We didn’t have far to go. The park was behind the northwestern border of the Diagonal and not too far from where we ate at the Double D. The park traveled along both shores of the North Dark River and terminated just a little west of the Diagonal at Park Pond. It was one park, but on both shores. It didn’t make much sense, but that's how it has been named over the centuries.

  We walked past the shops and businesses along the Diagonal, most closed at this hour. We passed by a floral shop, a music shop, and three staple shops for adventurers: Packer’s Warehouse, Camalus’s Adventurers, and Rick’s Pawn Shop. All three of the adventure shops were still open. I was not sure they ever closed. We also passed by Alexander’s shop and the local offices of the priestly inquisitors. Packer’s Warehouse would have been my next stop if Master Haberjaz had not been so generous with his time.

  I saw Steve look at the inquisitor’s offices, but he said nothing as we passed. Not much love was lost between clerics and inquisitors, but he never really talked about them. I knew that there were three branches of the priestly holy orders. Steven was a cleric and served in the first branch. The inquisitors were a military unit of priests, a cross between soldiers and clerics. And the third branch was the more gentle-hearted evangelicals. That last branch mostly healed, preached, and served as missionaries to those in need. My father had considered entering that group's service but had decided upon an academic path when he was finishing his undergraduate in college. Regardless, faith has been an essential part of his life. Some of it rubbed off on me, although I no longer spend time going to services. I haven’t for several years.

  My mind wandered along the paths of those old memories until we passed the final buildings of the Diagonal. I needed my head in the game, so I shook it gently as we turned north. Several landscaped paths entered the open lawns of the park commons. In years past, I played many games and shared in family and school picnics on these lawns. People walked quietly, singly, and as couples across the commons, but it was mostly deserted.

  We took the nearest path that led along the commons and veered west into the woods around the southern edges of Park Pond. I stopped us before we entered the woods. I was not going to discuss the dryad, but I did need to share my thoughts about what I sensed here.

  “Okay, let’s make a plan before we get to the pond. Whatever I sensed here occurred near nighttime and near the largest trees by the pond’s southern edge.”

  “What did you sense, Gwyd?” Adriana asked, repeating Steven's earlier question.

  “I sensed a powerful presence. It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and I felt something brush against my mind. I also heard what sounded like heavy slithering in the leaves at the base of the trees near the pond.”

  “Slithering sounds like a snake,” Steven observed.

  “If so, it was a huge snake because it sounded like a chain of silent school kids shuffling their feet against the ground and leaves.”

  “I don’t think I like the sound of that image this late at night any more than I do a giant snake,” Bido observed.

  Wilma agreed. “You need to work on your metaphors, Gwyd.”

  Simon asked, “What’s our plan? I agree with Gwydion that we should have one.”

  “We find the snake and shish kabob it,” Biff answered. “What’s there to plan?”

  Wilma put her hand on the brawler’s arm. “We plan so that none of us gets hurt. We are not all as big and strong as you.”

  “Oh. Yeah. Good point.” Biff murmured in reply.

  “Do we know if it lives in the water or merely near it?” Adriana asked.

  They all looked to me for an answer.

  “Sorry, I have no idea. It either lives in the water or under the ground beneath the trees.” I suggested.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Or both,” Bido added.

  I don’t think any of us liked that thought, either.

  I suggested, “Let’s get into a marching order and keep our eyes and ears out as we walk the trail down to the pond. We can then walk around the entire shoreline, starting at the beach, since that is where this trail leads.”

  They agreed, and we formed up with Biff and Simon in the front; I followed, and then Adriana and Wilma followed me, with Bido and Steven at the rear. Steven was the next best fighter after Biff and Simon, and we wanted someone at the back who could handle a quick response if we got ambushed from behind. Besides, as the healer, he could react best if he had eyes on all the rest of us.

  “I don’t know what this thing is, but if it is a snake, it is likely venomous and deadly, so don’t hold back. Hit it hard and fast with your best shots right out of the gate. Everybody ready?” I asked.

  They all nodded quietly and drew their weapons. Biff and Simon led us as quietly as they could toward the pond. Simon was utterly silent. Biff, not as much, but we all watched for movement around the trees and listened for the rustling of fallen leaves.

  An embarrassing moment happened barely thirty seconds into the woods. A young man our age jumped around a tree with a young girl, clearly expecting to see someone other than our group. The sight of our weapons out and Adriana’s glowing wand pointed squarely at them with a very intense and hostile glare sent them screaming and running back toward the pond.

  “Great, they are heading right where we are going,” Biff complained as he lowered his gauntleted hands from where he had nearly pummeled the man up into the higher branches of the nearest tree.

  “And right toward the thing that may be looking for an easy meal.” Simon pointed out.

  I sighed. “Ok, let’s double-time it. Either they will scare this thing away, or it will strike at them since those two cannot defend themselves.”

  We jogged off down the path. The couple’s scream at our pursuit was loud enough that patrolling night watch guards could be attracted. While that could be good backup if we get into a fight, it could get awkward if nothing jumps out of the night at us, and we have a lot of questions to answer to the officers.

  The way was easy since we had a path to follow, although it was not lit. Still, enough glow from the overhead night orbs let us see through the foliage so we would not get tripped up on loose stones or tree roots.

  Those with magical weapons also had a convenient magical glow that illuminated an area for dozens of yards in all directions.

  We broke through the trees just north of the beach as the couple sprinted in panic along its shore.

  Adriana hissed. “If it is in the water, they're done for.”

  We watched anxiously as the couple pelted across the sands, straining to see if the surface ripples from the steady breeze warned of some lurking creature. It was a tense minute as they pulled further away from us, veering away from the water and onto the grassy hill.

  Biff snorted.

  So intent had we been that at Biff’s sudden noise, all of us, except perhaps our stoic monk, jumped with a range of startled gasps.

  “You sure you didn’t have a dream about some giant snake, Gwyd?” Biff asked as he and Simon led us toward the shore. “If it is in the water, I doubt it will want to challenge us when a couple of soft dumplings like them passed it by safely.” And he pointed to where the couple had just gone over the peak of the rolling hill opposite where we stood at the other end of the pond.

  As we reached the water, Biff walked a couple of steps into it, but stayed in the shallows so the water was below the tops of his boots. Simon stayed on the dry sand while the rest of us walked along the edge, mostly looking out into the pond but occasionally looking at trees and grasses to make sure nothing came at us from that direction.

  A strong feeling that Bido was in danger came over me, and we both locked eyes with one another. When we both had the same sense simultaneously, it meant bad news.

  “At least Biff is getting part of a bath,” Steven said as Biff sloshed around in the dark pond water.

  “And it's not even summer yet,” Wilma added. “Must be your lucky day, Biff!”

  That was, of course, when the sleek, black form surged out of the lake with an open maw filled with thin, razor-sharp teeth. It bit Biff around the waist and took him back into the water with a flip of its upper body. We were knocked backward a couple of steps thanks to the pressure of a wave surge caused by its strike. We were all utterly surprised by the ferocity and speed of the attack.

  That is, all of us except Simon. He moved quickly to jump into the air, avoided the initial wave, and then plummeted into the waters behind Biff. Maybe two seconds later, Steven had also pushed his way into the pond and dove after them.

  The rest of us looked at each other. When we got to the bay, I was prepared to fight underwater, but for whatever reason, I did not foresee us ending up in the water this early.

  “Gwyd!” Wilma yelled. “What do we do?”

  I looked back and forth between each of them and the pond. I set my jaw, turned, and marched toward the dark black water. It was called the Dark River for a reason. The rich silt and mineral content of the farmlands to our north made seeing into the waters all but impossible. The river was fresh water but full of the rich, dark sediment of the halfling farmlands that extended for many miles east and west, all along the river as it wound north for a hundred miles or more.

  I had just entered the water when the others were at my side. “Okay,” I began, but I had to duck as a long, slithery tail whipped out of the water at us. Wilma and Bido were knocked prone in the water, but Adriana and I avoided the attack.

  Simon surfaced with Biff in tow, and they slowly made their way toward us through the waist-deep water. Biff looked pale. Steven surfaced nearby, and after shaking water from his hair, which dripped into his eyes, he cast a healing spell toward the brawler.

  That was when the creature ambushed us a second time, again targeting Biff. But we were ready and more than a little worked up.

  Steven’s healing spell for Biff was the first to go off, but it was followed by a magical blast from my staff, a streak of fire from Adriana’s glowing wand, and a lance of purple color from Wilma that all targeted the sleek monster.

  Our spells struck the creature, which we could see was some kind of giant black eel. It had the girth of Biff and stretched into the waters at least thirty feet, maybe more.

  It shrieked when our attacks struck it.

  Correction. It was a giant shrieking black eel, but the shriek was not natural, as we quickly discovered...