Micro-fiction 085 – The Rescue (Echo series)

The old folk tale of a young man and a beautiful woman in need of rescue…

Always, I think back, and wonder how I ended up here, at the lake in the valley. I was named Hillar by my proud parents and as a young man was carefree enough not to worry about others, or indeed to be worried by them. Our simple life in the outskirts a local town that lingered beneath the eye of three mountains was interrupted only by the storms from the North, which came so rarely they took on a mythic quality, and the more frequent traders in metals and souls who passed through our barren roads on their way to the bigger cities, and greater fortunes.

As I grew, I fell in love of course, so many times, but no-one returned the complement. I lived in a state of unrequited bliss, toiling at my studies, graduating to a bar to earn some money of my own, idling and laughing with my friends, until I rescued the most beautiful woman in the world.

I had taken a detour on my way home from work, for as an adult I did not enjoy returning to my parents to be treated still as a child always on the verge of malefaction, a boy who one day would grow to be a man, if only he could mind his manners and do as he was told. As the evening crept around the buildings on the edge of the town, I passed up the narrow road to the river on the other side. This majestic stretch of ancient water swept readily from the misty ice floes at the top of the mountains, cold still from its long journey down, jostling itself across the rapids like a school of enthusiastic children, to the lakes below.

“Help!” A voice gurgled from the river, cut off before it finished.

“Where–?” I ran over the the water’s edge, unable to see the origin of the voice.

“Here!” Again, the sound was swallowed by the engorged river.

I looked further down, seeing the water rush ever faster with more and sharper rocks. Anyone surviving that far would surely be skewered. I realised they must be close by so ran to the riverside, took off my jumper and tied it to my wrist, flicking it out to make it longer. I saw a fallen tree, one of many laid low in past storms, ran over, steadied myself on the long branch that overhung the water and stared at the oncoming rush, holding on to a thinner branch, hoping it would not snap and send me too plunging to my death.

“Help!” I saw her head, bobbing up and down in the froth, her long black hair scattered out like rushes on the water.

“I’m here, try to push towards me!” There would only be one opportunity, and if she was swept out of my reach she’d be gone forever.

“I can’t!” She gurgled a shout, and I saw her buffeted away, but just at the last minute I flung my jumper towards her. She grabbed it so hard it nearly pulled me in too, and yanked it from my arm.

“Quick!” I kneeled down, and thrust my loose arm into the water, grabbing towards her hair.

“Ah!” I held that hair, and felt her jerk in shock, but I kept her steady for a moment, then began to haul her back against the chasing water.

“God, that hurts so much!” She half-shouted, half-gagging, fighting to stay afloat, she reached up and gripped my loose arm as I shifted my other on the branch, using it to steady me further, wrapping the crook of my arm around it I was able to lean down further, my legs balancing on the other side.

Somehow we managed to shuffle across and as she approached the side of the river, her feet touched the river bed, and our breathing, now completely as one, steadied. We reached the bank and I clambered from the tree to wrench her from the plunging waters, using both hands, as she slipped and slithered out of the river, retching and coughing, fearful and exultant.

We collapsed on the bank. I could hear her breath, now unsteady, guttering like a candle in a storm, so I looked across and realised she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. I smiled as I closed my eyes, relieved at her rescue, overwhelmed by my own exhaustion and contented by my good deed I fell asleep.

I must have been absent from the world for some time, for when I woke my head felt heavy, my breath was hard to catch. My chest too was sore, as though I had fallen in the water myself, rather than providing the means of rescue. I tried to move my arms but they were unresponsive so I shook my legs and found they at least had some motion. But it was limited, so I allowed my leaden eyelids to lift. I expected to find the skies above me, with scudding clouds sifting along the mountains, the sun burning through. Perhaps I had slept all night, for my eyes were murky, and I was unable to see properly, the light flickering and wavering before me, and shapes which were indistinct.

“I think he stirs.” I heard a watery laugh, high, musical, and wondered if the woman I had rescued had emerged from sleep before me.

“No doubt, poor fellow.” An older woman’s voice had joined the other and the waving shapes in front of my eyes appeared to be that of two women, one of whom held a bright object in her hand.

“We shall gain a pretty price for this precious one.” The watery laugh again.

“Oh mother, you have taught me well, I think he fell in love with me!”

“Ah, the enchantment never fails. Come, let us not tarry, the travellers will be here soon, we can use this poor boy’s soul to buy our youth again and his body can take the place of the last of the others.”

I was confused by their gloating, I did not feel right. My eyes though had begun to adjust. I saw the two figures recede, but as I tried to shout I found I had no voice, and no breath, my limbs were chained, my body submerged in the dark waters, and I was surrounded by others, similarly chained, but they were skeletons, their flesh long gone, while I alone remained the victim of the most beautiful woman in the world, and soon to be the supper for her and her mother.

Just within earshot I heard the mother speak once more. “It was fortunate he came by, for we would not have lasted another week without such a soul.”

“A lucky escape, a wonderful rescue!” They laughed until their cruel voices disappeared above the waters and out into the valleys below my little town, leaving me to wonder at the naivety of my former life, and the grim truth of the present.

[End]