Princess in the Rough
Chapter 26

Echo

“You, you lied to me.” I said weakly. I walked off the moist, moss ridden ground and onto fresh, kelly green spring grass.

“I don’t understand, Echo. How did I lie?” She asked cluelessly but I barely heard her because of everything I was taking in. I brushed my hand on the soft grass. My gaze drifted over to the most beautiful lake I’ve ever seen or heard of. It was magical!

The water was completely clear, giving me the ability to see the bottom, which was lined with a silver gemstone, the same gemstone on the ring I saw in the jewelry shop. Moonreye, I think. The moonreye was glowing, unlike the ring I had seen. It might be because it’s night, instead of day.

In the center of the lake, was a small island of stone. Buried in the stone, was a sword.

“Echo?” Mal asked me, snaping me out of my trance.

“Oh, what?” I shook my head to snap me out of my daze.

“You said I was lying then you started sweeping the ground with your hand.”

“Well, yeah. This place is incredible!”

“I can barely see anything and you’re saying it’s amazing? What’s going on?”

“Don’t you see it, there’s an island in the middle of that lake!” I was so confused, she couldn’t see anything I was seeing.

“Echo, are you feeling okay?”

“Besides the fact that my friend and the whole kingdom are asleep, I’m doing fine. How about you?” There was a soft wind behind me.

Mal chuckled loudly. “I’m concerned about you. There’s nothing here but rock!”

When she said that, a woman made of water emerged from the lake’s surface.

“Worthy.” The water woman said softly.

“Excuse me?” I asked the women. You could see her long straight hair and other features, but there was no color to them.

“Hail the worthy noble.” She said and dropped to her knees.

“Worthy noble!” A chorus of voices said from the sides of the lake. I looked around, and saw a half dozen water humans surrounding the lake, all of them kneeling.

“What?” Mal was looking at Echo’s expressions curiously.

“Echo, we should get going now.”

Too late. I was started to zone out and focus on the water people.“Worthy noble? What do you mean?”

“Worthy noble, chosen one, savior, child of power…” The water kept chanting names and I still had no idea what they meant. “Take the sword, fulfill your destiny.”

“What do you mean?” Then it clicked. The sword, it was Excalibur, the sword in the stone. Only the chosen one could pull it from the stone, and from the sound of it, I was the chosen one.

“Worthy noble, chosen one, savior, child of power…” Was all they said. The first one kept kneeling, but moved her arm to point at the sword.

“This should be fun.” I kicked off my leather sandals and removed the top layer of my dress. I peered at my reflection in the water and for a moment in time, I saw a shadow, not my own, standing next to me. But I blinked and it went away.

I shook my head, I held my hands above my head, and jumped into the water, head first.

Instead of diving into the water, I crashed into the surface of the water! “Ow!” I shouted, my arms a little bruised from the landing. I rubbed my hand across the surface, and found it solid, yet ever so slightly squishy. Wish I knew that before I dived in.

“Echo? Where did you go. I can’t see you!” Mal called to me, even though I was laying right in front of her on the water’s surface.

“I’m right here, don’t worry. I’ll be right back, don’t go anywhere.” I stood up nervously, checking the water around me, in case this was the only solid spot; it wasn’t. The whole lake was solid water, but it wasn’t ice.

“This place is cursed, I know it! Echo, we really need to get going! NOW!”

“Sure, in a minute. I’ll be right back.”

“Echo!” She called but was soon drowned out by the water people chanting regale names to me as I walked to the sword. I had no idea what any of them meant but it felt good.

When I was standing in front of the sword, the first water lady formed next to me from the water. I stumbled back in surprise.

“Worthy noble; take the sword, save us all.” She said to me without looking at me. She just stared at the sword.

“What do you mean save you? Are you in some kind of danger?”

She swiftly turned to me and in a flash she was grabbing me with her arms. She had incredible strength for a body of water. Ba dum chh.

“The land is fading, stories changing, darkness rising, hope dwindling. The hero’s name is a mimic of reality but their heart couldn’t be more true.” She wailed, her voice echoing inside my skull.

“What? The stories are changing?” What did she mean?

“Three evil’s join, three lands fall, joy and laughter end.” Her grip loosened and she turned back to the sword but she was now holding my hand. “Take the sword.” She sighed.

“Take the sword.” The rest of the water people repeated.

“If you really want me to.” I placed both my hands on the hilt of the sword, it’s leather grip already molded perfectly to my hand, except for the fact it was the size of three of my hands.

I started to pull the sword slowly from the stone. It slid out easily, with only a few scrapes against the stone. Finally, the whole blade emerged from the stone.

With a flash of blinding light, the whole place disappeared and I was once again standing in a dark, damp, cave, with no light except that radiating off of Excalibur.

It was probably the most stunning sword I could imagine. The perfect leather handle and glowing light were already stunning but to top it off, the entire wide blade was gold, the guard and pommel were silver and at the end of the two sides of the guard and the end of the pommel was a gleaming ruby.

“Echo!” Mal wrapped her arms around me and held me close. “Where did you go? You were gone for about, half an hour! I almost left you! Where did you get that?” She let go and handled Excalibur.

“I was getting Excalibur, how about you?” A yawned a little, since we’ve been up half the night, and walked through a forest all day.

“I’ve been staring into the dark waiting for you to return.” She answered.

“I’ll tell you all about it when we wake everyone up.” I started to run back to the entrance then heard a loud growl. I knew it was the alpha of the pack, and I started to tremble with fear. Flashbacks came to my mind of the last time I met him, he was the complete opposite of happy.

“I see that you’ve returned.” I turned around to face the were/moon wolf. His mouth was foaming in anger, and behind him, the rest of his pack.

“It seems I have.” I hid Excalibur and the storybook inside my cloak, incase he would try to steal them.

“I believe you remember the warning I gave you if you ever came back here.” He growled again, starting to circle me and Mal. How he could see us in our cloaks was beyond me, but nevertheless, he could. Perhaps he could smell us.

Suddenly, the ground started to shake, like an earthquake. After a few seconds of shaking, the water woman wooshed in with all of her buddies and almost downed the beasts. Me and Mal thankfully got out of the den. The book fell out of my clumsy hands and opened to the last page, it said: Emmène-moi dans une terre d’émerveillement.

I snatched it up seconds before the water consumed it, barely wondering why the book said that. Mal and I ran and ran, until the roar of the running water faded behind us.

“That was a close one.” I said, huffing and puffing like the Big Bad Wolf.

“Agreed, now let’s go save my niece.” Mal stood up straight and started to march in the direction of Forest Majesty, ready to wake up the princess, or at least try.