Night Witch

Chapter 22

The first thing Karina noticed about the red water in the white fountain was that it smelled like salt.

Slightly metallic smelling, with a hint of the smell of meat. Karina dipped her fingers in the liquid, which made her olive skin look incredibly pale with its darkness. It was warm, especially for being beneath the cold canopy of the Forest of the Dead for so long.

Drink it don't drink it drink it don't drink it drink it don't drink it drink it don't drink it drink it--

She pressed two fingers against her temples and focused on the rushing water sound of the fountains, trying to stop the voices. For the most part, it seemed to lower them by a considerable degree.

"Hey, Karina," Hans said from atop the white fountain, breaking her from her reverie and causing a whole new chorus of voices to start, "there are words here."

"What do you mean?" Karina asked. And then: "What does it say?"

"I don't know." She frowned, and he gestured her over. "Come here."

Don't go don't trust him don't go don't GO--

Go. Go. Go...

She walked over to Hans and examined the words. They weren't like Moracian letters; they were something entirely different altogether. Rather like pictures, only not depicting anything specific; symbols that seemed to hold no meaning. Karina squinted at them, trying to make sense of the runes. She could feel something hot and strong behind her eyes as she concentrated on the words.

Read...read, Karina, the language of your mother...

"Can you read it?" Hans asked, sounding like a small child on Trader's Day who finally got to eat his penny candy. She sighed, a small smile playing across her features despite herself.

"No, I can't. Do you think this is--"

"--the language of yagas and warlocks? I think so." Hans clucked his tongue, and Karina's mouth suddenly felt very parched. "I think we should just drink it."

"Really?" She felt almost like laughing. "Which one, the pretty water in the black fountain or the red water in the white fountain?"

Hans shrugged. "I don't care, 'Rina. What do you think we should drink?"

None...of it.

Karina pursed her lips. "Neither of them. They're both too abnormal for us to drink."

"But we can't drink the tree water either?" Hans rolled his eyes. "We're going to die. Of freaking thirst."

Ancestors, her mouth really did feel dry. "Because we're going to die if we drink it."

"Maybe. Maybe we'll die if we drink it, we don't know. But if we don't drink anything at all we're gonna die no matter what."

"It could be a warning written on those fountains."

"Of course it could be! But we don't know that. Can we actually drink something?"

"I don't think it's wise," Karina said, licking her chapped lips with her dry tongue. Hans scowled, and she sighed, hopping down from the fountain. "I'll examine the sparkly water and see if I think we can have it."

"What was wrong with the red water other than the fact that it was...y'know, red."

"It smelled weird." She turned around to face him as he jumped off the fountain. "Very salty."