Page 79 of Warrior of the Wild
The hyggja yanks Soren clean off his feet, and I watch in horror as he’s pulled right over the edge of the cliff. He lands in the water, flat on his stomach.
I whirl around. “Why would you tell him that?” I scream at Iric.
Iric’s frozen to the spot, staring where Soren disappeared.
“We have to move!” I tell him. I pick my rope coil from off the ground and throw it over my head and shoulder; then I grip my spear firmly in one hand.
“No one goes in the water,” Iric mumbles weakly.
“Too late.” In the next second, I take a deep breath and jump.
The shock from the cold only lasts a few seconds before my body adjusts. The water here is murkier than the washing pools, so I can’t see as far ahead as what I’m used to when we practiced.
I don’t know how much visibility I have. Seven feet? Maybe ten? Everything looks so different when underwater. Even still, I’m certain I don’t see Soren or the hyggja. I kick my way to the surface and look.
There.
Water churns up maybe twenty feet in front of me. Panic sets in as I worry it might be Soren getting eaten alive. I kick my feet right for the spot, and when I’m closer, I dive back down.
The hyggja tumbles in circles, trying to shake off the spear, meanwhile Soren holds on for dear life to his rope’s end, some ten feet from me.
A sound hits the water behind me, and I pray to the goddess it’s Iric joining us in the water and not anything else foul living in the lake.
Before I can reach Soren, the hyggja manages to dislodge his spear. The weapon sinks to the rock-covered lake bottom as Soren swims to the surface for a breath.
I watch the hyggja turn to the side, so one of its large eyes is pointed directly at me—its prey. But rather than swim at me, it turns tail and swims in the opposite direction.
Unsure of what else to do, I swim after Soren to get another gulp of air.
“Where is it?” Iric’s voice from behind us.
“It swam off,” I say.
Soren gasps from next to me, still holding on to his rope. While he treads water, his arms pull at his rope, attempting to reel it in. He makes a face.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“It’s stuck on something.” Before I can tell him otherwise, Soren breathes in quickly and goes back under.
Damn him.
I get a mouthful of air before joining him.
Soren tugs on his rope, using it to pull himself down to wherever it’s stuck. Bubbles fly out of him as he goes. His head must be pounding from going down so deep.
I swim after him with Iric at my side.
The sinking feeling in my gut has nothing to do with how far I’m traveling under the water. The hyggja didn’t turn tail and run. It’s doingsomething. I’m sure it’s not used to anything fighting back with any sort of success in this lake, but all creatures have instincts.The instinct to eat is more powerful than the instinct to flee for a predator that’s never had to fear for its life.
When I reach Soren’s side, I see it. Not the hyggja, but the remains of the gunda. Its head is still mostly intact, though its eyes are glossy. But the middle area, where that mouth was, is gone. Nothing but bones with faint remains of stringy flesh left to see. Bile threatens to rise in my throat as I think of what I’m swimming in.
Instead, I turn my thoughts to Iric. My friend. I’m doing this for him. He deserves to go home to his family, and we can make that happen.
If we don’t die first.
Soren reaches his spear but has to untangle it from some thick grasses. Iric is next to him, helping.
The hyggja disappeared in a direction over Soren’s and Iric’s heads, and I watch that spot with a critical eye, my lungs starting to grow uncomfortable.
