The Blue Woman and the High Wood

Book Two in the Nyla Series

Adam Cole

Chapter Ten

(C) 2018 Adam Cole

Published by Nuncici Press, an imprint of Adam Cole Works LLC

By way of answer, the little sailor poked at Nyla one more time.  She dodged and nearly missed the plank with her right foot.  She swayed uneasily above the foaming water.

“The girl was a prisoner in the Kingdom Under the Mountain.  I rescued her.”

“Where’d she come from?” the sailor demanded, peering at Vival from the railing.

“I don’t know,” Vival answered, and the sailor, disgusted, poked at Nyla one more time.  She moved out of reach of his sword, but this put her at the edge of the plank.  She struggled to keep her balance on the end of the board as the boat swayed a little with the tide.

“We don’t know!” Nyla cried.  “I don’t know where I’m from!”

“I don’t believe that,” spat the sailor.

“It’s true !” Nyla said.  “I don’t remember anything!  I don’t remember where I’m from.  I just found myself there!  He rescued me!”

Vival’s face contorted as he listened.

“And your friend, the thief?”

“He helped us,” Nyla cried.  “He’s clever, so he helped us out.”

“He worked for the Goon,” Vival said enthusiastically.  “He and the Goon were able to drive out the Lich King…”

“Lich King?” spat the sailor.  “This tale’s as tall as Floyd!”  He gestured at the tallest sailor.  “The Goon paid a lot of money to put you all on board.  He wanted to get rid of you pretty quick.  Enchantments on the sea, people popping up, disappearing…”

He turned menacingly towards Nyla.  “I’m gonna ask you again, little girl,” he said slowly.  “Who are you, where are you from, and why are you so valuable?”

“I don’t know…” Nyla said, shaking her head.  “I don’t remember anything before the island.  I don’t…I don’t!”

“Not good enough,” said the little sailor, getting up on the plank.  “Not good enough.  I heard your friend call you a princess.  And in your quarters I found this…”   From behind his back he pulled out a long wooden ornate stick.  “Looks like a treasure to me, not something some ragged girl who didn’t know who she was would have…”

Seeing her precious Reign Bow in the grimy palm of the sailor, Nyla’s jaw dropped and then clenched.  “You give that back!” she said through her teeth.

The sailor regarded the bow with admiration.  “I think we’re going to be able to get a fine ransom out of you.  I’ll even share it with you, if you don’t force me to kill you!”

“I don’t know if I’m a princess!” Nyla began shouting.  She backed up a step, forgetting that she was on the edge of the plank.  Her foot touched air and she panicked, waving her arms madly.  Vival watched helplessly as she tried frantically to regain herself.

“Horse gift us!” stammered the tallest sailor.  He pointed down the deck.

“Releassssse her,” came a voice as eerie as it was stern.  The rattle of a chain crept through the darkness like a serpent.

Vival looked to see what was frightening the sailor.  Through the gloom he saw a figure shambling.  The voice had been high, like a woman’s voice.  The blue woman?

The figure that emerged was draped in chains that rattled as she advanced.  “Releasssssse her!” she repeated exactly as she had said it before.

“Who’s that?” demanded the middle sailor.

“Skull and crossbones, it’s the woman!” said the biggest sailor.

“Which woman?” demanded the short sailor.  He had turned away from Nyla and now watched the figure warily from the bobbing plank.  She was lit up by the moon and looked very much like a spirit from beyond the grave.

“The passenger!” screamed his companion.  “The one we lost at sea!”

The sailor scowled, suspecting a trick.  “She ain’t no ghost.  She’s been stowed away,” he snarled.

“No she ain’t!” exclaimed the middle sailor.  “I looked this whole ship over seven times.  Captain insisted.  No spot left for her to hide.  She ain’t been here!  ’Til now!”

Slowly, as if her arm was made of lead, the “ghost” of Chere raised her arm until it pointed directly to the littlest sailor on the plank.  “Releassssse her!” she said once more in the ghastly voice.

His eyes wide, the littlest sailor turned to watch his companions back away from Vival and nearly fall over one another as they turned to flee.  He looked back, dubious, but the closer Chere came, her moonlit chains making an evil clank, the more he trembled.  Finally, seeing that his only escape route, the plank, was soon to be cut off with her arrival, he leapt to the deck and scurried off after his friends.

His leap sent poor Nyla off the edge.  She fell into the water with a dismal little splash.

More about The Blue Woman and the High Wood

Now that Veer Isle was secure, it was time for the hero Vival to take Nyla to see the Sand Witch.  Accompanied by Chere/Sherluck and Tom the Incredibly Helpful Sword, Nyla and Vival board a ship bound for Zen.  

But trouble begins as soon as the ship leaves the harbor.  A terrible storm comes up.  The sailors want to throw Nyla from the ship.  And rising out of the ocean is the mysterious Blue Woman. 

Adam Cole is an author and music educator in Atlanta, GA.  He has written numerous books and stories for children, as well as a number of adult and non-fiction titles including Motherless Child and Seven Ways the World Can End.  

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