by Chuck Black
The overall effect was indeed that of a bizarre watery amphitheater, with the center stage being a large flat rock twenty paces out from the edge of the water. The rock was fifteen paces across, and a tall, thick pole was planted rigidly into the center of it. Bentley could see that a long rope ran at an angle from a pulley on a raised support above the balcony platform down to a pulley at the top of the pole, then back to form a loop much like the lanyard of a flagpole. Eirwyn was taken to the balcony platform just below the support holding the shore end of the lanyard.
From his vantage point above the village, Bentley spotted another cliff that partially overhung a part of the balcony below. The top of the cliff was only the height of three men above the water at this point, though farther south it climbed to the height of the waterfalls at the far side. Trees lined the cliff right up to the very edge.
The Lucrums were so involved in their excitement that Bentley was able to reach this overhanging cliff undetected. He crawled to the edge of the cliff under the cover of the trees. Here he was directly above one section of the balcony. The balcony below him and all along the shores edge quickly filled with chanting village men.
The Ashen Knight gave the rope that was tied to Eirwyn to two men and then drew his sword. The Lucrums hushed to silence.
“For your pleasure I have given you a maiden to sacrifice to the Yagormoth. Behold Lady Eirwyn, daughter of Lord Kingsley.”
A raucous cheer rose up from the villagers. Bentley was appalled by their superstitious bloodlust. It seemed their hearts and minds had been given over completely to the darkness of Lucius.
The Ashen Knight attempted to hush them again. He pointed toward Eirwyn as he continued to speak. “The wrath of the lake leviathan will be appeased once more.”
The Lucrums resumed their cheers as the end of Eirwyn's rope was tied to the lanyard that looped out to the pole and back. She was forced onto a plank that protruded out past the balcony platform. Bentley could see her terror and wanted desperately to save her, but there seemed no possible way. He could only watch helplessly as the nightmare began to unfold.
“Please, no!” Eirwyn screamed, but the cheers of the villagers became a chant once more. One of the men took a spear and pushed it toward Eirwyn until she teetered on the edge and then fell off the plank. She plummeted downward until the rope tightened. It yanked her arms hard, and she screamed. She dangled in midair above the water, kicking against the agony of the moment. One large man began to pull on the lanyard, and she was slowly hoisted out to the small rock island.
When she was midway to the rock, four men lifted a large stump into the air and dropped it onto the rock cliff that supported the balcony. It made a deep thump, and Bentley could feel the concussion in the ground he lay on. They lifted and dropped the heavy stump again and again. Every few seconds the deep thump reverberated through the ground… and presumably through the water.
Eirwyn continued to be hoisted out and downward to the small rock island until her feet began to dangle in the water. Bentley searched desperately for some avenue of rescue, but the entire balcony surrounding this corner of the lake was now filled with hundreds of chanting villagers. Even if by some miracle he could save Eirwyn from this Yagormoth creature, they would never escape the bloodthirsty villagers.
He watched as they stomped on the wooden planks with each beat of the calling drum and filled the space in between with an eerie chant that seemed to be orchestrated to summon the Yagormoth. Bentley steeled himself against the dread and fear that mounted within him.
“Give me strength and courage, my Prince,” he whispered, looking once more toward Eirwyn.
THE YAGORMOTH'S
LAIR
Bentley rose to his feet and removed his breastplate and spaulders. He secured his belt tightly and felt for the handles of his sword and long-knife. He still didn't know what he was going to do, but he could not let Eirwyn die alone in this gruesome spectacle.
Eirwyn still dangled from the thick rope that bound and towed her. She was now able to set her feet on a submerged shelf that skirted the small rock island. She climbed a couple of steps upward and eased the painful pull on her hands and arms.
The lanyard continued to move until her end of the rope was pulled tightly up against the pulley on top of the pole. The slack in the rope was enough for her to move about two or three paces, but her arms were still lifted up above her head. She looked nervously about the water for some sign of her impending doom. So did Bentley.
The thumping of the calling drum seemed to increase in its frequency, as did the volume and intensity of the chanting. Then a stir rose up from the villagers, and some of them pointed toward the waterfall. Bentley looked intently and spotted movement near the base. From his elevated viewpoint, he thought he saw a dark, leathery snakelike creature lift its head through the turbulent waters for an instant and then resubmerge. The sight sent his stomach into his throat, for even from this distance he could tell it was a monstrous creature.
He tightened his hands into solid fists as he considered his options. He considered jumping directly over the top of the balcony below him and into the water, where he would land close to the rock island, but such a tactic would deprive him of any surprise advantage. He decided to wait until the last possible moment, even though he knew Eirwyn would pay the price in terms of terror.
Bentley looked again along the line from the waterfall and saw nothing. Long moments passed before he saw a streamlined wake racing toward the rock island. He could make out a dark massive body just below the surface of the water. It was moving fast.
Bentley's heart began to pound, and he pitied Eirwyn, for now she saw it too. The Lucrums’ chanting and beating grew more frenzied as the beast came closer. Bentley now stood up, no longer caring if anyone saw him. They would all see him soon enough.
Thirty paces from the rock, the dark mass seemed to fade away as the animal plunged deeper into the water. Bentley projected the line of its movement and calculated he could make a jump to the creature, but the venture would be perilous. There was nothing to break his fall but rocks, water…and beast.
Suddenly the beating and the chanting stopped, and silence hung in the air. Eirwyn pulled against the thick rope, trying to retreat back to the opposite side of the rock island near the shoreline, but her bonds would not yield.
Bentley felt his heart pounding rapidly and tried to suppress the rising fear within him as he readied himself. In the burst of a moment, the silence of this gruesome amphitheater ended as the surface near the far edge of the rock island erupted in a geyser of water and dark leathery skin. The Yagormoth thrust itself up from the water nearly as high as the balcony and pounced onto the rock island in an avalanche of water. Most of the creature landed on the exposed rock island, while the hind legs and most of the tail rested on a submerged shelf. Eirwyn was drenched in an instant from the overspray.
The Lucrums all gasped and stepped back from the railings of the balcony for the ominous sight of the Yagormoth evoked such an involuntary response. It was a monster of legendary proportions—at least fifteen paces from head to tail. The massive mouth in its lizardlike head was filled with daggerlike white teeth that protruded upward and downward in alternating directions to form a tight seal on any prey it chose to grab. The neck was twice as long as a horse's and also twice as thick. At the base of the head, a mottled red and blue collar of skin stood straight out in a threatening show of ferocity.
The body was thick, with reptilian scales and many sharp protrusions. The legs were powerfully muscled; the webbed feet, spiked with talons, were as long as a knife's blade. A tail half as long as the body swished back and forth in the water. The whole creature was designed to swim stealthily through the water at great speed and devour anything that dared enter its territory.
Bentley froze for an instant at the monstrous sight before him. The animal opened its mouth and spread the colored skin collar wide as it screeched a cry of attack. Eirwyn maneuvered desperately to
keep the pole between her and the animal.
Her scream shook Bentley from his daze. The Lucrums had not yet fully returned to the balcony railing, and Bentley realized an opportunity that wasn't previously there. He jumped to the railing of the balcony just below him and grasped one of the vertical supports to keep his balance. The Lucrums nearby were momentarily stunned, and their surprise gave Bentley enough time to draw his sword and aim his next jump toward the Yagormoth.
From here, his plummet downward was only a little more than the height of a man. Keeping a two-handled grip on his sword, he launched himself outward toward the Yagormoth's neck just as it lunged for Eirwyn.
He realized in midair that he was going to miss his mark. Instead of straddling the Yagormoth's neck, he landed with a thud on the creature's hindquarters, where his blade hardly penetrated the thick hide. The enraged creature whipped its powerful tail. It slammed into Bentley, knocking the wind from him and sending him flying along the edge of the rock island. His sword flew from his hands and plummeted into the deep water. He landed partly in the water, five paces from Eirwyn.
“Bentley!” she called, but her voice sounded muffled and distant. He gasped for air and fought to stay conscious. Vaguely he wondered how they could ever survive the attack of this monster now that his sword was gone.
He heard another screech and looked toward the Yagormoth, which now had new prey to focus on. Bentley watched the creature turn, then lunge toward him. He forced his lungs to open, and he filled them with air. There was no place to go except backward… into the lake.
Bentley jumped back and sank into the cold lake just as the beast crashed down on top of him. Here beneath the water line, the rock platform curved slightly inward. Bentley pushed himself downward and hugged the rock as the Yagormoth's body passed over him. Through the crystal-clear water, Bentley watched the creature swim outward in a wide circling maneuver to gain access to him.
Bentley heard the deep thump of the calling drum again and felt the vibration in the rock and water about him. The Yagormoth heard it too, but the sound seemed to confuse it. It hesitated at the far side of its circle.
Bentley swam beneath the water around the base of the rock, out of the creature's direct line of sight. He was nearly out of air, and he resurfaced almost on the opposite side of where he had jumped in. He lifted himself out of the water, and the Lucrums began to shout angrily. The calling drum continued, as did their stomping on the planks of the balcony.
Eirwyn was still looking toward the last place she had seen the Yagormoth when Bentley made his way to her. “Eirwyn,” he said between gasps, and she jumped away from his voice, still terrified. The panic in her eyes pained Bentley greatly. He put his hand on her cheek. “I'm going to get you out of this!”
Bentley withdrew his long-knife from the sheath. He reached up to her hands and began to cut through one of the ropes. Each hand was tied separately, and the ropes were tough and thick.
“Bentley!” Eirwyn said quietly, and Bentley knew by her tone that the beast was on its way again. He spotted the dark mass speeding below the water, followed by a wake of turbulence above. His knife sliced through the last strand of the first rope, but Eirwyn's left hand was still bound to the lanyard above.
Bentley set his blade against the second rope just as the Yagormoth lunged up from the water. This time there would be no escape. Eirwyn reached for Bentley, but her hand never touched him.
The next instant, chaos broke out.
The Yagormoth did not lunge for them but for the platform holding a hundred Lucrums. The beast clamped its powerful jaws about one of the diagonal supports of the platform and the attached balcony, and it collapsed under the falling weight of the lake leviathan.
Pandemonium reigned in the next few moments as the unsupported platform gave way and more than eighty Lucrums fell to the waters below amidst ropes, timber, and Yagormoth.
Bentley gasped with relief at the creature's alternative attack, but his joy was short-lived. For when the structure of the platform plummeted to the water, the pulley system collapsed, and the rope that Eirwyn was tied to was violently yanked into the watery chaos. Eirwyn screamed as she was whisked away from Bentley in an instant.
“Eirwyn!” Bentley dived for her hand but could not reach it. The Yagormoth plunged in a thrashing frenzy amidst the panicked Lucrums. The long rope became entangled in the mess of timber and beast as it twisted, turned, and rolled. Eirwyn fought to keep her head above the water but was yanked under time after time.
Bentley ran and dived into the water where he had last seen her. Under the water, Bentley saw that the rope was wrapped about the Yagormoth and passed through its mouth as it wildly bit at everything nearby.
Bentley reached Eirwyn and brought his knife once more to the rope, but the Yagormoth clamped onto a villager's legs and spun its body around trying to drown the man. The rope wrapped tighter about the Yagormoth and dislodged the knife from Bentley's hand while pulling Eirwyn away from Bentley and closer to the beast.
Bentley reached for the sinking knife, but it disappeared into the dark blue water below. He surfaced for a breath and then dived down for the knife, knowing it offered his last and only hope of saving Eirwyn. As he swam deeper and deeper into the icy depths, his ears throbbing from the pressure, he wondered how long he could hold his breath and how long she could survive the turmoil of the thrashing beast above him.
At last he reached the lake floor, but he could not see the knife. Nearly out of air, he gave one last look about and spotted the long silver blade of his sword resting patiently in the silt, waiting for the use of its master. He grasped the hilt and pushed upward with all his might, his strength renewed by the power of the sword of the King.
The waters above were now clouded with red, but Bentley refused to accept that some of the blood might be Eirwyn's. The flotsam between the collapsed balcony of the shore ledge and the rock island had drifted closer to the island, because that was where the Yagormoth now was.
Bentley searched desperately for Eirwyn as he came up from below. The Yagormoth had set its front legs on a submerged shelf of the rock island, presumably resting. He spotted a rock ledge just beneath its scaly belly.
Bentley surfaced briefly, gulped air, then swam underwater for the ledge. He crouched and set his feet firmly in place on the ledge and pointed the tip of his sword upward, just inches below the belly of the Yagormoth. Bentley thrust upward with all of his might, and the softer hide of the beasts underbelly did not hinder the razor-sharp edge of his blade. He did not cease in his thrust until the sword penetrated clear to its hilt.
The beast convulsed against the steely invasion. It renewed its thrashing, and Bentley lost his grip on the sword. He ducked to avoid the deadly talons as he launched himself outward and away to get another breath of air.
When he surfaced, he gasped to fill his lungs. The air was filled with the horrendous noise of the screeching Yagormoth as it snapped wildly about and whipped its tail from side to side, leaving three lifeless men in the wake of its fury.
The rope was still looped about its jaw and trailed down its neck to the opposite side of the beast. Bentley hardly dared look at what fate had befallen Eirwyn at the other end. He climbed onto the rock platform just as the beast turned and slid back into the water.
“Bentley!” Eirwyn screamed as she was pulled in after the Yagormoth.
Hearing her voice renewed his hope. Her left hand was still secured to the rope, and she slammed into the thick body of the beast as it made for the water. A portion of the rope trailed yet behind her, and Bentley dived for it as it passed. He grasped for the rope and missed, but a short portion of the support beam with the pulley trailed at the end of the rope, and he grabbed for it instead. He clung to it with all his strength as the Yagormoth dived down, carrying Eirwyn, the beam, and Bentley with it.
Bentley was near the tail of the creature and wondered when it was going to slam into him as it swayed back and forth while it swam. He trie
d to climb up the rope toward Eirwyn, but the current against him was too strong.
How deep will it take us? he wondered. And how long can Eirwyn hang on? When the pressure of the water began to hurt his ears and he thought he could take no more, the Yagormoth turned upward. Before long the beast broke the surface of the water, and their speed seemed to slow significantly.
Bentley looked forward and saw Eirwyn but couldn't tell if she was still alive. The Yagormoth made its way across the lake toward the thundering falls, but with each length they covered, the beast slowed. Bentley could now pull himself up the rope against the current until he reached Eirwyn. She was weak and barely conscious. He managed to get her head above the water, and she gasped and coughed.
“Stay with me, Eirwyn. I'll not lose you.” He held her close. She flung an arm around his neck and leaned on his shoulder, resting deeply. Somehow, in those moments, she seemed to gather strength.
“What will we do now?” she asked.
They were nearing the falls, and the noise was deafening.
“I don't know, but the animal is getting weaker. Just hang on.”
Eirwyn lifted her head and looked into Bentley's eyes. It was a gaze that said, “I trust you.” It strengthened Bentley's heart, and he resolved to fight to the last ounce of energy in his body to keep that trust.
Bentley saw the head of the Yagormoth lift up.
“Take a big breath,” he yelled above the noise of the falls. “It's diving again.”
A moment later the Yagormoth plunged downward again, but not with nearly the force of the first dive. It dived the length of its body downward and turned to enter an underwater cavern. Bentley wondered how, without a weapon, he was going to be able to defend Eirwyn in the Yagormoth's own lair, but he decided to face that when he came to it… if they survived that long.
The beast seemed to falter, and Bentley wondered if they would drown with the creature in this dark, watery grave. He felt the body of the creature surge forward once more and then felt it begin an ascent. He was nearly out of air and knew Eirwyn would be too. He felt her go limp in his arms, and he held her tighter, willing her to hold on just a little longer.