Down the Watering-hole

Sora cautiously lifted up a burning branch from the fire as she had been adding firewood just a moment ago. The light from this temporary torch made the two horns glint up ahead. Before Sora could react, the torch from Sora's hands was grabbed by Skadi who waved it at the beast in a desperate attempt to scare it off.

The beast halted and watched them. Its jet-black eyes were fixed on the four humans before it. Its tail flicked.

Please retreat.

Selis couldn't recognise the beast. It was a great bull but it had a large hump on its back followed by another smaller one.

The huge beast shook its head, breathing out forcefully. Skadi took a step back, terrified by the aura of the creature. It was at that moment that they understood what ‘wild’ meant. It was untamed, much more powerful than them and there was no telling what it would do next. One wrong move and that would be the end for them.

The fire's reflection in the eyes of the beast grew larger as it lowered its head and dashed at them again. Skald pulled a screaming Sora out of the bull's range at the last moment. It was an admirable reflex that Skald had shown. He would have gotten more credit if only they weren't being occupied by being chased by an enormous horned bull. Selis wasn't sure how she was even running ahead of a creature as fast as it. Her body seemed to have a mind of its own, which was not her.

"This way!" A voice yelled.

And it wasn't until the four had taken a sudden right turn, branches whipping their faces as they followed the voice. When one cannot think, in their vulnerability and desperation, one grasps the smallest hope of reason and advice. There was a gentle slope which they skidded down, the urgency making them quickly get to the end of it. A cavern lay in wait for them past the slope and it was then they realised that the voice had been familiar.

It was Sunne. He signalled everyone to keep quiet.

The hooves dashed past the cave and the noise of trampling of the undergrowth stopped a distance away. There were a few poundings on the ground followed by a snort. None of the four had noticed the cave while they had been running as the cave's mouth was overgrown with creepers clinging onto the stone walls.

The entrance was quite narrow. The insides of the cave were hidden by a veil woven from shadows.

"How'd you know it was us?!" Sora was surprised to see him again after he had left the group before, without any explanation.

"Shhh! Keep it down. The beast…It could still be out there." He whispered and then answered in a low voice, "You scream very loudly."

He had emphasised on the 'very'.

Sora emitted a sort of guilty low chuckle.

“Pfft.” The voice seemed to be Skadi's.

Sora perhaps had realised her screams could have risked everyone’s lives by attracting more creatures from the dark forest as there was no reply.

"Why did you help us?" Skald didn't even try to hide the suspicion in his voice.

A moment of silence followed. Sunne didn't know what to say.

"Because I..have the ability to help? I realised I could help others." Sunne's intention wasn't to argue back as it was said very plainly. Perhaps he hadn't even realised that it was such a good comeback.

"Thanks," Selis dropped to the cave floor trying to catch her breath after the dreadful encounter. She couldn't help but let out a chuckle even in the darkness she could see that Skald looked very confused.

Skald, not wanting to linger on the defeat, proceeded to change the subject, "Trying to survive in a damn forest, setting up fire, getting chased by an animal and hiding in a cave from the beast! I can't believe this! The caveman joke turned out to be true! I should start muttering mysterious prophecies." Skald folded his arms and uttered a few curse words.

"I'm tired." That was all Skadi as she retreated to the corner of the cave as if she no longer wanted to be a part of it.

"Come to think of it. Where's the torch?" Selis asked. The darkness was starting to get oppressive.

A guilty Sora spoke up, "It fell from Skadi's hand while running.”

She didn't mention the other part which was the reason for the guilt in her voice. It was her own arm that had bumped into Skadi’s elbow, making the torch fall as they ran.

Sora sounded like she wanted to run out of the cavern back into the forest.

"Oh."

Another moment of silence followed before it was broken.

"I'm sorry," Selis’ voice was quiet.

“For what?” Skadi asked.

“I think I heard the thing before it started chasing after us. I think I was the one who disturbed it.”

There were no comforting words in reply to her confession. There was no ‘it’s alright’ or ‘it's not your fault’. But she had brought the trouble so perhaps it was important to feel guilty for it. Nevertheless, it felt colder and she wrapped her arms around her legs as she sat.

The five were sitting in darkness without any notion of how much time had passed. They were to survive in the forest in the middle of the night, without a forewarning, when they could have been asleep, warm and cosy in their beds.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Urgh why are there mosquitoes here?” Skadi seemed annoyed. A whoosh and a clap followed…

"I don't really own the cave…or the mosquitoes."

Sunne said so genuinely that they weren't sure if it was sarcasm or if he was trying to sound helpful.

There was a noise that sounded like leaves swishing and a thud.

"A plant?" Sora had knocked over one reaching out to put it back upright.

"It's the herb that you were after." Sunne answered.

They were dumbstruck, “What? How?!” Sora exclaimed.

“I..did some reading yesterday. It's not a miracle cure like the one you were looking for but I'll see what I can do. "

"Why didn't you tell us before?"

“Was I supposed to report to you?" He fidgeted with a stone that he picked up from the ground.

Sunne’s demeanour wasn't particularly offensive or even strange to the ones living for a long time in the Institute. They had heard worse. Sunne gave off an aura that seemed as if he was more confused than angry. The atmosphere of the Institution had always been rather strange. Neophytes interacted in unusual ways as if everyone was holding back something far more sinister. Situations often took sinister turns too without the mediation of an adult. Peryton and the Spectres barely interacted with the children. This was precisely why Sora tried so hard to talk and get along with everyone.

She craved genuine interactions among the

indifferent looks and suspicious glares which she had grown up with. Their dark exhausted gazes. She didn't hate the owners of the gazes for she knew it was the atmosphere of the Institution that did it to them, without knowing they were contributing to it. That was why she tried so hard to form connections. She wanted to know their sides which were hidden away for years as they feared the exploitation of their softer sides. She wanted to see hope in their other faces.

"Sorry, I'm just not…good at talking. To people." Sunne spoke after what seemed like a few moments to do a lot of thinking.

Skald's excited voice split through the heavy mood prevailing in the cavern…

"Hey guys there's water inside. There’s a spring here!" They looked up to see where the voice was coming from but saw nothing. It was then that he walked out from what seemed like the walls, dramatically. “Surprise!” The omnipresent grin on his face was still there, however, it wasn't fake as he really did look enthralled this time.

"Oh my god. There's an entrance there!" Sora stood up and inspected the dark patch among the walls, peeking into the dark opening.

The five found themselves crouched around the water and drinking till they could no longer drink any more. Water had never tasted so amazing or looked so beautiful ever in their lives. Or as far as they remembered anyway. It is when one is deprived of something that one experiences the otherwise hidden life entwined in it.

The water in the cavern was a clear blue and it sparkled. A pristine reflection of the moon danced on the waves. Selis' eyes squinted as she looked up. She could barely make out the edges of a hole in the roof from which the moon shone through.

"It looks almost like an inverted night sky." Selis, now looking at the lake, took in the sight of the glittering lake, her eyes sparkling in quiet admiration.

"It does." Skadi nodded in agreement. She had seated herself on a rock. It was such a mesmerising sight. Perhaps it made running around the forest at night worth it. However, as beautiful as it was, Skadi really looked like she wanted to go back to the safety and comfort of the Institution and let out a soft sigh.

There was a sudden splash. It was Skald who had jumped in the water.

"What the heck?!" Skadi almost fell down the rock, startled by the sudden splash.

“What? Is swimming such a sin? " He chuckled and disappeared under the water with only his blurry dark silhouette visible, leaving his only remains, his black shirt stashed on the rocky floor.

“How is he not scared to swim in such darkness in a deserted place he has never visited before?” Sora asked after Skald was gone.

The ceiling of the cavern wasn't visible away from the ellipse where the moon shone through if one was swimming on their back. The water was rather salty. It was strange because no sea could be seen from the plateau of the Institution.

Swimming felt natural to Skald for some reason and he had known it since a mission long ago. While swimming the peace in his mind reflected the muted murmurs of the water outside. It wasn't long before this peace was disturbed. He heard sounds of splashing coming from up ahead. Wading in the direction of the noise, he proceeded to check what the noise was.

He could barely make out something disturbing the calm surface of the water. He followed where the waves were coming from cautiously. He did have a knife tucked in a pocket of his pants in case things took a wrong turn.

The source of the sound was nothing as sinister as he had thought. It was just a fish stuck in a net. The fish was somewhat big and had a large sail. He narrowed his eyes to make sure he was right. The colour, the long bill and the tapering main body, built for speed and power.

A sailfish? What's it doing here?

The water was somewhat salty but he knew this was no place for it to live in. It was meant to glide in the open waters of the sea. Swimming closer, his aquamarine eyes inspected the net. A lot of hooks had pinned the creature down yet it continued to wriggle with all of its strength. From the blood on the fish where it was hooked, he guessed it had been struggling for a long time.

“You know how to deal with fishing nets!?” Sora exclaimed and Selis watched carefully.

Skald, who was now fully dressed, didn't reply as he concentrated on pulling out the hooks and cutting the net that had pinned the Sailfish to the rocks with his pocket knife. Bruises had started to appear on his hands. He wasn't sure why he was working so hard for just a fish. Perhaps he pitied it as it splashed uselessly in this dark cavern, all alone, its eyes blank. The other four helped him pin the creature down as much as they could. They had carefully pulled the net with its victim into shallow water.

“There goes the last one.” He cut the last stretching net and started gathering the net. He didn't know why he knew these things yet he wasn't surprised. Nobody living long in the Institution was surprised when a new skill surfaced out of nowhere.

“I will have to sharpen my knife again.” He complained, checking his knife. It had become blunt.

The sailfish was let go and it snaked slowly into deeper waters before its cobalt blue sail could be seen halting next to the deeper edges of the lake. The four looked at Skald.

“Alright, I'll check.” He nodded and walked up ahead.

“What's up mate?”

He bent down and as soon as he did, it swam ahead a few paces before stopping again. Skald looked back at the others with a raised eyebrow.

“I think it wants us to follow it,” Sora spoke as her eyes struggled to see the fish clearly in the dark.

As silly as it sounded, none of them had any other explanations. As such the group, having decided without any discussion, followed the fish alongside the edges of the lake. Sure enough, its sail cut through the water at a pace that they could keep up with even though it could be gone without leaving any clue of its existence if it wanted to.

Sometimes they couldn't see the fish but just followed the noise of the water and at others, they just followed from mere instinct. The breadth of the edge of the lake kept shifting from just enough space to keep one foot to so wide that the five of them could walk together. The rocks, being covered with moss near the water, were extremely slippery and whoever was a step ahead, helped the others to catch up, making sure no one fell into the water. There was no guarantee which one of them could swim and neither there was any about whether the water was deep or not.

The sailfish quietly waited while they crossed. It was quite eerie; the creature seemed sentient as it had a strange wiseness in its dark eyes. It watched the rippling figures of the five teenagers from beneath the waters at its side. They supported each other on the treacherous path led by the creature, into the depths of the cave.