The Prophecy (Children of the River Book 1)

by Ren Curylo

  She turned to face him. “What…?” she said, smiling when she saw him. She fearlessly patted his whiskered nose. “What are you doing?” she asked.

  He swam around her again and nudged her once more, slightly harder this time. She lifted in the water and a wave assisted him by sweeping her a little closer to shore.

  “Hey,” she said with a slightly indignant tone. “Not so rough, there, boy.”

  He swam around again, pressing closer to her on the seaward side, so she had no choice but to move inland again. When another wave rolled in, he swam beneath her to lift her upward, making her ride the wave again.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, looking toward the beach. “I’m not ready to go back to shore.”

  Aindréas nudged her again, pushing her forward. The next wave carried her in closer, but this time a riptide swirled around her legs and the strong undercurrent pulled her down toward the bottom and pressed her out to sea.

  He dove with her and tried to stay beside her. He could clearly see her face scraping against the sand at the bottom as she struggled against the current. She held her breath and her eyes grew wide and wild as she tried to push away from the bottom.

  Aindréas struggled to swim to her; he hadn’t meant to get into the riptide. He knew it was there, but he didn’t think she’d moved that far to the right. He had intended to keep her even with the area where she had walked in, but they had drifted.

  He watched her struggle against the tide as her panic rose and she made no headway against the water. He could see her struggle to hold her breath. He let the tide take him away from her for a moment, only far enough to make it easier to move. He quickly swam closer to the shore and stripped off his skin, tying it firmly around his naked hips before he swam with long, broad strokes back to where he thought she was. It took him some time to locate her and his heart locked with fear that she would drown before he got back to her.

  When he did finally locate her, she was limp in the water, her arms were still and suspended over her head. Her eyes were open, but they looked glazed and filled with death. Her mouth was open slightly and he knew he had no time left. He had to get her out of the water one way or the other.

  He swam up behind her and locked his arm over one shoulder and under her other arm. He grasped at his neck, searching for the half locket hanging there. For a moment, his mind went blank. He was unable to remember what he was supposed to chant. He had practiced it every day for the last few months. “Reunite me with thy mother’s jewel,” he gasped as he tried to keep Adamen’s head, as well as his own, above the lapping surface of the sea. The waves slammed in higher and stronger; taking all his strength in human form to hold them both up.

  “Are those the right words?” he muttered to himself. He repeated them once, twice, a third time and nothing. His heart fell and a sob welled in his chest and escaped his lips. He was devastated. He had no choice but to try to drag the woman to shore before she died, if she wasn’t dead already. He looked at her, dread filling him at the sight of her blue-purple lips. She doesn’t look too good, he thought.

  As he struggled against the current at his feet, trying to make his way forward toward the shore, a wave engulfed him and swept him back under. He felt his human lungs fill with water and fought to hang on to Adamen while trying to put his skin back on.

  Aindréas felt his vision blackening and silently sent a mental message to Muirgan. If this was his final breath, he hoped she knew how much he loved her.

  He felt himself waver and shake and wondered if this is what dying was like…or if it was just what drowning was like. He felt a wave of peace wash over him, knowing that he would be with Muirgan soon, for he knew she would drown herself if he failed to return.

  The blackness swallowed him and then there was nothing until a searing, burning pain savaged his lungs. He heard someone’s voice calling him but it was so vague and far away he thought he was dreaming. Do you dream when you die?

  Someone was screaming, yelling, and coughing so hard. All he wanted was the blessed quiet he had found in the ocean. He wanted to yell at them to shut up and stop screaming between coughs. But he couldn’t. Slowly, he realized it was he doing the screaming and coughing.

  Suddenly he was aware of himself again. He was out of the water. Where is Adamen? Where am I? He looked around him coughing salt water out of his lungs. Gradually the burning in his chest subsided. It must have only taken seconds, but it felt like an eternity. He felt arms wrap around him. He smelled her. It was Muirgan. He crushed her to him in a desperate hug as tears of relief tore from him.

  “Aindréas,” she said, “are you all right? I thought you were dying.”

  “I am fine,” he said, still gasping for air. “Or I will be. Where’s is Adamen?”

  “She’s here. I need to help her, or she will die. Her lips are blue, she’s not breathing.”

  Aindréas scrambled to his knees and scuttled sideways to Adamen’s body where it lay inert, out of reach of the low tide lapping at the white sand beach.

  Together, they worked furiously to pump the water from Adamen’s lungs and awaken her. She was in better shape than she looked, for, with a little effort, they had her coughing and spewing water. When her eyes opened, at last, the look of terror within their green depths was heart-wrenching for both Muirgan and Aindréas.

  Adamen sat up and scuttled away from them as quickly as she could. Pain and terror filled her eyes, and her red hair dripped with seawater, hanging in wild ropes across her face. “Who are you?” she gasped. She stole glances around her while trying to keep an eye on the two of them. She scooted away until her back met the large rock on the beach near the cliff. She was panting for breath and shaking with terror.

  Aindréas moved toward her. He wanted to stop her escape for he didn’t know exactly what powers a Lilitu has. He believed Erish’s Travel abilities were impressive, and he assumed Adamen’s were too. Perhaps holding onto her could stop her from popping out of here. If she escaped, they would lose all hope of getting Muirgan’s skin back.

  Adamen’s hand shot out. “Stop,” she barked. “Don’t come near me.” Her hands gripped her abdomen and she grunted in pain.

  “She’s in labor,” Muirgan said, recognizing that Adamen’s anguish was due to more than nearly drowning.

  “Oh, dear,” Aindréas said. “We don’t have much time.”

  “Time? Time for what?”

  “We are Selkies, Adamen,” Aindréas said.

  “A human stole my skin,” Muirgan said. “Your mother found it and…”

  “My mother?” Adamen shrieked. Sudden understanding dawned on her face. “And she’s forcing you to bring me home.”

  “Yes,” Aindréas said. He handed his half of the locket to Muirgan.

  Adamen’s face blanched white and her lips, still slightly tinged with blue, began to tremble. “You can’t do this. Please don’t,” she said, shaking her head. “She’s going to kill my baby if you do.”

  Aindréas shook his head in disbelief. Surely, a grandmother wouldn’t do that to her grandchild. No Selkie would ever do such a thing.

  Muirgan pulled her half of the locket from her pocket and snapped the two parts together, as Erish had instructed her to do. Adamen’s fear disturbed her. She looked up at Aindréas. She could tell he didn’t believe Adamen, but she did. That is exactly why Erish wants the girl brought home, so she can destroy the baby she carries. It explained Erish’s single-minded desperation to have her daughter returned to her.

  Sending Adamen back to Erish went against every moral code Muirgan had. She hated this. I’ll never be free to return to my real form if I don’t do this. Tears welled in her eyes as she curled her fingers around the locket. Maybe I can find a way to help her out once I get her there and get my skin.

  Muirgan moved forward, toward Adamen, who scooted sideways to escape her. She screamed when she felt flesh touching her. Aindréas had moved to box her in on the other side.

  “Please,” Adame
n pleaded. “This child belongs to Ársa and it’s important for the future of our world. Please don’t send me back. She will kill him.”

  “She has my wife’s skin,” Aindréas said. “She said she will destroy it if we fail to bring you back. If she does that, Muirgan will be stuck in human form forever.”

  “I’m sorry,” Adamen cried. “Please, don’t take me back there.” Another grip of pain shot through her and she panted, holding her abdomen.

  The prospect of living forever in this form, tore at Muirgan’s heart just as the idea of having the death of a baby on her conscience tore at her soul. She didn’t want to choose.

  “Do it, Muirgan,” Aindréas said. “Take her home, now.”

  Muirgan shook her head. “I don’t think I can,” she whispered.

  “You have to,” he said. “You can’t stay like this. You belong in the sea with me. You can’t even catch fish for yourself in this form.”

  “I don’t want to be responsible for a baby’s death,” she rasped.

  “You surely don’t believe her story do you?”

  “It’s true,” Adamen declared.

  “Yes, I do,” Muirgan said with a nod. “I absolutely believe it.”

  “You must take her now, and you must get your skin.”

  “What if there’s another way?” Muirgan asked.

  “I’ll help you get your skin after the baby is born and safely hidden away,” Adamen said. “I’ll help you, I promise.”

  “There won’t be a skin to get,” Aindréas said through gritted teeth. He grabbed Adamen’s wrist, holding it tightly. He didn’t want her to pop out and escape.

  “I’ll help you get it,” Adamen said, struggling against his grasp.

  “Muirgan, take her now,” Aindréas said. “You can’t trust Erish. If she thinks we’ve failed or betrayed her, she’ll destroy your skin for spite.”

  “How will she know the child has been born?” Muirgan asked. “How will she know we failed?”

  “The baby is coming right now,” Adamen said, grunting with pain. “I can go get your skin in a few days. I promise I’ll get it for you.”

  “Let’s wait,” Muirgan said, “let’s do it her way.”

  “No,” Aindréas shouted. “We made a bargain and we need her skin before that treacherous old bitch destroys it. Take her now.”

  Muirgan stubbornly shook her head.

  Aindréas glared at her. After a moment, he noted the locket clutched tightly in her hand. That’s all that’s needed, right? I wonder if it will matter who says the chant. He reached out, grabbed Muirgan’s free hand, and slapped it onto Adamen’s wrist. He held the two of them together and said, three times, “Reunite me with thy jewel’s owner.”

  He felt them waver and shift as he had felt it before when he brought Adamen here. Are we all three Traveling?

  Moments later, the three of them weren’t on the beach any longer. They landed, sprawled in a soft grass clearing, surrounded by the most enormous trees Aindréas or Muirgan had ever seen.

  Shouting began almost immediately after their arrival and soon the Lilitu guards surrounded them. Several of them took hold of Adamen and held her fast, ignoring her cries of pain.

  “Be gentle,” Muirgan said. “She’s in labor.” Her heart ached for Adamen and she hated what they had done to her. She wasn’t at all sure the price of her skin was worth it.

  The guards opened the door and dragged a struggling and fighting Adamen with them. More guards prodded Muirgan and Aindréas along with them, forcing them to follow close behind Adamen’s guards.

  As they stepped inside with her, Adamen turned to Durada and asked, “Please, give me a moment before you take me to my room.”

  Durada nodded to the other guards and stopped.

  Adamen reached up and pulled a button from her gauzy, torn, wet and dirty blouse. She squeezed it in her fist for a moment before pressing it into Muirgan’s hand. Leaning forward, she whispered, “Please, use this to contact Ársa. It’s my last hope. I forgive you for bringing me here.”

  Before Muirgan could reply, an inner door opened and Erish swept majestically into the room. “There you are,” she said with a smile. “I had given up hope of seeing you again.” She turned to Durada and said sternly, “Take her to her room, and secure her so that she may not escape.”

  “Yes, my lady,” Durada said. She frowned a bit as if the orders didn’t sit well but she was too ingrained in her sense of duty to argue with the queen.

  At her word, the guards assisted in escorting Adamen from the room, leaving Aindréas, Muirgan, and Erish alone.

  “I wasn’t expecting to see you,” Erish said to Aindréas. “Did you have trouble bringing her here?”

  “No, Queen Erish,” he said. “I wanted to make sure all went well. She went into labor, and it proved more difficult than we anticipated.”

  “She’s in labor? You didn’t arrive a moment too soon. You certainly cut it close.”

  “Please, Queen Erish, we fulfilled our end of the bargain. May we please get my skin so we can be on our way?” Muirgan said.

  Erish looked at them with disdain. “Surely you don’t expect me to take time out of my day to go fetch your skin now, do you?

  “Yes, I do,” Muirgan said hotly. “You made a deal. This was your idea, the way you wanted it. It wasn’t mine. You pay up, now.”

  “Muirgan,” Aindréas said, trying to calm her down, though he was feeling much the same as she.

  “No,” Muirgan said, turning on him. Anger snapped in her brown eyes. “You stay out of this. She promised me my skin and I’ll have it and I’ll have it now, or I swear to you I’ll wreck this entire place and find a way to get Adamen out of here.”

  Taken aback, Erish stared at her in wide-eyed surprise. Muirgan had always been so meek, but this creature bore little resemblance to the mild-mannered woman she had met before.

  “I said I don’t have time…” Erish said with haughty disdain.

  Muirgan’s eyes narrowed fiercely and she growled, low and guttural. She lunged forward and tightened her fingers around Erish’s slender neck. She squeezed with surprising power, her fingertips digging into the tender flesh of the Lilitu queen’s throat. “I’ll have my skin now, thank you, Queen Erish,” she snarled. “Or I’ll choke the sorry life out of you right here. Sure, your guards may kill me but your daughter will be queen and then you can’t kill her or her baby. So give me my skin or I’ll have your life instead.”

  Erish flailed and sputtered, struggling to breathe while trying to pry Muirgan’s steely fingers from her throat. At last, she managed a small nod.

  “Are you ready to get my skin?” Muirgan asked, only letting up a little in her chokehold.

  “Yes,” Erish rasped, nodding slightly again.

  “I’ll let you go, but we’ll follow you to get it so you don’t pull anything else,” Muirgan said. She had kept her promise in good faith only to find she had been duped as to the reason why, and she wasn’t about to be cheated out of her skin by this duplicitous bitch.

  She let go of Erish’s neck and waited while the woman coughed and sputtered, breathing hard.

  At last, Erish said, “Very well, let’s get your skin.” When she turned toward the door, Muirgan reached out, and grabbed the woman’s long black braid, winding it round and round her hand until her knuckles pressed snugly against the back of Erish’s head.

  “There, now, don’t try anything funny or I’ll snap your stinking neck,” Muirgan said through gritted teeth. She gave Erish’s hair a small jerk, pulling her head back for effect.

  Erish led them down a long elegant hallway to a guarded doorway at the end. The guard at the door had rosy pink hair and blue eyes, the same as one of the guards who had taken off with Adamen.

  “Please, stand down Talya and let me enter,” Erish said.

  Talya looked suspiciously at the two Selkies in human form trailing behind her queen. The male was completely naked which briefly caused her brow to furrow. “Is
everything all right, my lady?” she asked without budging from her post.

  “Yes,” Erish said, attempting to nod. She could barely move her head with Muirgan’s hand wound in her hair and her neck was beginning to bruise from being choked. “I assure you everything is fine. Please step aside. There will be no need to guard this door anymore, either, Talya. Please send for the birther to come attend to Lady Adamen.”

  “Yes, my lady,” Talya said. She stepped away from the door but not before she graced both Muirgan and Aindréas with a withering look.

  Erish opened the door and entered her bedchamber with the Selkies in tow. She pointed toward the lock box on her wall, indicating to Muirgan that she needed to go that way. Muirgan walked with her and waited while Erish opened the box, keeping her fist tightly wound in the queen’s braid.

  When the safe opened, Muirgan gave a cry of joy and relief when she saw Yann’s old wooden box lying in the darkness inside. “Get the wooden box, Aindréas,” Muirgan said. She didn’t trust Erish and wasn’t about to let go of her hair until the box was safe.

  Aindréas snatched the box out of the safe and stood looking at it. He was in shock over his wife’s aggressive behavior. It was unlike her, she was normally quite affable.

  “Open it and make sure it’s inside before I let her highness go,” Muirgan said.

  Aindréas opened the box and pulled Muirgan’s sleek brown skin out of the box. “It is perfect, Muirgan, it’s as if you had only this moment removed it,” he said. He rubbed the silky skin between his fingers.

  “All right,” Muirgan said. “You leave with my skin and I’ll meet you outside away from the guards.” She looked around her in Erish’s royal bedroom. “There’s a window,” she said, but Erish interrupted her.

  “That window won’t open,” she said.

  Muirgan continued, speaking to her husband, “When you get outside, knock on this window three times so I know you’re safe. Then walk straight into the woods from that point and I’ll meet you out there in a few minutes. Walk deeply into the forest until you can’t see a bit of this place.”