Chapter Six
Down...down...stunned, Garlon continued to sink. He had always been a strong swimmer—even injured—which is what had saved him during the shipwreck, but the glancing blow he’d taken to the head had nearly rendered him senseless. He fought to stay conscious.
All at once, a stream of phosphorescence glided toward him. He felt a sharp nudge that propelled him upward. Something silky soft leaned against him, something vaguely familiar. It raised him up and up until his head burst through the water. He filled his lungs with great gulps of air, as it nudged him up upon the seashore, leaving him coughing and sputtering helplessly.
Rolling on his back, he opened his eyes, smarting with salt, to the sight of the little seal bending over him. Her head cocked to the side, her enormous eyes sparkling in the moonlight. Lifting his hand, he touched his brow. There was a large lump, where the boat’s prow grazed him as it sank. With a small bark, the seal laid her flipper over the lump. How soothing and cool it felt against the fire in the smarting bruise.
Stroking it, she purred like a cat and sidled closer. The creature seemed to smile as it flopped down alongside him. How warm her body was, considering that she’d just come from the water, and how comforting as she nuzzled against his heaving chest with her sleek, wet nose. Her whiskers tickled. When he brushed them away, she nuzzled his hand, and patted him with her flipper the way she had done in the boat earlier.
Garlon couldn’t help but smile. “You’re a friendly little thing, aren’t you?” he said. “I suppose I should thank you. I might have drowned if you hadn’t rescued me, little friend. Well done.”
At his words, iridescence glowed around her like a halo in the moonlight, just as it had before. Only, her purring vibrating against his skin alarmed him. It had erotic overtones about it that flagged danger. He jerked upright, all but toppling her over. He just lived through one bizarre brush with the Fae, and if it wasn’t for the bump on his head, he would be ready to believe none of it truly happened. He was in no mood to have truck with another creature not of his world.
He had to keep reminding himself that he was in the astral realm, where all creatures exuded sex as a matter of course and a natural function no more profound than drawing breath. There were no moral strictures here. Having come among them, he’d been caught up in the magic, lured into thinking it was all beautiful and welcoming—obliged to behave in like manner, for he’d been chosen by one of the Fae. One did not refuse that privilege, or treat it lightly or without respect, else you’d fall to disfavor with the astral realm.
Garlon raised his hand to his brow to find that the lump was gone. Had she healed him? She must have done so. Now, she flopped around him in the manner of a seal, and seemed to be taking his measure. There was a childlike innocence about her that made her all the more irresistible. One could not help but be endeared by such a creature. It was his natural instinct to embrace her, to stroke her head like he had done in the boat. Thank her. Something made him resist the urge. He had been tricked once already this night. He would not fall for these charms and enchantments again. Instead, he sat watching, as she waddled around him, her silky flipper petting first his arm, then his hip, then his leg. There was discovery and awe in her touch.
“That will do, my curious little friend,” he said through a nervous laugh. He leaned forward and finally succumbed to stroking her head. She had looked so forlorn at his rejection of her caress, he couldn’t help himself. He couldn’t bear the hurt in those huge, limpid eyes. She seemed all eyes then, gazing up at him longingly. She was half human, after all. “Hadn’t you better go back, as your sister said?” he urged her. “You wouldn’t want to anger her, would you?”
“It is far too late for that!” said the goddess, striding out of the water. Some part of him hoped that the night had been part of a dream, hoped he would never see Analee again. She approached them, anger flashing in her eyes. “Get you back where you belong!” she charged the seal, chasing her toward the water’s edge.
The seal barked a protest, her reluctance to leave evident in the way she flopped and waddled around him until Analee finally drove her back into the water with the aid of a stick that had washed up on shore. Again, the creature wailed. The mournful sound pierced Garlon to the core. Their eyes met for the briefest instant before the seal splashed into the water and dove beneath the surface, dodging the stick Analee hurled after her. Seconds later, as if waving farewell, the creature rose up and plunged under again, her broad tail rising into the air, dripping luminous pearls of water, then disappeared.
“So!” the goddess said. “The minute my back is turned, this is what I find. Is this how you would repay my generosity, Garlon Trivelyan?”
Garlon shrugged. “That creature saved my life, my lady.”
“I saved your life, Knight of the Realm,” Analee reminded him. “I healed your arm. But for me you would be dead. It would do you well to remember that.”
“How could I forget?” he returned, the words spoken on the cutting edge of sarcasm.
“Ummm,” the goddess grumbled. “You would do well to remember your benefactress. Our time is not yet up, Garlon Trivelyan.”
Garlon glanced up at the moon, then toward the mirror-still water. He saw no sign of the little seal. He recalled the gentle thump of her body that had guided him toward shore. It was not unlike what he had felt after the shipwreck. He’d heard the siren’s song, knew he was losing his battle and would drown. Then, something nudging him toward the strand, keeping him buoyed, until he could see the beach. Could the strange little creature have saved him then, too? Had she guided him to the Otherworld after the galley had struck the Land’s End shoals? So much was unclear. Yet, one thing was very apparent, indeed. The little seal had touched his soul, bringing warmth to his heart, the way the goddess only brought him emptiness and cold.
He wondered if he would ever see the Selkie again.