Chapter 10
1649 Words
10
Cayden and Stephanie rushed to my sides and we all looked agape at the calm, empty bay. My heart quickened. I cupped my hands to my mouth again. “Xander! Xander!”
Nothing. The water was as calm as the grave. I ran forward and reached the shallow waters before Cayden wrapped his arms around my waist and picked me up.
“You cannot go, Miriam!” he insisted as he turned us around and walked back to the shore.
I twisted around to look over my shoulder. My scream echoed over the waters. “Xander!”
That’s when I saw it. A head lifted from the waters, but it wasn’t either of the dragons. This was the head of a woman of forty. Her face was narrow and her skin was as pale as cream. The sides of her face were spotted with small dark blotches. She wore a heavy veil that, despite the water, billowed out on either side of her head, but her black shirt clung to her bosom.
The strange woman seemed to float toward us as she didn’t use her arms to swim nor could I see her feet behind her. As she reached the shallower waters more of her was revealed. Her lower half was lacking in both clothes and the legs to wear them. From the waist down her body was that of a snake. The cream color of her skin extended to the soft flesh of her snake half. The veil that surrounded her face was actually a snake hood, and the blotches were markings.
Stephanie pointed at the creature. “Cayden!”
Cayden set me down and half-turned to look out on our visitor. He smiled. “There is no need to worry.”
I whipped my head to him. “But what about Xander and-” My question was answered before it was finished when both competitors appeared out of the water. They were wrapped in the ten feet of snake body that belonged to the women. Both men looked frustrated, but not dead.
I rushed forward and met them at the edge of the water. The snake woman stopped a yard away from me and pulled her snake half toward me. Xander and Spiros were deposited on their feet in front of me. The woman drew her tail back and freed them.
I hurried into the water and wrapped my arms around Xander. “I thought you were dead.”
He draped his wet arms around me and drew me closer against him. “There was no need to worry.”
I pulled myself away from him and glared up into his face. “No need to worry? You guys suddenly disappear, this creepy snake woman appears, and I’m not supposed to be worried?”
He looked to the serpent woman and smiled. “Miriam Cait, allow me to introduce you to Lady Abha.”
I whipped my head to the strange woman and blinked at her. “She-but-what? Why would she want to drown you guys?”
The snake woman slithered closer to us and smiled. Her teeth were a little sharper than normal. “I must apologize. My intention was not for you to be afraid.”
I shrank away from the woman. Her fingers ended in sharp talons like those of a dragon, and her eyes were mere slits of yellow. Xander chuckled. “I fear my Maiden is not accustomed to the naga way of scolding a pupil.”
She frowned and wagged her finger at him. “You were horrible in your swimming. Your forms were all wrong, so for you I had a lesson to teach.”
I tilted my head to one side and blinked at her. “You. . .you were just scolding them?”
She nodded. “Yes. They were no good at their swimming, and I showed them. Their poor forms is why down they went.”
“Did you have to keep them down for so long?” I questioned her.
“We dragons have a great lung capacity, though not as great as our more water-proficient cousins,” Xander told me.
I glanced up at him and arched an eyebrow. “‘Cousins?’”
He nodded. “Yes. The naga and dragons were once the same, but many thousands of years ago we took to the skies and the naga to the oceans.”
I pointed at Lady Abha. “So dragons looked like that, or vice versa?”
“Our mutual ancestors were somewhere in-between,” he explained.
Lady Abha swept her eyes over our group. “Many of you I am seeing. Some lessons are why you have come?”
Xander nodded. “Yes. Our Maidens wish for some lessons from you, if you would grant them the privilege.”
The large snake slithered up to me. She raised one arm and furrowed her brow. “Very weak is this one, but a strength I sense.” She dropped my arm and leaned forward so our noses almost touched. Her slitted eyes stared into mine for a few seconds as I tried not to lean backward. “Strange this Maiden of yours. Mare Fae in her I sense, but very weak. You are half, yes?”
I shrugged. “I think so, but I’m not sure.”
“Can you hear the Call?” she wondered.
I blinked at her. “The what?”
She leaned away from me and nodded. “Never mind. Teaching you I will be doing. Please be showing me the other Maiden.” Stephanie reluctantly stepped forward. Abha slithered in front of her and stretched her upper torso closer to my friend. The snake studied her for a moment before she shook her head and pulled herself back. “This one there will be no teaching.”
Stephanie’s face fell. Cayden stepped forward with a frown on his face. “Why will you not teach my Maiden, Lady Abha?”
Abha waved her hand. “My refusal is not being an insult, young dragon lord. The lives of your Maiden and your child I will not risk.”
Everyone froze. More than one of us had wide eyes. Cayden swallowed the lump in his throat and his voice was a half-octave higher than usual. “I-I do not understand what you mean, Lady Abha.”
Abha nodded at Stephanie. “A child is she with. The baby is yours, yes?”
Cayden whipped his head to Stephanie and searched her face. “You. . .you are with child?”
She blushed and turned her face away before she gave a nod. “Yes.”
He grasped her hands and slipped in front of her so they faced each other. “Why did you not tell me?”
She stared at the ground and bit her lower lip. “I-I wasn’t sure until now. I thought I was just a little late. . .”
Cayden’s face lit up with joy. He grasped her waist in his hands and spun her around a few times before he set her back on the beach. “I am glad you are to be more than a little late!”
She smiled and nodded. “So am I.”
Cayden looked to us. “We shall have a celebration this night! There will be bonfires and music and food!”
Xander chuckled. “And you shall weep when the bill comes due, my young friend.”
The young dragon lord smiled and shook his head. “I shall never weep again so long as I have Stephanie and our child by my side.”
“Very touching is this, but my age is not to be stopping,” Abha spoke up.
I glanced at Abha. “How’d you know she was pregnant?”
A sly smile slipped onto the serpent woman’s lips. “She is having a greater temperature. Are you not to be seeing how her face is flushed?” I looked to my friend. She was a little more red than usual. “Now if there are no more questions we will be starting the teaching.”
Cayden grasped Stephanie’s hands and tugged her back toward the house. “Come! We shall celebrate with the finest ice cream!”
Stephanie turned around and waved to us. “Goodbye! See you later!”
I returned the wave, but cringed and lowered my arm when I felt a cold hand on my shoulder. I glanced behind me. It was Lady Abha’s hand that gave me the chills. I shakily smiled at her. “So-um, what’s on the agenda?”
“The basics of swimming you know, yes?” she asked me.
I shook my head. “Not really. I know just enough to drown myself.”
“I have seen her attempt such an action,” Xander spoke up. I shot him a glare.
Abha grabbed my hand and tugged me toward the water. “Then the basics for you I will now be teaching.”
“Hey! Wait a sec! I don’t have a swimsuit on!” I shouted.
“Your skin is being a good swimsuit,” she argued as we tumbled into the water.
I dug into my pocket and whipped my head around. “Look fast, Xander!”
I threw him the small green soul stone given to me by King Thorontur, and he neatly caught it with one hand. He held up his clasped hand and smiled. That didn’t give me any comfort as I pushed through the gentle waves. Abha slithered through the gentle, lukewarm waters like a hot knife through butter. I was more like an elephant through a china store. My feet stumbled over the few rocks and bunches of sand until we stopped when the water was waist-height. I yelped when I felt her tail wrap around me.
Abha turned around and slithered the rest of her body back to me. “You must now kick.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Why do I-hey-” She yanked me off my feet and I smacked the water with my face.
I flailed my hands and legs for a few seconds before she pulled me back to an upright position. I was hunched forward in her tail with my arms hanging limp in front of me.
She shook her head. “That is not working. You must be kicking. Try again.”
My eyes widened and I shook my head. “Don’t-” She dunked me into the water.
I kicked and paddled as though my life depended on it. The air in my lungs told me it did. Abha drew me out of the water and I glared at her. “This isn’t a swimming lesson. It’s a witch trial.”
“You are a witch?”
“No.”
“Then a trial this is not. We will continue until improvement is seen.”
I didn’t get a chance to argue before she dropped me again. And again. And again. It was a long morning.
- Writer
