The Frog Princess Novel Book 1 (Completed)

Chapter 14

Following Eadric to the edge of the moat, I peered down into the water, thinking about how often I'd passed by without really looking at it. The moat had been a fixture, part of the castle fortifications that I knew we needed, but it had never seemed particularly important. I'd certainly never considered swimming in it before.

A breeze blew past, carrying the stench of decaying garbage. "Pew!" I said, wrinkling my nose. "Do you smell that? Is that the water?"

Eadric lowered his head and sniffed. "It sure is."

I stepped back from the edge, my stomach churning. Having grown up near the moat, I suppose I'd been used to the smell. Maybe it was because of my enhanced frog senses, or maybe the moat had gotten stinkier since I'd been gone, but for whatever reason, I now found the stench overwhelming. "I'm not swimming in anything that smells that bad!" I said.

"We don't have much of a choice, do we?"

"We could wait until morning when they lower the drawbridge."

"But then all the wagons and foot traffic will be going in," Eadric said, shaking his head. "Crossing the moat is probably the best idea. Just keep your mouth closed and swim as fast as you can."

I looked at the moonlight's reflection on the moat. The other bank suddenly seemed so far away, so high above the water. "I don't think I can do this!"

"Sure you can!" said Eadric. "You just need a positive attitude!"

"Fine! I'm positive I can't do this!"

Eadric sighed. "You're right. You can't do it if you don't believe you can. But don't imagine yourself failing—imagine yourself doing it. Picture yourself swimming across and climbing up the other side. I know you can do it if you really want to."

I closed my eyes and tried to picture myself swimming through cool, clear water, speeding to the opposite side of the moat and climbing the stones as if I'd done it every day of my life. Unfortunately, I could still smell the water, and the illusion was hard to maintain. It was easier to imagine Eadric swimming beside me, holding his nose with one hand and paddling with the other, saying, "Picture yourself as a bubble, floating across the water," his voice fading as he disappeared in a stinky green fog.

I giggled. "Now, that I can believe!" I said under my breath as I slipped into the moat.

I tried to breathe as little as possible, but it wasn't easy. The cold, greasy water made me gasp, and I gagged when it almost got in my mouth. Holding my head as high as I could, I tried to keep my face dry. A large glob of something soft and sticky bumped into me and I shuddered with disgust. Thank goodness it's dark and I can't see what that was, I thought.

"Emma, hurry up," said Eadric. "I think there's something in here with us."

"There sure is," I agreed. "There's all sorts of garbage floating in this water. This is disgusting!"

"No, I mean something alive. I just felt something swim past my feet."

A small wave nudged me forward, carrying me closer to the side of the moat. "Eadric," I whispered, suddenly afraid to talk out loud, "did you feel that? What could have made that wave?"

"Something bigger than a frog!" Eadric whispered back. "Here it comes again. Hurry, Emma, we're almost there!"

With the dry ground edging the moat only feet away, the castle loomed over us forbiddingly. Although I had always loved my home, I had never seen it from the moat before. Now I wished I never had. I kicked as hard as I could, arrowing through the water, and almost bumped into the fish. It was a small fish, only half as big as I was, but it startled me just the same. Its eyes were red and watery and swollen. It looked as though a third eye had begun to form between the first two, a shrunken eye that rattled loosely in its socket. Something brushed against my feet, but when I looked, the fish was still keeping pace with me. Evidently, the deformed little fish wasn't the only creature that lived in the moat.

When I finally bumped into the stone wall, I reached up and touched it with my hand. Eadric, who had already climbed out of the water, grasped my wrist and began to pull me up.

"Hurry!" said Eadric. "There's something in the water behind you!"

I looked down. Reflected in the light of the rising moon, a large silvery back arced above the water, heading toward me. Terror lent me the strength I needed. Digging my toes into the crumbling stone lining the moat, I fairly flew up the side and fell into Eadric's arms, knocking him off his feet. Something slapped the surface of the moat, splashing us with a wave of fetid water. Without looking back, we scrambled to safety as far from the moat as we could get.