Sir Bentley and Holbrook Court (20 page)

Bentley set his blade against the second rope just as the Yagormoth
lunged up from the water. This time there would be no escape. Eirwyn reached for Bentley, but her hand never touched him.

The next instant, chaos broke out.

The Yagormoth did not lunge for them but for the platform holding a hundred Lucrums. The beast clamped its powerful jaws about one of the diagonal supports of the platform and the attached balcony, and it collapsed under the falling weight of the lake leviathan.

Pandemonium reigned in the next few moments as the unsupported platform gave way and more than eighty Lucrums fell to the waters below amidst ropes, timber, and Yagormoth.

Bentley gasped with relief at the creature's alternative attack, but his joy was short-lived. For when the structure of the platform plummeted to the water, the pulley system collapsed, and the rope that Eirwyn was tied to was violently yanked into the watery chaos. Eirwyn screamed as she was whisked away from Bentley in an instant.

“Eirwyn!” Bentley dived for her hand but could not reach it. The Yagormoth plunged in a thrashing frenzy amidst the panicked Lucrums. The long rope became entangled in the mess of timber and beast as it twisted, turned, and rolled. Eirwyn fought to keep her head above the water but was yanked under time after time.

Bentley ran and dived into the water where he had last seen her. Under the water, Bentley saw that the rope was wrapped about the Yagormoth and passed through its mouth as it wildly bit at everything nearby.

Bentley reached Eirwyn and brought his knife once more to the rope, but the Yagormoth clamped onto a villager's legs and spun its body around trying to drown the man. The rope wrapped tighter about the Yagormoth and dislodged the knife from Bentley's hand while pulling Eirwyn away from Bentley and closer to the beast.

Bentley reached for the sinking knife, but it disappeared into the dark blue water below. He surfaced for a breath and then dived down for the knife, knowing it offered his last and only hope of saving Eirwyn.
As he swam deeper and deeper into the icy depths, his ears throbbing from the pressure, he wondered how long he could hold his breath and how long she could survive the turmoil of the thrashing beast above him.

At last he reached the lake floor, but he could not see the knife. Nearly out of air, he gave one last look about and spotted the long silver blade of his sword resting patiently in the silt, waiting for the use of its master. He grasped the hilt and pushed upward with all his might, his strength renewed by the power of the sword of the King.

The waters above were now clouded with red, but Bentley refused to accept that some of the blood might be Eirwyn's. The flotsam between the collapsed balcony of the shore ledge and the rock island had drifted closer to the island, because that was where the Yagormoth now was.

Bentley searched desperately for Eirwyn as he came up from below. The Yagormoth had set its front legs on a submerged shelf of the rock island, presumably resting. He spotted a rock ledge just beneath its scaly belly.

Bentley surfaced briefly, gulped air, then swam underwater for the ledge. He crouched and set his feet firmly in place on the ledge and pointed the tip of his sword upward, just inches below the belly of the Yagormoth. Bentley thrust upward with all of his might, and the softer hide of the beasts underbelly did not hinder the razor-sharp edge of his blade. He did not cease in his thrust until the sword penetrated clear to its hilt.

The beast convulsed against the steely invasion. It renewed its thrashing, and Bentley lost his grip on the sword. He ducked to avoid the deadly talons as he launched himself outward and away to get another breath of air.

When he surfaced, he gasped to fill his lungs. The air was filled with the horrendous noise of the screeching Yagormoth as it snapped wildly about and whipped its tail from side to side, leaving three lifeless men in the wake of its fury.

The rope was still looped about its jaw and trailed down its neck to the opposite side of the beast. Bentley hardly dared look at what fate had befallen Eirwyn at the other end. He climbed onto the rock platform just as the beast turned and slid back into the water.

“Bentley!” Eirwyn screamed as she was pulled in after the Yagormoth.

Hearing her voice renewed his hope. Her left hand was still secured to the rope, and she slammed into the thick body of the beast as it made for the water. A portion of the rope trailed yet behind her, and Bentley dived for it as it passed. He grasped for the rope and missed, but a short portion of the support beam with the pulley trailed at the end of the rope, and he grabbed for it instead. He clung to it with all his strength as the Yagormoth dived down, carrying Eirwyn, the beam, and Bentley with it.

Bentley was near the tail of the creature and wondered when it was going to slam into him as it swayed back and forth while it swam. He tried to climb up the rope toward Eirwyn, but the current against him was too strong.

How deep will it take us?
he wondered.
And how long can Eirwyn hang on?
When the pressure of the water began to hurt his ears and he thought he could take no more, the Yagormoth turned upward. Before long the beast broke the surface of the water, and their speed seemed to slow significantly.

Bentley looked forward and saw Eirwyn but couldn't tell if she was still alive. The Yagormoth made its way across the lake toward the thundering falls, but with each length they covered, the beast slowed. Bentley could now pull himself up the rope against the current until he reached Eirwyn. She was weak and barely conscious. He managed to get her head above the water, and she gasped and coughed.

“Stay with me, Eirwyn. I'll not lose you.” He held her close. She flung an arm around his neck and leaned on his shoulder, resting deeply. Somehow, in those moments, she seemed to gather strength.

“What will we do now?” she asked.

They were nearing the falls, and the noise was deafening.

“I don't know, but the animal is getting weaker. Just hang on.”

Eirwyn lifted her head and looked into Bentley's eyes. It was a gaze that said,
“I trust you.”
It strengthened Bentley's heart, and he resolved to fight to the last ounce of energy in his body to keep that trust.

Bentley saw the head of the Yagormoth lift up.

“Take a big breath,” he yelled above the noise of the falls. “It's diving again.”

A moment later the Yagormoth plunged downward again, but not with nearly the force of the first dive. It dived the length of its body downward and turned to enter an underwater cavern. Bentley wondered how, without a weapon, he was going to be able to defend Eirwyn in the Yagormoth's own lair, but he decided to face that when he came to it… if they survived that long.

The beast seemed to falter, and Bentley wondered if they would drown with the creature in this dark, watery grave. He felt the body of the creature surge forward once more and then felt it begin an ascent. He was nearly out of air and knew Eirwyn would be too. He felt her go limp in his arms, and he held her tighter, willing her to hold on just a little longer.

They emerged in a watery cave, and the Yagormoth swam slowly across a small, still pool. Bentley had expected the cavern to be pitch black, but a soft blue light illumed it. Bentley lifted Eirwyn's head out of the water once again, and she recovered her air as the creature made its way to a gentle incline that led up and out of the water.

The Yagormoth tried to climb up the easy slope, but it stumbled and slid back into the water. Bentley put his feet down and was able to just touch the floor. He waited for the beast to turn and devour them, but it did not. It tried once more to walk up the incline, shuddered, and collapsed.

Bentley and Eirwyn waited a long time before they realized the Yagormoth wasn't breathing. Apparently Bentley had wounded it fatally and it had come home to die.

Carefully they made their way up the incline near the head of the creature and nearly collapsed from exhaustion. The beast convulsed, and they jumped in terror, but its eyes did not open. It was over.

Then the Yagormoth's body slowly began to slide down the slope and back into the water. Bentley and Eirwyn looked at each other in disbelief as the rope slowly pulled taut again, dragging Eirwyn with it.

Bentley worked desperately to untangle the rope from the beast's mouth, but it was closed shut like a vise. He tried to untie the knot that encircled her wrist, but it would not loosen. Bentley pulled against the weight of the slipping mass, but his efforts made no difference.

“Bentley,” Eirwyn pleaded, “help me!” Slowly the dead monster slipped backward until Eirwyn was forced back into the water, fighting to keep her head above the surface.

Bentley screamed against the inevitable.
My Prince, this far to lose her now?

The image of the Prince flashed across his mind, and then he thought of his sword. He dived into the water near the sinking belly of the Yagormoth and hoped against hope that his weapon had not been dislodged. He ran his hand along the belly until his hand felt the golden hilt. He used his feet as leverage and pulled the sword from the Yagormoth's abdomen.

The creature was now falling quickly, and Bentley wasted no time in bringing the sword to bear against the rope. He made a loop in it and sliced with all his strength. After two attempts, he severed the rope; then he grabbed Eirwyn by the waist and lifted her to the surface once again. They crawled up the incline and sat next to each other, dazed by what felt like a lifetime of peril. And yet they had survived!

After a moment of recovery, Bentley took Eirwyn's hand and cut through the rope about her wrist, finally freeing her from its death grip.
She rubbed the chafed skin, then leaned forward and hugged Bentley. “Thank you,” she whispered in his ear.

Then she leaned back and looked at him, her eyes widened in concern. “You're hurt.”

Only then did he realize that the bandage had disappeared from the cut on his shoulder, and the wound was bleeding again. But he barely felt the throbbing as he gazed into her eyes. Even now, exhausted and bruised and bleeding herself, she was more concerned about him than about herself. Her tender heart radiated nobility, mercy, kindness. He never wanted to be away from her again.

And apparently she felt the same way.

“Just a commoner?” She smiled. “I think not!”

“Touché,” he said and smiled back.

RETURN TO
HOLBROOK

Bentley realized the soft blue light in the cavern came from two directions—the watery tunnel the Yagormoth had brought them through and, in a lesser amount, the far end of the cavern. He left Eirwyn to rest and went to investigate, but the light was diminishing quickly as night drew near.

Before it grew so dark that they dared not move about, they found the Yagormoth's dirt and gravel bed. Though foul-smelling and strewn with bones, it was still softer to lie upon than the granite and limestone of the rest of the cavern. They rested there together as the cavern became thick with darkness. Before long, Bentley could not even see his own hand when he held it before his eyes. Eirwyn clung to his arm in the darkness.