Strange Reflection

The next morning I woke to find the day promising to be bright and sunny. My head was aching and my back sore from sleeping on the ground, but Fynn’s leather vest was still covering me like a blanket. I sat up and regretted the sudden movement. The ashes of the fire were next to me, the embers long since cooled, and Fynn was nowhere to be seen. I thought back to our conversation of the previous night. A spirit who dresses like a hunter and walks the woods, stealing the souls of the innocent. I shook my head. He certainly didn’t feel threatening to me. Other than crushing my hand when we first met, and cutting my throat with his dagger when he thought I was a spy, he had been perfectly kind to me. My earlier anxiety slinked back into my heart. Perhaps my soul was his all along. I found I hardly minded.

There were a few pieces of fruit and a small lump of hard bread waiting for me as I stood. Wherever Fynn had gone, he had at least left me some breakfast. I ate them hungrily, surprised at how famished I was, and tried to think back to the last time I had eaten. The ordeal in Ellena’s tent confused certain things in my mind, and I decided not to dwell on the past. Especially since I could not recall them clearly.

The bread stuck in my throat and I choked, glancing around for some water. I found none, but heard a bird call that reminded me of a duck, and realized where there were ducks, there was water. Stumbling to my feet and leaving the leather vest behind, I followed the sound through the trees. I was tired and my head throbbed, but the small part of my consciousness that remained rational questioned the fact that there would be ducks so deep in a forest, and so close to a battleground. I chose to ignore the nagging voice as I broke through the bushes and found a large pond that was being fed by a rapidly moving stream. There were a few ducks swimming contentedly on the glassy surface, and dragonflies buzzed around the tall reeds. I heard the deep croak of a frog and smiled to myself. If this haven had been so close, why had Fynn camped in the clearing? I headed forward and knelt by the pond’s edge, cupping some water in my hands and drinking deeply.

As I lowered my hands and glanced at my reflection, I saw a strange face peering back at me. It was the same face that I had seen in the tub in Ellena’s tent! The face regarded me silently, its skin as glassy as the water and its turquoise hair moving gently with the current. I smiled at it gently, and its blue eyes widened in surprise.

“Come out,” I encouraged, sitting back on my heels and waiting.

Cautiously the face rose from the water, its eyes never leaving my face. It rose until it mirrored me almost exactly, sitting on the surface of the pond with its legs tucked beneath it as if it were on solid ground. I could see right through it, like I was staring at the bottom of the pond itself. I saw it had taken a female form, perhaps copying it from me, but her long turquoise hair continued to flow about her head as if she were still in the water.

“You must be a spirit,” I said.

She nodded slowly but did not speak. At least I knew she understood me!

“Did you try to warn me before, in the bathtub?”

Another nod, more confident this time. She opened her mouth, but the sound that came out was like bursting bubbles and the trickling of water. She snapped her mouth shut, embarrassed.

“Did you bring me here?”

She cocked her head at me and reached out with her arms. They twinkled where the sunlight struck them, like thousands of trapped stars. Smiling, I reached out my own hand to touch her, more curious than anything else. Was she as solid as she seemed? Would my hand pass right through her? As her hand touched mine, I was startled at how cold it felt. She grinned and the expression on her face turned wicked. Her hand tightened around mine and she began to sink back into the pond, dragging me with her. I gasped in surprise and struggled, but she was moving too quickly. There was little I could do as I toppled headfirst into the pond. I might have cried out as the water consumed me, but I was not sure. One minute I was sitting on the bank, the next I found myself in the embrace of the pond spirit deep beneath the surface.