Ko-Rethal trotted up to us right as the apparition disappeared.
“So that’s – well, it’s gone now, isn’t it. But you saw it all?”
“We did,” I said. “And I’ve seen it before.”
“You have? When? Down in your town?”
“No, up here. Two nights ago. Our first night here in the Drearwold.”
“The very first night? A poor welcome to our land, then, wasn’t it.” He raised his eyebrows, which was a very notable and memorable action, as large as they were. “The same person, you reckon? If it was once a person.”
“Yes.”
“Do you happen to recognize him? He is clearly human.”
“I did not. Freydis? Caiside?”
They shook their heads.
“Well,” Ko-Rethal said. “Recognizing him would have been quite a flash of luck, I know. I was hoping, though, that perhaps you’d be able to speak with it while it was still right there before us. Ah well. But this is very important to your time here. We’ll talk more in the morning.”
“Do you think it will appear again?”
“No. Once a night seems to do it, for him.”
“Has it made threats before, the way it did toward the end there?”
Ko-Rethal nodded.
“And even worse than that one. Much worse.”
*
In the morning Ko-Rethal returned, accompanied by two others who brought us bowls of porridge. I realized they must have picked some of the largest bowls they had, for us.
“It’s quite an effort to feed creatures of your size,” he said. “These could feed six of us, each.”
Again it was hard to thank him properly given that we were still chained captives.
“So then,” he continued. “That vision last night. That’s why we have brought you here.”
“Just to see it?” I asked.
“No, to help us get rid of it. Since you are humans. It’s one of you, after all. We’re hoping it might respond to you. Or that you might have ideas about how to – appease it. Assist it. Whatever, just so long as it leaves. Or, you know, moves along.”
“It said it would not come here again,” I pointed out. “Maybe it won’t? Maybe it’s done with its visits?”
“It always says that, though,” Ko-Rethal answered.
“How long has it been coming here?”
“About six months, now. Not every night, but many. And we see it elsewhere. Especially just to the north of here.”
“Does it always tend to appear by this big pool of yours, when it comes?”
“It does now, because that’s where we’ve taken to sleeping. In the beginning, though, it appeared in our individual sleeping chambers. Back in those tunnels. Right by our beds. Imagine how disturbing that was.”
“I think I can,” I said. “Having seen it already.”
“Did you tell your companions here about it right away? The night you saw it?”
“I did.”
“Well. Interesting. For us, our people didn’t want to admit the visits to others for quite some time. So as not to appear – crazed, you know. Many of us were thinking that no one would believe our story about this apparition, but it turned out it was visiting a number of us repeatedly. When someone finally mentioned it – well, the reaction and flood of relief was something, I’ll tell you. But it was only a measure of relief, because it kept appearing.”
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“And you see it elsewhere?”
“We do. And we know where it – lives. North of here, in an ancient tower.”
“How do you know that? You’ve seen it there too?”
“Well, in that area, yes. We have avoided going into that tower for many years, even before we knew of this haunt. But also, the apparition has simply told us several times that it dwells there. So we want to take you there. To see if you can appease it, and end it.”
“How would we do that?”
“Well, that I don’t know. But we think other humans will have a better chance than we would. So that is our proposition, for you. You accompany us to the tower, try to convince that apparition to – dissipate; and then we release you, and give you back your belongings.”
“What if we fail?”
“You could still go,” Ko-Rethal said. He nodded. “Fair enough. You would have tried.”
“Well. How far of a journey is it to this tower?”
“Two days, one night. But we won’t be walking.”
“How is that?”
“We can’t go above ground. Not too far north of us, here, and then all the way to the tower, there are hill trolls. They attack all who trespass – as they see it – in their domain. So we will travel underground. This same slow stream here that feeds and drains our pool runs down from the north, in tunnels. There is plenty of headroom, even for you. We will travel up there that way, in boats. A good-sized party of us.”
“For two days?” I asked.
“Yes. It will be a unique voyage, for you.”
“Do you have boats large enough for us?”
“A good question, but we do. We consider them ample cargo vessels, of course. But they will fit you well enough.”
“You make this journey regularly?”
“Oh yes. And we hope to have others come make it, too. Our current circumstances, what with this apparition, are not – ideal, of course, but eventually . . . ”
Ko-Rethal then turned from us and shouted:
“I need some singers! Right now! The invitation song.”
The others had largely finished breakfasting, and a number rose and scrambled over to accompany their leader in another song.
“Ready now?” Ko-Rethal asked them.
They all faced us, and began singing. They danced around, too, waving their arms and doing some kicks:
Come along and paddle korred boats through our caverns!
Journey here and eat roast giant newts at the taverns!
Come and see the underground grand river in Stillwold!
Ancient lakes and serpentining passages will hold
Stalactites!
And cave sights –
Like phosphorescent frogs!
And ambitious polliwogs!
Visit us and we will show you tenebrous islands!
Take a break from climbing slopes out there in the highlands!
Korred hospitality is under-respected!
No one’s come to tour here yet who’s not been affected –
By our spirited dancing,
and our folktales – entrancing!
And don’t worry about hill trolls
since we’re under the Stillwold!
Go to Enkel Kanindal to just stare at sad sheep!
Or walk up to the Rupestrine to look for a death leap!
But here among the korreds we will build you a bonfire!
Welcome you with bouquets of our sumpweed and swamp-briar!
The korreds ended their dance with a step toward us, all facing sideways. Ko-Rethal, for his part, brandished his spear over his head.
“That’s all intriguing,” I told him. “What’s that about taverns on the journey? You have them around here?”
“Well, no, not yet. We haven’t had enough visitors actually come to warrant them, I’m afraid. But someday soon.”
“You know,” Freydis told him, “if you hope to have visitors here, travelers who want to partake of your . . . sights, you shouldn’t ambush them and take away their belongings and bind them.”
“Of course, of course. These are exigencies of the present.”
.
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Froshea, CC BY-SA 4.0