Lakeside encounter

“What a beautiful lake!”

We had quickly washed up by rivers in the past few days, but this was an opportunity I couldn’t let slide. Without any embarrassment I took off my shirt and jumped right in. The water was comfortable and warm, it felt soothing to submerge myself in it. Chiyo was a lot more hesitant to follow suit however.

“Hey! Have you got no decency, just going in like that? I didn’t bring any swimwear, so how am I supposed to bathe?”

“Just roll up your skirt and take a footbath then, the water is really nice!” I gleefully yelled back.

She hobbled her way over the rocky beach, took off her shoes, and carefully dipped her toes into the water.

“Oh! This is really nice!”

She waded a bit deeper, holding her skirt up to her thighs. Seeing her awkwardly stand there, I devised a devious prank. I went underwater and swam up to her, grabbed her leg, and gave it a forceful pull.

I resurfaced just in time to hear the ear-piercing scream she let out, and see her come crashing down into the water. She came back up with a gasp and spat the lake’s water into my face.

“Oi you! You want some of these?” She said with playful anger. Her first were held in front of her, ready to pounce. Her white button-up blouse was sticking to her skin. I didn’t mind the view at all.

"I'd like to see you try lay a hand on me." I mockingly replied.

We started wrestling in the water. She was a fierce opponent and even managed to push me under at some point, but I didn’t hold back either. I lifted her up in the air, her laughter mixing with the sound of the splashes, and threw her a few feet away. Then she started cheating.

“Unlimited… water… gatling!”

A torrent of water jets hit me all across my upper body, sending me flying backwards. I was happy that she could control her magic a little better now, but I would rather if she didn’t test her new spells out on me.

We both burst into laughter, the sound of which echoed across the lake. Still panting from the exertion, we went back to the lakeside to dry off under a warm sun caressing our skin. While lying there, with a gentle breeze rustling the trees behind us, we started talking again.

“Hey Oliver, you said we were going to go to Indestria to look for answers, right? But how do you want to go about it exactly? I can’t imagine just walking up to random people and asking for information on… long distance teleportation and that kind of stuff.”

“You see, the Inquisition library is our best shot at finding out more about your condition. I went there with my dad as a kid. It holds a massive collection of books on every topic imaginable, including witches and the Devil. A lot of the books are classified, but I’m sure we’ll figure something out if you use your powers.”

“Hey! That sounds way too dangerous. We’d literally be in the lion’s den!”

I turned over on my side to look at her and raised an eyebrow. “Well, do you have any better ideas?”

She didn’t.

As we were having this conversation a young boy, no older than ten, appeared at the tree line. He walked over and came to sit with us. I couldn’t help but be startled by him.

“Uh, hey kid, what are you doing here? Are your parents around?”

The boy shook his head. “I like to come here and watch the water. This is my spot!” He shone a bright smile at us. He continued talking as if it wasn’t weird for two people to be sunbathing in such a remote location.

“Hey, did you know? On summer solstice the sun sets right between those hills over there. Isn’t that cool? I missed it last year because it was raining… but I always come here to sit and watch! The fishies make little waves when they come to the surface, I love fishies!”

The boy was jumping around from one topic to the next and was a bit hard to follow, but he seemed to love this lake a lot. Chiyo spoke to him in a soft tone I hadn’t heard out of her before. I was discovering a new side to her.

“Little boy, where do you come from? Is there a village near here?”

He thought long and hard about this, with his elbow on his knee and fist pressed to his temple. When he had found an answer, he beamed at us once more.

“Dunno!”

Chiyo sighed. But she maintained her caring and motherly tone.

“Little friend, it’s actually supposed to be a secret that we’re here. Could you do us a favor and keep quiet about seeing us?”

The boy got excited now.

“A secret, I know secrets! I heard a wicked witch escaped with her lover and now they’re traveling through the countryside looking for children to eat! I know, I know!"

Chiyo went red when she heard me being described as her “lover”, but I thought it was cute. The boy looked her in the eyes.

“But missy, you aren’t a witch right?”

“T-that’s right! We’re just, uh, tourists! We’re enjoying this… famous lake here! Enjoying it! Very much!” Her motherly façade from earlier started breaking down.

The boy’s ear-to-ear smile appeared again.

“I’m so glad! People are actually enjoying the lake as much as I do! But I sure hope it doesn’t get too busy around here… I like it more when it’s quiet, then the fishies come to the surface and dance!”

He bought the lie, we both breathed a sigh of relief. The boy got up.

“I need to go, but I had so much fun just now!” He waved at us as he ran off again, disappearing into the forest.

Who could that boy have been, to frequent such a remote location? There were no settlements in the wide area, after all. Suddenly the both of us got a really bad feeling about that lake. We decided not to camp there like we had initially planned. 

                                                                             *

Late on the third day since our encounter with Verus, we reached a steep hill. The horse jogged up the slope and when we reached the top, we saw it. In the vale below there was a large oval-shaped city with a moat surrounding it. Three enormous towers were spread throughout, reaching for the heavens. Each of them was no shorter than 400 feet in height.

Indestria lay spread out before us. We had arrived, but how were we going to get in?