The Lakeside Inn had the optimistic name of an establishment built before anyone knew better. Now it squatted by Greenlake's shore like someone at a funeral, trying to maintain respectful distance from the deceased while still being present.

  ?No one's caught anything in weeks,? the innkeeper said, pouring ale with the resignation of someone who'd given this speech before. ?Fish are gone. Even the birds avoid the water now.?

  ?When did it start getting worse?? Venn asked.

  ?Three months back. Used to be you'd just lose the occasional duck. Now...? He gestured at the empty common room. ?Who wants to stay at a lake where horses get dragged under??

  Rast wrote in his journal. ?Why wasn’t this reported sooner??

  The innkeeper spat and made a sound that could’ve been a laugh. ?To the King’s Men? I did. Said it was a local problem. Went to the damn nobles. Said it was those wizard's problem. Went to the wizards. Said there was no problem.?

  Reyn stood by the window, staring at Greenlake. The water was dark even in afternoon sun, reflecting nothing useful. Deep. Dark. Full of water. Too much like the wells in Bormecia where they threw criminals who weren't worth executing quickly.

  ?We should scout the shoreline,? Rast suggested. ?See where it's been hunting.?

  ?We should leave,? Reyn countered. ?Add two weeks to our journey. Go around.?

  Venn looked at her with surprise. ?But Gared asked—?

  ?Gared asked us to look. We've looked. It's a lake with something in it that eats horses.? Reyn turned from the window. She didn’t enjoy the feeling in her stomach. ?Not every problem is ours to solve.?

  ?This really doesn't sound like you,? Rast said, barely glancing up from his notes.

  ?My voice sounds exactly the same.?

  ?I meant…?

  ?I know what you meant.?

  An uncomfortable silence settled. Turnip shifted on Reyn's shoulder, chittering softly. She didn’t like this. She knew what she felt was fear, a feeling she had trained to subdue years ago and therefore was little known with. Now it felt like it was all she knew. She hated it.

  ?Fine,? Reyn said finally. ?We scout. From a distance. No one goes near the water.?

  They walked the shoreline as afternoon faded toward evening. The locals had been thorough in their avoidance: no boats remained, no docks, nothing that suggested anyone had fished here recently. Even the usual shore birds were absent.

  Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

  ?There,? Venn pointed at marks in the mud. ?Something was dragged.?

  The tracks were clear: hoofprints approaching the water, then deep grooves where something had been pulled in. No blood. Just sudden absence where life had been.

  ?It's quick,? Rast observed, suppressing a groan as he knelt carefully away from the water's edge. ?Whatever it is, it doesn't play with its food.?

  ?That's comforting,? Reyn muttered.

  ?I could try a detection spell,? Venn offered. ?See what we're dealing with.?

  ?From here. Don't go closer.?

  Venn nodded, raising her hands. Blue light flickered between her fingers as she cast. For a moment, nothing. For another moment, nothing. Eventually she waved her arms.

  ?Nothing. Gared was right. Magic’s no use.?

  Rast stood up, staring. He raised his hand in a slow motion and pointed toward a vague shadow underneath the surface. ?There. It's... big. Not huge, but... big.? He frowned. ?I think it's watching us.?

  They all stepped back from the shore.

  ?How do we fight something in water?? Venn asked. ?I can heal, but I can't attack something I can't reach. Even if I knew offensive magic, it wouldn’t do much.?

  ?Arrows could work,? Rast said, then glared sideways at Reyn. ?If I could still draw a bow properly. Can't do a proper stance or pull tight enough after those damned rats, remember??

  Reyn laughed bitterly. ?Perfect waterbeast-hunting party.?

  ?We could lure it out,? Venn suggested. ?Use bait.?

  ?What bait? We don’t have a horse, and I’m certainly not going closer to the water.?

  ?Not a horse. Something smaller.? Venn looked thoughtful. ?If it started with frogs and mice, maybe it still responds to smaller prey.?

  Rast turned toward Turnip, who tilted its head back.

  ?No,? Reyn said before he could open his mouth.

  They spent an hour setting up. Rast found a rope in the inn's stable. Venn convinced Turnip to part with one of her saved turnips, though the rabbid chittered irritably about it. They tied the vegetable to a stick, dangling it over the water like the world's worst fishing attempt.

  ?This is stupid,? Reyn said, but held the stick anyway, standing well back from the edge. ?Why would it eat a turnip??

  The sun was setting, painting the lake red and gold. The water remained still, and unreflective. It was beautiful, if one chose to ignore the lurking creature.

  Then, movement. Not a ripple but a bulge, as if the water itself was rising. Something dark broke the surface. It was smooth, wet, and massive. Not quite frog, not quite fish, but something between that should not exist.

  Eyes, many eyes, arranged in pairs up what might have been a head. A mouth that opened too wide, showing teeth that belonged to no amphibian Reyn had ever seen.

  The tongue shot out faster than thought.

  But it didn't go for the turnip. It went for Reyn. Because of course it did.

  She tried to dodge, tried to draw Good Deeds, but the tongue wrapped around her waist like a wet rope. She grabbed it, feeling her hands sink into something that was both firm but squash.

  ?Reyn!? Venn rushed forward.

  ?Stay back!? Reyn dug her heels in, but the mud was slick. She felt herself sliding toward the water. Toward the deep. Toward the dark.

  Rage, she thought. I need Rage.

  But it wouldn't come. The Rage required anger, required conviction, and most off all: focus and control. All she felt was the cold certainty that she was about to drown, pulled under by something that shouldn't exist, in water too deep to find the bottom.

  The creature pulled harder. Her feet left grooves in the mud as she slid closer. Rast grabbed her arm, Venn grabbed the other, but the thing was too strong..

  ?Let go!? Venn shouted. ?Stop holding its tongue!?

  But Reyn couldn't. Her hands were stuck to it somehow, adhered by something that wasn't quite slime, or glue, or anything she’d felt before.

  The water touched her boots. Cold. Wet.

  Rage! she screamed internally. I need—

  The creature yanked, a final decisive pull. Reyn's feet left the ground. She heard Venn scream, heard Rast curse, heard Turnip's war-chitter.

  Then she hit the water and went under, the creature's tongue still wrapped around her, pulling her down into darkness where the bottom was far away and breathing was about to become a memory.

  The last thing she saw before the dark water closed over her head was the surface, already impossibly far above, and the silhouettes of her friends getting smaller.

  The Rage still wouldn't come. Only the cold, and the deep, and the fear, that required all of her.

  Reyn closed her eyes and stopped struggling. Her body went limp.

  She stopped breathing.