Chapter 8
The first thing Luxa did after opening her eyes was sit up. Then she turned over as water gushed from her mouth, coughing and spluttering with the lightly salty, fishy taste.
Now fighting rats was terribly frightening at times, but it was nothing to hurtling down a cold river at breakneck speed on the back of an unknown creature with a slippery hide. That was just freaky, and it was what she was doing now.
She had been examining the river's edge with Aurora when she had suddenly been pulled into the water by something with a slippery but firm grip and held under for at least a minute and a half before she was thrown up in the air only to land on the terrifying creature's back. She assumed she had been held under to keep her from screaming for Aurora. That plan had been sinister, but nonetheless clever.
The creature seemed to ignore her retching and kept racing on, making bigger waves then the young queen had ever seen before. If she even attempted to jump off she would drown in a heartbeat. All she could do was hang on for dear life as she hurtled along on the back of this mysterious being.
She reached up to her head and discovered that her crown was missing. Lovely. She went through those things like a child with a catch cloth. And Vikus would not be happy that she had lost another one. If she made it back to Regalia alive. She had absolutely no idea where she was headed for. But she was soon to find out.
Eventually the narrower river began to widen and a huge expanse of sea opened up to them. The waterway.
Now she had traveled the waterway once before, but that was nothing compared to the speed of at least 100 miles an hour this thing was going at. But what was the thing?
It was as if the creature had been waiting for just the right moment to reveal what it was. It pulled its head up out of the water and gave a colossal roar. Luxa couldn't help it; she screamed bloody murder. She was on the back of a serpent. A big, huge, Tankard serpent. Extremely wonderful.
The serpent issued a series of strange gurgling and slurping sounds, accompanied by the occasional growl. Luxa recognized that to be serpent tongue. She guessed the beast was either telling her to stop screaming or was communicating with another serpent nearby. The young queen hoped it wasn't the latter.
She began to calm down after a while, but didn't dare let her guard down. She had now deduced that the monstrous creature was taking her back to its home, the Tankard. But why she had no clue.
But her hunch turned out to be correct, because a few hours later, they entered the enormous, water filled cavern. This time, in contrast to the last, there were no gnawers standing along the caves. But there were serpents there; three other heads were rippling the surface of the river. One opened its mouth, revealing the rows are rows of razor sharp teeth inside it. Luxa gulped. She didn't even have a sword.
Before she knew it, she was dumped into a cave on the side of the Tankard, nearly level with the water. The cold liquid rushed in periodically, leaving the floor concealed under two or three inches of water. The stuff dripped from the roof of the cave as well. Within minutes, Luxa was soaked to the bone. But she couldn't care less about her personal appearance or dryness at the moment; she was just busy fearing for her life.
Her strength was diminishing with every passing second, and she felt herself ready to pass out with hunger, thirst for clean water, and just overall exhaustion. When she finally decided she just couldn't hang on any longer and was about to let herself go, there was a flopping sound, and a bunch of pre-filleted fish fell beside her. She looked up and saw a rock ledge protruding out of the cave wall. But there was someone standing on it as well.
A woman who looked to be about 18 or 19 years old was standing on the ledge. She looked like an Underlander, but that the same time, she didn't look like one. She had the violet eyes and silvery hair, although her eyes were of the deepest violet-black. And the locks of her hair seemed to flow, just like the river. But the real thing that annoyed Luxa was that she was wearing a crown. A crown much more elaborate than Luxa's gold bands. But why, though? She wasn't a queen, was she?
The girl climbed down from the ledge on rungs somewhat like a ladder's that had been carved from the rock wall. She did it very dramatically, and Luxa could almost here the Regalian orchestra playing a suspenseful tune. When the woman's feet touched the floor, she turned and faced Luxa, as if expecting something.
All was quiet for a moment, and then—
"And just who are you?"
Luxa had broken the silence, in a rather comical way. The woman groaned.
"You are supposed to know who I am already, it gives me more of an entrance!" she said, crossing her arms. Luxa gave a snicker, despite the circumstances.
"Well, I do not have the slightest clue as to who you are. I suggest you try making an entrance by introducing yourself." The young queen advised, still smirking. If possible, the woman looked even more cross.
"I am Lynne. Queen of the Serpents, Lady of the Sea." She said, in a misty, almost ghostly tone.
"I beg your pardon? Queen of the Serpents?" Luxa spluttered, confused. "I hate to break it to you, but you are a human, not a serpent."
Now it was Lynne's turn to laugh. "I know that, Luxa. One does not have to be a serpent to rule over them."
Luxa didn't have to ask how she knew her name. She had probably organized the whole kidnapping. The fourteen year old was silent for a moment. Lynne still looked as if she was expecting something.
"You are supposed to ask why, and then I am supposed to tell you my story, using all the detail I possibly can!" she fumed, looking angry. Luxa had to smile again. She felt no intimidation brought whatsoever by this woman. She was actually entertaining.
"Well, I really could not care less why. But I suppose if you wish to tell me, you will, will you not?" she sighed, leaning back against the wall.
Lynne groaned again, rolling her eyes. Luxa was not living up to expectations! "Fine, if you really want me to, I shall tell you." She said, making it sound as if she had never wanted to in the first place and it had been Luxa who was begging her to.
"I was born in a distant land..." She began, but Luxa had to interrupt.
"A distant land? There are no distant lands, besides the Overland!" she informed Lynne, with a bit of a laugh. Lynne's anger only expanded.
"All right, all right, fine. I was born in Regalia, nineteen years ago to the day. My parents were so proud to have a daughter like me." She began again, back to her misty tone.
"But I did not fit in with the other Regalian children. I never wanted to play like they did. I never wanted to fly on bats or learn to use a sword. Instead I wanted to spend every hour of every day by the river, sometimes swimming, sometimes only gazing at it. The currents seemed to stop every time I wanted a swim. I was in my element with the water.
"And then my parents had a fight, both fuming with anger at each other. They went their separate ways, I moving with my mother to the Fount.But the trouble had not ended.
"One night, my father and his flier turned up, ready to avenge my mother's custody of me. She tried to resist, but in the end, it was her who was run through with the sword." She stopped, most likely for dramatic affect. But Luxa was speechless, so Lynne went on, a bit more exasperatedly.
"My father was put on trial, and to be honest, I desperately wanted him to be found guilty and killed. I hated him for killing my mother, hated him for every terrible deed he had done onto my family. But your father, the king, did not find him guilty. Instead, he and the council pronounced him free of charges, much to my dismay. He believed my father's excuse; that he had been drunk. I was terribly angry, and when he took me back to his house to live, I tossed a crystal vase at his face, leaving it bleeding badly. There was nothing I could to but run, to the river. The most homely place I had felt in years. I was only nine years old.
"And then a serpent came upon me, for a reason I still do not know. Perhaps it had been sent, or perhaps it had come of its own accord. I never found out.
"But it spoke to me, and I spoke back. Somehow I already knew serpent tongue. I told him my story, emphasizing my love for the river, the sea, and its creatures. For one reason or another, the serpent took me back to the Tankard with it. We have been great friends ever since, and when I was sixteen, the announced that they wished me to rule over them, since I brought them so much. And I agreed." She finished her story on a solemn note, leaving Luxa somewhat amazed.
"If you will excuse me, I must go take care of my serpent friend, the one who took me here with her, Seraphine. She is terribly ill. Eat the fish, if you will." Lynne said, and without a second thought, dove perfectly into the cold tankard water and swam away. Luxa just stared; dumbfounded for one of the first time in her fourteen years, at the place she had left.
"Wow." She muttered, mostly to herself.
"I know. Dramatic, was it not?"
Luxa swung around. A ghostly purr had come from the back of the cave. "Who is there? Reveal yourself!" she shouted, voice wavering a little.
"It is not like I really can. My wings are tied down." The voice came again.
"Who are you? Why are you here?" Luxa asked again. The voice sighed.
"It is I, Luna, here to avenge my brother's death, blah blah blah. No, I am here because that dramatic little brat captured me as well." Said the voice. Luxa was speechless.
Luna, the one who had helped lead the Terrorwings. Luna, the sister of their enemy, Thor. Luna, the one who had given Gregor the scars he now wore so uncomfortable on his back. Luna the evil. And Luxa was standing just feet away from her.
"Luna?"
