Kingdom by the sea (Another Kingdom 1)

It was one of those warm, clear nights, but after staying up all night, Miach accepted that the only thing his body wanted was to be freed from the ghosts in his mind. Lying on his back, he closed his eyes and took a moment to breathe. Then, reluctantly, he left his tent. He blinked several times trying to adjust to the darkness, it took him a few seconds to see where the sea was between the pines. And he began to walk towards the beach avoiding his troop companions who were still asleep.

Remains of wood and sails from the ship were scattered along the coast. The memory of the battle cries and his body covered in blood, struck him. He still had doubts about who those pirates had been who tried to conquer his sacred island, his home. And that he had had to defend himself with all his might from him.

The sand seeping into his boots began to bother him. He looked up for some mental clarity, his shoulders slumping. The stars were shining, and their order accompanied the tops of the trees that were seen against the light. The full moon illuminated the calm sea with a strange blue colour. Miach stopped dead, his blood turned into ice. There, from the centre of it, in what seemed to be the reflection of the moon, emerged the silhouette of a woman with long albino hair, dressed in a white nightgown. Her wet figure seemed to dissolve in the water. Long, pale hands wandered absently across the surface.

She was there, his beloved, his life. Her presence relaxed the young man’s senses. His whole being pushed him to enter the water, he could not remain with the doubt. The movement that his walk generated in the water did not seem to surprise her, and when he got to Saoirse’s side, she turned to look at him. She reached out for him with a cold hand, and he took it. He heaved a breath. Yes, she was there, of flesh and bone. She looked the same. What had happened? Had he dreamed of that moment when his wife, still holding her sword, had given her last breaths in her arms? Maybe… But when he looked into her golden eyes, he realized that something was wrong, they seemed covered by a whitish film. Her gaze seemed sinister, and before he realized it, his wife, grinning from side to side, pulled him with supernatural force into the depths of the water.