Emily Rodda - The Lake of Tears

But Manus firmed his lips and shook his head. He took a stone and wrote on the rock.

This time Lief did not have to wait for Barda to read what the Ralad man had written. He had seen this message before. “You saved me twice from death. My life is yours.”

He, Jasmine, and Barda all began to speak at once, but nothing they could say would change Manus’s mind. In fact, their arguments seemed to strengthen him. His breathing slowed, his color returned, and his dull eyes began to shine with determination.

At last, he decided to take action. He turned abruptly and almost ran to the gap between the rocks. In moments he had disappeared from view. They had no choice but to run after him.

They stumbled through the narrow passage in single file, keeping as close to the Ralad man, and to one another, as they could. So intent were they on their task that they were not prepared for what they saw when finally they reached the end of the pass.

Not far below them was a murky lake ringed by banks of thick, grey mud riddled with what looked like worm holes. In its center a slimy rock oozed water which dripped ceaselessly into the pool, causing slow, oily ripples to creep across its surface.

Twisted, barren peaks of clay rose beyond the lake like haunted things. There was not one green, growing thing to be seen. There was no sound but the dripping of water and the faint, squelching movements of mud. There were no smells but damp and decay. It was a place of bitterness, ugliness, misery, and death.

Lief’s stomach churned. The Lake of Tears was well named. This, then, was what the sorceress Thaegan had made of the town of D’Or — the town that Jasmine had said was “like a garden.” He heard Barda cursing softly beside him, and Jasmine hissing to Filli and Kree.

Manus simply stared, shivering, at the horror he had heard of all his life, but never seen. The demonstration of Thaegan’s jealousy and wickedness. The evil that had caused his people to speak out, and receive a terrible punishment.

“Is the Belt warm?” Barda murmured in Lief’s ear. “Does it feel the presence of a gem?”

Lief shook his head. “We must go closer,” he whispered back.

Manus glanced at him curiously. They had spoken in low voices, but he had heard what they had said.

He has come this far with us, Lief thought. We must tell him something of what we are trying to do, at least. He will certainly find out in the end, if we are successful.

“We are searching for a special stone that we believe is hidden here,” he told the Ralad man carefully. “But the matter is a deadly secret. If we find what we seek, you must tell no one, whatever happens.”

Manus nodded, his hand on his heart.

Slowly they scrambled down the last of the rocks until they reached the mud that circled the Lake.

“This mud may not be safe,” murmured Jasmine, remembering the quicksand.

“There is only one way to find out,” Barda said, and stepped forward. He sank to his ankles in the fine, grey ooze, but that was all.

Cautiously, the others joined him. Dropping the bags from their backs, they walked together to the edge of the Lake, their feet leaving deep holes where they trod. Lief crouched and touched the water with the tips of his fingers.

Immediately, the Belt around his waist warmed. His heart gave a great thud.

“The gem is here,” he said in a low voice. “It must be somewhere under the water.”

His ankle itched and absent-mindedly he put down his hand to scratch it. His fingers touched something that felt like slimy jelly. He glanced down and cried out with disgusted horror. His ankle was covered with huge, pale worms. Already they were swelling and darkening as they sucked his blood. He leapt up and kicked wildly, trying to shake them off.

“Be still!” shouted Jasmine. She sprang forward and caught Lief’s foot in her hand. Her mouth twisted with distaste, she began pulling the squirming things off one by one, flicking them aside.

The swollen bodies scattered onto the grey mud and into the water, and Lief’s stomach heaved as other mouths, other crawling hungers of every shape and size, coiled out of the ooze to snatch them up as they fell.

Suddenly the mud was alive with slimy things twisting, creeping, slithering out of hiding. They fought for the worms, tearing them to shreds, and in seconds were winding around the travelers’ feet and legs, wriggling eagerly upwards to find warm, bare flesh on which to feast.

Jasmine could help Lief no longer. Now his ears were ringing with her panic-stricken cries, and Barda’s, as well as his own. Manus could not cry out. He was staggering, nearly covered by coiling shapes — shapes with no eyes, shapes that made no sound.

There was no hope. Soon they would be overwhelmed — eaten alive …

Filli screamed piteously. Kree, attacking from the air, tore at the beasts on Jasmine’s arms, fighting as they coiled around his feet and wings, pulling him down.

Then, abruptly, as though on some sort of signal, the creatures froze. In their hundreds they began dropping to the ground and burrowing beneath the surface of the mud. In moments, they had all disappeared.

An eerie silence fell.

Shuddering all over, Jasmine began brushing frantically at her legs, arms, and clothes as if she still felt slimy things crawling over her body.

But Lief stood, dazed. “What happened?” he asked huskily. “Why …?”

“Perhaps they do not like how we taste,” said Barda, with a shaky laugh. He turned to give his hand to Manus, who had fallen to his knees in the churned mud.

It was then that Lief saw a trail of bubbles moving from the center of the Lake towards them. Moving fast.

“Barda! Jasmine!” he shrieked. But the warnings had no sooner left his mouth than the oily water beside them heaved and a huge, hideous creature rose from the depths.

Slime dripped from its skin. Its gaping mouth, lined with needle-sharp teeth, swirled with water, worms, and mud. Wicked spines sprouted, gleaming, from its back and sides and sprang like narrow spears from the flesh under its eyes, which burned with ravenous, endless hunger.

It lunged for them, throwing its body onto the shore with a hissing roar that chilled Lief’s blood.

He knew that this was Soldeen.

Lief stumbled back, frantically drawing his sword. Then he saw that Barda and Manus were the monster’s chosen victims. They had fallen, and were frantically scrabbling in the mud, trying to escape. But Soldeen was almost upon them, his terrible jaws snapping shut and opening wide in an instant, like a huge, cruel trap.

Barely knowing what he was doing, Lief darted forward, shouting at the creature, plunging his sword into the vast, spiny neck.

The sword was torn from his hand as Soldeen swung around, the weapon still hanging, quivering, from his slimy hide. The blade was like a thorn to him — no more than a stinging irritation — but he was not used to defiance. He was angry now, as well as hungry.

He lunged at Lief, mouth agape. Lief leapt away — and sprawled heavily over the bags still lying on the mud where they had been dropped only minutes before.

He lay flat on his back, stunned. He heard Barda and Jasmine shrieking to him in terror, screaming at him to get up, to run!

But it was too late to run. And he had no weapon. He had nothing to protect himself from those terrible jaws, those needle teeth. Except …

He twisted and seized two of the bags by their straps. With all his strength he swung and threw them, straight into that gaping mouth, right to the back of the throat.