I said, otherwise she’ll drown you,” he tells me happily.
Lovely, sounds promising, I think, as I take a deep breath, watching as the imps file out from behind the waterfall. A thought comes to me as they all start walking away, back towards the forest.
“How do I find her?”
Stix turns around from where he’s plodding away. “Call her. They are curious. Don’t get summoned often,” he responds with a shrug, walking backwards.
“Thank you, Stix, thank you so much,” I say graciously, knowing I wouldn’t have made it here without his help.
His whole face lights up like I’ve just made all his dreams come true. “Pleasure, friend.” He waves, continuing to walk backwards as if he’s being pulled to the forest—perhaps he is. Once he’s out of sight, I turn to head behind the falls when a gust of wind brushes past and whips around me, caressing me as it swirls until I’m inside a twisting circle of wind. I should be worried, but for some reason, I’m not.
“Welcome back, Alina,” a whispered voice calls, and as quickly as it appeared, the wind vanishes, leaving me out of breath and slightly elated.
Welcome back? Why did they call me Alina? That’s what Vaeril calls me, no one else knows that name, I muse, as I jog to the falls. Sure enough, when I get there, I see a thin gap between the crashing water and the cliff face, and about halfway in, an opening that I assume is the cave.
Squeezing through the opening, I take a relieved breath when I see Vaeril lying at the back of the cave. I hurry over, take off my cloak, and ball it up, placing it under his head. His eyes suddenly shoot open, making me gasp as he reaches out for me.
“Clarissa—Alina?” His eyes dart around the cave and his brow glistens with sweat, and I know he’s not really seeing me as his eyes skim past me.
“I’m here,” I reply, taking hold of his hand. “I need to go find something that will help you—nos weed,” I explain, as I brush some of his hair from his forehead, untangling it with my fingers.
“No, the kelpies will get you.” He abruptly lurches up, and I have to push him back so he lies down, soothing him with my hands, stroking his arm.
“It’s okay, I’ll be back soon,” I promise, releasing his hand and wincing at his pained noise as I stand up and make my way to the entrance of the cave. I hate leaving him like this, the noises he’s making break my heart a little, but I will be hurting a whole lot more if he dies.
“No—”
Glancing over, I see he’s trying to push himself up, but he doesn’t have the energy. I steel myself and hurry along the edge of the rock until I’m past the falls.
Taking a deep breath, I walk alongside the lake, searching for a good place to do this. I don’t want to be too close to the cave in case this all goes wrong, but I want to have it in my sights so I can see if he tries to leave or if anyone else attempts to go in. I get the feeling I’m being watched, and a part of me is warning me not to get too close to the edge.
“Kelpie, I wish to talk to you,” I declare loudly. I’m not sure what I’m looking for, but when silence greets me, I wonder if I’ve been duped. I lift my foot to take another step closer to the lake when the water suddenly ripples in the centre as two pointed black ears poke from the surface, followed by two glowing amber eyes. Instantly, I put my foot back down, standing my ground.
When it realises I’m not going to move any closer, it rises farther out of the water as it glides closer to the shore. Its upper torso is out of the water now, and I see that it looks like a horse, except this creature is angry. No, anger doesn’t cover the level of darkness this creature has. I can feel its rage as it watches me, and it speaks to that part of me that is always angry, the fury difficult to contain.
“I need nos weed, my friend is hurt,” I explain, but as its eyes narrow on me, I know it’s not going to help me. With a loud, screeching neigh, its front legs erupt from the water before it plunges