Chapter 11 (arrows, swords and water)
The very next morning, Lavender awoke with a pain in her head. Oh no, not again, she thought, rubbing her forehead furiously. As she got dressed, she began to think that she had caught something horrid. She could hardly breathe, and every breath she took brought shots of pain in her lungs. She crawled back to bed, hoping that Erik would not notice.
However, before she could even respond, Erik came bursting into the room, with a breakfast tray.
"Have a bit of a lay-in, you must have being affected by yesterday's adventure", he said casually.
"Hey, how do you know?" Lavender asked, bolts of suspicions were shooting up her spine.
"Strange, as I would call it, but somehow there must have being telepathy between us." Then catching the puzzled look on Lavender's face, he made it bland "meaning that I could feel how you were feeling right now. I awoke with a feeling as though I had run a mile; don't ask about what was happening", Erik said, setting the tray down in an almost heavy way.
After breakfast, Lavender took her flute and piccolo out (and for the first time) to the main chamber. There, instead of Erik composing his music on the organ, he was practicing……….archery. There, propped on the walls were some dart boards like things. Curious, Lavender crept up to her brother.
"Um, Erik, just what on earth are you doing? Practicing archery below the opera house?" Lavender asked timidly.
"Well, I have got to keep practicing, it is quite useful in some areas though," Erik shrugged.
"Well, are you any good?" Lavender asked mischievously. "I had being to practice for 4 years, what do you think?" Erik glanced back at Lavender.
"Show me," Lavender insisted.
Hitching up an arrow onto his bow very carefully, Erik took a careful aim at the centre of the board. Relax, it is just what you do every day, he tried to calm himself.
Then, Lavender giggled.
Erik missed, the arrow flew all the way to the edge of the board, hardly missing the stone hard wall.
"You put me off!" Erik spat angrily.
"Oooh! Was it me? Or was it you?" Lavender smirked. Erik turned red with embarrassed. "Let me show you!" Lavender suavely took the bow and another arrow from Erik.
Lavender stood up straight, she aimed with the greatest care. Closing one eye, she let the bow go. She heard Erik gasped. Lowering the bow, she felt a sense of pride as the arrow stood exactly at the centre of the board.
"See? Seems that I have to teach you archery," Lavender said. Erik felt himself burning up.
"That's really good," he felt himself saying. He had an idea. She would not know this skill, He thought with contempt. Walking straight to his sword sheathe, he drew his sword, one of his pride, out. Turning to Lavender, he felt a single stab of pride as the girl's mouth dropped open.
"You know this?" he asked.
"Er….yeah, it is a sword isn't it?" Lavender asked with a bit of shiver in her voice.
"Yeah, examine it carefully, and you would realize that this is an extremely expensive one", Erik handed the sword to Lavender. Taking the deadly weapon in her hand, Lavender could feel a surge of fear crawling down her throat. Looking at the hand would give anyone horror. It was a shiny silver skull at the handle; the sword was polished till Lavender could see her own reflection.
"How was that?" Erik's silky voice echoed about in her head.
Snapping back to reality, Lavender caught Erik's eyes, it was dancing with flame of contempt, and a single bit of thirst. Trying to smile, Lavender returned the sword to Erik, all the time trying hard not to imagine one being sliced with the murderous weapon.
"Actually, I am planning to teach you swordfight, you will need it. Especially when your brother is a wanted prisoner." Erik spoke carefully, choosing words which he is comfortable with.
Looking up, Lavender felt that somewhere deep inside Erik's voice there was a hint of guilt, trying hard not to look accusing, she turned to leave her room. That night, she heard Erik pacing about in his room, trying hard to shut out her feeling of pity towards her brother, she tossed and turned in her bed, all the while thinking of Erik.
That night, she decided, she would go up to the ceiling, out of curiosity. She had wanted to see Paris at night, but after that night's event, she could not bring herself to ask Erik. Later that night, she put on an ankle length dress and her new cape which Erik gave her, and as silent as she could be, she crept out. Looking at the lake, she felt a tiny bit of fear. She still had not forgotten about the big fishes that lived beneath the lake. She cast a look at the shore.
There was a gondola, which she knew that Erik used, but "parked" beside it was another one, but smaller this time. An elegant head of a swan was carved on it, and a single oar laid in it. She felt her pulse quickened. Did Erik know that she was going out? She could have sworn that the gondola was not there just now.
The thought of going up to the tower dissolved in her mind. Better safe than sorry, she had not known how to paddle a boat yet. Kneeling down at the water edge, she could feel an excitement pounding, the water looked transparent, yet, she could not see the bottom. God, the water must be deep, she thought with a bit of a fear.
Then, out of the blue, a tiny fish swam its way up to Lavender. It was of coloured stripes, extremely attractive. With a tiny squeak of excitement, Lavender extended her hand out to the tiny creature. With a swishing of its tail, it disappeared into the bottom of the endless lake. The fish was out of danger, but Lavender certainly was not.
Leaning forward so much has caused an impartial balance of her weight, while she was still busy gloating over the appearance of the creature, she felt her entire body slumped forward into the icy cold, scary lake water.
The first thing she could make out was a dark, dungeon like place with a dark, almost flowing green bottom. In fact, it was almost bottomless. Panic surged through her entire body, causing her to take in large amounts of water. She tried to force a scream, in order to get the attention of Erik, who was obviously asleep now. But her voice was choked with fear, no longer able to utter anything. She tried to propel herself up to the surface, but no amounts of splashing would help anyway. Is this mysterious lake going to be my grave? She thought anxiously as she tried her best to take in air above, but all she managed to do was to get more water into her lungs. She felt unconsciousness creeping, and after a while, she knew no more.
Erik had being asleep in his coffin when he felt as thought something was clogging up his lungs. Though how much he tried to take in breath, he felt as thought his lungs was going to burst. Something is wrong, again, he thought desperately. Pulling on his cape, he rushed out, only to find a silent and eerie lake, and no sound of Lavender. But there must be something wrong! He thought, desperate. He took a good look at the lake. It seemed quiet, unusually quiet, and then he saw her.
She was floating face-down, her dark hair swirling in the water. Almost as if something was tore away from him, Erik leaped into the water without second thoughts. He was surprised, for the first few seconds, as he realised how deep the water was. He could hardly touch the bottom. As though some strong powers were propelling him forward, he swam to Lavender, and grabbing her arm, he tried to keep her head above the water. With not much difficulties (since Lavender did not weigh much), he managed to pull her out of the water.
He carried her to her room, and laid her down. She looked lovely, even unconscious, with her dark hair hanging in strands. Desperately, Erik listened for a heart beat. He heard it, but it was faint. Through many experience of the Punjab Lasso, he knew he had to clear her airway. He carefully grasped Lavender's delicate neck. He tilted her head back wards, hoping that she would come to her sense.
Within a minute, Lavender's eyes snapped open (much to Erik's relief). She coughed, and threw up mouthful after mouthful of water, gasping for breath. Erik patted her behind her back, trying to clear her lungs of water before she suffocated.
"How are you feeling now?" he asked urgently.
Having found her voice, Lavender shakily replied "yeah, I am alright, but what really hap…….Oh! I remembered! It was a fish, I tried to catch it, it ran away, I tripped and fell into the……..".
"Never mind that, breath now, calm down, don't be scared, you are safe. You did not tell me you cannot swim", Erik asked.
"And just what makes you think I can?" Lavender snapped in a bit of irritation.
Taken aback by Lavender's sudden mood swing, Erik got off her bed. "I will be in the main chamber, if you need anything, you know where to find me!".
That took Lavender a bit hard; she knew she had hurt Erik's feeling. She tried to open her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.