Emily Rodda - The Lake of Tears

The gem made a great half-circle and began to fall. Gasping, struggling in the muddy foam, Lief watched in horror as it dropped into a deep crack in the weeping rock and disappeared from sight.

“You shall never have it!” cried Thaegan, her voice cracking with fury. “You — who have dared to enter my lands! You who have freed one of my creatures and made another do your will! You who have killed two of my children and mocked my power! I have followed you. I have smelt you out. Now, you will see!”

Again she raised her hand, and Lief felt himself being swept towards the edge of the Lake. Foul-smelling water rushed into his eyes, nose, and mouth. Nameless things, fighting for life as he was, battered against his face and body and were crushed.

Half-drowned, he was cast up on the shore. He crawled, coughing and choking, through the oozing mud and foam, only half aware that Barda, Jasmine, and Manus were running towards him.

They hauled him to his feet and began dragging him to the rocks.

But Thaegan was already there, barring their way, her silver hair flying in the smoke, her body shining green. “You cannot escape me,” she hissed. “You will never escape.”

Barda flung himself at her, his sword pointed straight at her heart. “One drop of your blood, Thaegan!” he shouted. “One drop, and you are destroyed!” But the sorceress laughed shrilly as the blade swerved aside before it touched her and Barda was flung back, sprawling, into the mud. Kree screeched as Jasmine leapt forward to take the big man’s place, only to be thrown back with even greater force, tumbling over Lief and Manus, taking them both down with her.

They wallowed helplessly in the ooze, struggling to rise.

Thaegan grinned, and Lief’s stomach heaved as her beautiful face shifted like a mask and he glimpsed the evil horror beneath.

“Now you are where you belong!” she spat. “At my feet, crawling in the mud.”

Kree screeched again and flew at her, trying to beat at her with his wings. She turned to him, as if noticing him for the first time, and her eyes lit with greed.

“Kree!” screamed Jasmine. “Get away from her!”

Thaegan laughed, and turned back to face them. “The black bird I will save for my own delight,” she snarled. “But you — you will know nothing of his pain.”

Baring her teeth, she raked her victims with eyes full of hate and triumph. “You are to become part of my creation. Soon you will forget everything you have ever held dear. Sick with loathing at your own ugliness, feeding on worms in the cold and the dark, you will creep in the ooze and slime with Soldeen, forever.”

Thaegan raised her left hand high above her head, fist tightly clenched. It gleamed, green and hard as glass. The yellow smoke swirled as Kree dived wildly, uselessly, around her head. Lief, Barda, Jasmine, and Manus staggered together, trying to run. Laughing at their terror, she lifted the little finger, ready to strike. Its tip, white as bone, gleamed through the dimness.

Like a black arrow, Kree hurtled from the smoke. With a vicious snap his sharp beak stabbed and stabbed again at the death-pale fingertip.

The sorceress shrieked in rage, shock, and pain, shaking the bird off, hurling him aside. But red-black blood was already welling from the wound on her fingertip and slowly dripping to the ground.

Her eyes widened, unbelieving. Her body shuddered and writhed and turned as yellow as the smoke that still hung about her. Her face became a hideous blur, melting and reforming before her victims’ horrified eyes.

And then, with a high, whistling hiss, she began to shrivel, to crumple, to collapse in upon herself like a rotting fruit left in the sun.

Face down in the mud, Lief wrapped his arms around his head to hide the ghastly sight, smother the terrible sound. He heard Soldeen bellowing in the Lake behind him, crying out in triumph or terror. Then, with a low, terrifying rumble, the earth began to shudder and heave. Icy waves pounded on his back as the waters of the Lake swelled and crashed upon the shore.

Terrified at the thought of being sucked back into the deep, he threw himself forward, dragging himself blindly through the spray. Dimly he could hear Jasmine and Barda calling to each other, calling to Manus and to him. His fingertips touched rock, and with a last, desperate effort he heaved himself out of the swirling mud onto firm ground. He clung there, the breath sobbing in his aching throat.

Then, suddenly, everything stilled.

His skin prickling, Lief lifted his head. Barda and Manus were lying near him, pale but alive. Jasmine crouched a little further away, with Kree on her wrist and Filli, soaked and bedraggled, in her arms. Where Thaegan had stood there was nothing but a yellow stain on the rock.

The sorceress was dead. Trying only to stop her from casting her spell, Kree had wounded her in the one place on her body that was not armored — the fingertip she used to work her evil magic.

But it was not the end. Something was about to happen — Lief could feel it. The clouds had disappeared, and the full moon flooded the earth with radiant white light. The very air seemed to shimmer.

And the silence! It was as though the earth had caught its breath. Waiting …

Slowly, Lief turned to look behind him.

The tempest had almost emptied the Lake. Now it was just a broad sweep of shallow water gleaming in the moonlight. A multitude of slimy creatures lay stranded in heaps around its edges and on its flattened banks.

Soldeen was in the center, by the weeping rock. He was motionless, his head upraised. He was staring at the moon as though he had never seen it before. As Lief watched, there was a long, whispering sigh. Then Soldeen simply — vanished, and standing in his place was a tall, golden man with a mane of tawny hair.

The weeping rock quivered, and cracked from top to bottom. The two halves crumbled away in a cloud of fine, glittering dust. A woman stepped from the shining cloud. She was golden, like the man, but her hair was black as night. In her hand, held high, was a huge, red gem.

Lief staggered to his feet. He wanted to shout, to exclaim, to cry out in shock, disbelief, and joy. But he could not make a sound. He could only stare as the man and woman joined hands and together began to walk towards him, across the water.

And as they walked, looking around them with the wondering eyes of those who still cannot believe their happiness, everything began to change.

The earth dried and bloomed with grass and flowers under their feet. Color and life spread from their footsteps, carpeting the dead earth as far as the eye could see. Twisted stumps and bare rocks became trees of every kind. Clay fell in sheets from the ragged peaks, revealing shining towers, beautiful houses, and spraying fountains. The pure, sweet sound of bells rang through the air.

All around the margins of the Lake, creatures were dissolving and re-forming. Golden people were rising from the ground, dazed from their long sleep, murmuring, weeping, laughing. Birds were fluffing their feathers and taking flight, singing their joy. Insects were chirruping. Furred animals were looking about them and hopping, bounding, or scurrying into the grass.

Lief felt Barda, Jasmine, and Manus move to stand behind him. The man who had been Soldeen, and the woman who had shared his long, long suffering, were not far from them now, but still Lief could hardly believe his own eyes.

“Can it be true?” he murmured.

“If it is not, we are all dreaming the same dream,” said a chirpy voice he did not know. He swung around to see Manus, grinning at him.