Lady Silver of the Spring – p.4

The girl dove into the spring, kicking with her legs and pulling with her hands, trying to reach the silver ring at the bottom. The deeper she swam, the colder the water became. The shock of the chill nearly made her let go of the breath she was holding.

She could see the ring, and with every moment it grew closer, but the spring was deeper indeed than she had guessed. She turned to look back towards the surface and found it a very long way up.

If she continued on and retrieved the ring, she wondered if she may not have enough air left to make it back. Defiant, the girl pushed on, and the pressure of the deep water eventually forced the breath from her lungs. She would have been sorry to die except that she lived on the top of the mountain quite alone, and there was no one who would mourn her. Her last act would be the attempt of this good deed, returning something precious to someone who had lost it.

As her hand finally closed around the ring, the girl felt herself let go, and the cold waters rushed into her nose and mouth.

And she began to breathe.