Chapter Five
Amaris and Ash stood at the foot of a set of rotting stairs, their clothes and hair dripping wet from the water of the swamp. When the healer said that the villa was in the middle of the swamp, she’d forgotten to mention that it was also surrounded from all sides with waist deep murky waters. The two of them avoided it for as long as they could, searching for stones and fallen tree trunks to use as footholds but eventually gave in when they found no way around it. The journey there took longer than Amaris would’ve wanted. Every step she took she expected would end with her slipping and losing her balance, or worse, a slithering creature feasting on her flesh.
Eventually they made it to where they were now. The villa was little more than mold covered stones. It was made of two stories with high windows that, when Amaris tried to peek through, found them covered in stone. She couldn’t tell what color the house was originally painted for it was all greens and browns now.
“Ready?” Ash asked. She nodded and they stepped onto the first stair.
Once they reached the landing, Amaris realized that there was no door. In its place, behind the row of columns holding up the second story, was a wall of misshapen stones. “You think they built this to keep it in?” Amaris asked inspecting the wall.
She had placed her hand on the stones, pushing lightly to see if it could be tumbled over when the rocks moved. Amaris yelped stumbling back and bumping into ash’s chest. The stones rearranged, smaller ones slowly climbing over each other. And larger ones pushing outward or pulling farther back. In a few moments, a semblance of a face stared back at them. Two gaping abysses surrounded by a thin vine in the very center. In the space around it, the stones formed what looked like a cracked wrinkled forehead and cheeks. But it had no mouth. Which made it all more surprising when Amaris heard a deep croaky voice.
“Visitors.” The voice said. Amaris and Ash looked around them. “How long I waited for company. My guests inside have turned quite dull.”
“Who said that?” Ash was already reaching for his gun. Amaris did the same. The handle was slick and slippery. The weapon was still wet from the swamp. It was of no use.
“Where’s this coming from?” she asked ash.
Two tsks followed. They almost sounded like pebbles falling in water. “Your head, child. My voice is in your heads.” Amaris froze, staring at the gaping holes, its eyes.
“Sapienti.” She breathed.
“Pleased to meet you, child.” It answered. “What brought you to my lair?”
“We need a tool.” Ash answered. He had returned his pistol in its place but he still stood rigid. If anything, his nervousness grew. “A blessed tool. Would you be so kind as to help us?”
More falling pebbles. “I’m afraid that isn’t something I can do. You see, I have guests inside. How am I to entertain them if I have no tools to use?”
“We just need one piece.” Amaris pushed. “Just one plate. To save a life.” She didn’t know why she added that last part. Blessed beasts had no sympathy. Many of them had no thoughts or words either. But this one was a child of spirits. No wonder it could speak. That didn’t mean it cared.
“Very well,” It answered. “I shall aid you then. If you pass my test.”
“What test?” Ash asked.
“I shall tell you my riddle. If your answer rings true, I shall let you in to pick one item.”
“And if it’s wrong?” Amaris hesitantly asked.
The beast was silent. “Then you shall keep me company.” It finally answered.
She shot Ash a nervous glance. “We accept your offer.” He said.
“Speak your riddle.” She added.
Amaris wasn’t sure if she imagined it, but she thought she saw a crack sneak its way upwards on the monster’s face.
“Very well,” it said, “ready yourselves.
I am to man
What food is to beast.
I drive them to sail
From west to the east
When I am forgotten,
You are easily destroyed
For I am what keeps you
From your fall to the void.
I can be as small
As paying your lease
Or I can be greater
Than searching for peace
Life without me
Is just waiting for death
Answer me now
While you still have your breath.”
Amaris’ stomach knotted more and more at every word. She had lied to ash. Vanya was the one who enjoyed riddles and plays on words and meanings. She was no poet. And she sure as hell didn’t know what any of that meant.
Ash looked back at her whispering, “What the hell does that even mean?”
Before she could answer the voice, sounding pleased with itself rang out once more. “You have until the last pebble falls to answer.” The stones shifted once more, this time forming a sort of hourglass filled with tiny pebbles. The first one fell to the pond below with a resounding splash.
Amaris started to panic. “What do you think it is?”
“I don’t know.” Ash roughly ran a hand through his bangs. “It said something about sailing from west to east.”
“And about death.”
“And paying a lease?”
Sailing, death, lease…
It made no sense. Amaris racked her brain for a connection between those words but found none. What made people sail through the seas? Merchants did so to transport merchandise and get their living. She sailed to run away from her family and a future she hated, Ash and sly and the others were sailing to start a revolution and take revenge on the emperor that hurt or killed their loved ones…
“Waiting for death,” Ash whispered, “it said that without it, we’re just waiting for death.”
Amaris nodded, “what are you thinking?”
“Maybe,” Ash hesitated, “maybe life?”
Amaris thought about it.
“I mean,” he went on, “death is the end of life, isn’t it? And we all sailed or traveled at some point just to stay alive.”
He was right. But Amaris couldn’t help thinking that something was off. “What about the part about the lease and the search for peace?” She glanced at the hourglass. Two thirds of the pebbles were at their feet. Only a few lingered on the top, eagerly awaiting their turn to fall. They were running out of time.
“Well,” he paced around the old porch. “Some lives are great and others just want to survive and have a roof over their head.”
She wasn’t convinced. Neither was ash, if his frantic movement and nervous peeks at the hourglass were any indication.
Amaris was starting to panic. They needed the tool, if it wasn’t for it, she would not be in this situation, gambling their lives on one word. But they needed it. And she wasn’t ready to bet her life nor Ash’s on the word ‘Life’.
“Maybe…” she mumbled, “faith?” she suggested. “People sail to visit the golden willow, don’t they?”
He shook his head. “It didn’t mention religion.”
“It’s a blessed beast,” She pointed out. “It shouldn’t have to.”
“What about the search for peace and paying leases?”
“Prayers?” she asked more than answered.
“And the death?” she sighed and shook her head. A handful of pebbles were left in the hourglass. She twisted her bracelet. Were they missing something?
“It said something about food and beasts?”
“It is to man what food is to beast.” Ash recited. “What could that mean?”
“That we can only survive through it.” She mumbled.
“Money?” Ash asked. “For food and shelter?”
She shook her head. “No, maybe… maybe we’re looking at it the wrong way.”
“What do you mean?”
“Maybe it’s not something physical. Maybe it’s something we feel.”
“I thought we agreed it’s not faith.”
“It’s not that,” she spun her bracelet faster, the scratch of the small crescent on her skin helping her focus. “What is the one thing you would die without?”
Ash was getting more and more frustrated. “I don’t know, air?”
“no.” she spun the bracelet once more. “Something that would take the meaning from your life if you lost it.” Her eyes snagged on the bracelet once more. Her mother’s. She recalled a conversation she had with the captain about her. About when he first thought she’d died. I was devastated. I didn’t know what to do with my life anymore. I didn’t have anyone else to live for. He’d said. Was it love? A spouse? What did he say after that? About the moon soldier he met? He offered me a job. A purpose. Something to live for.
Could it be? She wondered. Revenge, money, freedom. She and everyone she knew traveled for a purpose. Very different purposes but purposes nonetheless. Some were definitely greater than others, like the crescent crew’s; starting a revolution, searching for peace. Others only wanted to survive comfortably. Purpose was what kept them alive, all of them. It’s what made their lives worth living.
The last pebble fell. Its splash resounded loudly in Amaris and ash’s ears.
“Your time is up,” the creature said. The voice sounded hungry and delighted in Amaris’ head. “What shall your answer be? Faith? Life? Money?”
“It’s-” Ash started but Amaris clutched his wrist.
“It’s purpose.” She said loudly. “The answer to your riddle is purpose.”
Amaris held her breath at the silence that followed. Her heart beat so loudly in her chest it was the only thing she could hear. It stopped completely as the creature spoke once more. “Your answer is correct.” The voice sounded disappointed. The upwards crack on its face had disappeared. “You may enter my humble abode… and leave freely.”