And The Wish...

She's Deadly Silent

"Down by the reeds
Down by the reeds
Swim the sirens of Oakvale
Out to the seas.

Down by the reeds
Down by the reeds
Float the souls left unbroken
by White Balverines

Down by the reeds
Night-blooming weeds
Embrace those who go dancing,
In sad moonlit dreams.

Down by the reeds
A twisted path leads
To Banshees who breathe out
A cold winter breeze.

Nobody knows.
Nobody sees.
The sirens of Oakvale.
Down by the reeds."

I begin to hum the song as I notice my voice cracked several times. So embarrassing! Luckily no one was here to listen.

The snap of a twig catches my attention and as I look over to the noise, my blood freezes over.

There was someone a few meters away.

A woman, to be precise.

Twenty, I bet.

And a beauty at that. And so thin and curvy, like those glasses of sand, whatever they're called.

With a body like I'm sure she's done some pretty impure things.

Actually I think I know she's done impure acts from the cleaver the size of a FREAKIN' DOOR on her back along with her less noticeable crossbow.

Is she my escort?

"You're my escort, yeah?" I ask the woman. She's oddly silent.

"I'm Sister Hannah, some people call me Hammer when they think they're being smart. They're not."

The woman tugs on her low ponytail, a few strands of dark chocolate hair falling out of the grey cloth holding it together.

For someone so lovely looking, she seems poor. Where'd she get that cleaver then? Is she a thief?

"I'll take your silence as a yes."

Her electric blue eyes glance up at me and down as if intimidated.

What kind of warrior is she? Obviously new, no scars, but experienced from her stance. Did she ever go into battle?

"Okay," I say, clapping my hands together. "All you have to do is follow me, I'm pretty sure today the Shadow Temple has their poker night, so no disturbance from them and they're the only bad guys so...." I hold the jug next to the Temple, lifting it over my back with a grunt. "You should stop worrying, or whatever it is you're doing. Me, on the other hand, will have to get my back checked after this." I growl. "Damn this jug is heavy, and no water too, isn't that crazy?"

Silence.

Well, actually I hear a bark behind the timid woman. I look around her and spot a dog, obviously a boy at first glance, very cute though.

"Hey, boy!" I say, bending forward a bit. "Ready for an adventure?"

He barks, jumping about, and I pet his head.

"Well then, boy, let's go!"

I begin to walk and as if it were a miracle, the woman follows.

Maybe she's deaf. That would explain all the silence and the reason why she was following now that I moved.

Oh, and she wouldn't have heard me singing either, lucky me.

And now I wish she could hear, the blasted door is too heavy for me with this stupid sacred jug to constantly carry. What am I going to do now? I can't just ask her, she's deaf.

But I don't know for sure.

"Hey," I began, if I was right, then I'll just be making a fool out of myself. Again. "Do you think you could open-"

The woman nods and steps in front of me, opening the heavy silver door as easily as one could do with a beer bottle.

So I was wrong.

At least she doesn't know I'm a fool.

"Carry on," I tell her as she waits for me to do something. She nods and begins walking, her dog (at least I assume is hers) at her heel and me trailing along.

Well she's not deaf, maybe I could start a conversation.

💪😤💪

"Woah, your good!" I exclaim as she lops off the head of the last zombie-skeleton creature, just as two thirds of the jug was filled. The lack of water from wherever it came from, signaling me to continue to the last spot. I don't know if I want to though with those dead men roaming around.

And they said the cave was harmless, yeah right.

"You know how to fight with a clever, I'm impressed."

More silence.

"Do you cook?"

Now I'm just rambling, trying to come up with subjects she might be interested in. I've been trying so hard and so long for her to actually talk to me, but she's so stinkin' persistent! She didn't even make a sound as she fought all those dead-men who lined the path back to the main room after leaving the first section of the cave-temple-thingy.

Either I'm bad at socializing, or she's antisocial.

I'm pretty sure it's the latter.

"Still not talking, right? I'm cool with that." I pause a bit, hoping for her to say something, anything. "Quiet one, aren't 'cha?"

Dammit, say something!

I mumble to myself as I put the jug back on my poor back. "We should be going, last room, yeah?"

The woman's dog barks, leading the way.

In boredom, I hum the words to 'Down By the Reeds'. I've always loved the song since I first heard it. So sad and heartbreaking if you really think deep about the words.

And terrifying too. I heard no one's encounter a banshee and survived. But then, how would we know it exists? Maybe it's just a fable.

But no one could forget what happened to Oakvale. Even if they weren't there when it happened. Obviously not, that was so long ago and few escaped the event. If the few were to make it, they'd be long gone by now.

"It's beautiful," I hear a smoky dulcet, rich voice compliment and suddenly my heart soars and I feel as happy as one would if they had all their desires granted, just from hearing that voice. It made me relax somehow, as if all the weight in the world was somehow lifted off my shoulder and suddenly the jug weight was but nothing. Damn, that euphonic voice is as smooth as butter. I might get jealous of this one, but she's a keeper.

Maybe I was the one who was socially awkward because anyone could fall under a trance with that voice.

I turn to the woman, stupidly smiling.

"The song? Yeah, it is. I've always sung it when I was alone."

One second...

Two seconds...

Three seconds...

Aaaaaaand we're back to silence.

I could really hit something right now.