They were well past the sleeping cat rocks when Aislin turned to Tomas. “I wonder why there were so many trolls by that bridge. I’ve never seen or heard of more than three or four traveling together. More than that and they usually get into terrible fights and no one walks away.”
“That’s a good point,” Tomas replied. “Something must have drawn them there.”
“I see a lake up ahead,” Salianne told them. “Do you mind if we stop for a drink? I’m parched.”
It was a warm day and they had yet to rest after setting out that morning. “Great idea,” said Aislin. “I’m sure everyone could use a drink. Just let Poppy check the water first to make sure it’s okay. I don’t think we can take anything for granted now.”
“Hey, Poppy!” Salianne yelled in a voice that made everyone within a mile turn and look her way.
Poppy came darting back, a worried expression on her face. “Is everything all right?” she asked.
“Yeah,” said Salianne. “I just want to get a drink from that lake. Could you see if the water is all right?”
“You didn’t have to yell for that!” Poppy told her. “I could hear you just fine when you used your regular voice. Everything you say carries a really long way.”
“Then maybe I should whisper,” the giantess whispered.
Poppy sighed. “That’s still really loud.”
“We have a giant with us,” Kimble announced. “We won’t be sneaking up on anyone.”
“When you have a giant with you, you don’t need to be sneaky,” Salianne boasted.
“That’s true,” Twinket said. “And I like it!”
“I’ll check the water,” Poppy told them, and flew off.
Salianne’s stride was so long that they reached the lake in less than a minute. The giantess knelt at the shoreline and set Tomas, Aislin, and Twinket on the ground beside her. A circle of water still sparkled from Poppy’s spell. “It’s fine to drink,” the fairy said as she landed and grew big again. “And great to swim in if you want to cool off.”
When the others showed up, Poppy was already wading knee-deep in the water and Salianne was scooping up great handfuls and drinking noisily. Aislin and Tomas took off their shoes while Twinket began to collect dandelion blossoms to make wreaths for all the ladies. Deela dismounted from the manticore and patted his shoulder. “Thank you for the ride. Who would have thought that riding on a manticore’s back would be so comfortable?”
“You’re welcome,” the manticore replied. “Who would have thought that orcs could be so polite?”
While the beast padded down to the water to drink, Deela strolled over to see what the others were doing. “If you’re going swimming, you can count me out. Orcs don’t float. Our bodies are so dense that we sink right to the bottom.”
“You can wade though, can’t you?” Lin said as she and Kivi led the fairy horse to the water to drink. “Pedrasi sink, too, but I’m going to walk out as far as I can to cool off. Getting my clothes wet will keep me cooler while they dry.”
“I suppose I could do that,” Deela said, glancing at the water warily. “I’ve never been in water deeper than a bathtub before.”
“Look at me!” Kimble shouted. She had already jumped into the water and was paddling back and forth past Poppy.
While Kivi, Lin, and Deela waded close to shore, Kimble swam at the edge of the deeper water. Poppy tried to swim with her, but fairies are so light that they float even if they try to swim under the surface. When Kimble discovered this, she dove under Poppy and grabbed the fairy, pulling her down and letting her go so that the fairy shot up to the surface like a cork. Every time this happened, Poppy shrieked and got a mouthful of water.
After Kimble had pulled Poppy under the third time, the fairy announced, “I’ll see if I can find some berries,” and swam back to shore.
Kimble was watching Poppy swim away when the little spriggan girl suddenly gasped and disappeared under water. Aislin laughed, expecting Kimble to reappear any second, but as time passed, she began to be concerned.
“How long can a spriggan hold her breath?” she asked, scanning the water.
“I have no idea,” Tomas replied. “I didn’t even know that spriggans existed until I met Kimble.”
Worried, Aislin pulled off her shoes and ran into the water. Taking a deep breath, she went under to see if she could spot Kimble. The lake was clear near the surface but got murkier in its depths. When she couldn’t see the spriggan anywhere, she really began to worry. She dove, finally spotting something below her.
It’s a kelpi, she thought, and realized that it was dragging Kimble deeper into the water, her limp little body flopping from its mouth.
Aislin knew about kelpis, although she hadn’t seen one in a very long time. They looked like horses, but they weren’t anything like them. Nasty and deceitful, they usually sought their prey on land, where they lured innocents onto their backs. Once seated on a kelpi, its victim was unable to dismount and couldn’t escape when the beast dove into deep water. Both her father and King Darinar had banned kelpis from the land between the mountains, sending their warriors to drive them out. Finding them here shouldn’t have been a surprise.
Although Aislin would have loved to use power in her voice to tell the kelpi to let the spriggan go, she didn’t have enough air in her lungs to do it. There was a boom and a sudden change in the water pressure made Aislin glance back. The fairy horse that Kivi and Lin had been riding was heading straight toward the kelpi.
Aislin stayed back as the fairy horse plunged past her, its legs churning the water and creating a current of their own. Reaching the kelpi, the horse bit the back of the beast’s neck, drawing blood. When the kelpi opened its mouth to scream, it let go of Kimble. The fairy horse slammed into the kelpi and shoved its own head under Kimble. While the kelpi swam away as fast as it could, the fairy horse lifted the spriggan to the surface. Aislin followed, gasping for air when she could finally breathe again. The fairy horse paused long enough for her to grab onto its mane. Grateful for its help, Aislin let the horse drag her toward shore.
Everyone was waiting on shore, with the manticore pacing back and forth behind them. Aislin hadn’t quite reached the water’s edge when Tomas waded out to help her. Seeing Kimble, he took the spriggan from the fairy horse and carried her to the grass. The spriggan girl’s lips were blue and she didn’t seem to be breathing when Aislin knelt beside her.
“Is she going to be all right?” asked Salianne.
“She is if I can help it,” Aislin replied. All she had wanted to do was help her fairy grandparents with the move and to keep everyone safe. Putting anyone in danger was the last thing she’d wanted. If she couldn’t help this one friend, she’d feel like an absolute failure.
Setting her hands on Kimble’s chest, Aislin closed her eyes and drew on the power in the diamond. At first she didn’t detect any sign of life, but when she found the faintest beat of the girl’s heart, Aislin knew that she had a chance. After rolling Kimble onto her side, Aislin used her healing powers to draw the water out of the spriggan’s lungs. A moment later, the spriggan was coughing up the last of the water.
“Are you okay?” Twinket asked her.
“I am now,” Kimble said, her voice sounding scratchy and weak. “But I don’t think I’ll go swimming again any time soon.”
“I don’t think any of us will,” said Kivi.
Aislin noticed that he had his arm around Lin’s shoulders. The pedrasi girl didn’t seem to mind one bit.
“I’m just glad the horse went after the kelpi,” Aislin said, patting the horse’s neck. “Poppy, could you please thank him for me?”
“It was Poppy’s idea to send the fairy horse after you,” Twinket told her.
“Thank you, Poppy,” said Aislin. “What made you think of it?”
“When Kimble suddenly disappeared, it occurred to me that there might be kelpi in this lake. My uncle was one of the warriors who helped chase the kelpi out of the land between the mountains,” Poppy told her. “He said that the warriors didn’t do much. It was really the fairy horses. According to my uncle, fairy horses are the natural enemies of kelpi and go after them every time.”
“That’s good to know,” said Aislin.
“I think we should eat now,” said Deela. “Poppy scrounged up nuts and berries. I have a couple of sausages in my bag, and Lin told me that she brought some bread.”
“And I have pastries that we can share,” said Aislin. “I have hardtack and dried berries, too, but we can save those for when we don’t have anything else to eat. Let’s eat quickly so we can get back on the road. We were making good headway before we stopped at the lake and I’d like to get as close to the mountain as we can before we stop again.”
They started back on the road sooner than Aislin had expected. This time Kimble didn’t hide her face in the griffin’s feathers. “I almost died, so nothing scares me anymore,” she told everyone.
Kivi rode the fairy horse with his arms wrapped around Lin, and they both looked contented. Deela and the manticore seemed to get along well; there was no question that anyone else would ride him.
“I’m sorry I didn’t notice the kelpi in the lake,” Poppy confessed. “I won’t miss anything this time.” She turned small in a sparkle of fairy dust and flew ahead of the others.
“I think I’ll take a nap,” Aislin announced from the crook of Salianne’s arm.
“That’s a good idea,” said Salianne as she strode down the road. “I always say, sleep when you can ’cause you never know when you’ll get another chance. No, wait. That’s what I say about eating. Well, it’s true both ways. Go to sleep, Aislin. I’ll keep you safe.”
“I’m going to make wreaths out of these dandelions,” said Twinket. “Do you want to help me, Tomas?”
“Uh, no thanks,” Tomas replied. “I think I’ll take a nap, too.”
“That’s too bad,” said Twinket. “You’ll be missing out on a lot of fun.”
The group moved faster now, eager to put the lake and the kelpies behind them. They passed through the forest as quietly as they could, hurrying when they heard something roar in the distance. Poppy came back a few times to tell them what she had spotted—troll footprints, dragon-blasted trees, and long, coarse fur snagged on twigs too high up to be from a normal animal. Each time she told them of something unusual, they hurried past the spot she’d mentioned, hoping to avoid any more trouble.
No one suggested stopping again until night was falling, but by then they had reached the base of the mountain. A breeze had sprung up, cooling the air, so they knew they’d need a fire to keep warm. They chose a spot far enough from the road that anyone passing by couldn’t see the light from the flames. Deela had a way with flint and sticks and soon had a good blaze going. Aislin and Tomas offered to take first watch, having napped for much of the afternoon. After eating the leftovers from their earlier meal, the others lay down close enough to the fire to warm themselves, but far enough that errant sparks wouldn’t burn them. When Salianne lay on her side, her body blocked the breeze from reaching her friends.
Aislin and Tomas sat with their backs to the fire so they could see into the darkened forest around them. Although Tomas started at each new or unfamiliar sound, Aislin focused on what the rocks in the ground could tell her. She learned of the smaller animals that scurried about on their own important errands, and the hungry night-prowlers that hunted them. While the fire drew the curious inhabitants of the forest, it repelled others who would normally pass that way. Aislin didn’t sense anything dangerous.
After a few hours, Twinket and Kimble’s shift began, allowing Aislin and Tomas to lie down near the fire. Neither of the little girls needed much sleep, and they enjoyed staying up to watch the night unfold. Kimble was especially good at seeing in the dark, and was the first to notice the eyes watching them.
“Shh!” she whispered to Twinket. “Don’t look now, but someone is in the trees to our left.”
“Where?” Twinket asked, turning her head to look.
“I just told you not to look!” Kimble said.
“Then you shouldn’t have told me where not to look,” Twinket replied. “I wouldn’t have known to look there and would have looked somewhere else.”
“Shh! There’s more of them now,” whispered Kimble. “I see at least four sets of eyes reflecting the light from the fire. Some are high and some are low. I think we should wake everyone and tell them.”
Twinket got to her feet and started to walk. In a normal voice she said, “I’ll wake everyone on this side and you can wake all the others. We can meet in the middle and—”
“What’s going on?” Salianne asked, sitting up to look around.
Aislin opened her eyes and peered into the darkness. When she didn’t see anything, she reached out with her mind, letting the rocks show her what was near them. There were seven beings out there who didn’t feel right. Although some felt human, even they were a little off. Two or three felt partly like animals, and some were almost entirely animals, but the strangest thing was that they all seemed to be changing. Realizing what they must be, she whispered, “They’re werewolves.”
“Werewolves!” Salianne shouted. “I’ve never seen werewolves before.” She stood up and turned to where the little girls were staring. “I want to catch one and get a good look.”
Now that the giantess was no longer lying down, the breeze whipped the fire, making the flames flare and bend while casting bizarre shapes on the surrounding trees. Although Salianne was fourteen feet tall, the shadow she cast made her seem even bigger. As she lumbered toward the trees, there was a yelp and the crack of twigs as the werewolves ran away.
“They’re gone now,” Aislin told her friends.
Salianne sighed and turned around. “Oh, well,” she said. “Maybe next time.”
When Tomas gave Aislin a questioning look, she shrugged and whispered, “She’s led a very sheltered life and has never ventured beyond a small part of Eliasind. Most of what we’ve seen today is new to her.”
Tomas snorted. “A lot of it is new to me, too.”
It took a while before anyone was able to go back to sleep after that, but nothing came near them again.