Catarina's Fortune

Part VI

The cavern was immense, much larger than Marcelo's. Its ceiling soared so high that it could have been the starless night sky above them. The black stone walls glistened with dew, and there, in the center of the cavern, was a wide, dark lake, its surface glimmering like polished onyx. Catarina stared with a mixture of wonder and disbelief. They were standing in the very heart of Peril Peak.

Her heart rose with a sudden rush of elation. They had done it. They had finally reached the end of their journey. She drew in a deep breath of the cool, damp air, laced with the ghost-like murmur of lapping waves. The fathomless dark waters of the lake were dappled with a faint silver-gold glow, brilliant streaks of light darting beneath the lake's rippling surface like miniature suns and moons or falling stars. With a tingle of awe, Catarina realized that the glimmering streaks were fish. Rather like the jeweled fish in the palace moat, but a hundred times more brilliant, leaving silvery-gold trails in the water behind them.

Frankfurt darted eagerly past her. "I can hardly believe it." His voice was a dry hiss in the massive cavern. "At last!" His yellow eyes gleamed, swimming with reflections of the dark lake and the silvery-gold flickers of fish. Catarina wasn't quite sure if she liked the look in them. Her stomach dipped uneasily as he approached the lake's edge, moving forward as if entranced.

Catarina opened her mouth to call to him, but before she could, a long, massive shadow unfurled from the darkest corner of the lake. It glided under the surface towards the center of the lake, seeming to unspool forth endlessly in a great, undulating black mass, scattering the fish in all directions. Frankfurt hurriedly retreated from the lake's edge, his eyes wide. Catarina's heart quaked with shock and alarm. "The beast!" She managed to gasp.

"Yes," Frankfurt hissed. His eyes had narrowed into gleaming yellow slits. "The Great Serpent, placed here to guard the fish." As he spoke, the tip of a scaly black tail as long as Catarina was tall slashed through the lake's surface like a whip before disappearing back under. It did, indeed, look as though it belonged to a massive snake. The serpent's shadow circled lazily, disturbing the surface of the lake and sending the fish darting away in silvery-gold bursts of light.

"But-" Catarina could hardly find her voice. "You told me the beast was either dead or sleeping!"

Frankfurt snorted. Scorn dripped from his voice like moisture down the cavern's walls. "The Serpent is immortal. And it never sleeps, not for a moment."

Catarina nearly staggered under the weight of her shock. A horrible sinking dread filled her insides as she stared at Frankfurt. "But then, it's impossible to defeat. Why did you lie to me?"

Frankfurt's tail swept slowly back and forth. His yellow eyes gleamed like lamps in the dim light, glowing from within with a dangerous cunning. "You are mistaken, oh puny human. The Serpent can easily be passed. It's quite simple, really. All it requires is a sacrifice."

"What?" Catarina stumbled back a step. The dread had begun to solidify into a cold, creeping realization. She felt slightly sick.

"A single sacrifice, and the Serpent will let you capture one of the magical fish from the lake. Don't you see, half-wit human? The fish are the treasure. Every one of their scales shimmers with magic. Just catching one would make me powerful enough to rule the entire kingdom. More powerful than the king himself." The light in his eyes had taken on a strangely sinister glint.

Catarina's stomach lurched sickeningly. She stumbled back several more steps, sure that her horror was written all over her face. "You-" The shock of betrayal left her speechless. Finally, the uneasiness that had been slithering through her ever since she stepped foot in the cavern became crystal clear as she understood. This. This had been his plan all along. He'd been deceiving her since the very beginning. He'd never intended for her to find her fortune. He'd been luring her here to use her as a sacrifice, to take the treasure for himself, to make himself so rich and powerful that he would be unstoppable.