Deepwater's Daughter

Chapter 14

"Water," Ysara's voice rasped, her mouth as dry as sun-baked sand.

"Hmn," a voice nearby sounded slightly surprised.

"Rasha?" Ysara whispered, blinking in the dim, greenish light of what she somehow knew to be a cavern. Perhaps it was the steady drip of water, echoing off stone walls that gave it away. Water, yes, that would be quite nice, Ysara decided, and she began working up the strength to call for it again.

"Here, child, drink," the strange voice spoke again, soft and almost friendly,

Ysara tried to focus on the dark shadow that loomed above her, but the stranger's outline wavered like a mirage in her sight. She felt a wooden bowl pressed to her lips, and warm water trickled from it onto Ysara's tongue.

She coughed and spat, finding it difficult to drink as she was lying on her chest, head turned to the side, on a cool bed of what felt like moss against her cheek. She tried to roll onto her back, but her arms lay like stones beside her, and her tail remained but a distant, vaguely unpleasant tingle.

"Slowly," the stranger whispered, dribbling more of the warm liquid across Ysara's lips.

Ysara lapped at the water, tasting something bitter, and faintly familiar in it.

"Tuskroot?" Ysara moaned.

"I've heard it called that," the stranger chuckled.

"But I don't want to sleep!" Ysara protested, her voice sounding like a petulant child's.

"But I'm not ready for you to wake yet," the stranger laughed, "I'm still considering what's to be done with you."

Who are you? Ysara tried to say, but the tuskroot was already doing its work, and her tongue had gone numb. At least the tip of her tail was moving now... no, it was gone again...

*******

Ysara woke again what seemed almost immediately, but she knew that hours had probably passed for her, lost in a dreamless sleep. She stretched her jaw in a lingering yawn as she pushed herself up from the mossy stone. She rubbed the feeling back into her cheek as she got her tail under her and looked around the empty cavern.

An almost imperceptible bluish light now shone from the far end of the cave, dimly reflected from some adjoining chamber above. Her vision had cleared now, but the stranger was gone. Only a pair of wooden bowls remained, sitting atop the broken trunk of a stalagmite nearby.

Ysara crawled over to inspect the offering left for her, sniffing first at the bowl of water. Smelling nothing, she flicked her tongue out, wetting the tip.

She tasted only a mineral tang like that of spring water, and, as thirsty as she was, she decided to risk it. She drained it in one long gulp and then turned her attention to the other bowl.

Ysara's eyes went wide with delight as she lifted the larger bowl to her nose. She slurped down the trio of plump fish, one after another, groaning in pleasure to finally find some real food.

She stacked the bowls atop the stalagmite table and looked around again.

Where was she? Was she a prisoner or a guest?

Ysara rubbed at the spot on her shoulder where the poisoned dart had struck. She fingered the frayed edge of a tiny hole in the fabric, and she frowned. It had been such a nice coat.

"Rasha?" she called out, hearing only her own voice echoing back to her from the cavern walls.

She slithered up the smooth, damp rocks toward the source of the dim blue light. An oblong fissure in the ceiling opened into a larger chamber above, and Ysara pulled herself up through the gap with some difficulty, owing to the slickness of the stones.