Page 33 of Tiger's Trek
“We have nothing small enough to fit in the donation box. Besides, I don’t see anything or anyone. I say we risk it.”
“No. No. We can’t,” Zima said. “I told you—there are trolls.”
“It’s okay,” Stacia said without looking back. “I’m a warrior. Don’t worry. Iriko will keep you safe.”
The little girl closed her eyes and trembled, burying her face in Iriko’s fur and clinging to his neck tightly with her little arms.
“That’s a good girl. You hold on to him. We’ll get across just fine. You’ll see.”
Stacia started across the bridge, and everything went fine until they were just about halfway. Then they heard a hissing sound. The water below the bridge began bubbling, and the bridge rocked back and forth wildly. Iriko dug his claws into the wood as best he could, while Zakhar and Stacia grabbed on to the ropes, holding on lest they tumble over the side into the churning river.
Then it didn’t matter. The boards they stood on, strung together by well-made ropes, jumped and bucked, though they could see no reason for them to move. Shifting, the wooden planks slid and rolled over, on top of and beneath one another, folding and bending in completely unnatural ways. Before the travelers could leap or prepare themselves, the planks beneath their feet were gone, and one by one, they tumbled into the river.
To their surprise, the water didn’t carry them downstream, but it closed over their heads, and they sank down, down, down, until their feet touched the riverbed. Their hair and clothes floated around them, but there was a sensation that they were enclosed in an underwater room. What was even more astonishing was the fact that they could not only see, but they could somehow breathe and move, albeit slowly. They could see the river shifting around the pocket of space they’d fallen into, but as they pushed against the barrier, they found there was no way through. It was as if they were trapped inside a giant, stretchy bubble.
Zima began to cry, and as Stacia slogged slowly to her side, placing a hand on her back, she noticed the child’s tears had turned into tiny diamonds in the thick, watery trap. She captured one and pinched it between her fingers. That’s when she realized it wasn’t a gemstone at all, but ice. She continued to rub the little girl’s back in small circles, and eventually she sat quietly, sucking her thumb.
They didn’t have to wait long for their captors to arrive. The liquid around them pulsed, and then a bubble pressed into the room, followed by a pop. Quickly, the room sealed itself behind the newcomer, repairing the hole made by him as perfectly as if nothing at all had happened.
The creature that stepped inside wore a long, tattered coat made of the skin of some type of amphibious animal and what appeared to be thick woolen pants, held up by a dark snakeskin belt fastened with a buckle made of shiny seashell or pearl. Where boots should have been, his legs were bare and covered with a hard, glossy armor that ended just at his extralong toes, which were connected by thick webbing.
His chest was bare, his belly blue-green and bulbous, and his long locks of hair looked much like floating seaweed. He raised a hand, beckoning them to come closer, and Stacia saw his long fingers ended in black talons, and the pads of his fingertips had suction cups. When none of them moved, he extended his arms, spreading those fingers, and she noticed the same webbing as his feet. With a powerful thrust of his arms, he was next to them immediately.
A heartbeat later, he ripped the weapon from her grip and seized her arm. Stacia knew immediately there would be no escaping the creature. He was unnaturally strong, and where she moved slowly in the water, he was incredibly fast and agile. Still, she looked him in the eye, bravely, like her parents had taught her, and accepted the consequences of her actions.
“I apologize if I’ve offended you, sir,” she began, nodding her head deferentially. “We had no coin to offer you. Perhaps we can negotiate a trade instead, if you are amenable.” Her voice sounded to her like bubbles, whistles, and pops, much as if she were trying to talk while submerged in her bathtub. Of course, if that had truly been the case, she would have drowned by now. She peered at Zakhar to see if he’d understood her, but he simply watched and shrugged as if he didn’t know how to proceed either.
The creature blinked. Its eyelids closed from the bottom to the top and then from the sides to the middle. When it opened its eyes again, they gleamed with an eerie yellow light. The beam fell on each of them in turn, moving over them deliberately from head to toe as if searching each one for something unique.
When the light fell on Stacia, she could actually feel its warmth on her skin. It tickled and itched as it ran over her. It felt invasive, the creature’s gaze, and she wanted to scratch her skin where it looked at her, but she dared not squirm as it finished its inspection. It paused for a long time as it considered Iriko, stopping at the tiger’s eyes for a long while, and then it made a sort of popping noise with its mouth, puffing out its cheeks hugely as it did.
When it moved on to Zima, the little girl began to wail again. This time it was actually audible. Stacia was surprised she could hear her. Up until that moment, she had not been able to hear or communicate with anyone in the strange underwater realm except Iriko, and he didn’t have much to say or any ideas on how to escape.
The light traveled over Zima again and again. There was rumbling and cheek-puffing from the creature, and he appeared to be quite excited about the little girl. Even his skin changed colors, showing off vivid hues of green, blue, and purple. The entire liquid room seemed to vibrate, and soon more bubbles erupted into the room, with other strange creatures joining the first one.
One looked decidedly more feminine, wearing what almost looked like a dress. Her coloring was more purple than green, and her face and limbs were longer. The next one wore a hat that shone with a fish-scale band, and he carried a pearl trident. Another had a belt adorned with little fish skulls. The last wore a crown of coral and had a deep scar across one cheek.
They erupted in conversation with clicks, guttural vibrations, color displays, and the puffing of various body parts. Finally, the first one who had entered approached Stacia and handed back her weapon, then said, “You want to trade for your life?”
“I do,” Stacia said, nodding.
“Good. Give us ice child. We take. You go free.”
On the wordfree, a hiss of bubbles rose from his lips and hovered right above his head, hitting the top of their little cage. Stacia looked up at them, and she could see the river above, flowing over their heads. If only they could reach it. As she watched, the tiny bubbles slowly rose higher, eventually penetrating whatever membrane was trapping them. Once they were fully outside, the current of the river caught the bubbles and carried them off downstream.
Stacia narrowed her eyes. “How do I know you’ll keep your word?”
The creature bellowed. His whole body vibrated, and his cheeks turned bright purple. It took several moments for him to settle down. Finally, he said, “We are vodnik. Our deals are unbroken.”
“Like your bridge?”
“You have warning. It is enough. Now, you make deal, or we keep all?”
“We make deal.” Stacia felt a tiger head hit the back of her knee and Zakhar’s hand on her shoulder at the same time. She held up a hand to calm her companions. “But I don’t trust you. I’m not from here. We will exchange, but I want to set terms.” She paused as if in thought. “You give me three of your bubbles to travel out of this place, and then we trade. Yes?”
The thick liquid around them pulsed as the creatures conferred with one another again. Then the big one turned back to Stacia. “We are agree. You have three pockets for travel, but no trickses. We watch you go first.”
Stacia hadn’t prepared for that. “I want my man going first,” she said.
