The Prophecy of Water | ✔️ 🎖 [2018 Wattys Shortlister]

CHAPTER 30-The Prince of The Mountain

This is more of an art than anything else. You must try, and try, and try.

And you will get better at it.

LoG, 18

Nalina didn't know where she was. Neither what Light it was, nor the time of The Light. The memories were pointy shards of the mirror staring back at her, giving Nalina mere fragments of what had happened. The firm hands that carried her and the dense forest closing over her ... Almost utterly silent steps and ... The fresh odour of pine trees.

The only thing Nalina knew was that she was safe. She hadn't felt that secure for a long time.

When she opened her eyes again, her hand reached out to brush soft linens underneath her.

She also touched someone's round naked buttock. Redness swarmed all over Nalina's face, and she pulled her hand away as fast as she could.

"Hello! Who taught you manners? Stop grabbing my ass!" a squeaky, unpleasant female voice said. "It's not enough you usurped my bed and denied me the night of corporal delights; you want to feel me up too!"

Nalina jumped up, which made her whole body hurt. She was now staring at the naked, busty girl with pronounced, beautiful buttocks who was lying beside her.

The girl appeared to be Nalina's age. Her skin was caramel coloured, and she had pleasing facial features, but her triangular chin gave away hatred. The girl's eyes were vague, multi-coloured. Her hair was boyishly short, multi-coloured as well: it almost seemed that every strand was lit differently.

There were red, yellow, purple, blue and green hairs.

Nalina had never seen something like that before. The numerous colours reminded Nalina of The Viewstone. She barely refrained from telling this to an unknown girl.

Small pieces of unspecified animal bones pierced the girl's nose and her lower lip. On her left cheek, there was a carefully traced drawing of a fox.

"Always the same with him," the strange girl continued, not talking to anyone in particular. She stood up and stretched in front of Nalina, long enough for Nalina to see that the girl coloured her pubic hairs in the same way. "Must he pick up every poor damsel in distress he comes upon?"

Then she jumped on the ground, and Nalina looked after her frightfully, only then realising that she was on the upper floor of a small room.

To the right of the bed was a huge wooden table. Nalina thought with sadness about her desk in her bedroom, in The Mushroom. Nalina wondered when she would sit at it again.

As far as she could see, the variety of papers cluttered the desk: from the carefully drawn sketches to the recklessly doodled maps. Below the table, there was a wastebasket packed with crumpled paper balls. On it, there was an open ink bottle. The coal-black liquid was boldly dripping on wooden flooring. Most of the drawers were opened and turned upside down, and Nalina shuddered to look at all that mess. She instinctively wished to close it all up and clean it.

The wall was covered with the most extraordinary tools. Nalina didn't dare to imagine what their use might be nor she could have assumed it. Above Nalina's head was a circular window through which she could see the whiteness of The Vault. A potted carnivorous plant hung from the ceiling, gnashing its teeth.