A house, on the river side. One of the finest houses in the village, inhabited by a family, a mother, father and their ten year old son, Edward. Every morning the father, Gabriel, goes hunting for food, and if dose not catch any he will buy meat in the market, and come home at about noon or more for the mother, Marry, to prepare the food.
One morning as Gabriel was out hunting, Edward was sitting at the river mouth, throwing rocks in the water. His mother always forbade that, but he never realy knew why. One after the other he threw carelessly, he suddently stoped for a moment, lifted a big stone with a sharp edge and threw it as hard as he could. Then suddently, as the rock hit the water he heard a very loud screem. Marry heard it as well, so she ran outside to see, but found nothing, not even her son. She feared he may have fallen in the river, even though it was'nt very deep, she went in the water that covered up to her sholders looking for the body incase he is stuck inside. She found nothing. The river flows very slowly, and there are not many trees in the area so one can see far away, So where is her son?
The father came home with a smile as he had cought enough deer and rabbits to feed them a whole week. But the news he heard wiped the smile off his face. "our son is quit the athlete" Gabriel suggested "he may have ran off at seeing a horrid site, i will search every inch of this village till i find him, this i vow" he said. Shortly later Gabriel left looking for Edward, till sundown he went from door to door, asked everyone young and old, but came home with only with a frown and his head down. But he would not give up on his only son, the next day early in the morning he restlessly set looking as well, this time he did not miss a single person, but no one had a clue. In desperation he visited one of the most hated houses in the vilage, the witch's house. She knew, she talked about a water maiden that was struck by one of Edward's throwing stones and decided to kidnap the boy. The witch explained a method to contact, and make a pact with the ceature in return for his son.
That night he collected thyme leafs in a leather bag, attached to a rope, which he set on the water and waited. Till late midnight he stared at the river from the porch, then he saw a slightly glowing body moving in the water for just a moment then disappeared, as he looked deeper he saw a face in the distance arise from the water, it was a female, but it was not human. As it slowly came closer as coming ashore, her face became clearer. She had big black eyes, a round mouth, no nose, long thick hair and big round flat ears one of which was slightly cut, which she pointed to when she exited the water, " do you see this, this is what your son did to me, you think you can pay me with just a bag of thyme?" she shouted
"no i'll give you anything you want, just let me see my son" begged Gabriel
"then i will return tomorow, and you better have something valiable to offer" the maiden said and turned to go back
"i want to see him first, take me to him" he demanded as he ran off the porch to the river side
"there will be consequences" she said with her back turned
"just take me to him" yelled Gabriel
"very well" the maiden gave out her hand, he held it and they walked in the water.
As entering the river Gabriel sees the water slowly starts disapearing and light seems to come from his surroundings, then realizes he is in a different world, to him everything was blury and if he tried hard to focus his eyes would heart, it was daylight there, he sees strang vegetation and creatures that seem to stare at him. The air is thick but not all breathable. He tries not to suffocate as struggling to breath. Gabriel then found that he was in a city as they reached a maket place.
"STOP!!!" shouted a deep voice behind them, they turned around, a huge red figure was approaching, it looked like an ogre wearing a crown.
"Razda, what is an animal doing in my city, unchained and uncaged"
"my king" says the maiden as she approaches him and whispers in his hear, the king giggles and turnes to Gabriel "you must swear not to tell anyone of your visit"
"i swear" he says and the ogre fades away
Through the market place they come to a more crowded area, a long table on the other side of which are cages that contain children. He sees his son in a hanging cage beyond the table, he tries to cross but a black cat jumps right in front of him "hey human, you do not cross, only pay, or you'll end up caged there too" he says waving his tale around
"alright you saw the boy, now lets go" says Razda
"iam not going without my son, he is weak, he will live till tomorow" he complains
"well... fine, but to be fair i will cut his ear off" says the maiden
"no, i can not allow it"
"that is the only way" explains Razda
In desperation the father agrees, and returns his son home with one ear. Never again did Edmond throw another stone in the river again.