Eren had always lived among the rocks and waves of Brind, a small fishing village just down the coast from Nargathrum. She dived for pearls there, plunging deep into the tunnels and furrows beneath the rocks to gather up oysters and mussels to fill the little mesh bag she kept and then crack open on the surface. Usually there would be nothing in them but meat to feed her family but sometimes there would be a pearl and so she called herself a pearl diver.
When there was a pearl she and her sisters would celebrate and dance out by the fire before setting off for Nargathrum in the morning to sell it. Eren didn’t mind diving into the tossing and writhing ocean next to jagged rocks and shells but going into that city terrified her. The huge black guildspires towered overhead, each one bearing the symbols of its particular guild. Even the Fisher Guild, who they dealt with the most, was far too industrial, far too imposing to be inviting. And the streets were always dirty and brimming with people who were even dirtier. Despite living on a coastal city Eren believed that most of them had never been in the ocean judging by their smell. So her and her sisters would stick together and travel to and from the Fisher Guild as fast as possible, making sure to keep their pearl and later their payment, as out of view and safe as possible.
They’d return home and dance once more having earned likely enough money to live off for weeks. Eren wouldn’t stop pearl diving though, she loved it. The only time she would stop was during the scarper season when she went fishing for those instead. They were almost impossible to catch by conventional methods as they had no interest in bait, instead tearing up the seafloor with their jagged gyrating mouths. They lived far out at sea most of the time and grew huge, almost as big as people sometimes, and they were vicious.
Eren’s father had taught her how to hunt them a long time ago and she’d been doing it every year since. There was only one way to do it, swim down with a fisher spear to the depths where they lived and try to stick one before it attacked you and tore you apart with those terrible gyrating jaws. You had to be fast and you had to be accurate. Most of the scarper was just meat or muscle and stabbing it there just made it angry, only getting the brain or the heart was guaranteed to work. Eren always got the heart.
She was the best at catching them in Brind and Nargathrum, probably the best along the whole coast. So every year when scarper season arrived, even if the year had been hard and there hadn’t been any pearls, they would feast like kings. First they’d always eat one themselves, laying it out across the family table and digging in beside the roaring cook fire. Then Eren would catch more the next day and they’d sell them, and they sold for a lot.
Scarper weren’t like pearls, you couldn’t walk through Nargathrum and hide one on your person, but they didn’t need to. Every year Oron Thall, the head of the Fisher Guild would come down to Brind with a full caravan of armoured guards and collect up the scarper haul, paying them huge sums of money for the delicacy. After that Eren didn’t have to dive for weeks, often longer. Taking days off to enjoy the world above the waves. That soon got old for her though, she never felt more alive than when she was underwater where everything was weightless and smooth. So soon she’d be back down there, diving for pearls.
Oron Thall was a large man, having grown fat off the fish and wealth his guild had brought him. He struggled to walk up and down the stairs each day to his office at the top of the fisher guildspire and so had built living quarters for himself up there. Now he imagined himself the lord of a castle, a member of the nobility he’d so long envied. That was the way the guildmasters believed the world was going. They saw no need for lords and hereditary titles, soon, they thought, the world would be run by merchants. Oron thought that that time couldn’t arrive soon enough as Nane Sathis, a member of the Royal Guard, demanded an audience with him with less than a day’s notice. There were a number of other things he’d much rather be doing but the Royal Guard worked in the name of the king or some other such nonsense. So he dressed in his finest robes, patterned like fish scales, and waited for the knight in his office. He didn’t wait long.
Nane was a huge man, rippling with muscle and authority and bedecked in the finest guardsman outfit money could buy. He burst into the room before he could be announced and began speaking immediately. He was sweating and it seemed he’d ridden all the way there from Castle Elkring, run up all eleven floors of the guildspire and was now conducting the meeting with no time to lose. Oron admired his drive but didn’t really see the need to hurry and poured himself some wine while the knight talked.
“The Hallowed Realm is facing one of the greatest threats it has ever seen. Lord Farro’s army is bearing down upon the capital and they are led by a phoenix, a monster made of Hellfire and Ruin.”
Oron sipped his wine, that didn’t sound very plausible.
“We have a plan to stop it but we need a warrior. A very special kind of warrior.”
Oron put down his wine. “I’m run a respectable guild of fishermen, I have one or two mercenaries but I hardly see what you want from-”
“We want a fisherman,” Nane said and Oron paused at the absurdity of the statement.
“Why...?”
“We have to drown the phoenix and we need a man who can battle it underwater, a man who can keep it there while it drowns.”
“You want someone who knows how to fight underwater?”
Nane nodded and Oron sipped his wine. The knight looked desperate but luckily Oron didn’t have to think about it long.
“I know of someone, she doesn’t work for me though.”
“She?”
“Oh don’t worry, I’m sure you can swallow your chivalry. She’ll impress you I’m sure, and if she can’t fight your phoenix, no one can.”
Nane nodded. “Sounds perfect, send for her immediately.”
Oron paused briefly. “Unfortunately she doesn’t actually work for me.”
Nane raised his eyebrow, hoping he was joking. He wasn’t.
Eren pulled herself from the water, her hands digging into the rocks, and flung back her hair with a toss of her head. It was cold in the air, covered in sea water as she was, but she just had to deal with it. The sea would churn, the rains would come and the air would be cold after emerging from the ocean, these were the facts of life. Water cascaded off her body and out of her mesh bag filled with shellfish as she climbed up. She reached the top of the rocks and flicked the remaining strands of wet hair from her face, then she looked back toward home and saw her sister standing there looking at her with a huge knight standing next to her.
They didn’t often get knights in Brind, they didn’t really get visitors at all save for the fisher’s guild. She stood there and looked at him, he spoke.
“You are Eren of Brind?”
She nodded, she was.
“The Hallowed Realm is in grave danger and we believe you are the best chance we have to save it.”
Eren blinked a few times, flicking water out of her eyes. There was always water in her eyes after a dive, there was always water everywhere after a dive, on cold days it could take forever to get rid of it all, these were the facts of life. Not included in those facts was the idea that she was somehow integral to saving the entire kingdom, that had never been included.
“How...?” she asked slowly.
“I am not the best to explain this, I suggest you speak with Gushkabel or the Witch Queen at Castle Elkring, they will explain everything. For now, know that you will be compensated handsomely, the king is thinking one thousand golden griffons.”
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Eren didn’t really know how much that was, she’d never even seen one golden griffon.
“Um...” she said slowly. “What do I have to do?”
“You have to fight someone, and you have to do it underwater. Oron Thall and others have told me that there is no one better at fighting underwater than you.”
Things started to fall into place in Eren’s head. She didn’t know how fighting underwater could ever possibly save the kingdom but if it could it would make sense to choose her. She almost felt honoured, the only issue was that she really didn’t want to have to kill something that wasn’t just a fish. That made her feel slightly sick.
“For one thousand golden griffons I’ll do it,” she said.
They brought her all the way back to Castle Elkring which wasn’t near the coast. There was a river but it wasn’t really the same. The knight wanted to ride the whole way but she’d never ridden a horse before so they had to take a cart instead, they still travelled fast by her standards though, arriving at the castle on the second day. The castle was huge, far bigger than even the guildspires of Nargathrum, towering high over the countryside and visible from miles away. When they drew closer she saw the huge oak tree that wound its way through the castle, she’d heard of it before but had never really given it much thought. She was in Brind, the oak tree was in Castle Elkring, and those were miles apart, those were the facts of life. As she drew closer though she was starting to wonder if maybe all the facts she’d relied on for so long weren’t necessarily all true.
They brought her into the castle where she met with two women, one old and one young. The old one was Gushkabel and the young one was the Witch Queen Nath and they explained their great plan. According to Nath some fire demon had been stirring in such a way that meant a phoenix had been born and the phoenix was heading their way. They’d momentarily distracted it by sending it off after a doomed battalion which had given them enough time to prepare. In that time they’d hired every miner and workman for miles around, draining the Black Mountains of their workforce and worked on setting their trap and diverting the river. Eren wasn’t really sure what Gushkabel and Nath had done to help, it seemed like everyone else was doing all the work while they sat around and argued, but it also seemed like things were all done very differently around here than back at home.
Eren’s role would be to dive into the trap and keep the phoenix down until it could drown, apparently she didn’t have to worry about killing it with her fisher spears since that was supposedly impossible. She still felt worried about stabbing it though, apparently it was in the shape of a man.
After she’d been briefed it seemed Eren was allowed to simply wander around so she did, eventually finding her way to the river. She sat and watched it and thought about going swimming but it wasn’t the same, nothing was the same here.
An old woman with huge watery eyes came up to her, not Gushkabel, some other old woman. She sat down beside her and looked into the river as well, she seemed sad.
“I’m sorry for bringing you all this way, child, to fight in a war you know nothing about,” the woman said.
“I’m not a child,” Eren said. “I made my own choice.”
The woman smiled sadly. “No no of course my apologies. Everyone seems a child to me these days you see. Once I was like that Witch Queen you met, so young and full of energy and far more alert. I’d never have missed this in those days, just like she didn’t. Who knows, if I’d seen it earlier maybe I could have done something before the phoenix had even been born. Then again perhaps not, these things are hard to prevent.”
Eren looked at her, this woman was making even less sense than everyone else around here.
The woman smiled again. “I’m sorry I’m rambling on. You must be worried, you must have questions.”
“I’m not worried,” Eren replied. “I will fight the phoenix and I will win or I will lose. Being worried will not change that.”
“I wish I had your courage, child. You are right of course.” The woman looked up at her with those watery eyes. The eyes weren’t sinister or intimidating, they were just sad, but they picked her apart all the same. “Remember you are not fighting a human,” the woman said sadly. “You are fighting a monster in human form, it might be hard but you cannot show mercy.”
Eren nodded grimly, she was here to fight underwater, she was here to fight a monster and she couldn’t show mercy, those were the facts.
The heat wave came the next day and embers began to blow over from the west, to blow from Fort Sundrick and the Great Canyon. Plants over there were withering and dying and animals of all kinds were fleeing as best they could. Many horses escaped their stables and disappeared into the fields while others hurt themselves trying. Eren stood in the heat and stinging embers and longed for the cool ocean to take it all away. She didn’t have the ocean, the river would have to do.
The original plan was to lure the phoenix into their trap with riders but it was apparent that that wasn’t going to work since no animal would go near the heat wave, never mind its source. So they had come up with a new plan, one that involved throwing away lives, many of their plans seemed to involve that, Eren was noticing.
The first man ran over the hill and even from as far away as they were they could see him turning red and sweating. The phoenix rode after him, of course he had a horse that would go close to him. The phoenix’s skin had all turned black and charred and in his head glowed one eye, a blazing orb that trailed fire behind him, setting the withered grass alight in his path. The running man didn’t get very far before he collapsed and the phoenix rode over him. The next man in line shot him, dropped his bow and ran, he covered even less ground than the first man.
The phoenix seemed to be riding much faster than should have been possible, his black horse leaping across the ground in seconds. Eren swallowed nervously, soon he’d be upon them. One by one the line of men fell before him until the last man, the one standing right by the trap, fired his arrow and ran. The horse leapt and crushed him, sparks raining down from the phoenix and scorching the ground.
The troops arrayed behind the trap drew their bows back and the phoenix galloped toward them. Then the ground collapsed beneath him and he fell. The great pit sunk around him and his horse, tonnes of loosely piled dirt spilling in around them. There was a terrible scream that split the air and then came a terrible heat wave, a wave that set the entire castle shimmering. Eren fell to her knees and heard soldiers crashing to the ground around her, fainting in their hot heavy armour. She could barely look up at the glowing pit in the ground and it glowed so brightly she had to avert her eyes. Then she heard the roar of the river.
The stops pulled away by the collapsing earth, the diverted river plunged into the pit and quenched the raging fire. A huge column of steam erupted from the pit and poured out to cover them all in mist, mist that was blessedly cool. Eren gasped, drawing in the cool air while she could and realised she was trembling. She picked herself up and clutched her fisher spear tightly. The phoenix was trapped and she had to make sure it stayed that way, those were the facts. She ran toward the pit and without thinking about it she dived in.
The pit was filled with churning water and grime from the disturbed earth but the phoenix’s eye was easy to see. She threw her spear at it and just like home, she didn’t miss. But unlike home, the eye fixed on her and kept glowing. Floating in the churning murky water she didn’t really have much space to move as the phoenix lunged at her, her spear still protruding from its chest. The butt of the spear slammed into her and that was all that prevented the hand from touching her. A hand so hot bubbles of steam were pouring off it, so hot she could feel waves of heat with every swing. Her back slammed up against the wall and it was only years of practise that prevented her breath from being driven from her lungs as the phoenix scrabbled at her and pinned her in the pit. She felt herself being pressed into the loose earth, this wasn’t like the hard unyielding rocks of home. The spear rammed painfully into her and right in front of her she saw the murky form of the phoenix clawing itself up the spear with its other hand, closer and closer. She scrabbled against the earth she was wedged into, desperately tearing it away in her hands. Panic rose in her chest along with an urge to breath, holding her breath like this was so much harder than normal.
The phoenix reached her and lunged with that terrible hand and then the wall came away in her flailing arms. She slipped out of the hollow she’d been dug into and in a swirl of earth and water and murk she slid away. Then the flailing phoenix crashed into her. It wasn’t the side of his body with the glowing eye but it was still terribly hot and it burned her. A scream rose up in her but she fought it down, down like the panic, like the urge to breathe. She was free of the earth, now she was in the water.
She kicked away from the phoenix ignoring the searing pain all through her body and slammed against another wall. The phoenix flailed, clearly not used to swimming, and got stuck on her spear still sticking out of it. She moved smoothly and drew a knife from her belt, gliding herself over top of the phoenix, keeping her distance. The knife was usually only for when you missed with a spear and needed protection desperately, since she never missed she’d never used it before. But she was going to use it now. She curled up above the phoenix and bunched up against the wall, preparing for a lunge straight into its head.
It dislodged the spear in its flailing and looked up at her. In all the murk it had looked like just a shadow but now, looking down at it it looked like a man. It looked afraid and panicked and confused, so very confused. One eye was glowing but the other was just a normal eye belonging to a human. She stabbed that one and sent the phoenix flailing to the bottom of the pit. She emerged shaking and filled her lungs greedily. It was a monster, it wasn’t a man, she was there to kill it. Those were the facts.
Down in the bottom of the pit the phoenix lay and his heat slowly faded. His horse had escaped, she was much better at swimming than he was so now he was all alone. He had one good eye left and it still blazed. A soft light that lit the water and kept him alive as the soldiers threw dirt on him from above, burying him for good. But at the bottom of that pit that eye still glowed.