Lodestone Book 1: Of Flood & Wrath & Thorn

Lodestone Book 1: Of Flood & Wrath & Thorn Part 9

'Dale, are you alright?' Irene asked in concern. The others drew in to help, except Henry who stood and chuckled to himself.

'There's a m... there's a m...' Dale stammered, pointing at the water. 'A mermaid! It said...'don't eat the fish'.' Dale's voice was weak, as though he couldn't believe the words he was saying. He got to his feet, seized a pickaxe and wedged it under a boulder at the pool's edge, where the water met the ridge.

'I have to undam the pool. The river needs somewhere to run. The mermaid told me so!' Dale yelled.

'Dale, no!' Henry cried, but Dale wrenched down on the pickaxe. The boulder rolled out with a crash and the water of the pool was freed. It cascaded down to the dry river bed the others had walked along and carried its load of fish, weeds and mud towards the icy blizzard.

'Oh God, she is not going to like that,' Irene whispered, aghast.

'Dale, what have you done?' Flora wailed.

'There was... there was a mermaid...' Dale uttered in a helpless voice, as though he still could not believe the words he was saying. He peeled some pond weed from himself and wiped away the muddy sediment from his face.

All they could do was watch as the water made its way to the frozen catacombs. There was a moment's pause before they felt a tremor on the air and a noise that could have been the soughing of the wind or a distant scream of anguish. With a crackling, crunching sound, a layer of ice rushed along the water's surface from the catacombs towards them. In a matter of moments it turned the waterfall to a veil of frosted glass and coated the surface of the pool in a crystalline pane.

There was a frantic splashing as the mermaid burst from the surface. It tried to break clear of the ice but was bound to the water. Everyone stared in amazement at the creature that writhed as it was bared to the surface and gasped in the air.

The mermaid was trapped, chest deep, in the hardening, frozen pool. Across the icy river that now led from the catacombs, the frozen cadaverous woman soared with uncanny speed, straight for the mermaid. Her dark shroud flapped and her mottled, ghoulish hands had their pointed claws outreached.

The woman snarled and wrapped her claws around the mermaid's neck. 'You! Trying to flush me out, fish-monster? I'll show you who these caverns belong to and save my little ones!'

Unnatural, foul witch! Curse you! The mermaid opened and closed its mouth, helpless in the witch's crushing grip.

'Stop! Let the mermaid go!' Cried Irene, in horror at what she saw.

'Shh! What are you doing? We'll be next!' Percy urged Irene to be quiet in a choked whisper. Henry made a desperate fumble for the last of his lodestone powder.

'I- I have your kitten!' Aisling shouted to the witch, and held up the kitten. It had begun to drip as it thawed.

'My child!' The witch turned to Aisling, and let the mermaid go.

Henry's stave ignited with magic fire.

'What are you? And what power is this that you have?' Henry challenged the witch, and pointed the stave at the kitten.

'No!' The witch cried and gave a wail of panic. It sounded inhuman, more like the noise from an animal.

'Answer me!' Henry demanded.

'I took this human's form...' the witch began, faltering on her words.

'Are you a fae?' shouted Henry. The kitten wriggled helplessly in Aisling's grip. 'You're not like any fae I ever saw.'