The Girl in the Water

Chapter 20

Six months later.

A lone figure hurried along the docks, looking nervously over his shoulder as he went. The sky was just an inky swirl of darkness, no stars in sight, and the lamps that lit the long stretch of rickety, sun-bleached wood floated like orange spirits in the misty air. 

He was a thin man, with pale skin and straw coloured hair, and he was ill-dressed for the chilly night with only a thin blue windbreaker over his tee shirt and jeans. Pale blue eyes darted quickly from shadow to shadow - the feeling had nagged at him for days, but now it was aggressively clear that he was being followed. 

Tyler didn't know who was following him, or how on earth they were. He had been careful leaving Feloix Felaii - he'd left in a cover of darkness, under the guise of an escort for a bunch of elderly goblin women who were visiting relatives. He'd left them as soon as he could, their angry cries following him into the night. He was sure they'd be fine - he'd left them in a part of the woods that thieves didn't frequent as often. It was enough to clear his conscience.

But now, miles away in the UK, Tyler felt eyes on his back no matter where he went. 

He almost jumped out of his skin when a sad looking dinghy creaked morosely against it's moorings. It was like most of the boats tied to the dock  - old and repaired countless times, and looking as if it might sink to the bottom of the sea at any moment. Tyler searched for one with a decent looking motor - he was sure their human owners wouldn't be too angry to see such sad looking boats go, whichever one he chose. 

Spotting one that looked decidedly more reliable than the rest, Tyler hurried over, taking his hands out of his pockets as he reached for the rope eagerly. 

There was a whistle of movement, and Tyler reached back just in time. A dagger had flown right through where his hand had been not a second before, and it was now embedded firmly in the worn wood by his feet.

He looked back fearfully to see a hulking shape at the end of the dock, it's huge figure as still as stone. Another dagger winked in his giant hand, and Tyler's heart skipped a beat in terror.

"Stay back!" He called back, his voice shaking. "I don't want no trouble."

"Neither do we."

He jumped at the new voice, turning to see a figure sitting in the very boat he had been planning on stealing. This figure was much smaller than the figure at the end of the dock - she had a warm cloak thrown over her petite body, and cold blue eyes appraised him in contempt.

"Tyler Wickam, am I right?" Eisla drawled, sweeping the edge of her cloak back to reveal the long, thin sword sheathed at her hip. "It's best if you come with us quietly."

Tyler backed away, his eyes flickering between the sword and the elf's face. "Who - who sent you?" He stammered, flinching when his foot hit the mooring post behind him.

"It does not matter who sent us." The huge shape had silently approached while Tyler was focused on Eisla, and he saw with terror now that the shape turned out to be a formidable mongool. Guo looked down at the small man calmly, unaware of how menacing his glittering weapons belt was in the orange light of the lamps. "It does not change the fact that you must come with us."

Tyler looked between the two trackers, his face betraying all of his panic. "Sc - screw you!" He choked out, before turning on his heel and sprinting down the docks.