‘Yes,’ Aurora said. ‘But only one of us can go, because the stairway is very steep and narrow. Since I’ve seen it before, I want you to go.’
‘Very well. Close your eyes, I’m about to climb out ay the water.’
‘No.’
Her defiance was resolute, yet also gentle.
‘No?’
‘I won’t close my eyes,’ she declared, firm and immovable. ‘I want to look at you.’
A surge of bravado heated William’s every tendon and muscle.
‘Very well. Out I go.’
He hauled himself out of the pool, and the cold water ran in little rivulets over his slim but work-hardened form, beading on the hardwood-hewn, youthful muscles of his torso and shoulders and running down his flat belly and the sculpted, angular lines of his hips to pool about his sandy-coloured pubic hair, and then run down and drip from his penis onto the mossy rock beneath him.
‘You have a beautiful form, William,’ Aurora murmured. ‘I would love to paint you.’
‘I dunnae ken what your father would think ay tha’,’ William remarked, ascending the narrow and slippery stairway with cautious steps.
‘I don’t care a fig what he thinks. Now go on up!’
William needed no further prompting; without further ado he headed up the steps. At the top of the stone stairway was a narrow tunnel that was only just large enough for him to crawl into, and a golden spotlight of sunshine incised the sheet of falling water, illuminating a bronze-glowing path directly to the back of the passage. He bent down and crawled through the shaft of slick stone. The claustrophobic space recalled unpleasant flashbacks from his chimney sweeping days, but the sight of something mysterious glinting at the end of the shaft spurred him on. He pushed on for a further two or three metres, and then emerged into a small cavern, and what he saw inside caused him to suck in a sharp breath of surprise.
‘Step to the side to allow the sunlight to flood the cavern completely, William,’ Aurora cried from the pool below. ‘Can you see him? Can you see the king of the fisher folk?’
‘Aye,’ William managed to stammer. ‘I … I ca’ see him!’
At the end of the tiny grotto, positioned on a stone chair, sat a skeleton adorned in rotten rags and a few items of bronze armour from some long-forgotten century. Across his lap lay an ancient sword that had all but crumbled to rust, with the king’s skeletal fingers still wrapped around the hilt. By his sides, two other skeletons sat. They had no weapons, but they were adorned with intricately wrought jewellery, and both had patina-tarnished torcs around their necks. The perfectly angled spotlight of sunshine bathed all of the figures in a golden glow, giving the scene a surreal air.
‘This is amazing, Aurora,’ William shouted, his echoing voice ricocheting off the walls as he did so. ‘The king ay the waterfall! The river king!’
‘All hail the king!’ she yelled playfully, her voice only just audible above the thunder of the cascading water.
‘May his rule endure forever!’ William roared hoarsely in reply.
The sun, ever moving, started shifting its rays, and the shadows began to retake the small cavern, shrouding the dead king and his subjects once more in the darkness in which they had dwelled for centuries. William began crawling forward, and as he did so he started to feel a bit dizzy and light-headed; the wine was definitely doing its work. He poked his head out of the tunnel opening, and saw that Aurora had disappeared.
‘Aurora?’ he called.
‘I’m back in the pool,’ she shouted. ‘I’m lonely William, hurry up and join me!’
William needed no further encouragement; feeling the blood gushing toward his loins again and swelling his manhood with an explosive arousal, he scrambled down the mossy steps, almost tripping and falling a number of times in his haste. He slipped into the churning water at the bottom and dived below the surface to swim through the bubbles and the chaos of plummeting water.
When he surfaced on the other side, he saw Aurora swimming with leisurely strokes upon her back, and the splendorous sight took his breath away. Her breasts broke the surface of the water; two glorious hillocks crowned by pale pink nipples, erect with cold. A flat, marble belly sloped down into the water, where the top of her pubic mound with its dark, triangular tuft was revealed and concealed alternately by her long legs, kicking gently against the current.
‘I’m glad you got to meet the king of the fisher folk, William,’ she purred. ‘Isn’t he just incredible?’
‘Aye,’ William murmured. His eyes were drawn, as if by some potent magnetic pull, to her casually revealed bosom. ‘Aye, but nowhere near as incredible as the sight ay you. I dunnae how or why, but the good Lord above has somehow seen fit tae send me one of his angels, for surely no mortal woman could be so perfect in her beauty, such an ethereal—’
‘William, stop,’ she interrupted, blushing. ‘There’s no need for such wild exaggeration.’
He would not be deterred though, and sincerity shone its torchlight in his eyes.
‘There is, Aurora. I’m absolutely, positively awestruck. On this day, my eyes have been opened like those ay a wee kitten, who before this moment could see nowt but the inside ay his eyelids. The world itself, everything I’ve e’er seen before this moment, it all seems like a smudge ay bland auld grey compared tae the flower blossom, the fiery sunset, the jewelled night sky that the sight ay you has awoken in me. I’ve ne’er felt so utterly alive as I dae at this very moment.’
‘Do you really mean that?’
‘Wi’ all my heart.’
Aurora swam closer to William, so that they were almost touching. He could smell the sweetness of her breath, tinged subtly with the scent of wine, and in her amber eyes the reflected sunlight from the surface of the pool glittered.
‘I ca’ see the stars in your eyes,’ William whispered. ‘A whole night sky ay ‘em, spread out like the riches
