Day 3 of Midwinter, Nightfall

At Sea, Straits of Segais

Annwn

As my head went under the water, I remembered the words from the shanty the night before:

Lower him down where the waters churn,

Lower him down where the waters churn,

Lower him down where the waters churn,

To the depths where none return!

Above the surface, the rise and fall of the waves had looked like it did on Earth; however, below the surface, the water around me felt alive and hungry. Immediately, the water ripped and pulled at my body. It sucked me down, and down I continued to plummet.

Everything had happened so fast. My side still ached from Gassy’s blow, and I had only a fraction of a breath of air. I continued to swirl in the frigid blackness, unable to tell which direction was up. The cold water made my lungs want to gasp for air, but I knew that if I did, that would be the end of me.

My lungs burned. I had been underwater for what felt like hours when I reached the bottom. The water was strangely calm here, and I chanced a look around. It was as the song recounted. It was dark, but the water was clear, and there was a hint of luminescence from something on the ocean floor. I could see the outlines of fish and rocks. There were remnants of old shipwrecks, and above me stretched an endless torrent of water and current.

Just above the floor of the sea, I floated, motionless. I knew I would die here. There was no way I could swim the distance back up to the ship in the water that roiled just above me. A great calm settled over me. I had lived what felt like a short and meaningless life, but at least I would die in a realm of magic, trying to do one last good deed before the end. I wondered how Fern was faring against Gassy. Had she chosen to use her blade on the fat man? Somehow, I knew she would be okay, and that made me happy.

As my air continued to run out, my gaze swam lazily across the aquatic landscape. I saw motion in the distance. It was something larger than a fish. Looking in the other direction, I saw movement there too. Something approached me from both sides. I was effectively trapped.

I had always been afraid of sharks. Those damned Jaws movies hadn’t helped to alleviate my fears over the years. So, my immediate instinct, when I saw the twin movements, was to panic. I thought about at least trying to swim up into the churning whirlpool above me, but I wasn’t sure if these creatures would follow me, or if I could get anywhere before they caught me. So I stayed as motionless as I could, feeling the last of my air burn its way through my system. My lungs were screaming, and I felt lightheaded.

The shape in front of me became more clear as it approached. It appeared to be a man. I looked behind me to see a woman swimming toward me from that direction. These weren’t sharks, after all. Both were closing in fast, but I wasn’t sure I would stay conscious long enough to see them up close.

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Through the water, I heard the man speak to the woman, the sound passing through the water and my body before traveling behind me. “Hail Connla. Is this boy the reason we have been summoned to the Well?”

A response came from the woman behind me, but I didn’t have the energy to turn. My blood felt like it was boiling, and the world was quickly growing dim. “If you wish to find out, you must do something, Nechtan. He is expiring.”

In an instant, the man had closed the space between us and appeared to be blowing air, or water, or some combination, toward me. It forced its way into me and my body relaxed. The urgency to breathe vanished from me.

“There. You have been granted a reprieve for the moment.” The man, Nechtan floated before me, balancing perfectly in the water without paddling or kicking his legs.

He had a wild beard and long hair that seemed to move independently of his body. He wore what looked to be a form-fitting blue-green sheet of fabric that flowed down his body. On land, I would have called it dress-shaped, only the end of his garb appeared to dissolve into the water. I couldn’t tell where his legs ended and where the water began.

In his right hand, he held a spear. The main shaft of the spear appeared to bend and move with the current. At the tip sat a short curved blade, its shape like that of a falling wave.

“Thank you.” My words sounded normal in my head, though I didn’t think I could actually hear my voice out loud. It was strange.

“Tell us who you are,” the woman commanded. I twisted my body in the water so that I could see both of them.

“My name is Bren Callahan. I am from earth… Ériu.”

“Your surname is a lie.” The woman frowned. “But you did not know that.” It didn’t seem to be a question. She seemed to be speaking her inner thoughts aloud.

“Why have you come to die at the Crosswaters?” Nechtan said.

“I was thrown off of my ship by a soldier pretending to be a sailor. It’s a long story.”

Connla gave me a hard look. “You don’t have long to tell it.”

I turned back to Nechtan. “I heard you ask why you have been summoned here. Since I have come to Annwn, all kinds of weird things have been happening to me. I think it’s because of this.” I held out both halves of the Stone of Destiny, one for each of them to see.

“Lía Fáil!” The woman appeared shocked. She floated back away from me, and for the first time, I got a good look at her.

She wore a shimmering silver bralette that matched the color of her oval-tipped spear. Around her waist and legs, she wore a fabric the color and texture of the inside of a mussel. Her hair was loose and flowing like the waves themselves. It was topped by a crown with three points, the ends of which reminded me of fishing hooks.

“There are two of them.” Nechtan looked uneasy.

“Yeah…” I began, unsure what to say. “I sort of broke the original stone. There was this huge woman…anyway, I fell into a pool and when I came out, the two broken halves weren’t really broken anymore… but there are still two of them.”

The underwater pair looked at one another. I could feel my need to breathe starting to come back, and they could see my growing discomfort.

“You, with no surname, are the Stone bearer.” Nechtan was clearly unsure what to do with me. I wanted to remind him that there were two stones now, but I was becoming too uncomfortable to speak.

Connla, on the other hand, suddenly looked concerned. “Something isn’t right.” She startled. “The Bánánach have come!”

“Who?” I gasped.

The man pointed his spear in my direction and thrust it upward. My body followed. I shot from the ocean floor into the chaotic water above. I could feel the currents pulling at me, but whatever magic the spear had was enough to keep me rising up.

My body flew out of the water and I took a deep breath, but the moment gravity took back over, the water had me again. I felt myself being pulled back beneath the waves toward the sea floor.

I heard a splash from above and briefly saw a shape coming toward me. It came close as I continued to sink, but the darkness here was thick. I felt something grab ahold of me and pull me in a new direction. I could feel the bubbles around me heading in an upward direction and could orient myself a bit—we were heading sideways in the water.

I felt my body slam into a hard surface. I grasped at it, and found a sharp rocky shoal. I immediately began climbing up, trying desperately to get out of the water. Once I did, I just laid there for a moment, coughing and wheezing. A hand pounded my back, and I heard a woman’s voice over the sound of the waves.

A familiar voice said “Next time, don’t go swimming in a place called the Well of Drowning.”

I raised my head and looked in the direction of the voice. Sitting beside me on the rock and coral was Fern.