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Beginning VI-3-3-2d

I was lying prone on the bank of the stream, on a slope of soft turf. I could not have been far from where the fishermen had sat near the villa bridge. Making my first major movement to orientate myself further, I turned to examine the river, and at that moment there was a great disturbance in the water, and what appeared to be a large pale fish tail swirled beneath the surface, heaving the water into a great crystalline dome as it propelled .. something away and upstream.

It had began to get properly dark, and I did not make out what it was.

I was still in shock, numb from my recent experience, and did not shout out in fear, or otherwise react, though in hindsight, I got an awful fright.

Ripples fanned out across the surface of the stream, which there had pooled into small deep lake.

Strange.

I remembered being held.

And how did I get into the water? And that queer fisherman?...

Before I could raise myself properly to a standing position, there was a sound behind me, and I spun about to see a small boy, dressed in somewhat ragged and dirty clothing, standing in the glade. He appeared to have only just arrived, and only then saw me.

My fast movement must have startled him, and he ran away downstream, shouting.


There he goes...

Disappearing along that forest trail that runs by the stream.

The sound of night-crickets and frogs returns again after the silence caused by the disturbance of water and shouting boy.

And yes... there are other voices that way.

It is almost fully dark. The water of the pond looks black, it's swirls and eddies twisting the reflections of the beginnings of starlight.


Follow after him or Find a place to hide