The pain was almost more than she could stand, but Anya kept going. Her mind was locked on one thing, the relief she would find when she slid into the pond with its cool water. There were willow trees that hung close to the pond, from them she would gather bark and have Sonya brew it into a tea for her. It would help with the pain. She would have to keep moving though, if she wanted to avoid the stiffness that would have her walking like an old woman.
Concentrating upon putting one foot in front of the other, she didn't see the prints in the soft ground of the trail, prints made by horse hoofs. If she had, she might have changed her mind about the pond and gone back to the castle.
The clearing was as beautiful as always, flowers blooming and lending their scents to the soft night air. The pond was so still, not a ripple of water disturbed its mirror-like surface. She made her way slowly to the edge and leaned over, staring at her reflection. She looked like a harpy or some other mythical harridan, with her hair stiffened with blood and sticking out from her head. Her eyes were too large in her pale face and a trail of dried blood marred her chin and trickled from the split in her torn lip.
She pulled at the buttons on the shirt, forcing them open and pulling the shirt off from where it had stuck to her back. Her breath hissed between lips clamped shut from pain but she finally had it off. The pants were easier though blood had dried on the back waistband, leaving the material stiff and sticky. She slid the shoes off, glad that Sonya had given her a pair of her slippers instead of the boots she usually wore with this outfit.
Naked, she crept hunched over toward the pond once more, slipping her foot into the water and shivering a bit at the touch. It would grow warm quickly, the temperature warm from the heat of the sun, she knew for she came here often. The pond had a soft, sandy bottom and she waded out to where she knew the drop-off was. The water was lapping at her waist when she reached it and she took the final step that would send her down into the black depths where the water was well over her head.
She stayed there until her lungs felt as if they would burst, wishing as she always did that she could find a way to grow gills and maybe a tail like the stories her mother used to tell her of beautiful mermaids. She would swim far from this castle and her father, not stopping until she thought she was safe. Then she would sun herself upon a rock, brushing out her long hair and whiling away her days with playing in the waves.
No more duties, no more pain, no more of her father, what more could she wish for?
She could see the moon above her as she kicked toward the surface. It was as if it was waiting for her. Breaking the surface of the water, she sighed in relief as the pain ebbed.
"Is that truly what you wish for?"
Anya screeched, turning in the water until she saw the being who'd asked the question. "Who are you?" she gasped.
The creature was small, not much bigger than a child barely able to walk. But he was no child. He was well made, slim hipped and wide in the shoulders with a handsome face and a head of hair that any woman would pine for.
Honey blonde, it swirled around him as he moved, held from his face by braids that were decorated with colored beads. A mustache graced his upper lip and his ears were pointed
"My name is Switch," he said, bowing until his braids almost touched the ground. "I can grant your wish if that is truly what you want."
"My wish...what wish?" Anya asked, bemused by the small man.
"To turn your legs to tail and give you fins, to let you swim 'til land's end," he said in a sing-song voice.
"I am to believe that you hold that kind of power?" she asked, narrowing her eyes as the little man stepped close to her clothes, lifting the shirt and inspecting her blood upon it.
"Oh yes I do, I do indeed," Switch said. "But how to prove to you that I am what I say?" He tapped his lip with his finger looking very serious. Then he smiled. "Turn your back to me, little miss, and I will show you my power."
Anya turned slowly, intrigued despite herself. The little man came closer to the pool's edge, bending and touching the water while mumbling some words that Anya couldn't hear. A soothing feeling came over her and the pain in her back stopped. She turned her head, amazed, staring down at what skin of her back that she could see. Her eyes rose from her unblemished skin. Even the old scars and welts were gone as if they'd never been there.
"What did you do?" she asked, amazed at the absolutely freeing way it felt to be without the pain her father enjoyed inflicting.
"I took away your pain so that you might better understand my magick," Switch said with a bow that had his long golden hair sweeping over the wide-bladed grass. "As for your other wish, to become like those who live their lives under the sea, you must be certain that this is truly what you want."
"If it is to be a choice of dealing with my father's perversions and his beatings or giving up my legs to live freely in the sea, there isn't much of a choice to be made. If I could have my presence wiped from the minds of those here, I would gladly face having a tail."
"I must tell you," Switch began, only to be cut off by the sound of hoof beats coming ever closer. "If it is still your wish upon the morrow, come to the clearing when the moon stands full above you. I shall be waiting." He dipped another bow and then spun so quickly, her eyes couldn't follow his movements. With a tiny puff of smoke, he was gone as if he'd never been.
"What ho?" a voice called. Anya spun, sinking back into the water and trying to hide her nakedness. "Who are you girl?"
The man sat upon his horse as if he were a part of it, easily calming the fidgeting beast while his eyes stayed upon the water nymph he'd discovered.
The sweet little water sprite was immersed in the water up to her neck, he couldn't help the sudden rippling of arousal that had his cock twitching under his codpiece. "Well," he growled, easily stepping down from the huge horse and throwing his reins over a handy tree branch, "can you speak or are you mute, girl?"
"I-I can speak," Anya squeaked out.
The man smiled at the sound of nervousness in her voice. "Good," he said softly, lifting the white shirt he wore over his head and dropping it on the grass. "I had heard this clearing was magical, but never did I think I'd find a beautiful nymph here waiting for me."
Anya's eyes grew wide as she watched him stripping in front of her as if he had not a care in the world. Even as her shocked eyes registered that he was reaching for the ties to his breeches, she couldn't help but admire the width of his chest or the light layer of fur that covered it. His body was scarred, speaking of years of battle and a warrior's way, but chiseled with muscle that made him look hard and invincible. She could count the muscled ridges of his stomach in even the dim light of the clearing and she felt her heart start to race.
