A Choice

Chapter Ten

With four more nights to find the sword, I opened the map Vladmire had given me. I found the forest we just had exited and looked through.
"It looks like it passes through the mermaid lake," said Fiona with a shutter.
"Mermaids!" I said, acting like I was a young child. I had heard many stories about these creatures and wanted so very badly to see one.
"No, no, no," Fiona said as if reading my mind, "Mermaids are bad. Maybe we can find a way around it and still reach the sword in time."
"We can't," Jasper said, peaking his head up from the bag, "This Vladmire guy has got his eye on us and he will be mad if we don't follow his instructions, besides, we could go in the dark, when their asleep."
"Okay true," Fiona agreed, still looking very nervous, "There's a little grove of trees up ahead, we could rest there and eat. Once we get near the lake, there's no going back."
​When we reached the trees, we were surprised they were filled with fruit. Fiona made herself some food from her magic and Jasper and I ate some of the apples we found in one of the trees. Soon it was sunset and we started getting up and packing. Fiona told us to be quiet, for mermaids had very sensitive hearing. 
​"What have you against mermaids?" I asked her as we were packing up.
​"Besides the obvious killing people part, the fact that they hurt someone dear to me," she said packing her things, "My mother came into this forest and this way, her carriage had been robed and she was lost. She was wandering around when she came to this lake. She didn't know of the mermaids living there and was killed silently and quickly by one of the mermaids."
​Fiona looked away, looking like she was about to cry.
​"How do you know that, I thought no one knew of what happened to your mother?" I asked with suspicion.
​"The fairies saw her. They saw everything and after I told them my story they realized she was my mother," Fiona looked away towards the lake, "Well then let's go."
​In the darkness of the night it was hard to see exactly where I was going, but with Fiona's help we found the lake. It glowed a deep blue and swirled with different shades of blue. Around the lake were rocks of different shapes that glittered in the light that the lake made. As I looked around closer I saw a bridge going through the lake and on it was a sleeping mermaid.
​She was so pretty, but had a cruel look to her face. Her hair was a beautiful shade of red and had a flower clipped in it. Her tail was even more amazing. It was a mix of pinks, oranges, and yellows. It looked like the mermaid took the sunset and put it on her tail. She was the only mermaid I could see for now, but I was guessing the others snoozed in the rocks. I looked at Fiona who had a nervous look in her eyes.
​"We have to cross the bridge somehow," she said in my mind, just like she did when I was hiding from her.
​I gave her a nod and tried to find a way to step over the mermaid without shaking her awake. I looked back over at the beautiful creature, wondering how anything so beautiful could be so evil when I saw her move. I looked at Fiona at the same time she looked at me and guessing by the expression on her face, she saw the mermaid move too. We crouched down behind a nearby bush and peeked over.
​The mermaid that was on the bridge sat up suddenly and looked around, thinking that she knew we were here and would wake up the others I braced myself to use the knife Fiona had given to me. A couple minutes later and still no calls for people to wake up I looked back over the hedge. The mermaid, seeming satisfied with whatever she saw, started whispering to herself. The sound was hard to hear. It sounded as soft as the wind and the more I listened the more I came to think it was just the wind. Suddenly, gold wind wrapped around her tail and when it stopped she was no longer a mermaid but a human. She wore a silver dress and blue slippers and quietly came over to the bush we were hiding behind.