by A. Giannetti
When he slipped beneath the surface of the lake, Elerian saw Ascilius’s mage light moving steadily through the dark depths ahead of him. Supple as an otter, he swam with powerful overhand strokes, slowly closing the distance between himself and the dim light. Before long, he could distinguish the water horse, its form illuminated by Ascilius’s mage light. Head and neck outstretched, mane and tail streaming, the undine slipped easily through the water, propelled by its powerful legs. Crouched on the creature’s back was Ascilius. He still wore his pack, but he must have dropped his ax into the lake, for both his powerful arms were wrapped around the undine’s long neck. His finding staff, which he had carried all this way, was also gone. Still held captive by the glamour the undine had cast over him, Ascilius was making no attempt to escape.
“How long can the beast could remain underwater,” wondered Elerian. There were no gills on the undine’s throat that he could see, so he was fairly certain the creature breathed air. “Far longer than poor Ascilius or me I am sure,” he thought grimly to himself. His own chest already felt tight from a lack of air, and Ascilius had had even less time to prepare himself for a plunge into the lake. “How much longer can he hold his breath,” wondered Elerian worriedly to himself.
Fearing for Ascilius’s life, Elerian pushed himself harder to close the gap between himself and the undine. He started when the creature suddenly vanished, as did Ascilius’s mage light. Anxiously, Elerian swam toward the place where he had last seen the water horse. His own small light revealed a great wall of shadowy rock looming up before him, the base of some underwater mount that reared up out of the cold depths of the lake. There was a substantial, dark opening in the wall that could only be the mouth of a cave.
Without hesitation, Elerian swam into the opening. After negotiating a sharp bend to the right, he came out into a large water-filled chamber with a jagged stone floor. Ascilius stood upright in the center of the underwater cavern, his face and form illuminated by his mage light. There were at least six feet of water above the Dwarf’s head. From the desperate expression on Ascilius’s face, Elerian knew that he was running out of air. His own chest was also beginning to feel uncomfortable.
Circling around Ascilius was the undine. An illusion must have disguised the creature before, for its body appeared more slender now, reminiscent of an eel in its suppleness, and its eyes were like luminous green lamps. It had great, clawed feet like an atrior, but there were four toes instead of three, and webs of scaly skin grew between them.
Ascilius suddenly pushed against the floor of the cavern with his feet and desperately tried to claw his way up to the surface. When he was within inches of reaching it, the water horse darted in. Seizing Ascilius by the back of the tunic with its jaws, it pulled him back down before releasing him again, reminding Elerian of some great feline playing with its prey.
While the undine’s attention was on Ascilius, Elerian cast a killing spell at the creature. It was rather far to cast a spell accurately, and he watched anxiously with his third eye as a small golden orb flew from the fingertips of his right hand toward the water horse. His aim was good, for the spell sped toward the undine’s chest. Unfortunately, the water horse must have sensed his magical attack, for a film of red light suddenly covered its body, spilling from the creature’s fanged mouth. His spell flared uselessly against the undine’s shield spell, expending itself without accomplishing its intended purpose of bursting the creature’s heart.
“Magic will be of no use against this creature, especially in my weakened state,” was Elerian’s disappointed thought. “I will have to fight it with my knife.”
Supple as a trout, he darted toward the undine, which had already turned in his direction. Avoiding the darting head and its mouthful of teeth and fangs, Elerian took his knife from between his teeth and struck at the right side of the creature’s neck with the long blade. The undine easily evaded his thrust with a sinuous, snakelike twist of its long neck. For such a large animal, it had the speed and agility of an eel.
Instead of continuing his attack, Elerian drew back, clenching his knife blade between his teeth again. Suddenly, kicking his legs and stroking his arms in unison, he shot past the right side of the creature’s head. Wrapping his left arm around the undine’s sinewy neck to anchor himself, Elerian twisted his body to his left, swinging himself onto the undine’s back and clamping his strong legs around its barrel. He reached for his knife with his right hand, but the water horse began to buck and twist in a desperate effort to dislodge him from its back, forcing him to hold on with both arms to avoid being thrown off. A burning sensation in his chest told Elerian that he was running out of air.
“I can’t let go,” he thought to himself, as his need to breathe became more and more desperate.
Suddenly, Elerian felt cool air against his face instead of water. The undine’s wild thrashing had brought it to the surface. Letting go of the knife clenched between his teeth, Elerian gulped down a deep lungful of air before the undine submerged again. Reinvigorated, he began crushing the water horse’s slender neck with his sinewy arms. Desperately, it began reaching its head back, trying to slash him with its sizable fangs. Elerian repulsed it each time by striking it on its tender muzzle with a clenched fist while continuing to choke it with the arm still wrapped around its neck.
Abruptly, they were above the surface of the water once more, this time in shallower water. Still carrying Elerian on its back, the undine lunged out onto a rocky shore where it promptly reared up on its hind legs and threw itself backward in an attempt to crush Elerian beneath its bulk. Elerian leaped lightly away as the undine toppled over, landing on his feet out of reach of the creature’s slashing claws. When the undine thrashed its way back onto its feet, Elerian jumped onto its back once more, this time burying his left fist in its wet mane and clamping his strong right hand around its right ear. He twisted the ear hard, eliciting a piercing shriek from the creature. Abruptly abandoning its efforts to kill him, the water horse stood still beneath him, trembling from head to foot from pain and suppressed anger.
The sound of loud clapping suddenly filled the air. Elerian turned his head to look behind him and was surprised to see a smiling Ascilius standing on the shore a short distance away. Water still streamed in clear rivulets from his braided hair and beard. Somehow, he must have managed to crawl or walk to shore beneath the surface of the water, for Elerian knew from past experience that Ascilius had never mastered the art of swimming.
“Hold the creature where it is,” Ascilius shouted grimly. “I will finish it off for you with the greatest of pleasure.”
He began at once to search for a boulder large enough to accomplish the task. Although he still retained his pack, he appeared to have dropped his knife into the lake as well as his ax.
“This creature will never allow Ascilius to brain it with a boulder,” thought Elerian to himself. Calling out to Ascilius, he said, “Wait. I have a better idea. The undine will carry us out of here and back to shore in payment for the trouble it has caused us.”
“Have you taken leave of your senses?” shouted Ascilius angrily. “Look at the shore,” he said, pointing the bones that littered the narrow, rocky beach that circled the pool. They gleamed whitely in the rays of his and Elerian’s mage lights. “It will kill us both at the first opportunity.”
“We must bargain with it then,” said Elerian calmly.
Wondering how intelligent the undine was, he extended a little of his shade into the water horse, lightly probing its mind. As he had suspected, it was more than a beast, but its mind was hard and pitiless, with a vein of treachery running through it. This was not a creature to be trusted blindly.
“Return us to the shore of the lake, and I will let you go unharmed,” said Elerian. “Otherwise, we will remain here, locked together, until one of us weakens.”
When the undine hesitated, Elerian gave its ear another firm twist, eliciting another squeal of pain from the creature.
“No mo
re!” shouted the undine suddenly in a high, whinnying voice. “I will return you and your companion to the shore of the cavern.”
“Do you swear that you are telling the truth,” asked Elerian in a grim voice.
“Of course I am,” said the undine in a voice that was suddenly oily and servile.
“Liar,” thought Elerian to himself. “It will break its word at the first opportunity. I will have to watch the creature carefully.”
Wheeling around, the undine trotted over to Ascilius; it claws clicking on the rocky shore. Elerian endured a tense moment when Ascilius stood on a boulder and reluctantly climbed onto the Undine’s back.
“This is madness,” Ascilius grumbled loudly as he took hold of Elerian’s waist.
He barely had time enough to fill his lungs with air before the undine plunged into the pool with a great splash of water. Even with two riders on its back, it swam effortlessly once it slipped beneath the surface. Bent over the creature’s neck, Elerian kept a firm grip on both its ears, ready to twist them off if the undine tried any treachery.
When the water horse exited the tunnel leading from the cavern and emerged out into the lake, Elerian guided it toward the surface by lifting firmly on its ears. Shuddering with rage, the undine obeyed him. Once they were on the surface of the lake, Elerian guided it toward a pale glimmer of light that could only be Dacien holding one of the magical knife hilts in his hand.
Before long, the undine splashed through the shallows, stopping by the curb which ran along the shoulder of the road. Dacien stood behind the curb with Elerian’s sword in his right hand. He had seen their mage lights approaching across the dark surface of the lake and had come to investigate. His amazement showed in his face as he gaped at Elerian and Ascilius sitting on the sleek undine. It stood docilely enough, but there was an evil gleam in its green, hooded eyes that he did not care for.
“I never expected to see either of you again in this life!” Dacien shouted gladly.
“We are not safe yet,” said Ascilius grimly. “We have yet to get off this cursed beast.”
“Both of you can dismount without fear,” said the undine in its oily voice. “I have promised not to harm you.”
Elerian was still certain that despite its promises, the undine planned some sort of treachery, but he had already come up with a plan to thwart it.
“Back away Dacien,” Elerian said quietly. To Ascilius, he mouthed silently, “You first. Run up onto the road once you are on the ground.”
Ascilius nodded his head. Suddenly, he swung his right leg over the undine’s back and splashed down heavily into the ankle deep water on the creature’s left. Keeping well away from the undine’s head, he scrambled over the curb and ran across the road.
“Hold it still one moment more,” he shouted to Elerian over his shoulder.
Guessing the Dwarf’s intent, Elerian shouted, “Leave off, Ascilius. I gave the creature my word that I would release it unharmed.”
“Let me brain it with this boulder and then you can keep your word,” said the Dwarf with a murderous look in his eyes. He was now bent over, straining to lift a boulder at least two feet across.
Seeing what Ascilius was about, the water horse snorted furiously, its muscles shifting and bunching restlessly beneath its sleek hide.
“Is this how you keep your word?” it hissed at Elerian.
Elerian knew that he had only moments left in which to act. Even with his hold on its ears, the creature was not about to stand there and let Ascilius crush its skull with his boulder. Wrenching suddenly on the water horse’s right ear, Elerian drew its unwilling head to the right. Extinguishing his mage light, he let go of the creature’s ears and leaped quickly to the ground on the beast’s left side. Swift as a striking snake, the undine whipped its head around to the left. Darting its narrow head around on its long neck, it searched for Elerian, who had suddenly vanished.
Elerian, who had called his ring to his hand, suddenly reappeared on the far side of the road next to Dacien. Snatching his sword from Dacien’s left hand, he turned and confronted the water horse.
“Come out of the water if you dare,” shouted Elerian, swinging his sword through the air so that it emitted a vicious whine.
The undine squealed angrily and pawed the water with its right foot, but it made no attempt to come any closer. Deceit and illusion were its preferred weapons. It did not possess the stony flesh of a Troll; neither did its magic lend itself to protecting it against cold steel. In its own element, it might have attacked Elerian, but here, in the open air, it had no intention of coming within range of his sword.
Elerian’s satisfaction in thwarting the undine was short lived, for Ascilius suddenly staggered past him, his biceps bulging as he held his great missile held above his head.
“Stop,” shouted Elerian, “it will take you again!”
Carried away by his desire to brain the undine and revenge himself, Ascilius paid no attention. He had already staggered halfway across the road, and the undine was regarding him with an evil light in its green eyes. Clearly, it meant to snatch the Dwarf again if the opportunity presented itself. Groaning inwardly, Elerian ran toward the undine with his sword upraised.
Suddenly faced with two enemies, the water horse’s nerve broke. Easily eluding the boulder that Ascilius threw at its head, it swapped ends and made a mighty leap that carried it twenty feet out into the lake. Ascilius’s boulder threw up a great fountain of water behind it as it slipped beneath the surface, leaving only a few ripples behind.
At first, Elerian could only shake his sword at Ascilius, for he was too angry to speak.
“What am I to do with you?” he asked Ascilius, finally. “Your temper will be the death of you yet. Who knows where that creature would have taken you if it had gotten you on its back a second time?”
“It would have done no such thing,” said Ascilius angrily. “The cowardly creature fled as soon as I flung my boulder at it. I only wish I could have a second chance to slay it.”
“Well you may get your wish,” said Elerian dryly.
He pointed out into the lake with his sword. Just at the limit of Ascilius’s mage light, they both saw a pair of glittering green eyes. The undine was completely submerged, except for its head, out in the deep water of the lake. It seemed to Elerian that those fierce eyes regarded Ascilius with special interest.
“The creature seems fixated on Ascilius,” observed Elerian to Dacien as he retrieved his pack. “Do your legends attribute any special fondness for Dwarves to these creatures?” he asked with a playful gleam in his gray eyes.
“Rest assured it will take an Elf as readily as a Dwarf,” said Ascilius sharply before Dacien could answer, for truth to tell, those hungry eyes were making him nervous with their fixed stare.
They resumed walking along the road, staying as far from the edge of the water as the cavern wall allowed. Elerian did not bother lighting another mage light, staying within range of Ascilius’s light instead. The undine continued to follow them, staying just out of range of the rocks and the curses that Ascilius flung at it now and then. Whenever the path neared the lakeshore, Elerian made sure the undine had a clear view of his sword. Eventually, the creature’s eyes winked out. Elerian searched the silver lake with his third eye, but saw no sign of the undine’s red shade.
It must have given up,” thought Elerian to himself. “Time to have a bit of sport with Ascilius,” he decided with a bright gleam in his eyes.
“Why are you walking so far from the edge of the road,” he asked Ascilius. “Surely you are not afraid of the water horse?”
“You are a fool,” said Ascilius harshly without slackening his speed or turning his head, but he altered his course so that he marched along the right hand curb of the road, as if to dispel any notion that he was afraid of the creature in the water. Dacien was forced to walk nervously next to him since he could not see without Ascilius’s mage light.
Elerian’s eyes shone with anticipation now t
hat he had his two companions properly positioned. Falling back a little, he suddenly vanished when he called his ring to his hand. Elerian noted with satisfaction that neither of his companions noticed his absence, being too concerned with keeping an eye out for the undine. Now that the creature’s eyes had disappeared, they were, if anything, more nervous than before, for they had no idea where the creature had gone to or where it might appear next.
Sheathing his sword, Elerian picked up a heavy rock from the base of the cavern wall on the left side of the road. Catching up to his two companions again, he waited until the road brought Ascilius and Dacien close to a stretch of particularly deep water. Judging that Ascilius’s overwrought nerves were close to the breaking point, Elerian climbed onto the curb and slyly flung his heavy missile with all his strength into the water only a few feet to the Dwarf’s right. A torrent of water shot into the air, and the cavern echoed with the thunderous whoosh of the stone striking the water.
Elerian’s eyes widened in delight as Ascilius made a remarkable leap straight into the air. His legs were already churning furiously before he hit the ground, and he sprinted up the roadway at a tremendous pace. Poor Dacien, who was just as startled as Ascilius, was right on the Dwarf’s heels. Elerian sent away his ring and ran after his fleeing companions. He had never guessed that it was so difficult to run and laugh at the same time.
THE SECRET DOOR
When Ascilius had recovered his wits somewhat, he stopped and, heart pounding in his chest, looked out over the lake. The dark water was perfectly still. Not even one ripple disturbed its smooth surface.
“Did you see the water horse?” Ascilius demanded of Dacien, who was standing breathless next to him.