A Wish To Grant

ch.3

It seems to be a busy day, there are so many people around the lake. I count how many voices I hear. Four, five,six… seven, eight, nine. I continue to count until I recognise all the voices. There are 12 of them. All men, and most of them have some sort of armor and weapons. They seem to get rowdy easily. Makes me want to join them but I doubt they would react kindly to a woman wanting to join their sparing. Eventually they are yelled at. It goes quiet. Hours pass and it seems they’ve calmed down for the rest of the day. Eventually the shadow of the cliff covers over the lake and it gets hard to see. It's the full moon tonight isn't it? I wonder if someones going to make a wish. I might need to say yes to it so I can check my throat. I might need to heal it, despite me not wanting to. 

The night seems to come quickly, the men are being as quiet as a mouse. I guess they had a real talking to. 

I hear fires pop and crack as the night goes on. I listen to their quiet whispers and fits of laughter as the night goes on, but sadly their conversations turn to snores. No one will come if they're guarding it. Is what they want. 

“Goddess” a mans voice says 

He sounded almost nervous. 

He takes a deep breath “goddess please follow me to the capitol to heal my mother, she's sick and i'm not sure how long she has.” 

Blood instantly fills the lake, so much, more than that young man spilled a month ago. 

The capital, I'm not sure how far that is. Maybe some time away will be good. Plus I already said I would say yes to whoever came so I could check on my throat. I wait till the blood fades away then I start to break free of the cold, dirty sand. Once free I climb my way to the surface sinking in with each step I take. Finally the sand is replaced with small flakes of rocks and I'm able to stand without sinking into the ground. I arrive at the bank and lay on the ground waiting for my energy to come back to me. I attempt to breathe but water forces its way out of my lungs. I'm surprised the men from before are still asleep with how much I coughed up. I continue to lay there breathing, making sure my lungs are clear of water. I then try to speak. Nothing. My voice is gone, and not the airy or raspy gone. I mean its gone, I'm like a mute person. I try to squeak and a small one comes out but it hurts. No talking for me i guess. 

I sigh and look around. I see a note the man left for me.

It seems he is in one of the tents that are up, but he says there's also one prepared for me. I follow the directions the note has. This tent belongs to the one who made the wish and the one next to it is mine. I walk in and see there's a bed with sleeping clothes on it. It seems we're leaving in the morning. I sigh and change out my wet clothes for the night clothes. I lay in the bed and I already feel myself falling asleep. I've been awake far too long.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They're so loud. Every footstep whispers, and breath rings in my ears once the morning comes. They ask each other stupid questions like “did you take my socks” or "when is breakfast going to be made". 

I even hear weird questions like “do you think the goddess is a beauty"  

I see no reason why that's relevant. 

I shove my ear into my pillow and cover the other with my hand. Everything is muffled now. I might be able to fall asleep if I could keep my hand where it is. Minutes pass and eventually I hear a voice close to me. I move my hand and hear a soldier waking up the man in the tent next to me. 

Highness huh… never thought a prince would ask a goddess for help. You'd think they would have the money to get medical care. 

"Is the goddess here" he gowns