A short fisherman lay in a small boat, his feet dangling over the edges and into the cool water. A straw hat covered his face as he relaxed. A soft plunk in the water made him stir, his webbed green hand moving his hat to the top of his head. Two giant eyes blinked on the top of his head as he licked his green-skinned face and stared at his fishing pole, still firmly tied to the head of his boat. He stared at it for a moment, watching for the soft tug of a fish. The line didn't stir. Yet off in the distance, the toadmin fisher heard a loud plunk in the water. His head turned in the direction of the sound when he heard an even louder splash behind him. His boat rocked as the waves settled. The wart-covered fellow began to scan the water, his head darting in every direction. A haunting thought occurred to him, and he looked up. Directly above him was a quickly growing mass of rock. With a powerful leap, the toadmin jumped out of his boat and dove deep into the water. He swam away from his boat as fast as his legs could power him. A thundering splash echoed around him as a large rock crushed through his small boat and plunged into the river. The sound of loud splashing seemed to emanate from every direction as another large object burst through the surface of the water. The toadmin began swimming down, and turning, looked up towards the surface. Large chunks of carved rock slowly began to sink to the river bed. A memory flashed through the fisherman's mind of a life long forgotten. This was not the first time he had seen these carved images. A soft splash in the distance splash got the fisherman's attention. He turns toward the splash, his amphibious ears keenly able to discern direction in water. His eyelids blinked as he squinted off in the distance. It appeared to be a person slowly sinking into the deep. A strange desire compelled him to rescue this poor creature. The fisherman turned in the water, and snapped his powerful legs in the direction of the sinking form.
It took him several seconds to swim towards sinking person. It appeared to be some kind of hairless, monkey-like creature. It had long hair stringing from its head and a strangely swollen chest. It had been a very long time since the fisherman had seen a human, and he had rarely seen the females of the species. The strange compulsion to resuscitate her pierced him again. He grabbed her by the arm, and began to kick towards land.
After a laborious minute of swimming, he pulled her onto the beach. He flipped her onto her back, and turned her head to the side. With both hands, he pressed firmly against her chest several times. Taking a deep breathe, he covered her nose and mouth with his lips, and exhaled. He pressed her chest several more times, and went back to her face to fill her lungs with air. Pressing against her chest the third time, the young woman coughed, spitting out a mouthful of water.
Soaked, Leah writhed in pain, and coughed out more water, struggling to breath. Her vision was blurred. Her body was screaming in agony. Worst of all, she was pretty sure she was seeing a toadmin staring down at her.
“Blue-skinned one is now pink-skinned one. Gwert do good, yes?”
The words took a moment to process in her mind. She coughed several times again as she tried to sit up.
“Be more careful next time. Pink-skins do not breath water too good.” The fisherman said, matter-of-factly.
Leah rubbed her head with sandy hands, and leaning over, coughed out more water. She wiped her mouth of the mess and tried to get her bearings. A large toadmin was indeed standing over her, his face in an ear to ear smile.
"Pink girl
Flashes of the aerial battle raced back into her mind. Gargoyles, Doglus. Now a Toadmin, a race which has never been peaceful. Legend held that they were bred for warfare.
“Get away from me!” Leah screamed, reeling back from this webbed creature. She looked vainly for a weapon, scratching in the sand around her to find anything to defend herself. The movement made her cough profusely again.
"Don't worry, Gwert no give warts. Gwert not hurt you."
Leah pushed herself along on the sand, distancing herself from the bewildered frog. The amphibian seemed to sense her apprehension. It, Gwert, simply stood there looking her up and down with two massive eyes.
Standing to her feet, Leah coughed. Her body coursed in pain. She clenched and unclenched her hands, making sure she was still intact. Another wave of pain shot through her, reminding her of all the parts of her body that she wish she didn't have right now.
She felt something strange in her hand. The remnant of the leather strap was still wrapped around her fingers. She was beginning to recall the events. She had plummeted from the sky, and crashed into the lake below. She remembered rotating in air in an attempt to dive into the water. She remembered thinking 'Relax' as she collided with the surface of the water, the instant cold numbing her. She looked out over the river. She had fallen into the middle of that massive flow. Her last memory was hitting the water. She must have blacked out.
Her eyes scanned the surface of the water. Not too far away, she could see some shattered pieces of wood, and several soaked doglus floating on the surface. They had not been so lucky. The stone creatures had surely descended to the river bed. She looked up into the sky. There was no sign of any flying beasts, only an angry sun glaring back at her from the west. She could tell it was several hours past noon. Leah lowered her gaze from the cloudless skies and back toward the river. It was a massive waterway, more of an ocean than a river. She could only see a silhouette of land in the far distance by squinting. The river was several miles across, and by the direction of the sun, she was on the wrong side. The thought made her pause. It was several hundred miles from the Castle to the river. Even if she could get across the river, it would be a four day ride by horseback to the Castle. She was far from her blacksmith shop indeed.
A chill wind made her shiver, and she remembered she was soaked. She looked toward the Toadmin. The wind caused his nostrils to flare. The ear to ear smile faded away, and his head peered downstream.
He looked back at Leah and urgently beckoned her.
“Come, come, quickly. Come quickly with Gwert pink-one.”
Leah looked off downstream but saw nothing.
“I…I don’t see anything” she stammered.
“What you can not see, Gwert can smell.” The toad smiled at that, and continued. “Fate save Gwert from fire. Fate save Gwert from falling rock. Fate save you from water. Come quick, or fate can not save again.”
With that, the toad hopped towards Leah and grabbed her arm. His grip was surprisingly strong and his tug filled with urgency. She didn’t know what this amphibian’s intentions were, but if he had wanted to kill her, she’d already have been dead.
Together the two made way for the cliffs, quickly leaving the beach.
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