Potenkiah, the deathgiver

Chapter 5.5

Bridget took a deep breath and gasped desperately. Something or someone was pulling on her dress, but for the moment, all of her focus was on breathing. She inhaled greedily.

She ended up on her back, coughing and shivering. Her dress was muddy and torn, her hair was in knots and there was a branch tangled in it.

Goddess, that was close…

The goldulp rested a paw on her chest and sniffed several parts of her face. Murky water dripped from its fur.

“I don’t know if I should kiss you or kill you, little monster…” Bridget spluttered. “If it wasn’t for you…”

If not for the animal, she would probably be dead, even if she had ended up in that dangerous corner of the forest because of it in the first place. Due to the two satellites orbiting around the planet, tides had to be taken seriously. The lake could be at the level of the trees at night and twenty feet below at sunrise, the bottom turned into a marsh.

“Where did you put the red book? I’m going to be in so much trouble...”

“Trouble,” echoed a male voice, then laughed. A scathing, loud laugh.

An unwanted witness, just what I needed.

She looked around, still on the ground. She coughed and spat water.

The goldulp ran to hide, if it was even possible, behind a boy around nine beltas old wearing riding clothes, and a long cloak held fast by a golden pin. Bridget had never seen him in the palace. He had tanned skin, and messy dark hair. He had a sharp face and gorgeous brown eyes that gave off a dark look.

“Look at that, Troy, you went fishing and dragged out a talking eel,” the boy said, chuckling at his own joke.

“Very funny, “ she shot, annoyed and blushing. No one wanted to look that way the first time they met someone, especially if they were a member of the opposite sex. Or have them blatantly laugh at you.

Idiot. I could have died, and you did nothing but stare and laugh at me.

She wanted to spring up in one agile gymnastic move, but she was completely spent.

Instead of offering his help, the boy bent at the waist, like an actor expecting applause at the end of a performance.

“I told you, Troy. Don’t expect anything from anyone in this place.” The guldulp cub liked his face, and the boy pushed her back by holding a red tissue. “That’s enough, easy, you did well.”

He lowered the cloth, and the animal lay at his feet, expecting a reward hidden in his pocket. He didn’t notice the gardener’s arrival.

“Are you hurt, miss?”

Bridget recognized him. Each time she visited the gardens she saw him, as if he were omnipresent. He talked to the flowers and trees and, when she walked with Annie and Paty, he would offer each of them a freshly cut bouquet as he bowed before them, the same way he would before the Queen.

“Thank you. I’m fine, sir.”

“Would you like me to call your nanna or your mother?” Kim Davalo offered his hand and helped her stand. Then he pulled the branch out of her hair, trying not to mess it up even further.

“No, thank you,” she replied, straightening her dress.

“I’ll walk you, then.”

“Really, I’m fine,” she insisted.

“Time to go, Troy, we are no longer needed here,” she heard the boy say.

Bridget was so ashamed that she left the beach without muttering a word. She stumbled away with the unpleasant feeling that she was being watched.