Chapter 11
1923 Words
11
I gargled my way through the rest of the morning until I understood what a drowned rat felt like. I lost count of how many times Abha dunked me, but it was enough that by the time we were finished my lungs burned like a forest fire.
Abha dragged my aching, tired body to the shore and set me down. I kissed the sand, then spit it out. Xander rose from his resting spot on a log and walked over to my sandy spot. He knelt beside me and rubbed my back as he studied my crest-fallen face. “How do you feel?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Homicidal.”
He chuckled. “I, too, felt very frustrated after my first lesson.”
I froze. “First lesson? You mean there’s more?”
“The swimming you are not doing yet,” Lady Abha spoke up as she slithered closer to us. “Though much progress you have made, I cannot say you are swimming yet.”
I snorted. “Progress? I didn’t swim a single foot.”
“It is to your limbs were are training. They must have power,” she told me.
Xander helped me onto my shaky legs. Gravity was a little different out of the water, and I was exhausted. “I think I’d rather drown.”
She shook her head. “There is no turning back. I have sworn you will be taught, and you will. Lessons will be resumed after lunch. Here you will be being. Good morning.” She slithered away back to her small house.
I looked up into Xander’s face and put on my best puppy dog eyes. “You’re not going to make me come back, are you?”
He smiled and shook his head. “I cannot allow you to quit. You have made good progress this morning, and I am sure you will be able to swim by this afternoon.”
I rotated my arm in its socket and winced when a joint popped. “What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger?”
He nodded. “Precisely. Now let us to dinner. I am sure you are famished.”
I wiggled my finger in my ear to unplug the bay water. “Starving, and a little tired of trying to understand her accent. If she’s been teaching so long, why doesn’t she know the language?”
“Her forte is swimming, not language, and as a matter of pride the naga consider all other languages inferior to their own, so they give little bother in learning them,” he explained.
“So she doesn’t want to?”
He smiled. “Precisely. But I believe after all your dunkings you have forgotten something-” He took my hand and set the soul stone in my palm.
I looked at the stone and snorted. “I can’t even figure out how to get this thing to work.”
Xander grasped my hand and guided me toward the house. “Time will tell what gift King Thorontur has given you, but we will live in the moment, and the moment is dinner.”
I glanced around us. “Speaking of we, where’s Spiros?”
“He left for the barracks to inform them of the coming ships. We will meet him at the house.”
We returned to the house to find Spiros returned and the occupants in a festive mood. Stephanie was seated in the plushest chair in the large living room. She was surrounded on three sides by pillows. Set before her on the coffee table was a large platter of chips, dried fish, and a stack of square blocks of cheese. The expectant father hovered over her as she took a bite from the cheese in her hands.
Darda stood just inside the wide doorway and bowed her head to us as we entered. “Good afternoon, My Lord.”
Xander paused by her side and nodded at Cayden. “Has he been in this temperament since their return?”
She smiled and nodded. “Yes, My Lord. He is very concerned for Her Ladyship’s health.”
Cayden looked up from Stephanie and his face brightened. He strode over and grasped Xander’s hand in both of his. “This is wonderful! So very wonderful! I cannot begin to express how wonderful it is to be a father!”
Xander laughed. “I believe you just made a good attempt, though you have some months before you are a father.”
“How long does it take for a dragon kid to be born?” I spoke up.
“Six months! Six joyous months!” Cayden told me.
I glanced at Stephanie and snorted. Her stomach bulged a little, but more from the large amount of food than her pregnancy. She wrinkled her nose at the bit of unfinished cheese in her hand and set it on the small plate set before her.
I strode over and slipped one leg over the arm of the chair. “I think your husband’s trying to stuff you so he can eat you.”
She smiled up at me. “He means well.”
I looked to Cayden as he eagerly recounted the joy he was currently feeling. “
Stephanie studied me. “How’d your swimming lesson go?”
I winced and rubbed one of my sore arms. “Let’s just say you’re lucky you got out of it.”
Cayden held up his hands and raised his voice. “Let us to dinner! We shall have a great feast and-” Xander set his hand on the young lord’s shoulder.
“We shall celebrate tonight. Miriam will surely drown if she is weighed down with so much of your generosity.”
I raised my hand. “What if I ate just enough to get a stomach ache? Would that get me out of another ‘lesson?’”
He chuckled. “I will ensure you do not.”
My arm dropped to my side and I drooped. “Damn. . .”
We partook of the meal and I stepped out on the patio alone. Xander remained inside to talk to the excited father-to-be.
I stopped at the end of the patio and looked out over the sea. A gentle breeze rocked the waters and pushed bunches of seaweed onto the shore. I set my hand on my stomach and sighed.
I jumped when a pair of thick arms wrapped themselves around me. Xander set his chin on my shoulder and his eyes studied my face. “Something bothers you.”
“Can we still have kids if I’m a fae and a human?” I asked him.
He nodded. “You can.”
I cringed. “And if it turns out like that hunchback at Alexandria?”
Xander tightened his grip around me and pressed me close to his chest. “We will hope for the best and pray to the gods that the child is healthy.”
I dropped my hand and sighed. “I guess that’s all we can do.” A sly smile slipped onto my lips as my eyes flickered up to his. “Of course, we could be careful with me and skip these dangerous swimming lessons.”
He chuckled and shook his head as he slid away from me. “The lessons will continue. Come. Lady Abha no doubt awaits us.”
I reluctantly joined Xander for the return trip to the beach. We walked down the stairs to the sand. A familiar piercing noise made me pause. I glanced to our right where most of the docks jutted out into the bay. A few of the local families waded through the waters. I recognized the young boy who I nearly ran down. He splashed in the gentle waves beside a long dock with his mother seated on a lobster trap close by.
Colin picked up a stone and skipped it across the water, and on occasion he would grasp the whistle tied on a string around his neck and blow loud and clear across the bay. He glanced in our direction and waved his whistle in the air. His face was a picture of glee. I waved back and Xander bowed his head.
That reminded me. I drew out the soul stone and held it out to Xander. “You’re going to need to hold this again.”
He took the stone, but raised his head and looked into the distance with a frown. I followed his gaze. A few other more conspicuous characters wandered over the beach. One was a pig-nosed sus. His small eyes stared at us. He smiled and inclined his head.
Xander did the same before he drew me down the beach. “A friend of yours?” I asked him.
He pursed his lips and shook his head. “I am not acquainted with that sus, but he was very much curious about your soul stone.”
I furrowed my brow. “Why? It’s just a useless rock. It won’t even do anything for me.”
“Soul stones are more rare than even Mare Fae. Even without the gift granted by the stone’s power, they fetch a great price on the Deep Market,” he told me.
I arched an eyebrow. “What’s that?”
“A market for ill-gotten goods. One may purchase anything from the poison wrought by witches to slaves kidnapped from the far reaches of the world. You yourself viewed one of its markets in Alexandria, or so Darda told me.”
I snorted. “I was a part of it.”
His face fell as he studied me. “I am sorry I was not there to protect you.”
I shook my head and waved my hand. “It’s not your fault. I blame that slimy lizard guy, whatever he was.”
“A gamme,” he reminded me.
“Are a lot of gamme like him, or are they like the sus?” I asked him.
He pursed his lips as he looked ahead. “It is very nearly in their nature to be so treacherous. The whole of the species is little trusted in our world, and in so being they resort to thieving to earn a living.”
I winced. “Sounds like a vicious cycle.”
He nodded. “Yes, but let us set aside the darker points of the world and focus on the brighter ones, such as your achieving the ability to swim.”
I leaned toward him and fluttered my eyes at my dragon lord. “Or we could just forget the whole thing and find a nice, quiet spot to be alone together.”
His face tensed. I had him locked in a Catch-22. Finally he closed his eyes and shook his head. “I cannot allow you to quit.”
My shoulders slumped and my lips jutted out in a pout as I turned my face away. “Are we sure I’m a Mare Fae? I don’t seem to have any talent for water other than crying healing tears.”
He smiled down at me. “I am very grateful you have such an ability.”
I couldn’t stop the small smile that slipped onto my lips. “It was kind of useful there, wasn’t it?”
By this time we reached the northern cliffs. Abha stood waist-deep in the water and beckoned to me. I took a deep breath and waded to her.
My stern coach looked me up and down. “The practicing of you is done. Now you will swim.”
I leaned back and blinked at her. “But I haven’t even done a stroke.”
Her tail wrapped around me. I yelped as she lifted me out of the water and above her head. “You will now be remembering kicking and stroking. Then you will swim.”
My eyes widened as she drew me back like a tightening catapult. “Wait! Not ready! Not-” She threw me.
I flailed in the air before I came down in a particularly deep spot. So deep, in fact, that my toes couldn’t reach the bottom. Well, unless my head was underwater which is what happened. I hit the water and sank to the bottom. My arms and legs, out of habit from the morning’s exercise, kicked and stroked.
A wide, stupid smile widened my face as I found myself propelled through the water. That is, until I realized I was traveling sideways. I turned myself in the upward direction and soon broke the surface. Sweet, precious air filled my lungs. I kicked my legs to keep myself above the water and waved my hand to Abha and Xander.
“I did it! I’m swimming!” I yelled.
That’s when the siren sounded.
- Writer
