Chapter XXV: The Third Challenge
A month went by quickly. It didn't want to hang around. -- Terry Pratchett, Moving Pictures
"Are you all right?" Hjalmar dared to ask when Solvej stopped for breath.
She laughed, a high, sharp laugh that sent chills down his spine. "All right? Didn't you hear what she just said?"
The only thing that came to mind was the parasite agreeing to give them a month. Luckily, the Queen was quicker on the uptake.
"You can't do it in a month?" she asked sharply.
Solvej laughed again. It was the sort of laugh most people would expect to hear from an old hag stooped over a cauldron. Hjalmar began to feel very worried about her sanity. Was she having a nervous breakdown? Could ghosts have nervous breakdowns?
"No, I can't do it in a month. I don't know if I can do it at all."
Over the course of their friendship, Solvej had said many things that left Hjalmar stunned. This overshadowed them all.
"What?" three voices yelled at once.
Solvej took a deep breath. She seemed calmer now. "This is the Magician's doing, no doubt about it."
"Well, yes, we all know that," the King said dryly.
"No, I mean--" Solvej sat down and buried her face in her hands. "The Magician isn't taking any chances this time. He's set me a task that could, perhaps, be done in five years or so... if I was very lucky, and if the merfolk and other sea-dwellers were in an unusually accommodating mood. I have only a month to do it. Someone, anyone, please think of a solution."
Yet another uncomfortable silence fell. Really, this room had been filled with so many awkward silences in the last hour or so that they were becoming more normal than non-awkward silences.
At last Hjalmar dared to speak up. "Merfolk? They exist?"
Solvej gave him a frigid look that let him know exactly what she thought of his priorities. "That's what you're thinking about?"
"I've never heard of merfolk before!" Hjalmar protested. "And I don't see why you mentioned them at all."
"Because it would be impossible to even attempt to solve this challenge without their help. Or at least their leaving us alone and not interfering."
"How do we get their help?" the Queen asked.
Solvej looked at her as if she'd asked, "Why don't we fly to the Moon?" Before the ghost could say anything, the King spoke up too.
"Yes, how?"
Hjalmar looked from Solvej to the King and Queen. Then he shrugged and added his tuppence worth. "If it's impossible to do this without their help, the sensible thing is to try to get their help, isn't it?"
Solvej spluttered. He had never seen her so utterly taken aback before. Then the defeated look that had crept into her eyes slowly disappeared. She nodded once, as if she'd reached a decision and would stick to it no matter what happened.
"Good idea," she said. "In fact, it's an excellent idea. The Magician hasn't won yet!"
~~~~
Enlisting the help of the merfolk was easier said than done. Hjalmar didn't know why he was surprised. Was anything in this life ever going to be easy?
"We have to do what?"
Solvej had the audacity to look surprised at his shock. "Well, surely you didn't expect the merfolk to come to us? We must go to them."
"But they live underwater!" Hjalmar protested. What an intelligent statement, he thought. "We can't live underwater!" And there was another intelligent statement. Really, he thought sarcastically, I should be a detective.
"I must agree with Mr. Dalsgaard," the Queen said. "As a way of speaking to the merfolk, diving into the sea sounds... how should I put it? Singularly ill-advised."
"It's nothing short of madness, that's what it is!" the King snapped.
Solvej looked at them as if they were all incredibly stupid. "But how else am I to find them? I have magic that will protect me, and as a ghost I can't drown. So I can't see why everyone's so upset about this. It seems perfectly logical to me."
"I think we have different definitions of 'perfectly logical'," Hjalmar said.
"Probably. Your definition's the boring one."
Hjalmar suppressed the urge to slap some sense into Solvej -- figuratively or literally; he wasn't sure which. "You intend to jump into the sea and go in search of some king of the merfolk, and you expect us to stand back and let you do it?"
"Well, yes."
~~~~
"I can't believe this is happening," Hjalmar grumbled.
The waves ran so far up the beach that they almost splashed his shoes. The rays from the early morning sun made the sea seem to sparkle. The noise and bustle of the city was a mile behind them, and the only sounds were the waves breaking on the shore and the cries of a seagull swooping overhead. Looked at from a distance, the scene was tranquil and soothing.
From up close, it was anything but tranquil or soothing. Hjalmar stepped back so he was further out of the reach of the waves. A few feet away Solvej was struggling with a backpack full of flowers. Why she had felt the need to fill a backpack with flowers was anyone's guess. But whatever the reason, it proved a most unpleasant thing to carry. The flowers had been wet with rainwater, and now the backpack was soaked and made squelching noises when one touched it.
"Will I help you with that?" Hjalmar asked, watching Solvej try to pick up the backpack only for it to slip out of her hands.
"No, I've got it -- Damn it!" The backpack had fallen again, and this time it had opened. Daisies, roses and all sorts of flowers spilled out onto the sand. "Oh, for--" Solvej straightened up, shaking her head. "...Some help, please?"
Hjalmar hid a smile behind his hand. "Why have you so many flowers anyway?"
"The merfolk love flowers." Solvej said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "They don't have any of their own, you know. Or at least, not ones like you'd find up on land. It's difficult to have a flower garden a mile underwater."
"Yes, I suppose it would be," Hjalmar agreed, picking flowers off the sand. "But why do they want flowers at all when flowers can't survive underwater?"
"Why do people pick flowers, when flowers can't survive in vases?" Solvej returned.
"Hmm. Good point." Why do people pick flowers? Hjalmar wondered suddenly. Because they're pretty? Because they smell nice? "Anyway, how are you going to get all these flowers to the merfolk without losing most of them?"
Solvej looked at the soggy, half-open backpack. It was hard to imagine that bit of fabric holding anything securely.
"...Perhaps... if I tie rope around it?"
"We don't have any rope," Hjalmar pointed out. "And something tells me seaweed wouldn't be good enough to use instead."
Solvej looked at the soggy strands of seaweed lying along the beach. "Actually, I think it would be."
~~~~
Five minutes later, the backpack was securely tied up, and Hjalmar had gained a healthy dislike of seaweed.
"It smells awful!" he complained, wrinkling his nose.
Solvej nodded, holding a hand over her face as if that would block the smell. "Things usually do, when they've been at the bottom of the sea for any length of time. I imagine I'll smell just as bad, when I get back."
"Will I ask someone to keep a bath ready for you as far away from the castle as possible?" Hjalmar asked dryly. "Because I don't want to imagine what the King and Queen will say if you come back smelling like this."
Solvej stood up and slung the backpack over her shoulder. The two of them stood for a moment, looking at each other, neither sure what to say. Silence fell. It was the awkward sort of silence that falls when people part, when there is nothing more to be said but no one wants to be the first to say goodbye.
"Well," Solvej said at last, "try not to get in trouble while I'm away. I don't want to miss any excitement."
Hjalmar managed a wan smile. "I think I can safely say there will be nothing that you would call excitement. At least, I hope not."
Solvej shook her head. "You just had to go and tempt fate, didn't you? Now you won't have a minute's peace. There'll be an earthquake, or a volcanic eruption, or a war will break out. Or all three at once."
"There are no volcanoes in Vardiholm," Hjalmar pointed out, amused in spite of himself.
"Then a new one will form today just so it can erupt!" Solvej retorted.
In the laughter that followed, they almost forgot the reason they were on the beach at all. Almost, but not completely. And when the laughter died down, they still had to face the facts.
"Well," Solvej said again, tugging awkwardly at the strap of the backpack, "I suppose I'd better be going."
Hjalmar nodded silently.
"I should be back in a day. Two, at the most. I probably won't get into any trouble, but if I'm not back in two days assume that's what's happened."
~~~~
Solvej wasn't sure what she had expected the underwater world to be like. She had never personally visited this part of it before. In fact, the only time she had been under deep water at all had been when she was still alive. With the aid of a spell, she had wandered around the seabed in a deep fjord, accompanied by a young merboy who had been as curious about her people as she was about his. Being underwater far out at sea was a novel experience.
It was also a rather frightening one at times. There were far more large fish and other large sea-dwelling creatures around than she had expected, and many of them were curious about the ghost gliding through their world. There was one especially alarming moment when a sea serpent came uncomfortably close to her.
Solvej stifled a yelp and shot up, closer to the surface.
She was using a spell to glide through the water. The spell created a sort of invisible magic carpet. She sat on the carpet, and directing it by pointing in the direction she wanted to go. Being a ghost, she had no reason to be afraid of drowning, but she was rather worried about water pressure and what being underwater for a long time would do to her clothes and hair, so she had cast another spell around her to create a sort of air pocket.
There wasn't a mermaid or merman anywhere to be seen. She had only a vague idea of where their towns were likely to be -- in the shallower parts of the sea, where they were safe from the deep-sea-dwelling kraken and other such monsters, and where the sun's rays could reach them. It was towards those shallow parts that she headed.
She didn't have to search for long. Ahead of her loomed an underwater plateau. And on top of it, sparkling in the light of the sun shining through the water, was a city with high, pointed towers. There was no doubt in her mind that this was the place she was looking for.
As she drew closer, Solvej could see merfolk swimming around the city. Some of them stopped to stare at her. Others ignored her, as if ghosts floating around underwater was perfectly normal. But then, she knew so little about the merfolk. Perhaps that was perfectly normal.
The cities of the merfolk had very few streets. She supposed that when you could swim anywhere you wanted to go, in any direction you wanted, streets were rather unnecessary. It wasn't as if the merfolk could walk along them, after all. The lack of streets made things rather awkward for her, though. How was she to know where to go when there were no set roads?
Oh, well. When in doubt, head in the direction everyone else was going. And most people were going to the palace in the middle of the city. How fortunate! That was exactly where she wanted to go.
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