But the pond was even murkier beneath the surface. The waters grainy and difficult to see through. Her eyes burned against the debris, but she swam onward. Deeper. Farther down than a pond like this should be. There was something both ominous and magical about this place, and she didn’t like it. It reminded her of the Ghostlight Gulf, when she and all of her Ashen brethren had swum to the surface, reborn. Those waters had seemed endless too, like a cold void they would never escape. Only, they did. So she had to believe she and Kestrel would escape this too.
Finally, Elora thought she saw something, buried deep down at the bottom of the suddenly vast lake. It floated in the water like a strip of crimson rope, but she would recognize that intricate braid anywhere.
As fast as her arms would allow, Elora plunged deeper into the dark waters.
Even from this distance, she could tell Kestrel wasn’t really moving. Floating, her arms spread wide, her head upright—but if she were drowning, if she were panicked, she’d be flailing. It made Elora’s stomach twist and writhe. Maybe she was already too late.
As she swam closer, she realized they were not alone.
A creature floated before Kestrel, one that looked just a sickly as the dead bodies Elora had left up on the bank above. If it had been human, most of those parts were gonenow, its flesh dripping from bone and barely hanging on. But most of its head and face were still intact, if not addled with water-rot and age.
It almost resembled a woman.
Thin strands of hair drifted around her like a crown of seaweed. But the eyes were bulbous and yellow, like some horrific deep-sea monster that survived by feasting upon shipwrecked sailors.
Kestrel and the water-horror were staring right at each other. And as Elora cautiously drifted closer, she saw Kestrel’s eyes were entirely white. They shone like pearls down here in the bottom of the lake. Like she was lost in a trance of this monster’s making.
Elora didn’t know what to do. Trances were not a form of magic she was familiar with, let alone whatever this creature was. To interrupt it could cause Kestrel immense harm, for all she knew. But leaving her down here much longer would as well.
The water-horror tapped her own chest, and something hollow began to form there. A red light filled the empty space, blooming and growing so bright that Elora had a difficult time looking at it.
Kestrel, however, seemed to be drawn to it. She couldn’t look away. In fact, she drifted closer, one arm outstretched for the strange light.
The glint of red light caught on the dagger in Kestrel’s belt.
Elora didn’t waste another second.
She jerked the dagger free and swiped the sharp blade at the water-horror.
But then, it was gone. The red light disappearing with it too. So was the deep chasm, as Elora realized the darkness had lessened around them, the surface just within reach overhead.
With the creature gone, Kestrel’s eyes blinked. The white pearls disappeared, fear flooding her green eyesinstead. Kestrel’s arms flailed to find purchase and Elora nearly let out a breath of relief as she wrapped her arms around the girl’s waist and kicked off the bottom of the pond.
They resurfaced with gasping, gagging breaths. Elora didn’t stop dragging her to safety until they were out of the pond, the terrifying, mysterious water lapping at their heels but no longer surrounding them.
Cries filled the air. Distantly Elora heard commands being shouted. The queen shrieking. Someone sobbing. Bellows of rage and despair.
As much as she wanted to let Kestrel catch her breath, they couldn’t stay here. This was their chance to run.
She turned to Kestrel to say as much, when she realized the young woman was already standing. Kestrel’s eyes had changed again. This time they were pools of black, like bottomless wells of ink. It was a menacing enough sight alone, but it was the furrow in her brow that really caused Elora alarm. She had never seen Kestrel so enraged, so thirsty for blood.
And for the first time since holding onto Kestrel and swimming to the surface, Elora considered that maybe the water-horror hadn’t really disappeared. Maybe she had just mistakenly brought something else up from the depths.
Chapter 37
Daughter of Daybreak
KESTREL
In those yellow eyes, Kestrel had seen so much. More than she should have.
Daughter of Daybreak.
She witnessed the calamity. Watched the Maw crack the earth in two. Saw the wings torn from the Sky-Blessed. Watched as Elora’s people swam to the surface of the Ghostlight Gulf.
She saw bargains struck. Alliances forged and broken.
Everything.
