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In the morning, they crossed the Maha Ter – the Kingswater, as the merchants and sea-traders knew it, so named for its great and swift current that came rushing in from the bay of Biripor until it calmly fed into the glistening waters of Crown Lake. They remained east of the river, following it downstream with the wind tearing against their faces.

Master Chendra told them tales of the waterwights that kept the currents wild; arwana summoned into the world and later discarded. Like all elements, arwana could only be kept in servitude for so long until they start to grow erratic. The proper end was to retire them, send them back to the epperstrom where their spirits could mould with others and repair.

But not all men could expel even so low a daemon-kin as elements, and not all men could employ daemologs to do the job. So for hundreds of years, they would release their addled arwana into the Kingswater, and there the spirits of water merged and took over living beings, corrupting them into nameless creatures of half wit and decay.

Isla could not think of anything else following Master Chendra's story, and Pepper must have shared her concerns, by the way it kept rubbing its head against her cheek – as though for comfort.

It took decades before an element started to grow unstable, but there was no knowing how many years Pepper had been summoned before it came to Noi.

'You aren't feral,' Isla whispered to the salamander, but the words were more for her own peace. 'You aren't erratic at all.'

They stopped just before the sun was setting, and the girls washed in a calm little bay that branched away from the main river. Pepper stayed clear of the water then, watching the depths with its beady eyes.

Master Chendra had stayed with the soldiers, setting up their camp for the night. Now would be the perfect opportunity to escape.

Rinju laughed and scooped a handful of the bay onto Isla's face, washing away all wishful thoughts. Even if the other girls wanted to, where would they go? They would be hunted to the edges of the kingdom.

Another splash of water, and this time Isla returned the favour. Neither of them minded; the water was a cool contrast to the stifling air. Soon, they were both drenched and laughing. Only after Rinju started sneezing did Isla take her to the stone bank.

'Here.' She wrapped the girl in a cut of bamboo cloth. 'Dry off and tie on your syarong. It's time we return to camp.'

'What's Elder Phrae doing?'

Phrae had not followed them to the bank, instead wading deeper into the heart of the bay. Isla sighed. 'Stay here with Pepper.' She returned into the water, shivering upon its fresh kiss against her skin. Phrae did not look when she called. The girl's gaze was on her palms, which she held above the surface of the bay. Isla was waist-deep in water before she caught her eye. 'We are not supposed to use theurgy without supervision.'

'It's a good thing mine's not working then!' Phrae snapped.

'Of course it isn't going to work on your first try.'

'It works well enough when I don't mean it to.'

'That's why it's called a hiccup.'

'Just leave me. I need to concentrate.' She opened her hands as though to scatter sand into the air.

Isla fought hard not to chuckle. 'It's getting dark, and I don't think we'd like the look of these waters when the sun is gone.'

'This is the safest place for me to try my theurgy. Just go if you're done washing!'

'As you wish. But don't blame me when one of the soldiers come to take you back, screaming and undressed.'

She turned back towards Rinju, waiting still upon her stone mound; a silhouette against the setting rays where they peeked through a curtain of trees. The red of a campfire flickered between the boughs. Soon it was amongst the only light that remained. The water grew dark, and instantly the cold overwhelmed her. Isla picked her pace, guided by Pepper's gentle glow.

She was half way to the stone bank when the bay stirred into life.

Isla stumbled, rocked by a current that rose out of nowhere. Something slipped between her feet and she lost what little footing she retained. For a moment the bay took her – and she took in the bay; a taste of iron in the water, dirt that stirred from its bed. Isla found her feet and rose, spitting what she had not swallowed, rubbing the sting from her eyes. She opened them to catch Phrae thrashing against the undercurrent and, in a blink, vanish.

Rinju's scream pierced the evening.

If that did not attract Master Chendra and the soldiers, nothing would. But there's no time to wait for the men. 'Move back! Get away from the water!' She waved Rinju farther away before sucking in a breath and lunging into the depths.

Too dark. She could not even see her own hands.

Isla resurfaced, her mind clouding. 'Phrae!'

Of course there was no response; she had expected nothing less. Still her heart mounted with fear. The current pulled her towards the whirlpool into which Phrae had disappeared, and Isla allowed it. She had to remain calm.

Isla lit her core and searched. Rinju's was the first presence she identified, sharp and agitated, Pepper a burning haze of intelligence beside her; something Isla could sense but not penetrate. There were others like the salamander's, deep in the bowels of the bay, hundreds of them, but where Pepper's presence was alive with cognizance, theirs were more primal and wild.

And there, amongst the wild spirits, Isla sensed a spike of something human and terrified. Fighting against a darkness that threatened to snuff it out. Isla swam towards it, carried by the swift current.

She isolated Phrae's struggling presence and seized it. Calm down, she willed, but met with no result. What she would give at that moment for Eshe's power ... Phrae's mind was far too chaotic for any hope of calm, her body inundated and physically incapable of swimming. Much like her strength, Isla's ideas were running short. Only one option remained.

Isla burrowed deep into Phrae. The girl was a complex tangle of passageways, beating with fear and uncertainty. A darkness was growing, too. A despair that Isla honed into and accentuated.

There's no use resisting.

Phrae's mind trailed into a dormant fog, slipping away, and Isla out with it.

The whirlpool calmed into a weak eddy and spat out Phrae's body. Isla shot towards her bobbing figure, but it was far from over. Something swam between her legs; slime and heat tingled her skin. She dared a soft brush against its presence.

A wild spirit.

Isla grabbed Phrae's arm and pulled. The thought of something – some things – lurking beneath them was enough to weaken her knees. Her only solace was the moon, now risen behind her and lighting up the bay—

Her bowels froze. The water was filled with worms. Bristles down the side of their squirming bodies, whiskers trailing behind as they glided closer and around her. They were unnaturally large at three, five feet long, topped with miniature tusks that hungrily clamped from their pharynx.

Neru's mercy. The only weapon Isla owned was the dagger she used to take Gorlem's life, now it lay sheathed in her pack.

She backed away slowly, her movement dampened between the water and Phrae's weight. Bubble surfaced. One of the beasts snaked its way towards her, pincers twitching, feelers spread.

Something dove into the water and plucked it out.

All Isla could see was the large shadow of the bird.

What is it doing here? It flung the waterwight into the bushes before circling back and diving for another. Isla's eyes searched the bank. Rinju was gone, but the bay was alight where Pepper spurted its flames into the water.

Farther beyond the bedrock, light moved through the trees.

Master Chendra's coming.

'What are you doing?' Isla called to the bird as it came for its third prey. 'Get out of here before someone sees you!'

Beside her, Phrae started coughing. Isla pulled her towards the shore while the erne swiped and bit at the water around her. The great beast gave a final squawk and flew away, a worm writhing in its beak.

Master Chendra arrived, Rinju and the soldiers at his heels, just as the bird disappeared into the sky.

Arrows pierced the waters, bringing some creatures down with them. Master Chendra waded into the shallow end and raised his hands. The air lost its humidity. Pockets of water rose from the bay, wights trapped in each bubble. They squirmed, trying to escape the liquid bowl in which they were snared. But Master Chendra's control was absolute. With a flick of his wrist, the wind retreated towards him, bringing with it countless of cages.

One of the soldiers took Phrae from her, and soon Isla was back on solid ground. Pepper leapt, greeting her with a warmth that sent droplets fizzling off her shoulder.

'I told you girls to stay in the shallows!' barked Master Chendra.

Isla leaned against the rocks and eyed the water bubbles warily. The worms looked even more gruesome five feet in the air. From this close, she could see their sightless heads, peeled back with layers upon layers of feelers. 'These can't be arwana ...'

'What have I been telling you all morning? They've infected the water-beasts by now.'

'I thought ... tales ...'

'These are no perri-tales! Foolish girl!'

'What will you do with them?'

'Stew them for dinner.'

Behind him, Phrae retched out water and a smaller worm. Isla felt much like doing the same.

'Kill them, of course! If you ask foolish questions, you'll be met with foolish answers.' Master Chendra curled his hands into fists and squeezed. The bubbles contracted under a sudden pressure of air. Their insides swirled, twisted with a speed that turned the waterwights into a black blur.

Isla took cover. A boom and a splash resounded into the night, water and worm parts hurtled across the air.

Her heart still raced even later as she followed her tutor back to their camp. An eyrkin. They were common enough – but such power ... If he could destroy a hundred of those creatures with the snap of a finger, how quickly could he do away with a spy?
    

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