Chapter 20: The Deep Water

Three jet black stallions were quickly galloping through the open field. On horseback, two dark knights, Hugo and James, were dressed in full suits of armor, carrying light shields and heavy swords. Both were tall and vigorously riding, their strong thighs clamped tightly to the horses’ sides. They bent forward in order for the horses to run faster. The dragon prince was riding ahead.

The chamberlain was nowhere to be found at the location Nyree had provided. He once believed that silver dragon descendants were a noble class who conducted themselves with common decency. However, after the wanted posters of the previous chamberlain were distributed across the kingdom, anonymous informants emerged from everywhere.

But one thousand gold coins were not easily earned. Often times, they found that the information was false or inaccurate. It was outlandish that the prince had such difficulty locating a silver servant. This time, he hoped that he could snatch up the cunning man, alive, with one strike. They had to be fast as Leila was in coma for three dragon days now, her life was depending on it.

The village was encased by a deep, lush forest. Stone chimneys were billowing out smoldering smoke. The holdfasts were neatly arranged in circles, the roads lined with polished curbs. Jabbering crowds began their shocked gasps and screams, brought on by the incoming irresistible squad.

The knights came to a sudden stop as their horses neighed and stamped on the ground. It was a stately stone house. Thorn felt something was off.

Hugo and James stormed in.

“No sign of the man!” Hugo shouted to the dragon prince.

As soon as Thorn entered the house, the door slammed shut with a loud bang by an invisible force. The windows slammed shut, and the fire extinguished itself. Cups of hot, steaming tea froze solid. The temperature in the house plunged down, as if they had entered another world.

The two knights tried to open the door and windows. Even with their strength, they wouldn’t budge.

Thorn noticed a pungent smell, seemingly coming from the chimney. He walked towards it. The farther he advanced, the stronger the scent grew.

He slowed his pace, listening, with his full attention on his surroundings. He could sense that something was near. Hugo and James stood firm, readying their swords.

A harsh wail from an infant burst out from behind the group, coming from another corner of the living room. The shrill sound was the heartbreaking cries of a baby.

“Steady. Cover your mouth, try not to breathe it in,” Thorn said to his men.

The house was dimly-lit. A scene magically appeared in front of them, gleaming with luminescence. Next to a large tree, a dozen dragon descendants were sitting in a circle. Three adults sat at the center, beside a cold bonfire. Thorn slowly stepped backward in an attempt to get a clearer view. Hugo and James followed.

The people were singing a quaint song. Some of them were drumming and playing flutes in rhythm with incantations uttered from the mouth of an old, wretched woman. She was dancing before the fire while holding a baby in her arms, a baby with abnormal features.

“*May Every Eye Upon Me Go Blind! May Every Tongue That Rises Against Me Fall! May Every Ill Intention Return To Sender!”

As she spoke, the other two adults repeated the statement, who appeared to be the baby’s parents. However, they were neither sad nor angry. They seemed accept this demonic ritual as necessary.

The old woman raised her arms, and exclaimed in a shrill voice, “Sacrifice the unbaptized child to the demons! ”

Thorn observed a long, thin needle in her hands.

None of the people took any notice of Thorn and the knights, as if they couldn’t see them at all. Thorn signaled Hugo and James to keep quiet and remain calm.

The witch held the needle in the flames of the bonfire until its sharp tip turned a burning red. She muttered an arcane spell, then raised the needle, pointing it right at the weeping baby’s head. She planned to insert the deadly thing into its soft skull.

Thorn had doubts about what he was watching. Still, he couldn’t allow himself to do nothing for the crying baby.

“Sorry, guys!” Thorn shouted to Hugo and James, and lunged forward at the center of the circle, snatching the needle away.

Then, everything happened in the blink of an eye.

The needle became a snake and moved to bite Thorn’s face. It hissed, showing its forked tongue, then opened its mouth full of sharp teeth. Hugo jumped forward and cut the snake’s head off.

Shockingly, the bonfire and all of the people had vanished. Darkness fell over the room. Icy water flooded in. The house was instantly destroyed. The floor disappeared out from underneath them as the entire village was inundated with water.

Thorn, Hugo, and James all breathed in a lungful of air before sinking into the deep sea.

As they were floating down, Thorn heard a fit of shrill laughter echoing around him. He tried to open his eyes and look around.

The sound dissipated. The water’s bright surface was overhead, strewn with floating wreckage and clumps of earth. As Thorn fell deeper, the surface began to disappear.

Suddenly, Thorn felt sleek scales brushing against his skin. Seconds later, several creatures loomed around them.

Each one of them had a human torso and a long, luminescent fish tail. Their hair was styled in many varieties, some long, some short, and showcasing unique colors like red and purple. Their skin was covered with shiny scales. They had a strange look about them—high cheekbones, a wide nose, a small mouth, and pointed ears. But the most striking feature was their lantern-shaped eyes with a vicious green gleam.

Thorn moved his eyes from the creatures back to Hugo and James, who were clearly struggling to hold their breath. He tried to swim towards them, but the force was too strong to move against. The dragon prince wasn’t suited for the deep water. He tried to shift, but failed. He tried to fight against the force, only to find that his limbs were tangled in seaweed.

Just as he was trying to think of a way out, more sirens began gathering around them. A chorus of high pitched voices echoed throughout the water. They were communicating with each other using their peculiar language, and they were steering the direction of the current with every stroke of their tails.

As they fell deeper, Thorn felt a great pressure pushing down on him. He saw a great abyss in front of them. The abyss was many miles deep, stretching on without end.

He glanced back at Hugo and James. Their faces had grown extremely white. They were grabbed by two sirens on each of their sides and pulled into the abyss.

When Thorn turned back to face the chasm, he could see it clearer as they moved closer and closer. With a stroke of their tails, the sirens dragged the three of them with great force.

They plunged right into the center of the abyss. Thorn couldn’t see anything. Nothing was there, other than the sound of water and an endless falling sensation.

Just before running out of air, they were smashed onto a hard, solid ground, outside the water’s boundary.

Fresh air filled their lungs and rejuvenated each cell in their bodies. They greedily gulped in the air. When their minds had returned to their normal state, they pulled themselves back to their feet.

The sirens also fell to the ground and stood in a square. Thorn looked back. They all had lost their serpent tales and had shifted to their hominine forms. Their basic facial features remained the same; their scales had transformed into skin, and their gleaming eyes dimmed and became green irises.

James looked at Hugo in complete bewilderment. “What the hell?”

“No fucking idea,” Hugo whispered back, untangling the seaweed wrapped around his ankles and wrists. “I’m just glad we’re still breathing.”

“Are you alright, my prince?” James asked Thorn, who was staring straight forward into the darkness with a furrowed brow.

“My prince?” James asked again and followed his gaze into the inscrutable unknown.

“Quiet,” Thorn said adamantly, “Someone is coming.”