Light as a Cloud

Chapter 5

Meroch led Ayra to a gatehouse, from where they took a long stairway down. It led to what turned out to be an underground harbour. The torches on the wall shone a gloomy light on the boats that rested here.

"I hope you can swim with that arm," Meroch said.

Ayra was amazed. "Swim? Can eminns... Do that?"

Ayra had never been outside the swamp before, and in the swamp there had never been a need to swim. Not that there was even place to swim at all: the water was so full of tangled plants that you'd get stuck if you even walked through it, let alone swim. Eminns in the swamp just flew if they had to go anywhere. Ayra had never even thought of it that it'd be possible for eminns to swim.

"I know I can swim," Meroch stated, "but I conclude that you can't." He took off his black hat, stroked his hair and said: "Allow me teach you very quickly..."

Before Ayra realized what was going on, Meroch had stroked his hair to the side and revealed his deep blue eyes. In the dim light of the torches they almost seemed black. Ayra didn't react fast enough to try to look away or resist, and she felt herself falling under his spell. Her thoughts and willpower simply vanished and she just stared mindlessly back at Meroch's eyes.

"That's right," Meroch whispered, and his voice continued in Ayra's head: "Come here."

Ayra walked over to Meroch. Meroch took her hand and led her to the edge of the water, that shimmered in the flickering light. There, he made Ayra wrap her wounded left arm around his back, and he placed his arm under her shoulders. He took a deep breath and attempted to prepare for what he'd have to do next, and then he and Ayra jumped into the river.

If Ayra had been able to feel emotions, she would have been amazed at how the simple movements of their arms and feet kept them floating for the first moments. The water felt strange to her, as it was so much cleaner than in the swamp. She felt its cold embrace envelop her body, except for her left side, that was pressed tightly against Meroch. However, she didn't feel any emotions, she couldn't even think. Her body was controlled by a force beyond her, as she'd experienced many times before, because Leika had never missed an opportunity to use her magical eyes to enslave Ayra.

The two of them took a deep breath and then dived into the water together. Meroch guided Ayra deep into the river, until he found the lower edge of the floor. They dived under there, and then swam upwards again, and arrived in the hollow space under the very floor of Fennekirch. It was so dark here that it didn't matter if Ayra and Meroch had their eyes open or closed. However, Meroch knew the way. It wasn't that hard, anyway. He simply led Ayra to the left until his feet touched the slope, and from there turned right and started walking forward, slightly bent, because the stone floor was low above his head. He let Ayra stretch out her hand to feel, until she felt that one of the pillars was not round, but more like a half-moon, with a ladder on the flat side.

At that moment, Meroch released her. Ayra was suddenly on her own, and in a reflex, she grabbed the lowest step of the ladder, and hung there. She had no idea what to do with her feet to stay afloat.

"I'm sure you can climb a ladder," Meroch said. "I'm not doing that for you."

"I'm climbing already," Ayra muttered.

Her feet found the lower steps and she climbed upwards, until she encountered a blockade above her.

"Meroch," she said, awkwardly turning her head in an attempt to face Meroch, "I can't climb further."

"It's a hatch," Meroch explained. "If you push hard, you can get it open."

Ayra pushed hard, and the hatch lifted a little, just enough to allow a stroke of light to escape into the dark tunnel. However, it wasn't nearly enough to let anyone through.

"You have to push harder, Ayra," Meroch said. "That thing is made out of stone, you know."

Ayra let out a frustrated sigh. "You think I didn't notice that already?"

However, then someone up there lifted the hatch, and the blazing light now shone down on both of them.

"Who in the world," a male voice slowly asked, "is that girl?"

"Ayra," Ayra mumbled, and squinted. "Can I come in? I'm cold."

The man, that turned out to be blonde and very pale, looked down the ladder. "Meroch," he said, "I didn't know you had a girlfriend!"

"I'm not her boyfriend, brother, and I'd pity the guy who was!" Meroch laughed. He slapped Ayra's right ankle with three fingers. "Come on, cutie, climb! I don't feel like hanging here for half an hour."

Ayra clawed the floor with her wings and pulled herself up, solely to show off that her wings were strong. She found herself in a round space, about the size of a small bedroom, with narrow corridors on the left and the right. The ceiling was just high enough to stand for Ayra, but Meroch, who was tall, had to bow. The hatch was located on one side of the round space and on the other, there was a fire under a hole in the ceiling, that explained the light.

Next to the hatch sat the blonde eminn man. An eminn girl with long, messy brown hair sat by the fire, next to a guy that had similar hair, only a lot shorter. A dwarf with a huge red beard was sitting in front of the left corridor, and a bent over tall man without wings and with long, straight blonde hair was pacing in the middle. All of them were wearing black hats, just like Meroch.

"Folks," Meroch said, "this is Ayra."

The eminns by the fire turned around. Judging from their similar faces, they had to be brother and sister- perhaps even twins. The tall man stopped pacing and also stared at Ayra with his striking, bright green eyes.

"Ayra," Meroch continued his introduction, "this is our gang. That-" he pointed at the blonde eminn- "is Kayr. He's kind of the boss. Now those two-" he moved his finger to the eminns by the fire- "are Sheya and Selar. They're twins."

Ayra nodded, trying to memorize the names and the faces.

Meroch's finger arrived at the dwarf. "He calls himself Grey," he said, "and you should never talk to him."

Grey sighed annoyedly.

"Or about him," Meroch added, rolling his eyes. "Anyway, the elf's name is Athon. He got exiled from the elf territory in Grisenland or whatever status it should have, but he's pretty smart, so we adopted him as, basically, our brains."

"Nice to meet you, Ayra," Athon said, with a clear and melodic voice.

"So, what'd ya do?" Sheya asked.

Ayra widened her eyes. "Excuse me?"

"Oh, come on," Selar laughed. "Innocent people don't come here. Ya're a criminal, for sure, so what'd ya do?"

Ayra shrugged. "Killed my mom," she confessed as nonchalant as possible.

"So, hello!" Selar called out.

Meroch whistled through his teeth.

"Was it bloody?" Kayr eagerly asked.

"Reasonably," Ayra chuckled. "More glorious than she deserved, anyway."

"Sweet!"

"Cruel!"

"Details, please?"

Athon looked from the one eminn to the other, with a confused look on his face. "Please forgive me," he spoke, "but I really fail to understand your view on murder. I thought it was a crime?"

"Of course it is," Kayr said. "Killing is immoral."

"Then why do you glorify it?" Athon asked.

"We don't glorify anything," Ayra said. "It's a fabulous artform by itself. You must understand."

"Exactly," Kayr nodded. "And you, Ayra, deserved a spot in our gang." He turned to Grey and shouted: "Grey, go get this lady a hat!"

Athon scratched his head and sighed.