Waters Still and Deep (Casca)

Dusk.

The grotto of the Unicorn consists of a waterfall almost twenty feet high, the waters falling into a wide pool. Carefully tended grass makes a lawn before the pool, with a dozen different trees lining the area. All are large. No two are the same. Several sprout flowers. Half of them sport sturdy branches and an extraordinary decoration hangs from them:

Crutches. And canes. In a wide variety of designs and materials. Wood. Aluminum. Some of steel. A few Casca recognizes as plastic. Many are crude. Others clearly were made in a world of high technology, possibly even space-age.

Nearby several people, including some women in the same green and white robes within the convent, kneel. Facing the pool, they seem to pray. One is prostrate upon the ground.

To one side is a queue of those wishing to enter the pool. Many of them look sick. Canes and crutches again, this time in use. More than one pregnant woman. Another person--whose sex Casca cannot determine--is wrapped in rags stained with blood. More Holy Sisters help the people waiting.

"The wonder of my homeland," says Valentine. "A thousand years ago the Unicorn appeared in that waterfall, to Sister Elizabeta who founded the Order. To her was given a prophecy and the good news that this water is blessed. And from that day on, the sick have come here, in body and mind and soul. Most say they feel relief. Many become physically better. A few are completely healed of what ails them, sometimes immediately." Awe is in her voice.

Casca says nothing for a few moments, watching the throng wait for their turn at healing, some patient, others anxious and eager. He rubs some of the many raised scars on his bare hands, familiar and comforting.

"Fascinating. What I would have given to know of this place in the past. Some valuable lives could have been preserved. Does it heal injury as well as disease?"

The military application of a place such as this could swing a war in a different direction, if such a thing was accessible.

"Sometimes," answers Valentine. "The grotto is a mystery, and its ways always a surprise. Yet it offers hope to those who come here. Hope for health as well as for the soul."

Two children now reach the water's edge. One seems a teenaged boy with black hair and brown eyes. Beside him stands a girl with honey-blond hair, in a hooded cloak, who glances at the horizon before dropping her cloak. By now no direct sunlight shines. The girl herself looks maybe thirteen, in a dirty white dress. She wades into the water, then stiffens, gasps. Her eyes go wide, the irises turning white while her skin erupts in boils. A growl escapes her lips, revealed what can only be called fangs.

She collapses into the water. "Abby!" calls out the boy, who jumps in after her. Within a moment or two he lifts her above the surface. But now her eyes look normal, as does her skin and mouth. She gasps, spitting out the water and coughing. She and the young lad look at each other in shock, then hug each other tightly.

Casca glances at the waterfall. For one moment a shape becomes visible through the water, clear as anything Casca has ever seen. A horse-like shape. White as snow. With dark, vivid eyes that meet Casca's own, with a disturbing intelligence. Yet this was no horse. A single horn spirals from the creature's forehead.

The vision lasts less than three full seconds. But Casca can feel the look from the Unicorn's eyes. Not the look of a beast. Nor that of a mere man.

I know you, he seems to almost hear somewhere in his head. Like a whisper that echoes like a dream.

Fascinating. Was she just cured of lycanthropy?

Casca stiffens at the vision appearing beyond the waterfall. Their eyes meet and an electric shock shivers through his nerves. Fear, elation, and longing whirl through his emotions.

Recognition.

Gods above, below and walking! Recognition! I belong to something!

He shivers again and turns to Valentine to see if she too saw the unicorn through the water.

Casca hardly has to ask. Valentine's eyes are huge and aimed at the waterfall, her mouth open in shock. She sinks to one knee, pressing her medallion against her heart. All around, the dozens and dozens of people within the grotto are doing the same. Some openly weep.

The unicorn is no longer visible. But for several moments, no sound breaks the silence.

At last the girl in the water sobs as she holds the boy with her tightly, the two of them rock together back and forth. Meanwhile several Holy Sisters begin to sing a hymn. One hurries to a small tower and rings a bell.

"Valentine. I felt.. I felt.. a connection. Something."

Words fail him. He is not a loquacious man, and in this situation he is almost stunned for words.

He raises his hands, futilely trying to shape the thoughts and fears running through his mind. He waits for the kneeling woman to rise and speak with him.

Valentine notices his seeming distress and rises. She takes him by the arm and guides him out of the grotto. "You'll need to sit down, rest," she says. "Then you can talk."

Casca sits, looking at his scarred hands, and is surprised to see them tremor like they have done only after a long battle, when adrenaline leaves the body weary and drained. The unicorn knows me? How can this be?

He accepts a plain goblet of water from Valentine and looks up to her face. She seems suffused with joy, and it is hard for Casca to deny the feeling is shared. It worries him though. There has been too many leads that wander off into darkness, too many risks taken that led to nothing but more bloodshed. Could I finally be on the correct path? I must risk it; I was too near despair.

"I think I am here for a greater purpose than simply guarding your sister. I feel your Unicorn has given me a gift: acknowledgement. I will do this thing and protect your sister with my blade and blood."

Valentine blinks in thought. "I thought I was finding some protection for my sister. Now--I believe something far more important may be at hand." She visibly makes a decision. "When you are feeling stronger, let me to take you to see Fernand. After that, the royal household and soon after that--a ship."