Into the Depths Below

Chapter 4

"They're keeping us out," Nadira muttered under her breath. Dalathu nodded with a slight scowl lining his features. 

"Now why would they be doing that?" Simon asked, not fully grasping the situation ahead of them.

"They know of your involvement with the siren," Dalathu said, barely audible, like he was whispering only for her to hear. "The ents are afraid you will bring whatever tempest is following you into the forest."

"Ah, I understand," Nadira nodded.

"What is there to do then? We can't see the forest dwellers if the ents won't let us through," Simon paced back and forth while biting at his nails, only slightly tripping over his shoes, not noticing his shoelaces have come untied.

"If the ents believe I am cursed, is there anything I can do to prove to them that I am not? So they could let us through?" Nadira asked Dalathu and he bowed his head, asking the questions she did in the language of the elder trees. Simon, this time, tripped over his shoelaces and started scolding the air. If you listened closely, you could hear childlike laughter ring through the air and see the flitting of two pairs of tiny wings as they flew away from their little masterful prank on the paranoid man.

"They say you may pass if you may do one thing for them," Nadira nodded quickly to show she was willing to listen. "You must catch the largest fish from the pond nearby and bring it back to them. Only then can we pass."

Nadira pondered the quest. She was used to fishing for her daughter and herself. If she closed her eyes and listened closely, she could faintly hear the sound of rushing water. Yet she was curious as to what trees would want with fish? They could be used for fertilizer but as far as she knew, trees couldn't conventionally eat?

"Consider the quest done," Nadira said and began to follow where she believed the water was coming from. In front of her, a few branches shifted and swayed, handing her a large stick she could use for a fishing pole. She gave a deep bow to the trees and some leaves brushed gently against her face in a positive response.

Once Nadira had reached the water, first off, she wasn't surprised that her intuition was correct. She was used to dowsing for sources of water back when she would go camping with her ex fiancé before Marina had been born and she chose to settle down. Second, she laid down her backpack, opening it in search of rope and something she could use as a hook. She had barely registered that the two men had followed her to assure her safety and her completion of the mission.

Once she had managed to find what she was looking for, she  stuck her middle and pointer fingers into the water to test the temperature. It was surprisingly warm for the end of January. After taking her fingers out, she remained squatted and pondered for a minute. The two men behind her exchanged curious glances, both wishing they could pry into her mind right about now. If they dared break her concentration, they feared, the mission may be unsuccessful.

Nadira wasn't sure what kinds of fish make their homes in this river. She was more of an ocean fisher herself, she was knowledgeable in what resided in the raging waters of the deep. The ents mission was also a bit cryptic. The largest fish? Hopefully that wasn't anything she wasn't used to before. Salmon can be pretty heavy and she has experience catching those off the sides of thatch rafts. With some luck this won't be too different.

Noticing a broken off piece of a stick, Nadira grabbed it with her left hand and pulled a carving knife from her bag. She carefully and with all the grace of a master craftsman carved a small piece of wood she had nabbed from the shoreline into the shape of a fishing hook. She saw the final piece of the puzzle she needed, some thorny bushes over to her right. She went to grab a piece of a thorn covered vine, making sure to cover her hand with her sleeve before grabbing onto it and cutting a piece off with her knife.