Courage was sure his heart had stopped.
The Queen of the Black Puddle was simply staring, waiting for his next move.
He whimpered.
"Well?" She prompted.
Still no positive reaction from the dog.
"What do you want?"
His eyes defied logic by getting even bigger.
She decided to try going slowly. Her conversation skills were lacking, but...
"The weather is good. Yes. Those men earlier. Not good?"
Something had sparked a reaction.
"Y-Y-Y-Yes..."
The men not good."
Courage nodded frantically.
"Why?"
"Th-they w-want to
demolish the f-farm.."
"WHAT?"
Courage
shrieked and fell to the ground.
The Queen of the Black Puddle ignored him, her rage heating up.
"How DARE they? This is sacred ground, meant for only the most of the other world, no mortal dare defile it in such a way..No bargains made for eternity, obviously. They would even destroy their own dead in horrible ways, creatures of doubt and pale blindness.."
She noticed him cowering, and stopped pacing.
"I am not angry at you small dog. I am angry at the humans who dare to defile my home."
Courage felt relief, tempered with a bit of anxiety. So, she hated them. He could get her help then, if he could do it without angering her again...
He stood up in a submissive way, eyes on the ground.
"We...we need your help..."
She blinked. "Help with what?"
"We can't make them go away. We need you to drive them off."
"You want me to
feast?"
"No, no, not
really..just...just make them go away... please.."
"You want them to fear me and leave? This I can do. Men fear both me and their own kind if telling tales of me. This I can do well. But will I?"
"Will you?"
She
studied him for a moment. Courage was vaguely aware of the small
puddle building underneath her from the water cascading down her
hair.
"You give me
something, I give you something."
Courage
hesitated, then nodded. "I-I'll try."
"I
want a male."
"A..a human?"
"Yes."
"What do you want him
for?"
She smiled.
Courage shuddered, and
closed his eyes tight. "...Alright. I'll try to get you one."
"I
go back to the undertow now. If you need me, call my name."
"I...don't know
it."
She smiled again, secure in her own power.
"Aquarella."
Courage nodded. "I'll see what I can do."
And when he looked up, she was gone.
He bundled up the robot
arms and took them up to the attic, then returned and took the
Computer back up as well. Once the machine was hooked up, he
immediately bypassed the shutdown error screens and gasped. "What
happened?"
Courage sighed, guilty already, and told him.
The Computer was silent
for a while. "Well. It seems like we have a deal. For
now."
Courage nodded. "Time for more planning."
"Such
as where we're going to find a human male?"
"Yes."
"Well,
that one I don't really know offhand. I could search the internet
personals.."
Courage shook his head. "Noo...that's just
mean!"
"Then I'll have to think on it quite a bit."
When
Courage went downstairs to nap, the Computer was still whirring away,
regarding all of his options. It would be a long day.
