I was riding a great white horse, galloping across the ocean toward the continent, under the storm, in the night. Behind me, Liam was holding on to my shoulders. The sea spray and heavy rain soaked us from head to toe. The roar of the wind, the rain, and the waves was so loud that I couldn’t make out what Liam was shouting to me. At one point, he turned my head with both hands, and I saw a fire on a beach near a cliff. I changed direction and rode toward it. As we got closer to the shore, I could make out two figures near the fire, and then I heard Liam scream. Slowing down as we arrived, I felt his hands leave my shoulders. He jumped off the horse and ran toward two young women wearing hooded coats, whose faces I couldn’t distinguish despite the campfire’s glow. The one on the left turned and started walking toward a hollow carved into the cliff behind her. She hesitated, then stepped inside—and was immediately trapped as roots grew over the entrance, weaving into a grid that kept h...
I was riding a great white horse, galloping across the ocean toward the continent, under the storm, in the night. Behind me, Liam was holding on to my shoulders. The sea spray and heavy rain soaked us from head to toe. The roar of the wind, the rain, and the waves was so loud that I couldn’t make out what Liam was shouting to me. At one point, he turned my head with both hands, and I saw a fire on a beach near a cliff. I changed direction and rode toward it. As we got closer to the shore, I could make out two figures near the fire, and then I heard Liam scream. Slowing down as we arrived, I felt his hands leave my shoulders. He jumped off the horse and ran toward two young women wearing hooded coats, whose faces I couldn’t distinguish despite the campfire’s glow. The one on the left turned and started walking toward a hollow carved into the cliff behind her. She hesitated, then stepped inside—and was immediately trapped as roots grew over the entrance, weaving into a grid that kept her from escaping. I heard her crying out in rage, shaking the roots. As for the other young woman, still by the fire, she welcomed Liam with an embrace, then pointed toward the hollow in the cliff. Liam turned his face away, then began to weep as she put her arm around his shoulders, trying to comfort him. While I wondered who she was, a piercing scream echoed from the top of the cliff. We all turned our heads and saw an old woman with long white hair, kneeling beside a dead tree whose bare branches seemed to plead with the sky beneath a full moon, on which a triskelion slowly appeared. She raised her arms toward the moon and screamed again, vanishing in a great cloud of dust. Then the grid of roots gave way, and the trapped young woman ran toward Liam. The great white horse neighed and began to stir. The young woman who had welcomed Liam ran toward me, laughing as she snatched the reins from my hands, then climbed onto the white horse, pushing me slightly backward. Suddenly, a bubbling sound rose about three meters to our left, and we saw a round shape emerge. I tried to see what it could be. The triskelion on the moon grew brighter, becoming incandescent, and its light revealed the face of the old woman who had cried out earlier atop the cliff. On the beach, Liam and the second young woman were kissing. The old woman watched them, then turned toward us, stretching her bare, gaunt arm from the water, pointing to the top of the cliff. The tree above changed color, its base covered with new bark, its branches lengthening and turning green again; more grew, and leaves unfurled, forming a canopy of magnificent green, while its roots burst from the ground, lifting it swiftly toward the sky. The old woman smiled at us, then, closing her eyes, sank slowly into the waves beneath a dome of bubbling water… The rain stopped, and the sea grew as smooth as glass.
Excerpt from the short story: "The Banshee of Mermaid’s Cove"…
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