Chapter 9 #2
I chuckle, wincing when the cold water pours into one of my boots. “He’s just a horse,”
This time, Tristan doesn’t answer, instead pulling me deeper into the small pool running parallel to the dry path that led us here. I’m about to protest, anticipating more of that icy sensation on my foot, but instead there’s a pull, and I shriek when we both fall.
I grab onto him in panic, but as I expect cold water to envelop me, take my breath away and keep me hidden forever, we find ourselves in a pool of something what has the consistency of water but feels dry. I screech into this void when in the corner of my eye I spot Stone jumping in behind us.
Gravity shifts, and I regret having that nut bar before our trek, because it rises in my throat. All of a sudden, we’re no longer falling. Instead, Tristan is moving his legs to propel us up.
I have no idea what’s going on until our heads pop up above the strange, dry water. Tristan pulls me along the surface, and just before panic can set in anew, my knees hit the bottom of this shallow pond.
I’m gasping for air, and my heart is pounding, as I look up to meet the face of the largest moon I’ve ever seen. I crawl forward, suddenly terrified it might crash on top of us. “What the—”
“I know, it’s a strange feeling. Take deep breaths. If I explained it, you wouldn’t understand anyway.”
Tristan helps me stand up in what looks like a pond with a whirling fog nearby, where we first emerged. I yelp and fall right into his arms when a horse skull breaks the surface followed by a giant body with a black shiny coat, and a wet mane.
“That’s just Stone,” Tristan says in a reassuring manner, but when I meet the kelpie’s watery eyes, it finally sinks in for real that this is happening.
I have crossed into a fantasy world called the Nightmare Realm, and for the first time I’m considering what the ‘nightmare’ part in the name might mean.
“W—what happened to him?” I stutter out, backing against Tristan, because I need to see this terrifying creature at all times. Strands of purplish vapor float around us, adding dimension to the night, but I can’t feast my eyes on this new reality until I know it’s safe.
“I have said he’s a kelpie. This is his true form. If one may call it that. People argue all the forms he can take on are ‘true’. After all, he can grow a fish tail—Really, don’t worry about it. All you need to know is not to touch him with your skin.”
“Is that you, Prince Tristan?” someone yells from farther away.
Tristan looks into my eyes. “Make sure no one sees Lady,” he whispers to me and waves at a man approaching us in a cloak identical to the one he’s wearing. “It is indeed I!”
I can’t stop looking around now that my immediate fear of Stone is replaced by fear of everything around me.
The whole place is like a movie set of a gothic fairytale.
A giant red frog leaps from the shore into the not-water with a nasty burp.
A cool breeze is whispering through the reeds, and a building straight out of the Grimm brothers’ grimmest stories is a dark silhouette against the background of the moonlit sky.
Green light flickers in its windows ominously, so I hold the duffel bag closer to my chest, praying for Lady to not make a peep.
Because what happens if she does? Do they eat dogs in this Nightmare Realm?
Because if they do, I should have never brought her here in the first place!
“It is me, Crowers. I have returned and fetched Captain Gloombane’s promised,” Tristan says, leaving the not-water with a swish of his cloak. “I brought something for you too,” he adds, stepping in front of the other man, who narrows his eyes at me with a dubious expression.
“Truly? This is Captain Gloombane’s—”
Tristan straightens up in front of me, and it feels like he’s a wall between me and any danger we might encounter. I… never felt this way since childhood. I have a protector.
“Why? Is there a comment you’d like to make about the captain’s choices?”
Only that I wasn’t Gloombane’s choice. I’m weirdly self-conscious when I glance back at my shadow.
It seems pale in comparison to how it looked in my world, almost watered-down.
Now that its inadequacy has been mentioned again, it’s drilling a hole in my brain.
Have I really followed Tristan to a strange place where I will be valued even less than in my own world?
I take pathetic solace in the other elf not being nearly as handsome as Tristan
Crowers clears his throat and bows so rapidly I almost expect to hear his back cracking.
“No, of course not, Prince Tristan. Do carry on.” He spins around, but just as I hope to never see his face again, the man returns, pulling a scroll out of his cloak.
“I almost forgot. This came for you earlier, ser.”
“My thanks. Remember to make a note of our arrival, and that Stone is with us too,” Tristan says, already opening the rolled-up parchment. He looked so out of place in the human realm, and now it’s the crab hoodie that makes him stand out.
I glance at my own puffer jacket, hiking boots, and jeans. Will I soon get a fantasy outfit of my own? Those thoughts get cut short when Tristan huffs with frustration.
“Everything all right?”
He glances at me, and while the silvery glow of the moon adds more dimension to the color of his eyes, I’m still mesmerized by their golden hue. “It’s… fine. Just more paperwork. Let’s get Stone’s caparison and we can carry on.”
I lick my lips, studying the animal, which now appears even larger than it had in my world.
‘My world’. Am I really thinking that? Do I believe this is really happening?
“Are you sure it’s not in pain with bones out like that?” I ask, reaching out to touch the kelpie’s glistening flank.
Tristan grabs my wrist with unexpected force and makes me take a step away. “Nate. What did I say? Don’t touch him with your skin.”
Stone turns his eyes at me and… sniggers.
“Why?” I insist, a little rattled by the abrupt touch.
“You will stick to it. That’s what bad kelpie do.” The latter comment seems to be meant for Stone. “Once they get a human stuck to them, they drag them into the sea and… well, eat them.”
Stone whinnies in protest, as if wanting to say ‘I would never!’.
Tristan takes a deep breath and lets go of me with a smile. “We have octopus leather riding outfits for safety, but most of the time the gloves will do.” He reaches into a small, ornate saddlebag and produces a pair of black gloves that shine like latex. “I brought an additional pair for you.”
His smile is like the gentle sunshine I love to drink coffee in on summer mornings. Butterflies float in my stomach when, instead of taking them from him, I present my hand.
I still can’t believe this is real.
But it must be.
“What happens when they need medical attention?”
“The medics or alchemists will use the gloves or outfits as well,” Tristan says as he puts the glove on me with care bordering on reverence.
“If your wish is to learn more about the creatures of our realm, you will need to understand they don’t always work the way you expect.
Sure, a lot of them are flesh and bone, but even the kelpies—Look.
” Once my gloves are on, he points out several strands of seaweed tangled in the kelpie’s mane.
“How does a plant grow on them? Or is it from inside them? Or, as you noticed, how can they live with an exposed skull? Maybe you’ll be the one to find out. ”
I frown, looking between him and the kelpie. “Are you saying nobody did a post-mortem on one that has passed?”
Stone whinnies, but I follow him before he can back away, placing my gloved hand on his oddly cool neck.
My skin might be covered, but the octopus leather doesn’t hinder my sense of touch, and I swear I can almost feel the damp in the kelpie’s coat.
That seems to bring the animal some peace, and it hums, letting me pet it.
My heart soars. This feels like fulfilling childhood dreams of adventures among gryphons, unicorns, and dragons.
“Oh, they’ve been examined, but I don’t think the medics have yet arrived at all the answers.” Tristan takes his eyes off me, and stares at Stone’s skull instead. “Or maybe they have and I just don’t know,” he mumbles.
Is he… embarrassed?
“I’m sure those who do know couldn’t protect me from wolves,” I say and lean against him, letting my fingers climb through Stone’s mane, all the way to the hard shell of his skull. I wonder if this is really bone, or rather something akin to the shell of a tortoise.
Tristan lights up and before I know it, he picks me up with ease, reminding me why I’ve always had a soft spot for jocks.
He even takes care to avoid hitting Lady’s temporary carrier, which I still have on my left arm.
“No, they could not. For that, you need to read less books and pick more fights.” He gives me a kiss as gentle as it is filled with longing for more, and I yield, swooning while he carries me away from the pond of not-water under the glow of an unnaturally large moon.
“This really is a fairytale,” I whisper, twisting a strand of Tristan’s hair around my index finger. “Don’t tell me you have unicorns too? I used to be obsessed with them. I even had my grandparents get me that white Barbie horse, and then made a horn for it out of Play-Doh.”
Tristan’s grin widens, and he seems to not tire carrying me at all. “They’re hardly a common sight, but yes, they do exist. And if you love unicorns, you will love the tavern we will be staying at for the night.”
This is absolute insanity, and I can’t wait.