Young Writers Society

Chapter 32

We reached the coast just as the sun dove back down, to once more hide his glorious face behind the horizon. As Agar continued to swim at increasing speed, I tried to peek above the waves to a better glimpse at the land. Then I blinked my eyes hard, my vision being blurred from the burning saltwater, and stared hard at the shoreline. For there, pacing up and down on the sand walked a familiar figure.

The person was male and tall in stature. He carried himself with confidence, but his head was bent as if he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. His hair was long and shone a glossy black in the moonlight. His face was covered by shadows.

Fear gripped my heart in a vice. It couldn’t be!

Iyagi?

As if he heard my voice crying out, the figure lifted his head and his face became immediately bathed in moonlight. It was the prince. But he hadn’t seen me yet. I became hyper aware of the magical rope wrapped tightly around my wrists.

Agar had noticed Iyagi too. His speed slowed just a notch and he dove beneath the waves, pulling me after him. Subconsciously, I took a deep breath before being plunged back into the sea. But I let my breath out in a heap of bubbles as soon as Agar halted.

He turned to me. “That human,” he snarled, “He waitsss for sssomeone.” He tugged me harshly to him till we were a breath apart. Snatching my face in his clawed hand, the kelpie lifted my chin and began running his nose down my neck. I flinched and clenched my hands so tightly that droplets of blood began to mingle with the foam of the sea.

My mind went numb with panic as all other thoughts fell silent. Only one continued to pulse, it’s echo growing ever stronger with each repeat.

Not him!

I closed my eyes to hide my fear from Agar. This entire time with the kelpies, I’ve never been truly afraid. Excited, even at times a little curious, but never scared, though I didn’t know why. But now… now a friend, a companion, maybe something even more … he was in close to Agar’s clutches. I couldn’t let the kelpie take him.

I snapped.

Squeezing my eyes tightly, I focused hard, taking a calming breath and listened. A small voice, tiny and nestled deep within the core of my soul like a little mouse, stirred. Then it awoke.

And it spoke.

It was more of a whisper and didn’t speak any words or dialect. Yet, I understood its meaning, because it was me. It was something that had always been there, but I had never known. A familiar feeling, like the way I knew that I loved kwama, a sweet pastry delicacy, though I never had any before I had come to the palace. I’d forgotten again.

The voice got stronger. It stretched its arms and I could feel my blood begin to tingle. It felt like fire was coursing through my veins the way a river of blood-red lava pours along the side of an exploding volcano. Not only fire, but electricity pooled its static all along my head and down to my fingertips.

A strange sense of peace overwhelmed my senses. My ears opened and suddenly I could really hear. The ocean was breathing. Not soft sighs. But, heavy and labored, like it was stirred and troubled. Agar was speaking to it. Coaxing it to do his dirty work. I could almost hear his hissing voice in my mind. He was throwing out his traps to lure Iyagi closer to the water. And I could hear the prince take a step on the soft sand. He was stepping closer to the edge of the shore.

Immediately I reached out my mind. The fire in my veins pulsed and the electric statics buzzed as I stretched out my hands, begging the ocean to hold back. The sea of water paused, startled.

I pleaded again, asking it to take back its waves from the shore. With very little extra prodding the ocean seemed happy to oblige. She tightened and squeezed and I felt the ocean grow smaller as the waves, that had lapped happily at the sandy shore moments before, were suddenly snatched away.

Iyagi’s steps halted.

I opened my eyes. Agar was floating a few paces away, turned away with his back facing me. He spun around, an aggressive sneer pasted on his face and his fingers clawed out like a bear’s, looking for the intruder who had interfered with his work. He saw no one except for his prisoner who was gazing back down at her tied hands.

Spinning back around with a slight hiss, Agar closed his own luminescent eyes to focus, his fingernails slowly growing longer like a cat’s. I could feel his power. It was stronger this time.

This time I didn’t need to focus. The fire flooded my blood, its electric energy pounding through my veins to every part of my body. I could feel the ocean shift back towards the shore, being pushed and scratched by Agar like a cat would to the sheer curtains of a window. I grasped at the ocean’s other end and pulled. She immediately halted, but Agar still had a good grip.

I felt the invisible rope tighten around my wrists. Red welts began to appear where the magical bounds twisted and squeezed. They continued to tighten till cuts broke into my skin and blood drifted into the sea. The pain distracted me for an instant and Agar jerked the ocean back to him. He immediately flooded the shore, drenching Iyagi in water and causing the prince to drift closer into the sea.

Now another feeling filled my body. It overwhelmed me and was so strong that it completely numbed the pain of the invisible twines cutting ever deeper through my wrists towards the bone. It was as hot as the electric fire.

Anger.

Grinding my teeth together, I sucked in a deep breath, clenched my fists and pulled. The magical twine snapped. Sparks of white light burst in circles around my hands and a pulse rippled through the water, pushing Agar so far that he spun in fast, little twirls. I could immediately feel the ocean slip from the kelpie’s hold.

Yanking with my mind, I forced the waves to fall back, leaving Iyagi gasping for breath back on the shore. However, I didn’t have time to feel any sort of satisfaction, for Agar had stopped spinning. The kelpie was seething with rage. He snarled with mouth wide open, pointy teeth glinting in the light, and hands clawed out to strike.

Tossing his head like a wild, mangy creature, the kelpie yowled before rushing forward with furious intensity. Frightened, I threw up my hands and braced for the blow. But the impact never came.

A strange force pulsed from my heart, flowing up to my shoulders, down to my hands and through my open palms, before shooting straight out. Like a stream of water, the force struck against Agar like a shield, pushing him back so hark that he flipped head over heels.

The kelpie righted himself quickly, black hair swishing around his head like a bunch of snakes. A range of expressions crossed his face. He looked shocked and slightly mortified, then confused, before morphing into anger. With a swish of his mighty tail, he was upon me again.

This time I had no time to react. His claws were around my neck before I even had the chance to lift my arms.

“What are you!?” the kelpie hissed in my face. “You posssesss the powersss that ssshould only belong to creaturesss of the water!” His nails dug into my skin and I started to choke.

I opened my mouth several times like a codfish, but was unable to let out any sound. Frantically, I began hitting his hands, arms, shoulders … anything to try free myself. Agar’s hands only tightened around my throat, and for a brief moment I truly believed that he was about to snap my neck.

Then, the kelpie released me. “Explain yourssself,” he snarled.

I clutched at my neck and coughed, gasping for air. Thinking of the previous times Agar’s hands had been at my throat, I was dearly looking forward to when we would finally part.

“I don’t know,” I managed to rasp out, “Something must have happened to me when I was little. But I can’t remember. Getting the ‘kelpie’s fin of truth’ is one of the keys I need that will help restore my memory. Then, and it’s really only a faint hope,” I paused to glare at the kelpie, “Then I may know pieces of my past and puzzle it all together.”

Agar sneered down at me. “You are a creature of land,” he spat, “And no such creature has ever beheld powersss of the sssea. You ssshould be eliminated.” He made to move towards me.

Instead of backing up, I swam closer towards the kelpie. “You think this doesn’t scare me,” I shouted, “I don’t know who I am, or how this is happening! You want answers? So do I, and I intend to risk my own life to get them.”

Agar calmed down and his eyes took on a neutral, blank expression. “You are ssstill willing to take on our misssion? What if we dessside to kill you after you come back?” His eyes narrowed. “If you come back.”

I lifted my chin. “We both have something the other needs. I will be coming back.”

The kelpie pondered for a bit. Though all caring emotions had left with his heart, the creature was incredibly logical. He knew that I spoke the truth.

“Very well,” he spoke grudgingly, “Follow me.”

He turned and began swimming hard for the shore. However, I noticed that it was away from where Iyagi lay, who was still gasping from his unexpected toss in the sea.

Without the invisible line that had had me tethered to the kelpie, it was a struggle to keep up. Yet, Agar would wait for me catch up long enough so that he always remained within sight. It didn’t take long before we finally reached our destination.

It was a cove.