by Jules Marks
But then, something caught my attention. I saw a form in the sparkling pond!
I know not where I found the energy, but I flew down the stairs, ran down the twisting hallways and out the door that led to the garden.
Larkin jumped up from her seat as I rushed towards the pond’s edge. She apparently felt she needed to justify her actions:
“I didn’t like the idea, Gael, but he insisted! He simply would not take ‘no’ for an answer, and Nordz agreed it was worth a try. And I know it seems strange, but I think it may be helping. I’m sorry I couldn’t ask you…” She stopped mid-sentence, because I held up my hand.
“Enough, I understand. I do know how stubborn he can be.” I reached out and took her hand, gave it an affectionate squeeze and then a kiss, and then turned my attention to the figure in the pond.
Ioan was floating just inches from the surface. He was motionless but for the slight movement of the water, and his un-bandaged eye was closed. Some of his bandages had loosened, and they drifted alongside and over him, giving him an eerie, spectral appearance in that waning light.
The seeming ghostly apparition made me decidedly uneasy. “How long has he been submerged?” I asked.
Larkin bit her lip as she considered it. “He floats up for air now and then. It has been quite some time, actually.” She suddenly looked worried. “You don’t suppose…?”
I grimaced. “I think we’d better check.” I waded thigh-deep into the water, and reached out my hand to touch Ioan’s cheek. At first nothing happened, but then his eye opened, and his lips formed a hint of a smile. He floated to the surface, took a deep breath, winced—those ribs were surely making him miserable—and then he spoke to me.
“What say you, Gael?” he whispered.
The question may have seemed vague, but I knew of what he asked. “Both are safe.”
He smiled again. “…And is all well with you?” His voice seemed stronger.
I grasped his hand in mine, and nodded, almost too overcome to speak.
“All is well.”
.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen