All Things New Again

A young elven man appears naked and without any memory of his past, in a strange magic pool, only to discover that he is not alone.

 Mórálach’s  Pool

 

 By Eddie Davis

 

© 2017

 

 

 

1.

All Things New Again

 

There was water all around him; warm, comforting water and though he did not know who he was or remember anything, he did know that he had to swim to the surface for air.

His head exited into the scene of a forest pool, touched by the silvery glow of a nearly full moon.    In the middle of the pool was a huge stone that towered upward into the sky like a small mountain or island.     He could not see over or around the massive rock, but noticed that a gentle waterfall flowed down from one place out of the upper part of the face of the rock and into the pool.   He treaded water for a few moments, glancing around at the new environment where he found himself.

What was his name?   He could not recall anything specific; only that this wasn’t where he was from originally and that there was some unknown reason for him being there.

He knew that he was a young adult and that he was an elf, but he wasn’t even sure of the language that he had once spoken.    Somehow he was aware that the answers and his memories were locked up there someplace in his brain.   He just didn’t know how to access it.

 

 

 

He floated in place for a few moments, trying to access that part of his mind, but it just made his head hurt worse.   

The pool was quite large and he thought he could see firelight coming from the shore, though the trees surrounding the pool concealed it from direct viewing.

Yet he did hear something.    It was a soft female voice, humming to herself from somewhere in the pool.    The sound of the water being moved by hand strokes reached him and he tried to locate the source.

Off to his left, less than a stone’s throw away was someone swimming in the pool.    It was a young woman from the sound of her and she seemed to be casually making her way toward the shore and the campfire lights.

Curious, he began to quietly swim toward her, wondering if she had any answers to the mystery of who he was, where he was, and why he was here.

He couldn’t track her as he swam, but he had only made small progress toward her when suddenly the stillness of the serene scene was broken by shouts and a series of violent splashes of water.

 

He paused, glancing up to see that the girl had been grabbed by three men who had apparently been lurking in the shadows in the shallow part of the pool close to the shore, for her to approach.

A fourth man ran out of a hiding place among the trees on the shore, running into the pool to assist his fellows in capturing the girl.

He knew they were humans and - somehow- that they were soldiers.    They all wore leather armor and -mysteriously- he also knew that they had removed the metal parts of their armor before entering the pool.

He had no time to puzzle over this strange knowledge, for the girl was screaming in terror.

Two of the soldiers restrained her hands, but she was fighting fiercely to free herself.   The soldier wading out to join them still wore all of his armor and was carrying weapons and shouted something to the last soldier in the water, who was lowering his leather breeches with a cruel, lustful expression on his feverish face.

They were so focused on the girl that they didn’t see him making his way toward them from behind, his head all that protruded from the water.

 

A fury come over him that he didn’t entirely understand, and he felt himself rise up out of the water with strange words coming out of his mouth almost as if he was a spectator in his own body.

He chanted the words, walking toward them in the shallow water and they turned and looked at him with expressions of terror that surprised him.

Pointing his finger at one of them as he finished the strange chant, a bolt of blue energy shot from his fingertips and slammed into the soldier that had removed his breeches.

The blast tore a huge hole in his chest, throwing him backwards with great force.

The two soldiers holding the girl released her and fled toward the shore, yelling loudly and waving their hands, probably to attract attention from others at the hidden campsite.

But the armed soldier did not yield and quickly raised a large javelin or spear which he prepared to throw.

More strange words entered the young elf’s mind and he spoke them quickly, holding his hand, palm upright, toward the soldier.

Just as the man started to throw his weapon, the spell activated and the man was pushed backwards with force as great as the previous spell.

It threw him almost to the shore and he floated in the shallow water stunned from the impact.

The girl was on her knees in the water, looking up at him with fear mixed with awe.   Long, luxurious red hair flowed out around her as she knelt in the water.    It was a rich fiery copper color and would probably reach to her knees when she stood up.    As their eyes met, a powerful feeling of familiarity came over him, but he only had a moment to gaze into her lovely green eyes, as the men now had attracted the attention of more soldiers and they were racing out of the woods to their aid.

He held his hand out to her and she immediately took it to help her stand.   She was naked as he was and glorious to behold, yet the soldiers were already entering the water and they had to escape or fight.

He began pulling her back into the deeper part of the pool and at first she let him, but as the javelins began whistling by their heads, she suddenly stopped, waist-deep in water, and began chanting some sort of spell.

Those attacking them heard her chant and retreated onto the shore, which gave her enough time to complete it.

A ball of fire appeared in her hand and she drew her arm back and flung it toward the shore.

Though the fireball was not that large or impressive in appearance, when it hit one of the soldiers on the beach there was a terrible explosion and a wave of fire spread out until all those on the shore were consumed in fire.

Their pitiful screams of agony made both of them cringe, and for a few moments they just stood there.

But the fiery haired girl finally shook her head, and pulled him after her, leading him into the deeper water.

When they were chest deep, she pointed under the water ahead and made swimming motions with her hands.    He peered under the moonlit water and saw an area of black in the midst of the white sand of the bottom of the pool.

Once again, he somehow knew without hearing her say anything, that she was telling him that there was a cave down there.

He nodded and she smiled shyly and then dove under the water, swimming toward the darkness.   Immediately he took a deep breath and followed her.

The moon gave enough light to illuminate the clear water.    They swam through a wide rock opening at the bottom of the pool and then through a smooth stone passageway, only to surface a few moments later in a cave under the rock face of the pool’s waterfall.   

Here the water seemed to glow a magic blue-green.    The cave floor was covered in white sand and fresh air filled the cavern.   He followed her out of the pool onto the soft sand of the underground beach.

 

His head throbbed terribly, causing him to squint from the pain.   Stumbling in the soft sand, he sank down to his knees, holding his head as his eyes watered.

He felt the redheaded girl collapse somewhere nearby which told him that something mysterious about this place was causing it.

Yet he could do nothing but sink down into the sand, his eyes tightly closed and soon he was still, beside the unconscious red haired girl.

Reviews

[Norbanus]

I'm new on this site, and after exploring for a couple of days. I've seen very little in the way of meaningful help, except for one member. (JayG)
I see that you have posted several chapters of your novel. Have you received useful suggestions?
Please contact me and let me know what sort of suggestion you might find of value.
I consider myself fairly adept at smooth flowing prose and weeding out repetition, wordiness and making a manuscript publishable.
I write in the genre of Historical Fiction and Romantic adventure.

Cheers,

Norbanus

[Eddie Davis]

Hi Norbanus,

I've actually written over 15 books, all of them posted here and over the years I've received some helpful suggestions which I do greatly appreciate.

Currently I'm just writing books for people to enjoy for free on Writer's Cafe (and Booksie). I am certainly not a polished writer and realize that I lack the skills to make this possible. But I don't look at writing as a method for making money. Instead, I simply like telling stories and (hopefully) letting my readers enjoy them.
I figure that giving something away, most of my readers will overlook my inadequacies in grammar. This is not to say that I don't try to write properly, merely that I don't stress about it. If one of my readers shares corrections with me, I will change them, but my main concern is that the reader enjoys the story line. Certainly my stuff isn't 'Game of Thrones' or 'Lord of the Rings' material, but I do have fans that like the series and that is what matters most to me.

One suggestion I would make for you is to watch out for semi-colons in your manuscripts that you post here, as the software at Writer's Cafe will convert your semi-colons into quotation marks for some odd reason. I'm not sure why it does this, and they can be changed back by editing what you have just posted, but I have not found a way to keep the Writer's Cafe software from changing the semi-colons.

[Norbanus]

Thanks for getting back to me and letting me know your experiences on Writer's Cafe. I have now read the other chapters of Mórálach’s Pool and found it to be a fascinating yarn. I'm sure I'll enjoy your other works as time and inclination permit.
One who writes, as you do, for enjoyment and for the pleasure of others is truly a successful author.

All the best,

Norbanus

[Eddie Davis]

Thanks, I hope you have a very enjoyable and fulfilling time as an author.