Chapter Three: The Face in The Pool.
Susan drew in a deep breath as she attempted to reign in her sobs; it wouldn't do for anyone to find her in such a position. It wasn't proper to be seen as such. Wiping the tears shakily from her cheeks, Susan leaned over to splash some of the pool water onto her face and immediately pulled back- only just managing to stifle the scream building in her throat. Slowly inching forwards again, Susan could barely believe her eyes: the face stared placidly back at her from the depths of the pool, its scales rippling gently in the impossible current and its hair flowing freely around its head. A mer-witch.
A small, frighteningly benign smile filled the scaled and wrinkled face that floated beneath the surface making Susan both cringe in fear and relax in relief. In her time ruling Narnia, she had never once come across a mer-witch. She had heard of them; great tales of both wickedness and wonder- spoken with reverence by all those who uttered them. But never once had one presented itself to her. She didn't know whether to be terrified or hopeful, a mer-witch, from what she had heard were as unpredictable and ever-changing as the waters they lived in. It was almost unheard of for one to simply show itself for no reason.
The witch, sensing her fear and questions simply smiled wider; exposing rows of sharp, jagged little teeth that poked almost menacingly from beneath the pale and chapped lips as she drew them back slowly in an unusually compassionate attempt to placate the fragile queen. A single ice-white hand slowly emerged from beneath the water- reaching out, showing long, scaled nails as it moved noiselessly through the water towards the bank. It stopped, just short of touching Susan's own and hovered tantalisingly above the water's edge; waiting for the permission it sought to take the once mighty queen's hand in its own.
Susan shrank back in fear as the hand came closer and closer towards her, breaking the surface of the pool and reaching for her own. She stared fearfully at it for several moments before reaching out cautiously and touching her fingers to that of those waiting for her at the water's edge. The second her fingers touched that of the mer-witch, the scaled hand tightened almost painfully around her own; the nails pressing half crescents into her palms and the rough palms grating harshly against her soft skin.
Susan stared down, terrified into the water of the pool as the witch slowly emerged; the water slipped down her body and back into the pool around her like silk, leaving her dry as she raised herself higher and higher from the water depths. Susan's eyes met hers as she slowly ascended until they were eye to eye. Only then did she speak. Her voice was harsh. unused to being used above water, it came out cracked, yet ringing; high and clear- like a bell being struck or water as it sang in a glassmaking . Susan flinched slightly as she heard it. It wasn't until she heard the words being spoken that she drew completely still and locked eyes with the mythical creature before her.
"The queen Susan comes. The gentle and the beloved, the broken and the lost. Narnia's most rejoiced has returned. Narnia's most worthy visits my pool. The poor queen Susan weeps for what she had lost, she weeps for that which was taken. The exulted has been wronged, her country has been poisoned. The rightful queen Susan has come to ask me something, come to beg of me something. Something I cannot give. The mother-queen shall have a gift. A fleeting gift, one of pain and sorrow, one of heartache but relief, one of hope- but not of joy. Does the mother-queen accept?"
Almost without realising it, Susan slowly nodded her head- a blank, trance like look filled her face even as new tears slipped from her eyes and landed one by one in the pool. The witch was offering her a gift, one involving her child she was sure. That was all she needed to know. Reaching out her hand, the mer-witch pulled Susan slowly towards her, cupping her face as she did so and blowing gently into her eyes. Susan's eyes slipped closed, the mer-witch's hand tightened and slipped around to the back of her neck, her deep violet eyes darkened to black, and as Susan's final tear fell quietly into the pond- the water shimmered. A ripple crossed the surface, first one, and then another until the pool was frothing and writhing. A light began to glow, emanating from deep within the pool, becoming brighter and brighter until finally it burst through the surface- glowing above Susan for a moment until it sank slowly back into the pool, calming the waves and stilling the surface as it did so.
When the waves finally settled, a milky colour tinged them all, spreading throughout the whole pool and turning the surface into a pearly mirror. A picture began to slowly take shape on the surface, and just as Susan's eyes began to focus on it and widen in shock at the scene that filled it, the mer witch thrust her forward, using her grip on the back of her neck to force her head through the pearlescent image and deep below the water surface- submerging her completely and ignoring her struggles until finally Susan went limp in her arms.
