- .. Not exactly a casual swim. My grandpa has diving gear- I don’t know where he got it, but he keeps it safely in the storage closet. We could dash back, grab the gear, come back fully equipped. Plus, I’m starving. Might as well eat too. - He rubbed his growling belly and cast a resentful glance at Roman, clearly still bitter about the salmon sandwich.
- Oh yeah? And do you know how to put it on? Let alone swim with it- and in flippers? - Roman snarked, his voice full of smug disbelief.
- I’ll figure it out! - Grofo replied with typical
At that moment, a nimble figure detached itself from one of the nearby boulders- of which there were plenty- and darted toward them. It sprinted past and leapt into the lake in one fluid motion.
The guys froze in stunned silence, until Grofo finally asked:
- Was that Drury the Murky? Did I see that right, or am I completely losing it?
- Seemed like - Roman scratched the back of his head uncertainly.
Ripples spread across the lake where the human body had met the surface, and Suzy stared at them thoughtfully before murmuring:
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
- He wants to solve the riddle for us- and with Let’s wait for him.
Calm as ever, she stepped away from the edge and walked to the stone where Drury had been hiding all this time, judged by many as nothing more than a nutty old man.
From her backpack, she pulled out a finely carved flute, decorated with sharp - beaked orioles bearing fanned tails that looked like peacocks’. The flute wasn’t exactly new, but it didn’t bear too many marks of age either- aside from a greasy food stain Suzy had neglected to wipe off.
Paying no mind to such trivialities, the girl placed her backpack down, squirmed around until she found a comfy position, and sat still with the instrument in her hands. Then, she began to play a strange, haunting tune that echoed across the snowy valley. The melody blended with the sound of coarse snow trickling down from the sky. It all enhanced the sense of emptiness and doom in the music, even though the lyrics in Suzy’s head were quite different. It’s just… that’s how she felt it. Not joyful:
- Vegl tat í Valh?ll, ok ek dansa mee ásum ok V?num. Fenrir er kallr mikill, tó hann sé úlfr, ok hann gnísta beinum ok drekka braga. (A party in Valhalla, and I dance with Aesir and Vanir. Fenrir is one hell of a dude, even if he’s a wolf, he gnaws on bones and drinks mead).
The song, just like Suzy - and the valley too- knew how to wait.
Only the two brothers couldn’t manage that. One after the other, they stared anxiously into the waters, now veiled in a snowy curtain. Hoping, perhaps, to catch a glimpse of that bizarre seeker of mysteries down in the depths.