"Frac," Frac seemed to hear. "Frac! Are you alright? Are you alive?" In was as a whisper in Frac's head. Head raising, Frac could see a golden shoreline a couple of hundred feet away, and realized that this warm water was the great, salty lake. Frac made it and was not dead! Ignoring the now extreme pain in arm and back, Frac quickly started scanning the shoreline while repositioning from floating face to the sky.

"Over here!"

Frac looked toward the voice where a crescendo of waves revealed flailing arms and a head bobbing halfway to the shore. Raziel! Frac began swimming toward shore. Raziel met Frac halfway, but Frac seemed quite able to make it all the way to shore without assistance.

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"Very sore, but otherwise--I'm alive!"

"After almost an hour, I went back to the rocky chute where you went in. I could hear someone down there shouting, seemingly very upset, that you had gotten away, so I ran right back this way and seen you floating on your back way over there," pointing several hundred feet up shore where the beach became marshy and dense with high grasses, "I ran along the shore to get you--I though you were dead--I was scared--but the waves were swiftly taking you further from shore. I jumped in and began swimming out to you. I could still see you, but you kept getting pushed farther and farther--then you just stopped. That's when you woke up." Raziel was shaking and reached over and hugged Frac.

"So where did I come out?" Frac asked.

"Oh, I don't know for sure. I first spotted you right over there," once again pointing toward the dense grasses while looking at Frac's wounds. They weren't bleeding, or even open cuts, but seemed like age-old scars from a bad injury. Raziel knew that they were not there before.

Frac was scanning the shoreline where the high grasses grew for the opening of the tunnel and noticed a dark figure moving in the high grasses. "Who's that!"

"Who? Where?"

"There! C'mon," Frac shouted, jumping up and running toward the high grasses.

"What are you doing? That might be Dagon hunting for you," Raziel yelled to Frac from several paces behind.

"It's not."

"How do you know that?" Raziel asked, losing ground on Frac, "Dagon wants you Frac."

"Oh, I know," Frac said, "We won't see Dagon anytime soon. Not back here."

Raziel caught up with Frac, and both ran to the spot where they spotted the dark figure, but could find no sign of the person who disappeared into the high grasses, no bent grasses, not even a footprint.

"Are you sure we seen a dark, hooded figure disappear here," Raziel asked.

"You seen a hood?"

"C'mon let's go back to the village.... So, tell me all about the Underground Pool. What was it like?

After being assured of secrecy, Frac filled Raziel in on everything that happened, all except for how Frac had several times seen, or maybe just imagined, Dagon's lower body and movements to be that like a huge fish. As they entered their village they were greeted with gasps, whispers and pointing fingers.

"What's going on here," Frac asked Raziel.

"Why are they pointing at us?"

A few people ran off. A moment later Diniel, who Frac and Raziel, played with as small children and still hung out with often, came running up, nearly out of breath and pinched Frac. "You're alive! You're no wraith!"

"Of course I'm not a wraith. What's going on?"

"Forneus has been telling everyone how you went down to the Underground Pool, freaked out and got killed when you left without waiting for the Underwater Wind."

"Freaked out my dupa," Frac retorted, "Where's Forny now?"

"Telling the story to a group of The Keepers Of The Truth and the Elders," Diniel said, "Haniel is there, too."

"Dang!"

"C'mon Frac, let go," Raziel injected, and the three of them ran for the Village Round in the center of the Nuemerican village. Out of breath by the time they reached the Village Round, a cluster of important societal buildings--The Temple Of Truth, the Court of Justice, the Grand Market, and others, Frac's appearance commanded the attention of all present. While many were still pointing and whispering as in disbelief, a large number of young Nuemericans began cheering. Several of The Keepers Of The Truth began heading toward Frac, but Iofiel, the youngest of the Elders, quickly interceded and guided Frac into the Court of Justice which no one, including The Keepers Of The Truth, were not allowed without invite. Raziel and Diniel followed, but Diniel was stopped. Just a few of the Elders were present, but Haniel and Pronoia soon joined them.

"What's the story Frac," Haniel asked, clearly unhappy about the situation.

"I went to the Underground Pool."

"And?" Pronoia asked with the truth-seeking temperament that Frac did not want to face considering the promise made to Forneus.

"And what?" Frac answered, hoping to avert the actual inference of Pronoia's simple question, "I was curious..."

"As was I," Raziel quickly injected, knowing the inference as well, and hoping to help Frac deflect the actual question.

"...and I foolishly went down there. But I'm alright. I didn't die!" Frac answered, a bit too boldly upon retrospect, "It was nothing really."

"Nothing?"

Frac knew that there was no avoiding Pronoia's interrogation for long, "It was just a pool of water--underground."

"Just?"

"Basically. I mean there were some interesting fish and water creatures there...and an unusual play of light...but I seen nothing magical or mystical about the place."

"Nothing?"

"Strange maybe, but then again the clouds in the sky and winds in the air appear strange to me during a late summer storm."

"Raziel?"

"Pronoia, I did not go down into the Underground Pool."

"Frac, who did you go with?" Haniel asked.

"Forneus... challenged me to and told me how to do it."

"Why did you try to leave without the Underwater Wind."

"Actually I did ride the Underwater Wind out."

"Frac, I have a question," Iofiel said, who had quietly been standing aside the small group, "Did you get any injuries?"

Thinking before answering, Frac replied, "I bumped my head."

Pronoia was inspecting Frac inquisitively. "What is this," Pronoia asked pointing to the scar on Frac's arm.

"A scar," Frac said.

"That was never there before," Haniel stated, touching the scar, "Explain this."

Frac was now in a very sensitive predicament--how could this be explained without breaking the promise made to Forneus--yet give a logical explanation that would satisfy the question?

"Speak up. Don't think about it--just give the answer," Pronoia demanded.

"And strip down to your under garments."

Frac began taking off shirt and pants, quickly considering the answer to the question. "Do I tell them the truth, do I make up some lame story, or just plead ignorance," pondered Frac.




© 2001 John Gnotek