The two proceeded to the river and went downstream. There were sometimes some large rocks and even a ravine, that made the journey along the river harder but they were able to advance at a rapid pace nonetheless. While walking along the river they spotted twin swans slowly floating along the surface of the water. As they neared the swans noticed them and shyly flew off. As they took flight Emil noticed their faces took on a more humanoid appearance and gazed in awe. Iwo noticed the enchantment.
“There are all kinds of fairies and other mystical creatures around here. Don’t worry, after a while you will begin to grow sick of them as well.”
“I know what you mean. The time I’ve spent in this state it’s been nothing but weird and horrible experiences, but for now when I see something nice that doesn’t immediately try to attack me I would still prefer to see the beauty in it.”
“I was talking about how you will feel after you get used to all this.”
“Oh I see, well I guess I’ll have to see. For now I know that I’ve never grown tired of reading fantasy, so maybe I won’t tire of living in it.”
“Whatever.”
As they carried on they saw someone looking at them from a distance, partially hidden behind a tree. The person was barely visible with the dark green skin colour that blended with the surrounding leaves. In the night the only thing that enabled them to see the watcher at all were the faintly glowing eyes. Emil looked at Iwo with a worried look in his eyes, but he seemed unconcerned. Reluctantly Emil walked on, but kept an eye on the stranger. As he had to start looking to the side to see the being he tripped over a branch.
“Whoops,” he said reflexively and caught his balance. As he looked back to the subject of his interest he saw the stranger turn around and move away from them. At that point Emil realized that the upper body was attached to the body of a roe deer.
“This reminds me, I don’t think you really ever told me what exactly you need me to do.”
“I told you that you need to act as a distraction.”
“Okay, but you didn’t mention from what. What creature is guarding this girl?” At this question Iwo became visibly irritated and began rubbing his hands.
“He is not guarding her. He is keeping her imprisoned and away from me. Understood?”
“Yes, I didn’t mean it like that. I just wanted to know what we’re dealing with.”
“Good. Well anyway this thing is a vodyanoy. Some ugly water creature. Don’t worry about it, I will point him out when we get there and even without that you would know immediately when you see him.”
“Is he at least smaller than the leshy?”
“Yes, of course it’s probably only a bit taller than you.”
“What do you mean probably?”
“Well he stays in the water most of the time, so it’s hard to say exactly.”
“Unbelievable,” Emil muttered to himself. “What about the girl?”
“Her name is Amelia. What about her?”
“Well what is she like now?”
“Not that it is any of your concern, but naturally she is not some vulgar creature. She is also a type of nav like us, but a little different.”
“Wouldn’t she be at Veles’ glade if she was one of us?”
“I was about to get to that if you would let me. She has become a rusalka. They are nav, but they prefer to live by water and rarely move away. They feed on the reflection of the Moon on the surface of the lake. That’s why they don’t really need Veles. They feed elsewhere. Veles put them under the supervision of a vodyanoy.”
“Interesting, can we also feed on things other than what we get from Veles?”
“No idea, probably not, but I haven’t really tried much.”
“I see. Well what about the vodyanoy? How can I distract him?”
“Doesn’t matter. You can do anything you want.” Emil sighed at this.
“Do you have any suggestions?”
“Use your imagination. I don’t know, you can just pretend you are lost or something and ask for directions back. Try to get him to tell you a story about himself or something. That should keep him occupied.”
“All right I’ll try something like that. I just hope he won’t attack me as soon as he sees me.”
“Don’t worry he won’t. But you should probably steer clear of the edge of the water. Vodyanoy have been known to drown people.”
“Fantastic,” Emil said in a low and dissatisfied voice. “How long will I need to keep him occupied?”
“It shouldn’t be too long. I will whistle when I am done. Like this,” he said and started whistling. Or so he attempted anyway as merely the sound of blowing was audible. “On the other hand the signal will be owl hooting. Listen to this.” This time he brought his hands to his face, slightly displacing his mask, held his hands together and blew into them. For a second nothing happened as only blowing was heard once again. Rolling his eyes wasn’t really something that Emil did, but in this case he was seriously considering making an exception again. Soon after however the sound of hooting was heard. Emil flinched in surprise and looked at Iwo. The sound was really coming from him. It sounded impressively like an actual owl.
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“There we go, it just takes a second to get it right, but after that it’s easy to do,” Iwo said and immediately demonstrated another hoot.
“Okay, as long as no other owl decides to hoot at that time we should be good.”
“I’ll hoot twice first and then once more,” he said with an annoyed look. They walked on in silence for a while. After a while the land around them began levelling out. They could see the edge of the trees. Iwo put his hand on Emil’s shoulder.
“All right, we are near the lake now. Let’s sneak around to where we will have a vantage point so we can assess the situation,” he whispered in Emil’s ear. They began sneaking, along the undergrowth, surreptitiously making way towards an elevated part of the land that surveyed the lake. Once they reached the area, they began crawling along the ground to the edge. In front of them was a serene lake. Its surface was completely still and reflected the crescent Moon as if it was a colossal mirror in the middle of the ground. It was surrounded by a thick forest and beyond that was a small hill, followed by a mountain range. Some of the peaks were tall enough to show bare rock and there was even a hint of snow at the top of one of them. Emil was entranced by the sights and completely lost to the world beside him. He was roused from the dream as he received an elbow in the ribs from Iwo.
“Look there he is.”
“What, where?”
“On the right side near the shore,” Iwo said and pointed. Straining his single good eye Emil saw the creature in the distance. Only the head was visible. It was a strange shape, but hard to make out at such a distance and in the darkness. “I see Amelia on the shore. After I hoot for the first time make your way to the lake and start distracting the vodyanoy. Don’t stop until I give the signal.”
“All right, but if I start screaming for some reason, know that I will be running away.”
“It won’t come to that, I told you already. Let’s start.” Iwo crawled back to the protection of the trees and undergrowth and began circling around the lake. Emil made his way to lower ground where he could reach the lake shore quickly. He waited, lying down in the ferns and started thinking about his choices in life and death.
“Wait can I even die? Well I don’t want to find out right this moment.” After several minutes of waiting a hoot echoed around the forest. Psyching himself up Emil got up and made his way towards the shore. The air was eerily still and no other sound was audible save for the crackling of dry leaves beneath his feet. As he neared the lake though he began hearing faint splashes of water. The reflection of the Moon became disturbed and the disturbance was closing in on him. Emil took a needless deep breath and braced himself for whatever was to come, while keeping in mind the option to run away as fast as possible, hoping that a creature of the water would not be quite as fast on dry land. He stopped on a rock overlooking the lake and looked around in different directions to appear as if he was looking for something. The splashing grew slightly louder, but Emil still pretended not to notice.
After coming close to the shore the vodyanoy leapt out of the water, majestically twisting and spinning in the air, landing with a soft splash. The creature seemed like a strange combination of a man, fish and frog. His body was covered in scales, dark blue and brown on the back, becoming lighter towards the belly, where they were completely white. His head was that of a frog, with two large bulging eyes on the side of the face. The nose was only slightly pronounced and looked like two slits. Below those was a disproportionately large mouth, that could probably fit Emil’s entire head. There were fins on his back and limbs. His digits were webbed with a thin membrane and ended in sharp claws. After this impressive display his head broke the water surface.
“Greeting child. Would you like to join me in the lake? The water feels great.” There was a strange gurgle in his voice when he said the first words, but quickly vanished as he talked.
“Greetings to you as well kind sir. I’m afraid I won’t take you up on that offer at this time, I’m very sorry.”
“No worries child, I won’t make you do it. But should you ever change your mind you have but to ask?”
“Thank you, I will think about it.”
“So tell me child. Who are you and what are you doing here?”
“My name is Emil, who are you?”
“I go by the name of Zenon. As you can see I am a vodyanoy. I am the guardian of this lake and of those who live in the nearby area. Now answer my question.”
“To be honest, I am actually lost. I’ve been wandering the forest all night and don’t know how to return.”
“You are one of Veles’ people are you not?”
“Yes that is right.”
“Doesn’t that mean that you feel the constant pull towards his little glade? How long have you been one of the nav?”
“Oh it only happened very recently. There are still a lot of things I don’t understand about all of this.”
“I see, you are a young one indeed. Strange that you decided to stray so far from your place. You must be quite adventurous.” At this remark Emil gave a slightly nervous laugh.
“I suppose so. I’ve liked exploring forests ever since I was a small child.”
“Oh yes, the young days. There were so many escapades and misadventures. So long ago. You know that reminds me of so many stories, but I won’t bore you with them. I’m sure you will want to return back to your keeper as soon as possible.”
“On the contrary, I’m sure that I could listen to at least one old story before I move on. Please do tell me one of them.”
“Well if you insist, I suppose I could tell you at least one of the shorter ones. Well you might as well get comfortable. Just take a seat right there and I’ll begin.” Emil did as he was told, relieved that he was probably about to hear an incredibly lengthy tale. “Let’s see, ah yes I remember it as if it happened only a hundred seasons ago …”