by Chris Ward
‘Rema, look over there,’ Andes whispered hoarsely with such emotion that Rema looked up and followed the direction of the giant’s outstretched hand. He was amazed at the vision for sure enough Fryn was there on the bank, as real as it was impossible.
‘Look away Andes.’ But Andes could not. ‘Look away,’ Rema repeated, ‘it is an apparition and it will seduce you with its power.’
‘No it really is Fryn Rema, she is wearing that dress I gave her...’ he ignored Rema and called out, ‘Fryn, Fryn...’ It was Rema who then stood and rocked the boat and now it was the giant who was suddenly concerned with staying in the craft, and when Rema ceased Fryn was no longer there.
‘What is going on Rema?’ said Andes in distress.
‘It must be the water sprite,’ Rema replied with a sudden realisation, ‘the innkeeper was right.’
‘But such things only exist in children’s stories, they are not real...’ Andes protested, not wanting to believe that Fryn was not close by.
‘And neither are such things as Shadow Hunters, Andes, or that beast we encountered in the gates, the one you destroyed before it fully materialised. These too were just fantasies...until they became real.’
Andes sat still in the stern. ‘I would rather face a Shadow Beast than have to look upon my Fryn and know it is not her,’ he whispered in sorrow, and once more Rema knew how much his friend missed his love. He paused and looked around. ‘But how does it know...about Fryn about me?’
‘It must be the water Andes...you trailed you hand before. It must be able to connect with you in some manner for the water is its home.’
‘That must be it, but it seems so impossible,’ Andes whispered looking at his hand, and there was silence for a short time before Rema spoke.
‘Listen Andes I have something to tell you.’ Andes made no comment but Rema continued enthusiastically, ‘I have been reading the book...’
‘Ah the book, it seems to be at the heart of many things,’ said Andes looking mournfully at the bank of the river, despite the boat having moved well on past the point where the apparition had last appeared.
‘The book records the coming of your family to The Safeness. I thought perhaps you would like to know of it.’ Andes turned back then and nodded.
‘You have my attention Rema, for it is not something which has been handed on to me. I know my family line back three generations but not how we Edenwhood came to the Mighty Mountains.’ He looked back at the bank wishing to see Fryn again even though he knew it would not be real, but the sprite had other ideas and now swam about the boat as it travelled and it too listened to the story which Rema told.
‘A long time ago, well over a hundred summers, and perhaps another score as well, Rema Bowman, after whom I am named found himself in a town on the eastern shore of Revelyn, a place called Waterman. He was accompanied by a woman, Serenna whom he would later marry, and some others who are not important in your history. We know he married Serenna from the head stone on the great Cairn which marks his grave and hers. She was his cousin or so he thought, but he was adopted which means that my line through my kindpa is lost at that point, unless of course the book reveals it and I have not found it yet. Anyway it seems they were on a quest of some sort. He was trying to rescue his love, a woman called Sylvion Greyfeld, who had been captured by the then King of Revelyn, a man known as Lord Petros. It seems that this Sylvion was like your Fryn to Rema, and by some strange fate she was the only living heir to the throne of all Revelyn, and was hence a threat to the Lord Petros who had come to the throne by devious means. There is also an evil man involved called Zelfos, some sorcerer I think but I have yet to discover more of him.’
Rema took a breath and checked to see if Andes was still concentrating; he was pleased to see that his friend was sitting listening intently, and no longer casting longing glances at the bank which as before progressed swiftly past them as the current took the boat ever south to their destination at Wyseman’s Crossing.
‘Go on Rema,’ Andes prompted. ‘This is most interesting, but I have yet to see the connection with myself or my family.’
‘You will my friend,’ said Rema with a smile. He took a breath and regained his thinking, putting together in his head a shorter version of what he had read. He then continued. ‘In this town of Waterman, Rema comes upon an ugly dispute between a soldier of the king and a youth who is somewhat brash and carries a sword in defiance of the law. The soldier is a brute of a man who would like nothing better than be given an excuse to kill the boy. This all happens in front of a large crowd. They all know the youth is doomed, but Rema intervenes and shoots the soldier in the leg. Apparently he did not wish to kill the man but sought to injure him sufficiently only to allow the boy to escape. He succeeds in this but the crowd descends upon the soldier and kills him for they hate the king’s men and their oppression.’
‘I still don’t see me in all this,’ said Andes.
‘Well,’ Rema continued quietly, ‘that young boy was only ten years old although he looked far more, and was mistaken by the soldier for a young man. He was of the Edenwhood and his name was Anders, like your name, just with a different spelling.’ Andes suddenly saw the link. ‘His father was called Friers, Friers Blomberg,’ Rema finished solemnly.
‘I am related to this boy, Anders Blomberg?’ Andes asked, but knew the answer as he did so.
‘Yes, that is the link, but let me go on. The boy’s father, Freiers searches for Rema to thank him for his son’s life, and it is revealed that he has married an Edenwhood woman by the name of Cygnia who has fled her people to avoid a marriage which she does not wish to enter into. She and Freiers have a son, called Anders; this is the boy who Rema saves. It is through her that Rema and his small band gain entry to AlGiron, the land of the Edenwhood, but I have not yet read much on this.
‘So how does this family come to be in The Safeness for they have been there many generations?’Andes inquired.
‘Well what happened is this,’ replied Rema. ‘The young boy, Anders is so inspired by the bravery of Rema and knowing that he owes his life to him, sets out when he is older to find and thank him personally. The book gives no detail of his journey but in the end he arrives in The Safeness and does not leave. He marries a local girl and that is that... a hundred summers later you come along, but you carry the Edenwhood blood. I can show you the names of your forbears if you like but you already know back three generations. So the link is clear.’
‘So you and I bear the same name of ones who have gone before in a strange quest, and now we too set out on some similar journey. It is amazing,’ Andes said and slumped down in the stern deep in thought.
‘It would seem that there are connections at a deeper level than we first thought,’ Rema replied. ‘There are forces and powers at work which are beyond us. But in the end, we have revealed to us something of the truth.’
‘I have misjudged your book Rema Bowman,’ said Andes seriously. ‘Please let me know more as you are able.’
‘You have my word Andes.’ And they both returned to their own thoughts, while below and all around them the water sprite cavorted happily and waited its chance to once more create some mischief.
Rema snoozed and enjoyed the peace whilst Andes sat like a statue in the stern, his hands by his side and well away from the water. He was thinking of Fryn and how much he missed her, for the apparitions had sorely tested his resolve. This went on for some time before he looked at Rema and judged him to be asleep. He looked at his hand and then ever so gently put it over the side into the water. The sprite was immediately dancing around it and Andes felt the most wonderful sensations, and so he went to sleep and into the dream once more where he was able to be with Fryn and reality took on a different meaning, but now another was there and Rema kept appearing and talking with Fryn and to his concern she seemed to be increasingly enamoured of his company; and the sprite knew and enjoyed its mischief.
Rema was awakened with a start by Andes crying in
anger. ‘Leave her alone, she is mine!’ He saw the giant deep in sleep with his hand in the water once more and understood. He leapt to Andes side and shook him awake only to be overpowered by the giant whose strength was impossible to resist. Andes bore a wild look and could not distinguish between his dream and the reality before him and so he took a mighty fist and was about to strike his friend when Rema’s cry of, ‘Stop!’ brought him to his senses. He sat in shock and embarrassment whilst on the bank Fryn waved tauntingly to him.
‘She’s back Rema,’ he whispered, but Rema did not look.
‘She will always come back while you offer yourself to the sprite. What do you think will happen, and who was trying to interfere with Fryn?’
Andes hung his head. ‘It was you Rema, in my vision she was showing you interest and I was unable to hold myself back. When you woke me it was, well it was...’ and he could not finish.
Rema went back to the bow and looked sadly at his friend in the stern. ‘Andes you know I would not betray you with Fryn.’ But Andes could not but help remember Rema’s bet with his bow and arrow... If I win then I will require a kiss from your Fryn. He did not speak of it but frowned in consternation. What is happening here? He shook his head like a wet dog might.
‘I am sorry Rema,’ he said finally, ‘I have let you down.’
The water sprite was happy. It had found new stories and people to interweave and create new things, new dreams, new mischief, but in its deepest being it wanted more. It was alone in this river and longed for another of its kind. It knew that it could bring the giant to itself if only it could get him in the water, for that was how it had been created when another sprite now long gone had trapped her, and the memory of that day lingered, when human form had been transformed into a sprite and all was lost and yet much was begun, for they had been happy then, these two sprites for half an age... far longer than her human life might have been. It knew the river, every rock and rapid and what now lay far downstream where the waters quieted and became the swamp as the river lost form and spread between the rushes and the reeds. The reeds! The sprite giggled to itself and planned. It withdrew a little and sang a song, a song of magic and great subtlety so that the water vibrated all about the boat and gently lulled the two it carried into sleep.
The boat travelled ever on, guided by the swift current and in the grip of a gentle magic which held Rema and Andes sound asleep, accompanied by the song of the water sprite which now travelled with them and all about the boat. Had Andes looked into the water he would have seen his Fryn just below the surface, swimming with him and enticing far beyond his mere human strength.
A lone watcher at Wyseman’s Crossing saw them pass. He was quite drunk and was standing by the water trying to decide whether or not to argue his way back into the inn from which he had been evicted for unruly behaviour. He saw the boat approach and wondered why the occupants did not move, and he thought them dead. He called but there was no response. He watched through bleary eyes, but the boat was quickly gone and he shortly wondered if he had seen it at all for the drink had numbed his mind and the dusk light made seeing all the harder. He shook his head and muttered, and his words also made no sense.
Through the night and into the dawn and past the noon the sprite held them fast and unknowing. Ahead was the place it sought for them, where the river passed through a narrow gorge, hemmed in by high cliffs and where there were massive rapids and rocks and sudden shallows, which all disturbed the water in great falls and whirlpools and was impossible for an unguided boat to pass. The sprite knew that if it could bring them down into the depths of the deeper pools the giant would desire the apparition and it would enfold him and he would become as she had once become... of another form, a water sprite, and would stay forever in the river. What good times and mischief they would have. And perhaps the other human too; he seemed far stronger, but when life is fleeing, all is possible. It could not fail. But it must happen before the reeds. The sprite did not like the reeds and would not go near. The sprite was consumed with desire for its plan, whilst safe above the two drifted on in dreamless slumber, unaware of what was to befall them.
But the sprite did not know of Elwand.
The sword was forged by El-Arathor, and held a power far greater than that of the mischievous water sprite. Elwand was a protector of the one who bore it, and was greatly sensitive to magic and the threat of danger from realms beyond mere human understanding. And so, as the sprite was able to in some manner to posses the mind of the giant Andes, Elwand sensed its purpose and knew its plan as it was being laid down. As the boat bore down upon the rapids and the sprite sang its song more carefully as though weaving a cloth of the finest thread, Elwand whispered, raising the giant from his slumber and he saw the danger from the river, if not that which lurked below which sought to capture him forever.
‘Rema!’ he cried, ‘wake up!’ and he leapt to bring his friend around. Rema stirred and had but a moment to gather himself, bewildered by what had come about and then the boat was taken by the torrent into the narrow gorge and tossed as if in a mighty storm. The sprite was furious and did not understand how they had been woken and now sought to bring the boat to its destruction.
Andes grabbed the oars and with his mighty strength was able to guide the boat in some manner, but still it spun and crashed into the rocks and in one place was sucked back and down and then half filled with water as Rema tried to keep their possessions from being swept away. Andes almost broke the oars in lifting them out of the sucking hole and then they went on, turning and tipping and dropping over falls without respite and all the time Andes’ mighty strength saved them over and over from being tossed into the deadly waters, until a league had passed, and the gorge was behind them, and the river once more resumed its swift but calmer pace. The sprite did not understand how its plan had been thwarted, for no boat had ever safely passed through that gorge and its unmanageable waters. It swam in a frenzy about the boat willing the giant to look down upon it in the shape of the one he could not resist, but the two exhausted travellers had no thought but to recover and come to some understanding of where they were and what had come to pass.
‘Some strange thing has happened here,’ said Rema breathing hard and looking all about. ‘The land is different, and the time as well.’
‘We have slept through the night and well into the next day,’ Andes added. ‘We have missed the Crossing, of that I am sure for there were no rapids on our journey...at least that is what we were told.’
‘It is magic yet again Andes,’ whispered Rema, ‘and all I can think of is the sprite. It has not left us, and had some fearful plan to bring us undone.’ At the mention of the creature Andes went to look by reflex into the water, but Rema halted him.
‘Don’t look Andes. If it is the sprite then you will be its target as you were yesterday. It will have some magic spell to cast upon you if you gaze upon it. Be strong now and think of what is before us. Leave your dreams alone.’ Andes felt a sudden anger rise within him as though Rema was coming between him and his Fryn, and then Elwand spoke again and he understood the wisdom of his friend’s words. He took a breath and relaxed.
‘You are right Rema, it is the sprite. Elwand woke me or else we would have been overturned and who knows what then would have become of us.’
‘Elwand spoke?’ said Rema.
‘In some manner beyond words, that is what happened,’ replied the giant, and they sat and considered their situation whilst below, the water sprite danced angrily about and could think of nothing but the reeds.
‘Where does this river take us?’ asked Andes, ‘for we can’t go back through the gorge, that much is clear.’
‘The Swifft River joins the Luminous River somewhere ahead and that will take us to Ramos,’ Rema replied. ‘That much I know and we can perhaps find a barge which will carry us, for there are many on that waterway.’
‘Why walk when we can drift,’ commented Andes, ‘but that does not deal with the magic of th
e sprite. How can we leave that behind?’ Rema shook his head for he had no answer.
‘That is beyond me, but perhaps it will be no more problem if Elwand is warning you.’ He paused, ‘but it seems you have been weakened in this Andes despite your mighty strength. You must understand that the visions and the magic only seek to thwart and entrap us. Can you manage, if we stay afloat and do not take to the land?’ Andes once more felt his anger rise, for Rema’s words were hard indeed, but he looked about and took a time to compose himself and knew once more that they were truly spoken.
‘I will do my best,’ he said finally.
‘Then keep your hands out of the water,’ Rema replied firmly. ‘The sprite is too strong for either of us and your Fryn is powerful in its hands.’ Andes nodded and had but a single thought.
I miss you Fryn.
The sprite did not further trouble the pair for it knew that ahead there was another danger and one which it would not go near. It sadly turned and went back north; through the gorge and tumbling water into the reaches it knew so well; alone once more. Rema and Andes did not know that the water sprite had departed but only hoped it was so. They rowed to the bank and rested, drying their wet belongings and thankfully able to account for them all. They did not linger long to rest as they had overslept by many hours; such was the power of the spell which had overcome them the day before. Soon enough they were on the water again and Andes took care to not allow the water sprite any further chance to create mischief in his mind, for he was unaware that it had departed. And so the leagues passed uneventfully, the boat drifting easily in the centre of the current, as Rema read and dozed and Andes turned his thoughts to life on his return to the Highlands where Fryn, his real Fryn waited for him.