edge until I tripped over my discarded staff. Picking it up, I hugged the length of wood to my chest and relished the subtle warmth emanating from it.
Returning to the bonfire, I kicked rocks over the fire to smother the embers. I patted my pants pocket where Fin’s flint pressed against my upper thigh. It had already come in handy once, but I may need it again to keep the Nightside at bay.
Bell blew a raspberry. “Pffffft! Should I come back later?”
I decided to be the adult and ignore her question. “What do you know about those things the merfolk want?”
“Mmm, you mean moonflowers?” Bell dug around in her ear with a pinky.
“Yeah, what the heck’s a moonflower?” I asked.
“I dunno, a flower that blooms under the moon?” Bell returned.
“You don’t know anything about them? Where they grow, what kind of conditions they need, how to harvest them, that kind of thing?” I huffed.
My sylph companion gestured at the night sky. “I know for a fact they grow on the Nightside. Cuz, you know, moonflowers, moon,” Bell said like it was obvious.
I shook my head. “You’ve got nothing, huh.”
Bell tsked and shook her finger at me. “You should know better. My intuition tells me,” she rubbed her temples, “moonflowers grow best beneath a full moon— the deepest domain of the Nightside. I bet we’ll find them there!”
