The Quest

Chapter XII

Chapter XII

Nereida had been waiting for them in the shadow of one of the large pinnacles, and as they descended into the gloom she swam up to meet them, looking no worse than normal as she smiled at them in greeting.

Nalin looked at her, searching her face for something, but obviously seeing nothing that worried him, he smiled back.

“We should go,” she said as they met and held out her hand, her eyes meeting Anamaia’s and asking to travel with her. Anamaia put her hand in Nereida’s tentatively after a moment’s hesitation, and Nereida swam off, leading Anamaia by the hand as she wound through the rocks.

The four of them navigated through the rocks cautiously as the day wore on; Nalin becoming increasingly more nervous as it became later and later and by the time evening fell he was almost in a state of sheer panic. “We have to hurry,” he explained as he twisted through the endless rocks, Nereida just behind him keeping up with his punishing pace, “if we are still in here when night falls we will be in all kinds of danger; not only that but also it will be impossible to find our way out – you must have noticed how dark the water is, it becomes much worse at night; granted it’s already evening but there is still a fair amount of light at the moment, once the sun sets it will be pitch black,” he finished as he swerved out of the way of a rock which he hadn’t noticed at the last possible second, Ellaime’s eyes widening as he saw the pillar rush past him, inches from his face.

Not long after that, night fell; the already dark water became pitch black, as Nalin had foretold, and a number of times the two Nymphs only just managed to avoid large rocks which jutted out of the ground like spears. The atmosphere between the travellers was tense, the Nymphs were focusing on leading the party through the maze as fast as possible, and the two Duine were petrified, fear cast over them like the foreboding shadows of the seascape, the silence so deafening as to quiet even the sound of their thoughts, the chill reaching through to their bones and everywhere they looked all they saw was unending blackness, a blackness so impenetrable that they could barely see the others, even with their heightened senses; feeling as if they were suspended in a gloomy cocoon which provided no protection from the dangers lurking around every corner. Not even Nalin and Nereida, creatures of the sea, were immune to the fear; they felt on edge and were perturbed by not knowing what was around them.

They swam on in relative safety for a while, the only problem the tension spreading itself between the travellers like a web, twisting its tendrils around each of them and spreading itself through every vein of their bodies. That was until Nalin stopped dead and Nereida froze next to him.

“What is it?” asked Anamaia quietly, a chill even more unnatural than before descending upon them.

Nalin turned around slowly and quietly told her not to make any noise, not even to move if she could avoid it.

“Why?”  She said, under her breath, the eerie calm unnerving her.

He didn’t answer; too busy focusing on drifting slowly through the water, using his hands as little as possible to control his direction as he floated dreamlike past the rock Ellaime being pulled along behind some like a life-sized doll.

“What is it?” asked Anamaia again, panic making her frantic, but fear keeping her questions quiet, the water dulling the sound of her voice even more.

Suddenly the water surged, carrying them all upwards and backwards with it as it raged like a wild monster and Anamaia clung on even more tightly to Nereida’s hand, for fear that they might be separated. She lost sight of Nalin and Ellaime, their shapes obscured by the darkness and the rocks. Anamaia hurtled backwards as the water surged again, twisting like a rampant whirlpool and tossing her around. Somehow, she lost sight of Nereida, and it was only once she realised that, that she noticed their hands had somehow been torn apart.