The Dark Tower

Chapter 3 - Challenges and Choices

The naiad, at least, that’s what I assumed she was as she was lying naked in the stream, the water flowing over her body, her rippling hair barely covering her nakedness, was surrounded by around a dozen men, including Merlin, Mordred, Aragorn and Boromir, with Queen Mab fluttering on an overhead branch. They ignored us until Gandalf noisily cleared his throat.

‘Gandalf! Lady Beth! High Priestess!’ Aragorn said, rising. He bowed towards us.

‘Aragorn,’ Gandalf acknowledged.

But Katy and I were staring at the naiad. She was, quite simply, the most beautiful creature I had ever laid eyes upon. She stood and beckoned us forward.

‘Welcome to my home,’ she said, her hair still flowing silkily over her body. ‘My name is Charmina, Naiad of this spring.’

Katy and I automatically curtsied.

‘Beth! Katy!’ Gandalf snapped. ‘I suggest you wait over there while I try to resolve this . . . situation. Gentlemen, and Mab, will you please give Charmina and I some privacy.’

We walked over to the edge of the dell and sat on a low branch while the men disappeared into the forest. ‘Katy, did you see her?’

‘Yes, she was . . . beautiful.’

‘Divine.’

‘No wonder they stayed.’

‘Yes.  I think I would too. It’s magic, isn’t it?’

‘A very strong magic.’

‘Gandalf will sort this out, won’t he?’

‘I hope so. I already want to stay here with the naiad.’

‘So do I, Katy. So do I.’

It was some time before Gandalf called us back so we shared some food with Sorvad, although didn’t risk untying him, but he didn’t look in any hurry to escape. The other men, I counted twelve, were sat in a circle around the naiad who was still standing in the stream facing Gandalf. Once again I was transfixed by her beauty.

Fortunately, Gandalf was immune. ‘I have been speaking with Charmina and she assures me that her motives have been entirely unselfish. She originally needed help as the source of the spring was blocked, but when so many men arrived, she decided that they could all stay.’ There was a less than discreet cough from the branch above Gandalf’s head. ‘And Queen Mab, my apologies. She is prepared to release them from her . . . well, it is not a spell, as such, more of a . . . fascination, as long as one of the men will stay with her.’

Immediately they all volunteered, pushing each other out of the way to proffer their assistance.

‘Silence! ’Gandalf roared, looking more than a little annoyed. I could understand why. These were fighting men, trained in warcraft. Even Merlin and Mordred with their own magic appeared to have turned into simpering idiots. I wondered if Gwaine would have been transfixed and rather feared that he would have been and that was not a pleasant thought. He was my Gwaine. I’d given up a whole different life for him and I was damned if some watery woman could take him away from me. Not even someone as beautiful as Charmina. And she was beautiful, but I had my Gwaine and he had me. He was mine, I would fight to the death to keep him, and I stamped my foot crossly, my attraction to the naiad well and truly broken.

It was then I realised that everyone was looking at me. Everyone including Charmina.

‘You will choose,’ she said to me.

‘This has got nothing to do with me!’ I said. ‘I only came with Gandalf to retrieve our men.’ Well, I thought of them as our men.

‘It appears they don’t want to be . . . retrieved.’