The Monster in the Lake

[SolarCat]

In a land of magic, many improbably things are not only possible, but commonplace. An unwary traveler in such a foreign land may be startled to discover the songs of the trees on a sunny day, or the playful splashes of a mischievous brook attempting to soak an unwary passerby. Magia, a land so old as to be forgotten by all but the oldest of legends, was certainly no exception.

At first glance, of course, Magia looks like any other stretch of land. Her towering mountains in the distance appeared as foreboding and threatening peaks, making way for the welcoming valley with its gentle stream curving among the trees and the rocks. Her deserts and oceans did not reveal their magical mischief to a casual eye, nor did her forests reveal the mystical creatures sheltered within their protective darkness. Magia could keep her secret well, and the land and creatures thrived undisturbed for centuries. This magical land would have thrived happily for many more centuries to come had she not been discovered by a wandering band of pirates, cast onto the shore of the magnificent Magia by a freak accident far to the west.

At first Magia took pity on the bedraggled and half-drowned band of miscreants, providing them with a large supply of strong lumber to repair their boats and her best harvest to regain their strength before journeying home. The pirates were indeed grateful to the land and made quick work preparing for their departure, but it was not long before their captain made different plans.

“This land be richer than any other we be havin’ known,” he announced to his crew. “Why leave this fertile land t' make our homeport on barren soil an’ angry seas?”

His crew agreed and immediately the band began building a permanent residence. They chose a location sheltered by the base of a small mountain, next to a beautiful crystal-clear lake. They dug a well to bring in water from the lake in case of attack, and constructed look-out towers on the taller nearby mountains.

Soon the ship was equipped and the fort was constructed, so preparations were made to set sail and wage war upon the nearest shipping lanes. For the next ten years the pirates would leave Magia only to terrorize the neighboring lands, returning with priceless treasures stolen from all they could catch, quickly storing these valuables in a vault deep beneath the lake. Sometimes they would even bring back prisoners to be enslaved until their pirate overlords grew tired of their company and invented methods to dispose of them. The pirates would proceed to celebrate their good fortune by feasting on the creatures of the land, frequently killing extra merely for the sport of it. The land around their fort was littered with the bleaching bones of the mythical creatures unlucky enough to be caught by the guiltless thieves.

Magia tried to drive these unwelcome intruders away through freezing cold or scorching heat, but they would only retreat into the base of the mountain. Her attempts to starve them out with drought and famine merely resulted in further hunting of her precious magical inhabitants. When she could take it no further she warned her citizens to seek higher ground, and prepared the flood the land.

The pirates returned from their latest expedition with more treasures than they had ever imagined. Wondering at their good fortune they did not even unload the ship to store their latest accumulation of wealth in the vault before beginning preparations for the largest feast they had ever held. Magia waited patiently, wincing with the death of each of her creatures slain to feed their ravenous greed, but knowing that her timing was crucial or even more would die. Finally, when the pirates were deep into their feast, their minds groggy with drink, Magia raised the waters.

At first the plan seemed to work, and the pirates began drunkenly floundering around in the rapidly rising water. This was not to last as pirates are, unfortunately, extremely familiar with water. It was only a matter of time before they snapped out of their drunken stupor to clamber back onto the ship and await the falling of the tides.

Magia disappointedly waited in an attempt to starve the pirates of the boat, but they only began to eat her precious koi and narwhal all the faster. When she could not take it any more she lowered her waters and allowed them to land. Magia resigned herself to a fate full of pirates and destruction, her only regret being her inability to protect the precious animals in her care.

Then she saw the contents of the pirates’ boat, and her spirits soared. Not only had the pirates brought back their usual accouterments of greed, but they had returned with a pair of very special children. The girl had her head hidden in her brother’s shoulder, sobbing, as he resolutely protected her from the pirate’s jeers. Magia settled into deep thought, planning once more the release of her land.

The pirates had not intended to take prisoners on this raid, and no exceptions were to be made for the family of four found stowed away on the great naval vessel that had tried to halt their success. It was not until they witnessed the angry glare of the boy defending his sister, a look so full of hatred and defiance that its very intensity had caught the captain’s beard on fire, that they decided to spare any life. This pair could prove useful, and so brother and sister found themselves bound and chained in the bowels of the ship, awaiting some new horror once they finally found land.

The boy held back his own tears and he comforted his sobbing sister in their new prison deep in the pirates’ fort. He looked no older than nine, but he was now the man of the family, and his sister was all he had left. He remembered his father’s smile and his mother’s understanding as they set forth to find the magical land of Magia, in the hope of learning more about their childrens’ special gifts. He brushed away a tear remembering his last sight of his father pushing him away, urging him to hide his sister from the pirates. He found his hand clenched in a fist as he thought of that leering pirate captain and his crew, preparing to destroy both himself and his sister, and he knew that he would find a way to save her.

Looking around in haste, the boy noticed a bubbling in the corner of the dank prison. Gently letting go of his sister he hastened over to the tiny puddle he witnessed a beautiful koi fish splashing in the corner. The fish stopped immediately as soon as it saw the boy, and the boy’s eyes were filled with compassion. “Did they catch you, too?” he asked himself, pitying the fish even more than himself.

The fish realized the boy would not harm him and began to splash playfully. “I found this tunnel from the lake!” he cried, startling the boy and his sister, who quickly wiped off her tears and came over to see the talking fish. “Come swim with me, and I will show you!” the fish called before disappearing in a flash of fin and bubbles.

The young boy looked at his sister before nodding. “I’ll go first, hold on to my ankle,” he said, and disappeared into the hole.

The pathway was dark and cramped but the friendly koi stayed nearby to guide them, and brother and sister were surprised to find they could breathe quite easily under the water. They kept pace with the koi easily, and it was not long before they found themselves in the center of the beautiful lake.

It was not long, either, before the pirates discovered this desertion. “Stop them, ya bilge rats!” the pirate captain cried and it was not long before the shore of the lake was surrounded by angry pirates. “You’ll pay fer this, boy!” the pirate captain called again, motioning to his pirates to swim into the lake after the pair.
No sooner had the first pirate entered than the sea became a boiling mass of bubbles and tentacles, the threatening arms grabbing at the pirates and pulling them under the surface. The pirate captain ran towards the ship, urging all under his command to follow. The boy clutched his sister, shielding her from the gruesome sight of the tenticles, ready to defend her should one of the arms attempt to wrap around his sister. The koi guiltily laughed at the spectacle, betraying the years it had waiting to see the pirates suffer and leave the land it called home.

The entire incident seemed to stretch on for hours; in reality it was only a few minutes before the lake calmed and the creature of the deep sank down into peace once more. The pirate ship could be seen in the distance preparing to flee, leaving all their collected treasures in the vault in the lake, too afraid to face the monstrous tentacles to retrieve them Still the boy clung to his sister, his eyes searching the water for a sign the danger was returning, but all he could find was the koi.

“Welcome to Magica,” the koi announced, and the boy’s eyes widened.

“This is Magica?” he found himself asking.

“None other,” the koi bubbled happily before thanking him and his sister for their arrival. “Magica can no longer defend herself from harm,” the fish explained, “and so you two will be our protectors.”

“But we can’t –” the boy began, before the fish interrupted him with a giant splash and a dive into the lake. Shaking the water out of his eyes he witnessed all the magnificent creatures of the land gathering on the shore of the lake, and all the creatures of the sea arranging themselves around him. He spun around slowly to admire their beauty before finding himself face to face with the fearful kraken, its tentacles now politely fanning themselves out gently along the lake.

“Th-th-thank you,” he stammered finally. The kraken imitated the sound in a high-pitched screech, eliciting a laugh from his sister, the first sound she had made since the pirates had attacked the ship. The kraken merely helped the pair to shore before disappearing silently beneath the deep.

To this day the land of Magica remains shielded in mystery and lore, protected by a brother and sister. The story of the “monster” in the lake has succeeded in deterring the return of the pirates, and the creatures continue their lives in peace with their two magi guardians. Magia herself, of course, could not be happier.