The Silver Lake

In the year 2222 the world is a happy caring place people are polite, caring and kind. Most people are unselfish and considerate; unfortunately there is one exception, the king. He sits and lords over his people with nothing but contempt. In general he is for lack of a better word, miserable. His appearance is not pleasing with a long drawn haggard face, sunken eyes and long grey dishevelled hair. He is in no way desirable, and wears robes 2 sizes too big for him so he can feel slim (even though he is not).
As an example of the man he is, last year he tried to raise taxes for women to have babies, the women were outraged and promptly protested by striking at the kings pride and joy, the treasury. Although the women were powerful enough to stop him he couldn’t work how anyone in their right mind would strike outside that building and not want to see any of the royal treasures on display. To cut along story short the people won and were thrilled at the prospect that they didn’t have to pay the tax, due to the king going down his beloved treasures on the third day and not being able to get any where near them, so gave in and decided to abolish the tax.
The town’s people found the treasury was the place to strike if ever they wanted anything, flattery and shiny things would get you anything from the king, although some have more luck than others depending on their looks or ambition. The other thing the king loved was food, and the chefs in the castle were particularly good at it, that even the king didn’t like them tasting it, he didn’t bother with royal tasters and just decided if he did die of poisoning at least he would die happy eating something nice.

Chapter 2

The local town surrounding castle is known as Byway, a peaceful town with lots of stalls as part of a market that on most days stretched the length of the town, it was always full with happy families and general enjoyment. The king never went in to the town preferring to watch them from a window in the castle, he sometimes wished he could join them and be involved in the families that he stared at for ages. The one thing he remembered his father saying when he was a child was to have an heir, unfortunately the opportunity just never arose. Sometimes he was sadden by this, then other times he would see couple fight over the little things and be glad he that he wasn’t in a relationship.

Then one day a lady rode through town, a beautiful woman shrouding herself with a black hood and cloak riding alone on a black steed.
The whole village noticed this mysterious woman’s presence. She never spoke; she just rode through without saying a word about once a month. No-one knew who she was, where she was going or where she came from.
The king had noticed this woman from his castle and asked his servants who she was, but no-one knew.
There was someone else who had noticed this strange woman; it was a knight of the court called Sir Larine. He was a colourful character with brown messy hair and a brown short beard, loved laughter, wine and women (much like men today).
So a few months later the woman dressed in black returned to ride through the village, Larine rode next to her;
“My lady is without company; permit me to ride with thee”
She did not reply. Larine continued to ride with her in silence. Within a few miles of following the woman they rode down a track which is normally not trodden. A bird’s song drifting from the nearby trees floating on the breeze was different to the others. The bird was singing a warning to all that past this road or meet a stranger along it.
“Come this way join us in glory, and enjoy the woodland road, for darkness you will find if you look into a stranger’s eye”
Larine half heard the unusual song but was more intrigued by which path the woman was travelling. Following the woman Sir Larine battled through trees, hedgerow and the darkness for miles on end, eventually she came to a stop at the borders of a lake of dark water, and without stopping rode straight into it and vanished under the water. Taken aback Larine camped on the shore overnight and waited, hoping to see the woman again.
During the night a deer came by while Larine was still awake staring at the lake and nuzzled up against him, the deer whispered into the dark night air;
“Turn back, run, the dark woman is ever watchful”
“But I cannot, she is mesmerising, I have followed her a great distance I can not turn back now”
“Yes thee can, at the stroke of sunrise the lake will shine so bright as to blind thee, then she will take you into the lake, I have seen it, no man can resist, no man ever comes back”
“Then I shall shut my eyes”
“No thee will not, you will succumb to the light, I have pity for thee”
At that the deer trotted away back into the dark forest.
Larine did not heed the warning of the deer and at the sight of the sunrise he opened his eyes towards the lake and saw a beautiful vision arising from the middle of the lake, a perfectly white woman on a white horse, the lake was as bright as polished silver and as still as the ground. She rode towards him seemingly in slow motion and spoke ever so softly;
“Come join me, come join me where you are bathed in silver, and the sun shines on you always, come in, come gaze into my eyes”
At that she advanced closer and stared Larine in the eyes, he suddenly froze, all he could see was black and his eyes had glazed over. She advanced close to him, she had turned into the black cloaked woman from the night before with piercing bright silver eyes fixated on his lifeless black ones, and led him into the water from where no man returns.

Chapter 3

Days passed and his brother Sole curious to where Larine had gone followed his trail, along the way he too heard the birds warning song but like his brother took no heed to the words they sung and followed the path to the lake.
He waited till dawn to see of his brother would make his presence known. Sole did not notice the deer watching him from the gloom of the forest edge.
Larine did not show himself, but as the sun rose a magical woman arose from the lake, she tempted Sole to join her, he couldn’t resist and was taken by the black lady with silver eyes under the silver surface of the lake screaming like so many before him.
More days passed and the youngest brother Peta went in search of his brothers, he followed the same path and heard the birds warning; “Come this way join us in glory, and enjoy the woodland road, for Darkness you will find if you into a strangers eye”
Peta found him self interested about the nature of the strangers eye and asked the birds;
“Excuse thee, but what stranger are thee singing about”
“The stranger in black that lives in the lake, at dawn she comes”
Peta pondered for a moment and asked again.
“Have thy seen two men come this way in days past?”
“Yes one followed thy stranger and another passed but five days hence”
Peta gestured appreciation, “If thy need help just whistle a chorus”
Peta thanked them and carried on towards the lake.
Soon after he had reached the lake, it was close to night fall so he waited. A deer walked up to him and started to recite something that Peta had not heard before; “when night falls all quiet, no noise will filter the blackness, till morning arises and the silver lady takes flight”
“I have never heard that before, who is the silver lady?”
“She is the death of many men who dare to stare her in the eye”
“Have many tried?”
“All try not to but cannot resist, they say she was cursed, and only the death of the enchanter will save her, look through her eyes into her soul, but be warned only a true hero will overcome evil”
“I am not here to stare into the eyes of the silver lady, nor is to try and save her; all I want is my brothers”
“Is there is any way I can save my brothers?”
“Look for them in the lake, the faces will help”
The deer trotted off and Peta got up to look into the water and saw them, hundreds of faces of men, all screaming with empty sound, all clawing at the lake’s surface as if it was glass, their black eyes unable to see the stars in the night sky above them, their skin was a dull white and lips as blue as a clear day sky.
Peta saw both of his brothers near the edge of the lake and raced up to see the same horrid fate had been put upon them. He tried to pierce the lake to save them, but the surface was like hard glass, yet from a distance it looked like lapping water on a grassy shore.
Peta looked around him, the animals of the forest were watching him from the dark, “Please help thee, thy brothers need thee” Peta said in desperation.
The animals did not move from the forest edge, although a squirrel spoke softly, it required effort to hear the words.
“To break the spell to save the men, attract the silver lady out of the water and into the forest, for then she must answer before the lights fade the question to ask her, what is her name?”
“How do thy do that without looking into her eyes?”
“Gaze upon thy feet for she will see thy as a cripple and will answer the question”
“Thank you for the wisdom dear friends”
With that he bowed at them and the animals blended back into the deep dark forest. Tiredness came over him and he drifted to sleep on the soft grass at the lakes edge.

Chapter 4

He awoke just before the light of day and walked to the edge of the forest, watching the surface of the lake from a distance, then before him light engulfed the hard surface and glistened on the grass. Peta started to feel nervous but he kept telling himself not to look up, don’t look up, don’t look up, but the urge was so great that he did and her gaze was so powerful, Peta knew that he didn’t want to end up like his brothers and promptly shut his eyes but it was too late his vision had gone black, then the thought came to him to whistle a tune and as he did so all of the birds of the forest came to his rescue and surrounded the woman who had now turned black, she fought off the birds and fled back into the lake.
Peta thanked the birds for their help and started thinking up a plan to try again the next morning.
During the day Peta went to look at the faces in the water for his brothers were only able to fight the surface and unable to hear their brothers’ words.
The next morning Peta was ready and waiting at the edge of the forest looking towards the lake, this time he was calm. He stared upon the grass so intently he counted every strand he saw. He could hear her coming closer and the songs she sung to lure men to their deaths were getting louder; he ignored them pushing them out of his head all the while staring at the grass. He then turned and walked into the forest, he could hear her feet padding on the grass, leaves and twigs rustled behind him. She was curious as to who this strange man was how and why he could avert his gaze and not fall to her powers, and although she didn’t entirely trust him she still followed him deeper in to the woods. He walked the path deep into the forest and stopped in a clearing, all he could hear was the wind in the trees and she had obviously stopped some where behind him no footsteps could be heard. He relaxed a bit took a deep breath and asked the question,
“Thy have a simple question, what is thy name?”
The Lady didn’t speak straight away, surprised at the question.
“Thy name is Tulip Baron, what is yours?”
“Peta is thy name”
“Please tell me, why do thee enchant men into the lake?”
“Thy have been under a spell that only one can undo”
“Who are thy afraid of?”
“The witch that put a curse on thee, Lady Arista a very powerful one she is too”
“She lives on the other side of the lake, it is hers and so am I”
“She has a treasure lying at the bottom of the lake, I am one of its protectors, and the men are the other”
“Can she be stopped?”
“Only by one brave enough to dive under the surface and find her only 2 silver coins, place them upon her eyes thus breaking the curse and undoing all the magic she has done”
“Has anyone tried before?”
“Only my father, but he failed”
“What must I do?”
“Thy must wait for when thy leave at sunrise, the lake shall be water only for a few moments, although long enough to dive under and start searching, when thy have them swim to the opposite shore and there will be a tunnel, follow it, after that the rock will guide you”
“But how shall I breathe under water for so long?”
“The animals will help”
With that Tulip pulled her hood above her black hair and turned towards the edge of the forest and walked away, not looking back.
Some where above him an owl hooted on a dark branch, Peta looked up to the sky,
“Thy are looking for help in breaking the witches curse?”
“Yes, can thy help?”
“You need to find a plant known as a water vine, they hang on the south edges of the forest, eat it, it will help you to breath under water”
“Thank you”
Then off Peta went, he walked the length of the forest to the south border and found the vine he desired and walked a little way back to wait till the time was right.
The next morning came and Tulip rode her horse out of the lake as expected, he did not meet her stare and gulped down the water vine he had in his hand, and as her horse touched the grass he threw himself into the lake and started swimming down into the depths passing all of blind men clawing at the surface.
On and on he swam and as he looked back he could see his legs had disappeared and there was a grey tail instead slightly unnerved him as he swam on. Ahead of him he could see shimmering gold and jewels glowing, sparkling between the gaps of emeralds, ruby’s, sapphire and crystal.
Peta had to stare for moment at this feast on the lake bed.
Then something caught his attention, out of the corner of his eye something was coming towards him, he focused and immediately swam in the other direction.
It was a whale dragon, it had a forked tail, fierce some eyes, a shimmering scaled under belly and not one but 4 fins on it’s back. It is said that they can also blow purple flame to cook anything that crosses its path, and create cyclones under the water to crush any fish or person down on to the lake bed. Peta did not feel that he wanted to test the theories and fled to look somewhere else for the coins.
This particular whale dragon was known as Jewel, a female whale dragon that had been living this lake for a long time and was now one of the last of her kind. She just swam in circles protecting her treasure that had appeared over time and that she had claimed for her self.
Occasionally she would look up at the men clawing at the surface and wonder how much happier she would be when the curse is lifted and she could enjoy a flight to stretch her scaly wings. Jewel would however miss her only friend Tulip, they conversed happily together she may not speak human but then again Tulip wasn’t altogether human herself due to the curse (also it’s very difficult to talk underwater anyway). In fact most of the time she watched as Tulip slept on a bed of jewels curled up in a ball, where Jewel could watch upon her fondly.

Chapter 5

Peta had swam a good way a way from where she prowled, her scales glistening like the jewels confused him occasionally but then he saw her eyes and look away. His efforts to find these silver coins felt fruitless, like finding a needle in a hay stack. After what felt like ages his eyes fixed upon a single silver coin amongst a pile of ruby’s, he sighed heavily and pocketed the coin, he then suddenly realised he had been down here along time, as he could only see by sparkles and the light had grown thin, but just by chance he looked away from the mass of jewels in front of him, he saw her, she was right in front of him, her eyes were ruby red and glowed bright, her fins were tall and sharp, and the expression on her face was one of anger and confusion, Peta was fixated, he couldn’t move, he just stared into the creatures face, then seeing something he didn’t expect, a tear, falling from one of her big glassy eyes and he felt sorry for her.
Jewel had not seen a man with a tail before, or one that was not close to the surface, she could see he was different and not stealing any jewels of any importance, none of the shiny coloured ones she liked, she looked down then swam backwards into the darkness with only her eyes shining out of the dark, watching him.
Peta totally bewildered by this did nothing for a moment, and then he turned, aware that she was watching and kept searching until finally he found it. The lake was pitch black and looking up the sky looked like the ocean bed, full of sparkles and a prominent full moon hung over his head. He pocketed the silver coin aware that his actions were no longer being watched and swam up towards the surface, past all the sightless men and headed towards the opposite shore looking for the tunnel. He swam for ever it seemed to no avail. Peta pulled himself out of the water for a moment, he was cold and shivering, he was tired and his clothes had stuck to him. Reluctantly he went to put his head back into the water and realised it had sealed again, hard as glass and his own reflection looked back at him in the light of the moon, now realising he couldn’t go back in until she rode at dawn he rested on the bank and shut his eyes till morning. Tulip had come back late from her ride, she liked getting out of the water and taking deep breaths of fresh air before descending back in to the Luke warm water, her horse Drake was always willing to take her as far as he could without tiredness. She dreamt of the day she wouldn’t have to go anywhere near this lake and to be reunited with her father.

Morning came, the sun shone warmly over the lake and she hurried over the lake with ease and grace. He awoke as soon as he felt the sun on his back he gulped down more water vine that he had in his pocket and dived back under into the cold water, it awoke his senses immediately and with fresh warm light streaming in through the surface he went about searching for the tunnel entrance.
At last he found some unusual markings in the soil bank, he didn’t recognise them, they were in a large ring big enough for a person to swim through, he had found it, relief and anxiety filled him, relief that he had finally found his way, but anxiety about what lied ahead. It took him a moments to work out what the words said, after a while they started to make sense, although reading backwards was hardly easy, he found it read, To Enter You Must Press Upon The Centre But Be Warned You Bring Tidings With Men With Whom Beauty Chose.
Although slightly worried what it meant he took a deep breath and pressed in the centre of the ring, but as soon as he did so something behind him made the water ripple, he looked back briefly and saw hundreds of them, men with black sightless eyes rapidly swimming towards him, panicking he kept pressing and pushing at the centre of the ring as hard as he could, he could feel hands grabbing him around his ankles and feet pulling him down, he struggled kicking and lashing out, they kept pulling him, down and down, until they reached the lake bed where the treasure lay and Jewel was watching from afar. The men were trying to bury Peta under the weight of jewels until suddenly Jewel sprang into action, although not to save Peta but her precious treasure, she blew perfect purple fire in their direction and they fled, some fell and their bodies lay lifeless on the dusty lake bed with steam rising from their bodies and their clothes burnt. Peta regained his composer after trying to be stuffed with rubies thanked her and swam back up to the tunnel entrance. When he got there he found that the entrance had sealed it’s self again, so painfully he started to kick and punch through the hole again, with all his weight behind him, he could sense the men getting closer again, he could hear them coming, swiftly swimming against the current towards him, then purely by chance why’ll kicking he hit the word centre there came a whooshing noise, everything around him went still then as though a plug had been pulled out he was sucked into the tunnel, like water escaping down the drain, the water swirled around him and he kept bumping into the sides of the tunnel, he could feel the bruises already, then the water seemed to be going up hill and could see day light at the end, whoosh, up through the hole and thrown to the ground, finally he could breath, no more water, his bruises thumped through his temples and he feel into unconsciousness. When he awoke a voice called out to him from a nearby rock, dazed and stunned he walked towards it starting to realise the rock had a face “I haven’t seen a person on this side of the lake for centuries”
Peta smiled at the deep tones of the rocks voice.
“Thy name is Peta, I have come to save thy brothers who are trapped in the lake, Thy have to break a curse on a beautiful lady to get them back, could thee tell thee where to find the witches house?”
“I don’t know about that, she is dangerous and her gnomes attack people”
“Please help me, Thy have done many tasks get this far, and swam great leagues”
“Tasks did you say, well maybe I can help, I know how dangerous they are having tried them myself along time ago”
“Thy have the coins to undo what she has done, please”
“Very well, turn south from this spot and walk 2 miles straight and you’ll find her in her house down a valley, but be warned, you must sing to put the gnomes asleep the moment you see them, by the time you are in the garden both the gnomes and the witch will be asleep, good luck son”
He thanked the rock and turned to the south. He quickly started walking through field and dale not pausing, thinking how good it would be to see his brothers again. As he slowed his walking speed he came upon a woodland, but not a plush one with leaves on the trees and birds singing, but a dead one, where the trees have grown up to the sky and the branches are thick with brown moss and bruised trunks, under his feet the earth was all dark and hard, nothing grows here, not even a weed, starting to feel claustrophobic he walked faster until he was almost running, but the forest went on. He stopped to catch a breath and had a strong uneasy feeling that he was being watched, he looked all around him but there was nothing, then looking down the ground bubbled around him and his feet started to sink into the soil, he started running again and could just about see light out of the end of the forest, his speed picked up and with his last efforts with a hop, skip and a jump he landed on the grass. Looking back he could see the path was moving ever slightly, like sand as the tide was coming in, but the trees still great and haunting, and quiet.
Out of breath but still alive he surveyed his new surroundings hoping there wasn’t something nasty waiting for him, thankfully there wasn’t. He could just make out some grey smoke coming from the next valley, he followed the smoke and from a distance saw a thatched house with a big garden, and there were lots of small ugly looking gnomes playing with a bat and ball, they weren’t a very good aim and kept hitting each other with the bat, one hit the ball so hard it went through a window on the side of the house, a women came outside and the gnomes tried to stand to attention, although they kept pushing each other over, Peta was enjoying this it put a smile on his face, for the first time in days. The women got very angry with the gnomes and hit one of them across the head with her hand and went back inside. Peta decided he had to move, he couldn’t stay hiding and he had to complete his mission, he started singing a song his mother had taught him when he was young, and then started walking toward the house, his voice growing with confidence as he got closer, the gnomes turned to see him approach, he wanted to run, but he kept walking towards the gate, opened it and went forwards. He kept singing until he was right up against the front door, looking around the garden all the gnomes had curled up into statue positions and were snoring loudly. He quietly pushed the door open, inside it was one room, it was dark and smelt of overpowering herbs and spices, an overgrown kitchen to his left and a cauldron including an open book in front of him, to his right was a bed up against the wall. The witch was wearing a stained apron over her faded brown dress and had mad curly blonde hair, he looked at her and thought may be years earlier she would have been rather pretty, but not any more. Maybe she just looked young and her eyes or her memory would prove to be older. Peta got out the coins from his pocket and placed them upon her closed eye lids, the light shone bright from the coins encasing her in a white light, Peta watched in horror as she started to age, wrinkles formed, her hair went from blonde to white then grey, her skin disappeared and her white bones and skull protruded through her clothes, her body shrank and shrivelled up, the light faded and before him lay dust under the heavy dress that was all that was left of the witch known as lady Arista. From outside he could hear voices and shouts of joy, leaving the dark interior and smells of spices behind him he stepped into the garden and closed the door behind him. There were men all around him, no gnomes just men, one came up to him “Thank you, thank you for freeing us, thy thought no-one would ever come”
“Thy name is Peta, and what is yours?”
“James Baron, thy came to release thy daughter from the witch’s evil curse”
“Thy have met your daughter, she is very beautiful”
Peta walked with James towards the waters edge to watch the most amazing site, the men from the lake flying out of the water and then landing with a thump on to land, they all looked overjoyed, hugging each other and dancing to their own tunes. From a way down the banks where Peta and James were standing two men approached, it was Sole and Larine smiling widely at their little brother,
“What took thee so long?”
“Ungrateful brother of mine, thy have endured talking animals, a lady who will only talk to thee while thy head was bowed, a whale dragon, a talking rock, quick sand in form of earth and had to sing to gnomes to enter a house to defeat a witch”
“Anything else?”
“Thy could very easily push thee back into the lake”
While the brothers bantered between each other James could only stare at the vision of his daughter coming out of the lake and drifting towards them “my daughter, thy never thought I would see thee again”
Peta and his brothers broke their discussion to see Tulip staring back at them with a radiant smile. She was smiling with so much joy, her curse was lifted and her father was waiting for her, she could not have been any happier.
“Thank you” she kissed him on the cheek, every bone in his body wanted to collapse in a heap and his lips were tingling as she stepped back.
“You are very welcome”
James and Tulip walked up and over the hill, the brothers watched them go. James hugged his daughter to his side as they walked, not knowing where they were or where they were going, just away. Once out of range Sole spoke
“Lucky rogue, why did she not kiss us?”
“Thy did not break the curse”
The brothers started walking along the bank jumping on each other and fooling around, and then Peta remembered “thy dear brothers, don’t we need to be on the other side of the lake if we want to go home, or do thee wish for another adventure?” They all laughed together. Behind them in the sky an old whale dragon was stretching her wings which for along time had been cramped under her body, she flew high to appreciate the sunset and aimed for horizon with a huge sigh of relief, and forgetting she would have to go back some day, she would miss her treasure, but not now, not this moment, this moment she would enjoy.

Chapter 6

The brothers walked along the shore, finding no way across they ended up swimming to the other bank in the warm water of the morning sunrise; they walked along the other bank laughing at each others jokes and how strange it all felt, as if it never happened. In the distance they could see Byway was getting closer and they found the Barons waiting for them. Out of the three brothers Peta was the only one to know the king’s predicament when it came to affairs of the heart as Peta was one of the guard’s of the king’s treasure, and the king would often talk to himself when polishing. Knowing that the king wanted to find love he sought to introduce Tulip to the king.
“Nice to see thee again Peta” said Tulip smiling “and thee, thank you for meeting me”
“Who is thy meeting, surely we know each other well”
“At the castle the king would like to meet a beautiful flower”
She blushed and followed them up to the castle and through the gates; the guards escorted them all towards the kings’ chamber.

Through the big oak doors the king sat in his throne looking slightly healthier than normal and it looked like his tailors had been fitting his clothes better. The king over the past few days had thought to himself that he should not begrudge people in love and had started to calm his mind and think before he judged people too harshly for their choices, and had actually started to believe in what the future my bring. Maybe love was waiting for him.
As soon as the king saw Tulip his heart fluttered and skipped a beat, this what he was waiting for a beautiful girl to smile at him, he felt younger and fitter all in within a second, he felt a smile approach his lips, and as the king smiled, a broad one directed towards Tulip, she in turn smiled back to him, he was more handsome and younger than Peta had suggested. Peta smiled as well, noticing his brother’s puzzlement on their faces and her father’s happiness, until now he never actually believed in love at first sight.