It had
been a beautiful day for the Marnet fair, a joyous occasion marking the day of
the midsummer solstice. Sure, other cities had their own midsummer
celebrations, but the one in the world’s largest city had to be the grandest by
far. Tournaments of all types had been staged for all, ranging from tests of
might and brute strength to exhibitions of finesse and of the mind. As the sun
began to wane, myriad horns blared in perfect thirds from the central square,
marking the start of the ceremony honoring the day’s champions. Three stood on the stage that afternoon: besides Lord Mayor Wunan Tain, the mistress and master of ceremonies—Pirrin Ravenwind, Marnet’s local master bard, and mage-turned-merchant Shasta Rameko, who had graciously donated money and other spoils for the victors—stood proudly on the podium, looking over the gathering crowd and silently praising the success of this
year’s festival.
But before the
ceremony could begin, Pirrin, a favorite among both the gentry and commoners,
had been both begged by the crowd and egged on by Shasta to perform a short
tune or two for the semi-hyper (and somewhat inebriated, thanks to the ale
tents) crowd. She soon finished her improvised song about Shasta and his early
exploits, much to the crowd's enjoyment (and Shasta's utter embarrassment).
Just as the two had at last quieted the gathered throng and were ready to
announce the day’s first champion, a young, blond-haired woman in the front row
stood up.
"Please, Lady Bard, if I may," she asked timidly,
"I, too, have a story to tell—the Mermaid's Tale,
a tale I can tell like none other."
Pirrin looked
down at the young woman as the first rows of the crowd began murmuring
unpleasantly in a low, agitated rumble. "That common old
child's tale? I really don't think—"
"—That would be much of a problem, milady!" Shasta broke
in, putting an amicable arm around Pirrin. "If you would
excuse us for just one moment?" The young woman nodded, and he
pulled Pirrin off to the side as the crowd grew slightly restless at the
interruption. "What harm could it do?" he whispered. "She
certainly cannot take too long; the Mermaid's Tale is but a short story.
Besides, Lady Ravenwind, as you yourself are so fond of saying, each bard must
begin somewhere."
"Somewhere,
aye," Pirrin countered, "but in front of this crowd at this
time? This certainly is not the time or place for—"
Shasta shook his
head. "Pirrin, Pirrin, Pirrin..." he admonished with a smile.”This
is, in all likelihood, merely an attempt at free publicity on her part. And we both
know the value of free publicity." Pirrin conceded Shasta's point with a
small smile. "Who knows? This may even give her career a boost."
Turning
back to the young woman, he held out a hand and helped her to the stage,
quickly producing a stool upon which she could sit as she played temporary host
to the grand assembly. "Speak loudly and directly out to the crowd;
enchantments upon the stage will carry your voice quite far. Please, begin your
telling of the tale at your leisure, Miss."
* * *
* *
"Why do the
gods see fit to always pick on me?" Endara whined between breaths as she
ran through the thick greenery of Narilan's heavily wooded border. She looked
back to see that not more than three long steps behind followed another human
desperately trying to catch its prey. Looking forward, Endara found she was
getting so close to the edge of the woods, to freedom; safety was perhaps only
twenty or so yards before her. As she took a stutter step to leap an upturned
root, her right foot caught her left heel, and down she came, landing face
first in a pile of fresh pine needles.
In a flash, the hunter was upon her, and as she lay helpless in
the forest floor, she looked up into the dark, crazed eyes of the one who had
chased her all this way. The hunter towered above her and tapped her shoulder
once, muttering a simple, oft-dreaded word: "Tag." The
'hunter'—another girl about Endara's age—dropped to the ground beside her, and
both girls lay back on the pine bed, struggling to catch their breath, giggling
as they panted.
It was a normal
early summer day in Naridale and the two youngsters, both barely upon their
teenage years, were enjoying their first day off from both school and chores.
The past school year, as each consecutive year always did, seemed to have
dragged on for a particularly long time. The girls decided not to let the first
summer day go by without playing games with a group of their friends.
"Gods above,
girl, but it took me forever to find you," said Corene between breaths,
"but finally I got you! Now you're it." She stood up, brushed
herself off, and let out a great breath with a loud, long sigh. "That was
wonderful!" She jogged off, her rarely-cut cornsilk hair bouncing behind
her. "Come! Let's find the others!"
Endara still lay
on the ground as Corene trotted away. "Hey! Cor, wait for me!"
Endara, forest-brown braids sticking out wildly to one side, shook off the
dead, dry brush that stuck to her clothing and ran to catch up to her best
friend.
Hot. No word but
the simplest could describe the day's weather. The tiny
They picked up their pace toward the town square, toward their
friends to inform them of their idea. "Garth!" they shouted when they
found the unofficial ringleader of their merry little band of young imps.
"We're going to the lake. Care to join us?"
The response was
unanimous. Garth Selmo, a local carrot-topped rogue who wasn't necessarily
letting his long-time childhood friendship with the two girls get in the way of
his emerging feelings toward the girls and the thought of perhaps trying to get
to know them better, shouted enthusiastically, "Sure! I'll go get some of
the others!" The three children ran off to their houses, exchanging their
day clothes for more appropriate swimming attire. Swimming with boys
requires modesty, Corene’s mother had told her time and time again as she
grew up.
The two girls,
absolutely thrilled about a lazy day at the lake, reached their houses in
record time. Corene finished changing first and, after saying good-bye to her
parents, ran for Endara's house. "Hurry up, Dara! At this rate, it'll be
sunset tomorrow before you get out here," she called sarcastically from
the dirt street outside.
"I'm moving
as fast as I can!" shouted Endara from inside. On her way out the door
after a quick wave to her mother, she muttered quietly, "Besides, it's not
like we haven't got all day." She closed the door and ran up to Corene,
looking her right in the eye. "You know, Cor, if
you had wanted to get to the lake so quickly, why did you wait for me? You know
from experience I'm not the fastest person in the Dale."
The blond-haired
girl smirked. "Last time I went to the lake alone, Mother wouldn't let me
hear the end of it! I had to wait for you. Mom says to always go swimming in
pairs, just in case something happens. I can’t go alone, no matter how much I
love to swim." Corene indeed spoke the truth. She took better than a fish
to the warm waters of tiny
And today, at
long last, she was free to swim all day.
Both girls
sprinted the last few yards to the lake. As they reached the shore, they
quickly shed the outer layers of their clothing, threw them down in an
unorganized pile on a grassy patch, and splashed their way into the lake. The
cool waters swept refreshingly over their bodies as they plunged deeper into
the waters of
"How about a race across the lake, Dara?" Corene
asked predictably. "It's not too far, and I know you can make it. You've
done it before. Please?" Corene plead to Endara.
This was not the first time Corene had challenged Endara to a race. A few years
ago, when Corene was only nine, she had challenged Endara to a race from the
main
"Okay,"
Endara replied, grudgingly. "But only on two conditions."
"Well,"
said Corene, tempering her giddy enthusiasm with a feigned look of disgust.
"I guess that it's only fair. What are they?"
"First, I
need a head start. Say, a count of two hundred. You can swim much faster
than me and you know it."
Corene smirked. "Agreed. Two hundred should still give me plenty of
time to catch up. What's your other condition?"
"I was
getting to that. My second condition is that we stay clear of the center of the
lake—Lannie's zone. You know, make a course from the beach to the Swing Tree
and across, instead of clear across the center of the lake."
Corene sputtered
and tried, unsuccessfully, to hold back a fit of the giggles. "You mean
you actually believe that old story?" Lannie was Naridale's resident
legend, a 'dreaded sea monster' that inhabited the deepest section around the
center of the lake. Even though nothing even remotely resembling a ‘Lannie’ had
been spotted for many years, scholars and curiosity seekers alike still came
from places far and wide each summer to seek him out. It was, for a time, the
single largest seasonal business in Naridale, so few of the local folk
discouraged the searches. Most children thought it just to be a tale told to
keep them away from the lake. By adolescence, very few believed the tales to be
true.
"Do you
agree?" Endara pressed, sure she had a real bet.
"I... well,
okay. Are you ready?"
"I am."
Endara, pulling wet hair away from her eyes, primed herself to make this day
her first victory ever in the eternal series.
"On your
marks, get set, go!" Corene shouted, and Endara began paddling madly
toward the Swing Tree—so named because of the rope and wood swing tied to the
branches that let the older children swing out from an outcropping on the shore
and dive in from a moderately dizzying height—on the near shore. Corene watched
as her friend swam relatively out of sight around a bend in the lake.
"This may be easier than I thought," she muttered, beginning the
steady count to two hundred. Upon hitting two hundred, she took a deep breath
and began her swim across the lake—directly across the lake—determined to truly
make a point not only about her speed, but about the truth behind the old lies
of Lannie.
By the time the
contest began, the other children were finally arriving at the lake. Garth,
ever one to ogle the two girls, looked at the ensuing race and shook his head,
smiling quietly to himself. He took off his shirt, spread it out on top of the
pile started by the girl, and turned to the others. "I told you so,"
he muttered to Shea, who shrugged helplessly. "I told you they were going
to race." He sighed as he walked to the lake and sat lazily on the end of
the pier. "I guess we should cheer for the underdog, hmm?"
"Even though
we all know Endara doesn't stand a chance." Shea chuckled. Their friends
snickered, watching the familiar spectacle. Garth lay back on the pier, feet up
to his ankles in the water, just waiting for Corene to beat the stuffing out of
Endara. Again. Only as an afterthought to Shea’s
statement did Garth reach over without looking and push his friend into the
lake.
While Corene was just beginning her journey across
A little while
later, Endara was at last nearing the main shore. As she came up for her final
breaths of fresh air, she saw that, for the first time, Corene wasn't there to
greet her with her usual smug smile. From the pier, Garth looked out to the
figure rising from the water, expecting Corene—and saw only Endara. Rubbing the
lake water from his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things, he tapped Shea,
who poked the next kid, and so on down the line through the group of children
until all could see that Endara was the clear winner.
As she set foot upon the shore and accepted the wild cheers and
congratulations of her friends, she said with a smile, "Do you want to
know something weird? I didn't even see or hear any sign of Corene since just
after she started after me."
The other kids of
the group looked at one another and began to mutter and shift uncomfortably in
their places. "What, haven't any of you seen
her?"
Garth just
shrugged his shoulders. "Last time I saw her, she was heading out over the
middle of the lake and diving back under." Endara suddenly looked worried.
She was supposed to stay away from there! She promised! "What, do
you think something's happened to her?" Garth said.
"That's
where Lannie's supposed to be!" Endara said, running back to the lake, not
noticing the smirks and open laughter from the children on the beach. "You
go get help—I'll go out and look for any sign of Cor!" With renewed
strength in her youthful muscles, Endara powered her way to the place where
Garth had last seen Endara's best friend.
"Lannie?" Garth said, trying to hide a chuckle. "Yeah, right. If you’re afraid of the water, Dara, you
don’t have to swim in it. Cor’ll be here in a few minutes, just you wait and
see. C’mon guys, I'm heading back home for lunch. Anyone with
me?" A chorus of unsure nods—and the taunting chuckles of youth
about Endara's belief in the Lannie myth—greeted him in response and, just as
quickly as the children of the village of Naridale had descended upon it, the
beach was cleared.
Tired muscles
already pushed well beyond their limits, Endara struggled to reach the center
of the lake. Nervous about the prospect of a sea creature lurking somewhere
below her, she looked around the surface for a few moments before scouting the
depths of Narilan's center. Finding nothing, she once again rose to the surface
of the lake, searching for a sign, any sign of Corene. Finally, off to one
side, she spotted a small, oddly-shaped branch floating in the water. As she
swam over to look at it, she noticed that it wasn't a branch; it was something
scalier and slimier, more like a piece of squid. "Cor! C'mon, the joke's
up!" Endara shouted, looking around for the
tell-tale splashes that would mark the other girl's swimming. She seriously
hoped that this wasn't just a trick Corene was playing to win the race.
Something else, however, floating in the water a few yards to her right, told
her that this was no joke—that her fears were indeed justified.
Corene's shredded
bathing suit floated alone in the water, blood-stained and torn nearly beyond
recognition.
"Cor!"
Endara shouted. "Corene! Where are you?"
Endara cried again, but there was no response. "Cor, please answer me!
This isn't funny...!" she shouted frantically, but still there was no
reply. Frantic, she dove back beneath the surface, but could see nothing, dead
or alive, of her closest companion. Weary and afraid, she popped her had back
above the surface and began to cry a quiet prayer to any god who cared to
listen. "Please, not my Cor..." Endara despaired for her friend’s
life.
* * * * *
Corene was having
the time of her life. Far earlier in the race, while Endara was still swimming
her legs and arms off and much further beneath the surface of the lake, Corene
gained steadily on her best friend. She can't—won't—see me
down here. A little more practice, maybe; she's getting better,
but Corene the Shark wins again! she thought
confidently as she came up for a deep lungful air. She peeked in the direction
of the Swing Tree to see how close Endara was to the halfway point, then
slipped back beneath the surface and began to close the remaining gap,
purposely ignoring her friend’s fears about the center of the lake. If there
were such a thing as Lannie down here, I would have found him a long… time… oh,
my Goddess…!
She had looked
off to her right, and that was when she saw the mermaid.
Corene stopped
dead in the water and gasped, air escaping in a huge bubble. A mermaid! A
real, live mermaid! It appeared the poor, silver-finned woman had drifted
too close to the bottom of the lake and gotten herself caught in a tangle of
vines. Stay calm, Cor, stay calm... you can do something to help. It's only
a mermaid, only the living embodiment of all your dreams. This should be no
problem at all, thought Corene, fighting both a lack of air and the
intensity of the butterflies in her stomach.
She rose to the surface for a deep breath and dove back down. As
she got closer to the scene, she noticed that the vines were moving more of
their own accord, not swaying with the motion of the waves as she had first
assumed. Likewise, she saw that the mermaid was struggling almost too furiously
against otherwise harmless weeds. As she got even closer, she noticed that the
vines weren't vines but something slimier and bumpier.
But if they
aren't vines, Corene quickly reasoned, that could only... mean...
Goddess, no!!
Quickly
re-assessing the situation, it now appeared to Corene that the mermaid had
gotten too curious for her own good, that the monster (Lannie?!, her
mind screamed irrationally) was not at all happy about being disturbed while he
slept. Now this creature was ready to punish that which disturbed its slumber
by finding out just how tasty fresh mermaid was.
The butterflies
multiplying a hundred-fold, Corene struggled to fight
back a rising panic. What should I do? The race? The mermaid? She went up for a quick snatch of air, saw
Endara heading back towards the Swing Tree and the beach, and decided to forget
the race—saving someone's life, just like her mom always taught her, was far
more important than winning any stupid race. There would always be more races.
Down she swam toward the dim, murky bottom of the lake, looking
around desperately for something, anything she might use to harm Lannie and
help this poor fish-girl out of her deadly predicament. The search seemed
fruitless; nothing but half-rotted wood and plants marked the lake's bottom.
But then, hope
shone through with the rays of the
She quickly swam
up for one last great breath, trying to force her lungs beyond capacity for
this mammoth task. Holding the dagger straight out like the point of a spear,
Corene lowered her head, kicked her powerful legs, and charged at Lannie.
Closer and closer she swam, hair trailing behind her like a tail of liquid
flame, and Lannie, intent upon his moving meal, didn’t notice her at all. Still
closer she swam, and still he didn't sense her. Saying a silent prayer to the
gods of light, she lashed out at the monster.
For an amateur
with a blade, Corene's aim was indeed good, but the steel did not strike
true—instead of striking the monster in a vital spot, she lopped off one of
Lannie’s thin, slimy tentacles. She began to peel away from the scene, praying
that the mermaid was free, but just as quickly felt something slimy grab her
leg. She looked back to see that indeed, Lannie knew she was there; he had let
go of the struggling mermaid and was now preparing to eat the greater
threat—her—instead! Closer she was reeled to Lannie's mouth, and what little
resolve remained simply disappeared. Corene simply fainted, saving her mind
from the horrors to come. As she drifted into unconsciousness, her muscles
relaxed and she let go of the fisherman's knife and what little air remained in
her depleted lungs.
That was all the
distraction the mermaid needed.
The mermaid,
black hair floating behind her like an angry cloud, sped over to the sinking
dagger, snatched
it up before it hit the muck below, and charged straight at Lannie. Her aim
struck true, the blade plunging halfway to its handle directly in the pupil of
the monster's left eye. Enraged and not prepared to fight a two-on-one battle
it was sure to lose, Lannie let go of the human girl. As his blood began to
pollute the water, he moved away quickly, wishing to avoid further pain from a
snack that would and could fight back.
The mermaid,
meanwhile, grabbed the drowning Corene and laid her limp body on the lake's
bottom. Quickly she laid two enchantments upon her rescuer: the first, a spell
of water breathing, the other a dweomer of healing. She checked her own wounds
while waiting a few tense moments, hoping the girl would soon stir.
Finally, with a
shallow gasp of breath, Corene began to wake. "Where am I? Am I dead? Is
this heaven?" the girl asked groggily, her voice carrying as well in the
water as it would through the air.
"No, you are
yet alive," the mermaid replied in a soft alto, her voice floating all
around Corene on the gentle lake currents. "Although for an
air-breather—and such a young one as well!—I cannot help but be amazed by your
survival and your skill beneath the waves."
Corene smiled
with all the smug sureness of her teenage years. "Well, I guess the gods
were—” Opening her eyes at last, the realization of her surroundings quickly began
to register in her brain. "Wait! I'm out of air! I can't breathe down
here! I need—”
"You, young
human," the mermaid said with a polite smile, "need to calm yourself.
I have lain an enchantment upon you that you may
breathe the water like I, at least for the next few hours. I would thank you
for saving my life. So few humans are possessed of such
courage in these times."
As Corene
struggled to pull herself together, the realization of just to whom she was
speaking slowly began to dawn on her. A mermaid! She was talking to a mermaid!
For a few awkward moments, she stared impolitely at the mermaid before finally
summoning the courage to strike up a more significant bit of conversation.
"What's your name?" she asked rather uncreatively, struggling to turn
her random thoughts into words.
"In your
tongue, I would be called Teitani," the mermaid said. "I owe you a
great deal, young human—the least being my very life. In gratitude for your
quick thinking and selfless actions, I would grant you anything within my
power. Anything you wish that I can give you will be yours."
Anything? Corene thought.
Her face lit up like a child opening birthday presents. The possibilities were
endless—money, friends, anything! She could grow up to be a mighty warrior, or
an archmage, or even a queen! But what do I really want? I mean, I like to
swim, and...
The moment that
thought struck, Corene knew she wanted nothing else more. Swallowing nervously,
she looked at Teitani and asked timidly, "Could you... could you make me a
mermaid like you?"
Teitani's eyes
narrowed slightly; she was a bit surprised with this unexpected request. "A rather... odd decision, young human. Still, it is
not my place to censure your decision, and it is indeed the least I can do for
the one who has just saved my life. Yes, I can," she said, voice
unemotional. "But think hard upon the consequences of your decision: the
life you have—or had—above the surface will be no more. No longer could you see
your parents, for the very air would soon be poison to your lungs. Your skin
and great tail, used to and needing the living waters of the sea, would soon
turn brittle and dry until at last you perished. No longer will you see the
people with whom you've grown and you would never again see your friends."
Jolted from her
reverie by Teitani’s last remark, Corene weighed her decision for a moment.
"You mean I could never see Endara again?"
"No,"
Teitani stated flatly.
Corene thought
about the offer and the consequences for a few more moments. My family, and my friends... I can't live without my friends. Especially Endara. But to be a mermaid...! Selfish as
her decision might be, the young girl knew that somehow she couldn’t pass up
this chance at what could be her destiny. "My choice is made. I wish to be
like you." Oh, Dara, forgive me, but I want this so much...!
"So be it," said Teitani, eyes closed and concentrating.
Eldritch energies began flowing from her fingertips, and Corene began her
remarkable change, forever leaving behind the surface world. Her legs began to
grow together, her feet becoming a single, grand tail and fin. The pink, human
skin below her waist became flecked with scales of bright gold. Her human torso
blossomed as well, physically maturing many years in the space of mere moments.
The bathing suit she had worn as a human no longer fit her changed form and
tore into pieces as she transformed, so Teitani chose two nearby shells of the
purest coral-white to satisfy the requirements of human modesty.
Corene turned her
head, gazing at her golden tail, awestruck as each scale grabbed what
Remembering
Endara and the aborted race, Corene nodded. "Yes, Teitani, if I may,"
she said, her child's soprano having given way to a refined, more adult mezzo
voice.
"I will wait
here for you as you say your farewell. Then, upon your return, your new life
will begin in Midia, the home of our people. I would take you as my daughter,
be your new mother, and teach you the ways of your new people."
"I will
return soon, Teitani." Corene turned over, taking a few experimental
pushes through the water with her fin. As she began to swim away, she turned
back to Teitani with a smile of gratitude and joy, and politely corrected
herself. "Mother."
By this time, Endara had long since discovered the grisly remains
of Corene’s tattered bathing suit and clutched it in her arms like a blanket,
in tears over her friend’s apparent death. But mere moments later, as she
prepared to return to the shore with the last remains of her friend, the
surface behind her began to bubble. With a great splash, the newly-transformed
Corene popped her head above the waves, golden hair crowning her like a halo of
fire, both frightening and shocking the worried Endara.
"Cor? Oh, Cor! I thought...! Your clothes...! You were
dead...!" Endara's tears changed from those of sadness to joy as she held
fast to her best friend.
"No,
Dara," Corene said softly, the mature voice sound perhaps more so in the
company of her now younger companion. "I am yet alive," she said
nonchalantly, repeating Teitani's words. "Lannie, on the other hand—”
"You saw
Lannie? He’s real!?" Endara's eyes grew wide.
Corene nodded.
"You were right about him, Dara. I'm sorry I doubted you so. Not only did
I see him, but I helped hurt him! Lannie will no longer trouble the waters of
Naridale." She smile a radiant smile, but the
smile quickly faded as she remembered who waited for her deep below. "But
that is not why I'm here. I'm... I'm here to say my farewell to you, Endara. My best friend."
"Fare...?"
For the first time since her reappearance, Endara closely examined the
now-grown woman across from her. "Cor! Your hair—it's so much longer! And
you've got... I mean, you've changed!" Endara gawked, stuttering as she
searched for the proper words to express her friend's sudden physical
maturation into adulthood.
"Yes, I
know," Corene said, giggling slightly. "That is why I'm here,"
she said, her voice slipping back to a more proper, more somber tone. "I
am no longer one of you—no longer human, I mean—and it is time for me to leave
here."
"What do you
mean?"
"When I was
racing against you, I deliberately swam over the center of the lake. As I dove,
I saw someone struggling with Lannie—a mermaid."
"You saw
Lannie and a mermaid?" Again Endara's eyes went wide. "You are
so lucky, Cor…"
Corene nodded.
"I fought Lannie to rescue the mermaid," she explained. "She
said she would reward me with anything, and the more I thought about it, the
more I wished I could be a mermaid. And now...!" she said excitedly,
flipping her new golden tail proudly above the water for Endara to see.
"Oh, gods, Cor! It's... it's
beautiful...!" Endara squeaked, at once jealous and, to a much lesser
extent, both understanding her friend’s excitement and choice and forgiving
Corene her abandonment as only a young girl could.
"I need a
favor of you, Dara," Corene said, looking toward the shore and the few
curiosity seekers who had gathered as the golden tail made its way above the
surface.
"Anything, Cor. What do you need?"
"I need you
to tell my parents of this. Tell them... I don't know, tell them the truth.
They won't believe you at first, but still you must tell them the truth. They
won't understand why I've done what I've done, nor do I expect them to. Perhaps
they will, someday. Help them, Endara. It will take them many years, perhaps
even the rest of their lives, to understand my decision to remain beneath the
waves."
"You'll come
back to visit me?" Endara asked, finding it difficult to speak, trying
hard not to let her emotions show.
"Sure I
will," Corene said softly. "Maybe someday, someday soon, you can join
me and we can be together again beneath the waves. For now, though, I must
leave. Teitani is waiting for me by the mouth of the river that leads to the
open sea." She smiled brightly, trying to cheer her best friend up, but it
didn't seem to work. "She is going to teach me of life beneath the waves.
As I said this morning, you know how much I love to swim. And now... now I can
swim whenever I want to!" Endara chuckled once, a sad laugh, as Corene
embraced her friend one last time. A single tear ran down the new mermaid's
left cheek. "Farewell, my dearest friend."
"May the
Goddess shine upon you, Corene." The tears, now
flowing unhindered, continued to stream down Endara's face, mixing with the lake
water, as her friend swam away toward the river's mouth, soon joined by
Teitani.
"So
beautiful..." she squeaked again through the tears as she watched the pair
of mermaids swim away gracefully. She waved to her friend one final time.
Corene looked back and returned the wave with a flick of her long, golden tail.
And then, she
swam forever.
* * *
* *
For a few moments,
the crowd sat in hushed, awed silence. From the rear of the assembly, the
tense, emotional hush was broken by the sound of a single person, clapping
slowly, yet forcefully. He was soon joined by another, and another, until the
entire crowd at last erupted in a deafening roar of applause and wild cheers.
The young woman stood up, brushed back her straight blond hair, curtseyed
graciously, and disappeared into the crowd below. Shasta and Pirrin, too caught
up in smiling to one another and congratulating themselves on the success of
their decision to let the young woman tell the story, searched the entire crowd
in vain to find where she could have gone, but the woman was not to be found.
After the
presentation of the awards, the crowd began to disperse—some towards home, but
most toward the continuously flowing ale tents surrounding the main market
square for the night’s raucous revelry. Even as the crowd thinned, there seemed
to be no sign of the mysterious performer. "Pirrin, we must find
that woman and learn her name!" Shasta stated. "Such a powerful
interpretation of that legendary tale deserves to be heard all over the world!
Why, the monetary potential of her storytelling skills alone would—”
"Always the merchant, Shasta," Pirrin reprimanded as she rolled
her eyes.
"You're the
one who simply called it a 'common old children's tale'," the
merchant-mage mumbled.
"Yeah,
well," Pirrin mumbled. "I still agree with you, though," Pirrin
continued, ignoring the playfully caustic remark. "We must try to find
her—if for no other reason than to learn who she is. Split up; we can cover
more ground that way. We'll meet at the dockyards at, say, sundown. That should
give us perhaps five hours. If we cannot find her by then..." She shook
her head. Shasta nodded and jogged off north; Pirrin began the arduous task of
searching the south side of the city.
They searched
both uptown and downtown, asking anyone and everyone they saw for clues,
willing to pay for information that would lead them somewhere. There were a few
who claimed to have seen the woman, but when pressed, the lies of those looking
for quick monetary gain were quickly proven false. Five hours passed far faster
than the two had wished, and it was time for the pair to give their reports at
the Marnet docks. As they met, identical lines of disappointment creasing both
their faces, Pirrin caught a glimpse of a cloaked figure running for the ships.
"Shasta, over there! Look!" she whispered.
"I know! I
saw him too."
"Thief, do
you suppose?"
"More likely
saboteur," Shasta muttered, fearing the worst for his prized ships.
"Does it
really matter? Let's go!" Pirrin whispered back. Duty to the city, both
knew, came before continuation of the search. Running as quickly and as lightly
as they could, they soon spotted the man getting ready to dive into the water.
Taking one last glance around to make sure he was not seen, he casually
shrugged his cloak off his shoulders to reveal that not only wasn't he a 'he',
but that she was the person for whom Shasta and Pirrin had been searching for
the last five and more hours since the ceremony.
"Halt,
you!" Pirrin shouted, drawing her short sword with the sound of ready
steel scraping against a scabbard.
The young woman
instantly froze in alarm; the moment she recognized the bard's voice, however,
she turned to the pair, arms wide in greeting. "Well done, Lord Mage and
Lady Bard. Twasn't easy to evade your inquiries, but it appears I did rather
well—at least until this chance meeting here, at the end of both our quests,"
the young woman said, tossing her blond mane back out of her face and smiling
as she modestly pulled her cloak back over her shoulders.
"Just what
do you think you're doing, young lady?" Pirrin asked angrily, sheathing
her sword. "You lead us on a merry
dance through half of Marnet with nary a 'farewell' or 'thank you', and now you
expect us—"
"Easy, Miss
Ravenwind," Shasta said, placing an arm on Pirrin's shoulder and trying to
calm the riled bard down before she said or did something rash. "I believe
we should start with something simple, as in, 'Why did you disappear after that
wonderful performance?'"
"I merely
wished to perform and leave," the woman answered, staring directly into
Shasta's brown eyes, holding his gaze with her simple admission of truth.
"I saw no reason to stay after I had finished the true story of the
Mermaid's Tale."
"Yes,"
Shasta continued, nodding thoughtfully. "And just where did you learn that
particular telling of the story? It was magnificent—more detailed than any
version of the tale I’ve heard spun in the last half century! It's almost as if
you had been there during the time of the tale all those centuries ago! The
'true story', you called it?"
The young woman
nodded bowed her head graciously. "Indeed I did. That particular version
of the story has been in my family for many years."
"Where do
you hail from, if I may ask? Your style is one with which I'm rather
unfamiliar," Pirrin asked, temper fading and professional curiosity
setting in.
"I am
originally from Naridale."
"That's
impossible!" Pirrin reasoned. "I know my history very well. The
original fishing village of Naridale ceased to exist shortly after the
monster—I'm sorry, 'Lannie'—disappeared, and that was well over five centuries
ago!" The bard shook her head, flabbergasted by such a claim. "The
College... only since the founding of the
"I am well
aware of that, Lady Bard—and so it appears are you. I assure you, though, I do
speak the truth. I do originally hail from Naridale." She turned away from
the confused and dumbstruck woman and looked out over the open expanse of the
great
"Wait,
Miss!" Shasta shouted, running to the edge of the dock. He peered over the
edge and shouted at the retreating figure. "You never told us your
name!"
"Have you
not yet guessed, Lord Mage?" She threw back her hair and waved her great
golden-scaled tail once at the pair of humans standing awestruck on the pier.
"I, Lord Mage and Lady Bard, am Corene." Both Shasta and Pirrin
sputtered for the right words to say, but neither could reply to the simple
girl who followed her dreams to swim forever.