The Forest Keeper

Chapter Three: IN WHICH A Friend Crawls Out of the Lake

Kea ran her hands over her face and sighed for what seemed like the millionth time in the time since the beginning of the fairy plague. She wanted, so badly, to know what was going on. Her heart broke every time Petri the sparrow and his friends brought her a new patient. How long could this continue?

"Keeper! Lady Keeper!"

She looked up, expecting to see Petri with another victim of the plight. Instead, she was greeted by a small flock of birds – robins, finches, and swallows, mostly, with Petri leading them – with beaks parted in terrified screams and eyes wide and afraid. This was not another fairy. This was something else.

She stood up. "What is it, Petri?" she demanded. The bird perched on her finger as she held it out. "What's wrong? Why are you all so frantic?"

Petri paused for breath. "The... The lake," he chirped. "Something is there, on the shore."

"Who?" Kea started walking. She turned her head over her shoulder to look at Avanelle. "I'll be right back, Avanelle. Something's come up."

Avanelle looked up from the fairy she was tending to, eyes wide. "What? Where are you going?"

"The birds are scared of something by the lake. I'm going to go check it out. You stay here and look after the fairies that are hanging on. And if more die, come and find me." Kea broke into a run, jumping over roots and ducking under low-hanging branches as she made her way to the lake.

Sure enough, a figure lay on the shore. A thin, sleek figure with pale navy skin and a long serpentine tail. As she approached the creature, she noticed gills on either side of its neck and under its jaw. Its hands, splayed on the crystalline sand, were webbed, and long and slender. Its body was long, with toned muscles all over – its arms, legs, and chest were taut and looked strong, stronger than Kea could ever hope to be.

She knelt by the creature and touched its shoulder, or what looked like its shoulder. She shook it, and it groaned. It sounded human, almost, but its voice was gravellier, deeper than it should have been considering the size of its body.

Its eyes snapped open, and she gasped and jumped back. Its eyes were bright blue, with pupils shaped as vertical slits, like a cat's. It looked straight at her, eyes wide and chest fighting to rise.

"Take me to the water," it rasped, licking its lips with a black tongue. "Please..."

She stared at the creature for a moment, looking it over again. It looked human enough, with the characteristics of a human male, and it spoke English or some variant, but she was still wary.

He blinked, his eyelids flicking over his eyes from the sides. "Please, human. I don't have much time."

"What are you?" she asked, her voice cracking with nervous energy.

"Please..." His eyes fell shut, and his body turned limp. His hands unclenched to reveal two little marks on his palms – one that looked like a royal seal on his left, and a set of Greek symbols on his right.

She looked at his hands for a second, and then grabbed them and then started to drag him toward the water. She looked at his face, trying to guess what sort of creature he was. He wasn't a merman, because he didn't have flippers instead of feet. He wasn't a kelpie, or a Lorelei, or a siren of some other sort, unless he was hiding his "melodious singing" from her. So what did that make him?

He groaned again, his face hardening even though his eyes remained closed. "Lift me up," he breathed. "Dragging me... is just making things worse."