Water Sprite

Golden Door Chapter 17 David Home Free, part 2 of 2

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Floren ignored the old elf, having her eyes focused on the castle. “The front gate is bound to be guarded. We could swim over the wall at some point,” she suggested.

“Not recommended,” a new voice spoke, and David squinted to see who or what it was, thinking at first one of the mermen followed them. Then he imagined it must be a merchild because the voice had a child-like quality to it. A figure formed in the water, like one made out of water, and it looked to David like a jelly baby or maybe a translucent gingerbread man. The figure continued.

“Going over the wall sets off alarms. The gate is guarded, but my people can lead them away. Where is the son of the Kairos?”

“Here.” David raised his hand. He had learned he had to admit that much and there was no use in hiding. He knew his father was the Kairos even if he was still not certain exactly who this Kairos was. At once he found himself surrounded by jelly babies. They pressed up against him and swirled around him in a way that made him start to swirl with them. The current they created turned him around and around until he got dizzy. He swallowed hard when the swirling stopped, because he thought it would be impolite to throw up.

“Now the young lord can have some say over wind and wave if you manage to escape the creature in the castle and get back to the surface,” the first jelly baby said.

“My thanks, Lord Sweetwater,” Inaros returned a warm smile. The jelly baby turned to him.

“Don’t mention it, you old coot of a pirate. Just be ready to go when the time comes.” Lord Sweetwater broke the gingerbread outline that held his body together and blended back into the sea. It felt strange to watch. David found himself staring.

“Water sprites,” Floren explained for David. “They are as anxious as the rest of us to overcome Ashtoreth and the demons trying to destroy our home.” And they waited and watched.

It looked to David like a great fist formed in the water. The fist looked made of water, but it had the same kind of Jell-O-like look the water sprite used to hold his form together. It crashed hard into the gate, pulled back and crashed a second time. After it crashed the third time, the fist came apart into a hundred different sprites. Mermen, enchanted mermen as Inaros explained, came pouring out of the gate with cattle prods. Apparently, they intended to give the nearest sprite a jolt. Fortunately, the sprites were quick. They easily lead the mermen down the hill and across the underwater meadow, away from the gate.

“Now!” Inaros and Floren spoke at the same time and the swimmers made a dash for the gate. They would have made it, too, if a tentacle did not shoot out from the caste and wrap around Inaros. The suckers on that tentacle said this was no ordinary squid. A second tentacle caught David by the arm and a third caught Floren by one leg. The boys both screamed as the squid squeezed out from beneath the portcullis.

David screamed with the boys as he tried to peel the tentacle from his arm. Floren yelled for help as they saw Mickey O’Mac arrive with the strangest sight David had yet seen in this strange world. It was a knight in armor, covered head to toe in shining plate, riding a white horse, a lance tucked neatly under his arm. It looked to be riding as it might have ridden on flat, dry ground, and being underwater did not appear to make the least bit of difference.

The knight charged for the kill, but that is not what it did. One touch of the lance and the giant squid exploded, just like the water fist, but instead of sending out a hundred water sprites, it turned into hundreds of tiny squid that littered the castle hill and splattered against the castle wall. David watched as the knight faded from sight before entering the castle. “It just vanished,” he said later, to anyone who would listen.

Floren and Inaros recovered quickly and grabbed David. Alden and Oren were ahead of them for a change, and Mickey went right with them. They all entered the gate and came into a courtyard where they fell to the ground. The water did not follow them in.

“Hold it right there, you traitors.” An elf in bright golden armor stood in front of them and a dozen elves holding elf bows with arrows at the ready had them surrounded.

“Father?” Floren spoke to the armored elf who was in fact, Lord Strongheart.

“Did we transition to the upper castle?” Mickey whispered.

“Air bubble,” Inaros answered in not so quiet a voice. “The water is still up to the gate and overhead. There’s a storm above the sea, but not raining here.”

David had his hands up in surrender, like he had seen in a million movies. “What can we do now?” he asked to no one in particular.

“What did Angel tell you?” Inaros saved that question all through the journey. He was not certain Angel told David anything, but he hoped.

“Angel said, do not be afraid.” David came right out with it. He kind of whispered it and kind of asked it like a question, but the words were spoken. The elf in armor immediately doubled over like a man hit in the gut. Oren raced toward his father, while the elves around them fell to the ground and trembled. Floren followed her brother, but by the time she arrived, their father started recovering.

“Floren? Oren?” Strongheart grabbed his children and gave them great hugs. “But what are you doing here?” He looked around. “Where are we?”

“Castle under the sea,” Inaros said as he stepped up and bowed to his Lord.

“I remember,” Strongheart said, and his face turned to anger and hate. It appeared terrible to see, but he quickly looked away and into the castle where the demon Ashtoreth was located.

“No time for that,” Mickey shouted to be sure he was heard. “Dungeon first to free the ladies.”

“You can put your hands down,” Inaros told David, and Alden helped him lower his hands while Strongheart stood.

“This way,” the elf Lord commanded, and they headed toward the dungeon, but now as liberators rather than prisoners.

************************

MONDAY

James reaches the back door but it is no easier getting into the castle than it was for David. Chris also finds the castle door guarded. Until Monday, Happy Reading

*

Medieval 5: K and Y 19 Taken by Strangers, part 2 of 3

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Kirstie

Yrsa kept her elf ears wide open. She reported that she did not hear anyone say anything to suggest they were seen. Soon enough they got swallowed by the dusk and all but disappeared, a mere speck on the water. Father McAndrews said they were in danger of striking rocks until they got beyond the islands altogether, but Kirstie had something in mind. The women stopped rowing and pulled up the oars.

“Fardlevan,” she called, and realized the water sprite must have been following them as he jumped straight to the edge of the boat and saluted. “Fardlevan, this is Father McAndrews of Lindisfarne. Fardlevan, the water sprite of the Farne Islands.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Fardlevan said, pleasantly. “I’ve watched the good father go back and forth from the island of the monkeys and this island lots of times. I guessed the poor father can’t make up his mind.”

“No… Well, sort of. I’ve thought about taking up the hermitage, but I don’t feel the lord is calling me to that. I’m just not sure what call there is on my life now that I have aged a bit.”

“Aged like a good wine, maybe,” Yrsa said as she finally just about got the water out of the bottom of the boat.

“They are monks, not monkeys,” Kirstie corrected the sprite. “And we need to get to the Holy Island to warn the people there. The Vikings are coming in the morning to steal, kill, and destroy.”

“That sounds bad for the poor mudders who live on the interruption in my beautiful sea,” Fardlevan sounded distressed. “They live such short lives as it is.”

Kirstie agreed and asked. “Can you help us get there safely, help us avoid the rocks and all?”

“Better,” Fardlevan perked up. “We can take you there. Keep your oar things in the boat and we can make a current and carry you through the deep water to the shore.” The sprite jumped back into the water and in a moment, the boat began to move. It soon got dark enough so they could not honestly see where they were going, but Yrsa and Kirstie trusted the sprite completely so Father McAndrews hardly knew what to say.

“The sea and the sky are my friends,” Kirstie told him again.

“Still, it would be nice to see where we are going,” Father McAndrews said and looked out into the growing darkness.

Yrsa let out a yawn and said, “We are far enough away from the men and putting an island between us and them. A little fairy light should not give us away.” She rubbed her hands together and produced a fairy light that she let float in the air. She pushed it out in front of the boat. It did not light up the whole area, but it stayed a few feet up in the air and out front so they could see where they were headed.

Kirstie had to concentrate before she began to glow like moonlight. She kept as much heat out of her light as she could. Father McAndrews hardly blinked when Kirstie said she was filled with a piece of the sun, but she could tone it down. “I am a fire starter,” she reminded the man.

He just nodded. “And your maid?”

Kirstie thought about saying Yrsa was also gifted at some point. It was why they ended up together, or basically, a lie, but Yrsa spoke first.

“I’m an elf,” Yrsa admitted. “A light elf not made to wander around in the nighttime.” She let out another small yawn.

Father McAndrews did not look surprised. “But you are mostly human.”

“I am completely human,” Kirstie said sharply before she softened her voice. “I have just been gifted way beyond what I deserve.”

Father McAndrews smiled. “I was right the first time. You two are much like angels, anyway.” He turned to watch their progress. Two hours later they docked at the abbey on Lindisfarne and Kirstie thanked her water sprites for their good help.

Men, mostly monks came to the dock, having seen the lights. Yrsa extinguished her fairy light right away and said now she was really tired. Kirstie took a minute to figure out how to turn off her glow and agreed with Yrsa. “Is there a place to sleep?” she asked. “They won’t be here for at least six hours. They will probably come with the high tide when the walkway is covered with water.”

The men on the dock, some with weapons did not know what to say. Kirstie and Yrsa were dressed in their blue and green dresses, and Father McAndrews scolded the men for even having weapons. He got their attention when he said, “The Vikings will be here first thing in the morning. Any who wish to leave better hurry while the walkway is safe and while they can. But first, we need to see these angels housed and left to sleep, and then I need to see the abbot, so someone needs to be brave enough to wake him.”

“If the ladies will follow me,” one monk said. His fellow monk carried a torch.

Kirstie nodded her agreement, though she could hardly be seen in the torchlight. She considered what she could do to prevent a bloodbath. Nothing she could think of. She would have to decide what to do when she saw where they men intended to land, and when she learned if there were people foolish enough to not leave when they had the chance. “Good night sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest,” Kirstie said to Father McAndrews, and she joined Yrsa in following the two monks. The cobblestone walkway from the docks was rough and not well kept. The monks knew where to put their feet, but Kirstie and Yrsa needed to watch their feet. Kirstie made her flashlight hands to help, and only one of the monks let out a sound of surprise. Kirstie figured the other was the silent type.

They soon came to a room with several cots. The women did not say anything. They made beelines to the cots, laid down, pulled up blankets, and turned their backs on the monks. The monks hardly got the door closed before they were both asleep.

Yasmina

Al-Din and Francesco snuck into the garden to see the girls. Badroul could barely contain her excitement. She never did anything so naughty before. Yasmina looked at it differently. She knew if the boys got caught, they would lose their heads.

“Badroul,” al-Din whispered too loud. Abu the Jinn assured the boys that the guards, Suffar, and the governor would all be busy with other tasks and not have their eyes on the girls. The garden wall was not a hard climb. “Badroul.”

“Hush,” Yasmina said. “The guards are busy, not deaf.”

Badroul flew into al-Din’s arms. Their kisses were the tentative kisses of youth, but they got the hugging part down pretty well.

“You didn’t fly into my arms,” Francesco objected.

“You are still a stranger to me,” Yasmina responded, though she reached for the man’s hand and took him to a bench mostly hidden by the bushes. She looked down the whole time, even when they sat, side by side. He never took his eyes off her. Yasmina felt some anger at herself. She was not this shy. She forced herself to look the man in the eye and he responded.

“I know that you are a beautiful young woman.”

“You can’t see more than my eyes. How do you know what I look like?”

“I have a good imagination,” he said. “Back home, there are nuns who walk around in tent-like clothing such as yours, and they often cover their faces. Young boys have learned to use their imagination. It is a terrible, sinful thing to do, but all the boys do it. It can’t be helped. Beyond that,” he said and briefly looked away. “They say the eyes are the window to the soul and I can see the beauty inside your eyes. I believe that is the important part.”

Yasmina kept wanting to turn her head away. Her face wanted to redden, but she steeled herself and answered him. “Is that how the Romans conquered the world, through flattery?”

“No, that was hard work. The thing that made it worthwhile was occasionally finding things worth flattering.”

Yasmina smiled beneath her veil but got serious. “Can we come back to reality now? I still don’t know you.”

“But I know you,” Francesco said. “I have seen you around the home of Ala al-Din, my friend. I have seen how well you treat the servants and slaves, how you care for your horse, and how gentle, kind, and loving you are. There is much more to you, I am sure, but I believe it can only be good.”

“Ha!” Yasmina scoffed, but she nearly laughed.

Medieval 5: K and Y 18 Unexpected Meetings, part 2 of 4

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Kirstie

“Come on Yrsa,” Kirstie said. “Let’s find a soft place to sleep tonight, provided it does not rain. It will be at least another day before Ulf and Odger show up.” She raised her voice to the captains. “If they do not come here in three days, we assume they are not coming at all.”

“What do we do in the meantime?” Someone asked.

“Go fishing. Build fires and camp where we won’t be seen from the mainland. Send spies to the near islands to try and see what is going on in Bamburgh. Put the Scaldi to work. Relax. Smoke if you got ’em.”

“Smoke what?” Yrsa asked as they climbed over a small hill to the sea on the other side of the island. Kirstie did not answer, but she called to her blue dress and Yrsa matched her in green. It was not that her dress was warmer than her armor in the spring sea breezes, but because right then, she did not feel much like murder or mayhem.

Kirstie spoke again when they got to the other side of the island, well away and out of sight from the men. Kirstie looked back once but did not see their shadows of Kare and Thoren. “Looks deserted,” Kirstie said. “In fact, all these islands may be deserted.” They stood at the top of short cliffs and looked down on the sea, and Kirstie had an idea. “Vingevourt,” she called. “Are you there?” She did not want to make him appear before her. She sensed he was busy doing something. She looked up. “Cloud babies, are you able to speak?”

Yrsa stood still and seemed just as fascinated and thrilled as a human would be in the circumstances. The sea churned for a second, and the overcast sky produced two very small puffs of gray cloud that flew straight to her. One little green gingerbread man blob of the sea came shooting out of the breakers and landed softly on the clifftop.

“Lady,” the blob said in his squeaky baby voice. “The sea king is busy with the whales in the north, but I am here. How can I help you.”

“Lady,” the word came from overhead.

“And friend,” another word came from the cloudy puffs that came down to face her, floating gently over the sea cliff.

Kirstie had to think for a second. She turned first to the water sprite. “Fardlevan,” she named the sprite. “What can you tell me about the islands? Are there any people here or on one of the other islands?”

Fardlevan had to think a minute. “There is a family of gnomes that travel from island to island. They are nice people. They help keep the islands green and care for the birds that mostly live here. There is also a small band of fairies on the big island over that way.” He pointed. “They have been very busy in the spring since the wildflowers started to bloom and all the trees went to bud.”

“I think she meant human people,” Yrsa said.

Fardlevan looked like he pulled off the top of his head, but Kirstie imagined it was his hat. He tipped it for the elf before he let it blend back into his body. No one would guess he had a hat. There is one mud person on this very island, but he is hiding in the cave in the cliffs close by here. I think he is afraid. Is that the right word? Afraid?”

Kirstie nodded and turned to the sprites of the air. They blew with the winds, scattering the seeds, whistling through the leaves, lifting the birds into the air, but mostly they picked up water on their journey. When they manifested, they always took cloud form, and they always came in pairs, one male and one female. They said it helped keep the sky in balance and hold the sky to the earth, like the sky might otherwise blow off into the sun. They stayed in balance like their god or goddess, who presently happened to be a goddess for them. “So, Flitter and Flutter, what weather can we look forward to?” Kirstie asked the sprites.

‘Rain.”

“Some drizzles.”

“Some lightning.”

“Some thunder.”

The two sprites sounded like children, not like the cherub-like water babies, but young enough to where sometimes it was hard to tell which was the male voice and which was the female voice. “I hope it won’t rain too hard on the men,” Kirstie said.

“Just a good spring rain.”

“On and off all night.”

“Just enough to annoy them,” Yrsa said softly.

“We can push some away.”

“But only some.”

“And make the lightning strike the sea.”

“The water sprites like the lightning.”

“We do,” Fardlevan said. “It energizes us so we can make really big waves.”

“But we can’t push it all off.”

“Not all of it.”

“It is too heavy.”

“Very heavy and ready to fall.”

“Gonna fall.”

“Thank you very much,” Kirstie interrupted them. The little cloud babies would otherwise go on like that for a long time. “You can go back to your play now. Sorry to interrupt your good work.”

“Not a problem.”

“No problem at all.”

Fardlevan spoke over top. “Glad to do it.” He saluted, jumped off the edge of the cliff, and shattered into a million droplets that blended back into the sea.

“Good-bye. So long. Farewell. Good-bye.” The sprites of the air kept up the litany until they got beyond where Kirstie could hear them. Yrsa probably heard them longer, given her good elf ears, but eventually they blended back into the gray overhead and disappeared.

“Lady,” Yrsa got Kirstie’s attention. She pointed with her head and eyes and Kirstie turned to see a gray-bearded old man walking with a staff along the clifftop. He came straight to them and asked a question. “Are you angels?” The women shook their heads, and Kirstie responded.

“Why would you ask such a question?”

The man put his hand to his beard and looked down for a second before he looked at them and answered. “Because you are both as beautiful as I always imagined angels to be. And second, because I saw you talking to the sea and the clouds as if they were your very good friends.”

“A water sprite and two sprites of the air, and they are good friends, but that does not make me less human,” Kirstie said. “I am Kristina Arnedottir from Strindlos in Norway. My maid is Yrsa.”

“Father McAndrews of Lindisfarne. And I really suspected you were with the Vikings, though you hardly look like thieves and cutthroats.” He looked around to make sure they were not being watched.

M3 Festuscato: Saved, part 2 of 3

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“The Kairos is sometimes female, except then he is our goddess,” Mousden said, confusing poor Hrugen further who shook his head in bewilderment.

Gregor asked a serious question.  “I thought, didn’t you say there was only one God, or three?  Unless you count that devil, too.”

“The jury is still out, as Festuscato would say, on who in fact Lord Agitus serves.” Seamus looked serious.

“The almighty, surely.”  Bran needed no convincing.

“Judging from these little ones, I would guess mostly himself.”  Gregor stirred the pot.

“Well, where is he?  I must apologize.  It would have been a black mark on my family for generations to drown my own god.” Vingevourt ignored the Saxon and sneered at Luckless.

Hrugen mumbled. “How can you drown a god?  It doesn’t make sense.”

“He’s not here.” Mousden said, right before Luckless shouted.

“My tools!” Luckless danced.  “Blessings, Master Sprite.  Please let me beg your pardon for misjudging your character and motives.  If there is anything you want, do tell.  I would gladly make goblets of gold for your banquet table, if I had any gold.”

“No need.” Vingevourt became gracious in return. “The only thing metal is good for in the sea is rust.  So which one is he?  What do you mean, not here?”

“I fear he may yet be dead,” Bran said.  “And I will have failed in my mission.”

“Not dead, master swordsman.  Do not be dismayed,” Mirowen told him.

“Not dead, I know it,” Mousden said, as he flew around in several circles and tasted the air. Everyone looked at Luckless as he contained his joy for a moment.  Dwarfs have an unerring sense of direction from living most of their lives in an underground warren of caves and mines more complicated than any labyrinth ever conceived by men.  They can also find any other given dwarf in that place with a sniff of the air and a sense that humans don’t have.  Luckless sniffed, closed his eyes, turned three times in a broad circle and finally pointed up the coast and slightly inland.

“And that’s not easy out in the open air,” he said in search of a bit of praise, if not sympathy.

“Easy or not, we should move,” Bran said.  “If the Lord has moved off the coast, he may be a prisoner in this strange land, or in other danger and in need of our help.”  Bran immediately rose and began to remove the ropes from his improvised raft. He would need them to tie their things to the backs of their horses and pony.  Gregor and Hrugen helped by saddling the beasts.

They were off soon enough, Luckless on the pony, leading the way.  Mirowen rode behind Seamus the Cleric while Gregor, Bran and Hrugen rode the other three horses.  Mousden flew most of the way, but landed occasionally on one horse or another.  Gregor, good heartedly invited the water sprite to ride in front of him.  His horse bucked once when Gregor mounted.

“Settle down, supper,” he said to the horse.  He called all horses supper.  “You stood around half the morning getting fat on scrub grass.  Now it’s time to work.”

The water sprite seemed reluctant to ride at that point, but Gregor stared him down with his one eye.  “It will be fine,” he said.  “It’s a horse, not a plow mule.”  When Vingevourt got up, Gregor added, “Won’t likely buck more than a dozen more times.” He laughed, and then regretted his invitation.  “Master Sprite, you’re leaking.”

“It’s perpetual,” Vingevourt said, having turned his words to the British spoken by the rest of the party.  He was a well-traveled sprite.

Gregor thought about that, but he did not really understand the word.  “Aren’t you afraid you’ll leak out eventually and disappear?”

“No.  It’s perpetual.”  The water sprite repeated with some annoyance.

“Magic.” Mirowen turned her head back to explain in terms Gregor could understand.  “No matter how much water appears, Vingevourt will not get any smaller.”

“Oh,” Gregor said, and he asked the sprite to please perpetual on the horse as much as possible.

“Easy for you. You’re nothing but mud.  A little water might clean you up if it doesn’t melt you,” Vingevourt said.  “More than likely I’ll be the one who will get filthy.”

“Huh!” Gregor huffed, but he said no more.

The trail seemed easy enough as they came quickly out of the rocks and to a sandy shore. There were three ships there, well up on the beach, all in various stages of building.  One appeared just a skeleton.  One looked nearly finished.  The third, somewhere in between.  There were two other ships as well, like ships in dry dock, being in various stages of repair.

“Easy,” Bran whispered loud enough for them all to hear.  He nudged a quick finger toward one ship in dock.  There were a dozen men, some standing around, but most examining the ships in the morning light for signs of damage from the storm.  The men watched the strange procession, but they neither said a word nor did anything to stop their progress.  The danger soon passed, and Hrugen spoke as soon as they were clear

“Ingut, the shipwright,” he said.  “I would bet this is his place, unless he died in the last twelve years, then it would be his descendant’s place, or another like him.”

“Ingut,” Vingevourt nodded.  “I know him well and his silly splinters of wood he floats across the surface of my realm.”

“This tells us nothing,” Gregor said.

“He is a Jute, but he owes allegiance to no one in particular,” Hrugen explained.  “He will build for any king or lord who will meet his price.  Jute, Thane, Dane, Swede, Norwegian, Geat, Frisian.  It doesn’t matter.”

“So, Lord Cato might be safe, or in trouble?” Bran asked for clarification.

“Safe, I would imagine,” Hrugen said.  “His clothes speak of money, and his shipwrecked condition speaks of needing a ship.”

“Sharp thinking.” Gregor complimented Hrugen.

“Let’s hope Ingut thought of it.”  Luckless shouted back from the front.  Dwarves had good ears as well as noses.

M3 Festuscato: Saved, part 1 of 3

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It did not take long for Mousden to have the driest wood he could find stacked in a neat pile. Unfortunately, no one could get it started until Luckless came along from the opposite direction.  Dwarfs can nearly always get a fire started.

“Unless I’ve lost my tinder, too,” Luckless grumbled.  He had not, and in a moment, the flames rose with the sun.  The rain was over.  “I see you saved your books,” he added, with a nod to Seamus.

“It was Bran,” Seamus explained.  “We were able to stay aboard ship until there was nearly enough light to see.  The pounding of the waves made the ship lean more and more terribly to the weak side, where the hole was.”

“List,” Hrugen interrupted.  “Ships list, they don’t lean.  I don’t know why.”

“Yes, well, all that time, Bran kept tearing up boards and lashing them together with what rope he could find.  In the end, he said we were in danger of turning over altogether and he dropped the raft on the side closest to the water.  I got down with the books and Bran dove in and hauled the raft free of the ship, which by the way did turn over shortly after we escaped.  We came to shore, and it was a miracle the books are not more soaked.”

“Common sense.” That was all Bran called it.

“I don’t suppose you saw my tools?” Luckless asked.  The poor dwarf was still wringing buckets of water from his clothing. Dwarfs were not good swimmers in calm water.  Their legs and arms were too short.  They had a tendency to sink like stones.  The others all shook their heads, but Seamus turned and pointed to the sea.

“You’re welcome to take a look,” he said.  “The ship is not very far out.”  He pointed, and sure enough they could see the hull just above the water line in the distance.  It could not entirely sink, being grounded there on the rocks, but in time it would be broken to pieces by the relentless sea and become driftwood for someone else’s fire.

Luckless warmed his hands.  “What’s the point?” he asked.  “All is lost and it is all my fault.  If I hadn’t come along, you would have had clear sailing to the Danish coast where the Lord wanted to land.  I’m such a jinx.”

“No.” Everyone spoke together, but Luckless felt convinced.  The only reason they hit that storm had to be because he was a jinx, and he lost his precious tools as well, the last gift of his father, and now he would just sink into the rock until he was no more.  He felt miserable and he would not be talked out of it.

A couple of hours later, they caught sight of Mirowen.  They were hungry and just about to give up waiting and go in search of food, when she appeared, meandering sweetly down the coast.  She looked perfectly dry, her long black hair flowed in the light breeze, every hair in place, and her dress looked like it had just been cleaned and pressed.  By contrast, the men looked disheveled in their muddy, damp and wrinkled clothes. Hrugen’s blond head looked brown from the mud.

Gregor one eye was the first to notice that she was talking while she walked.  “I can’t hardly make out what it is, though, she is talking to,” he said.

Luckless squinted. His eyes in the day were barely better than Mousden’s.  “Water sprite.  I think.” He did not sound sure.

“Be back.” Mousden announced and flew off to greet the Lady.

Mirowen arrived with not one, but a whole train of water sprites in her trail.  They were true little ones, from eight to twelve inches tall and looked like a gelatinous mass roughly in the shape of a person, with a shimmer along the edge, which made a casing, like a nearly transparent exoskeleton that held them together.  The chief walked beside the elf and had a voice high pitched like a mouse, but sounded sweet as a baby.  The others, what Festuscato might have called liquid gingerbread men, carried all of the boxes and personal things that could be salvaged from the ship.  They also brought two more horses and a pony.

“Gentlemen.” Mirowen spoke when she got close enough. “May I present Lord Vingevourt, king of the water sprites and ruler of the Baltic.”

“The whole sea?” Hrugen asked, and looked ever so uncomfortable.

“No,” Vingevourt squeaked in Danish.  Mirowen had to translate.  “I’ve got a nephew in the North Sea, and a third cousin in the Channel.  I don’t know about the Arctic, what ice blob has that at present.”  Luckless and Mousden, of course, understood every word.  The little ones had the uncanny ability to understand each other regardless of the language, but even as Mirowen translated, the rest of the crew looked at Hrugen who shook his head.

“Not proper Danish,” Hrugen said.  “Jutland dialect which is difficult and has some strange soundings.”

“Odd pronunciations.”  Seamus returned the favor.  “Words are pronounced, not sounded,” he said.  “I don’t know why.”

Vingevourt continued while his train set down the cargo and dove back into the sea to disappear. “Imagine my horror when I came to discover through this fine Lady that I nearly drowned my own god in that storm.”

“Your god?” Hrugen asked.  He was the new member of the group and didn’t know the full story of Festuscato.

“Sure,” Gregor said with a sly grin.  “Didn’t you know your captain was one of the gods?”

“God only for the sprites of the earth,” Luckless said.

“God for us, too,” Vingevourt responded.  “Many sprites of the waters, the air, and the fires under the earth belong to him as well.”

“Mostly, you might think of him as the Watcher or a Traveler.”  Mirowen explained before the argument hardly started.  “But he is just an ordinary human to you.  That is inevitably how he or she is born.”

“She?” Hrugen raised an eyebrow.

“Of course.” Mirowen nodded.  “You don’t suppose he should always be born a male, do you?”