Despite Guelder's hopes, the fog proved to be persistent, and so thick that it muffled the song of the dawn chorus. Harrim's evening prayer to the god of beckoning nothingness had brought unexpected relief to her aching bones, so she could join the team effort of carrying the boat downriver, past the waterfall. It took quite a long time and a lot of cursing and bickering due to their wildly different levels of strength and height. Finally, by what felt to be early afternoon, they reached the safe part of the river and ventured onto the water again.

Amiri and Harrim undertook the task of rowing, while Guelder's job was to try and pierce the fog with her keen elven eyes, searching for danger. The others immersed themselves in conversation. Amiri told how she'd left her tribe where she couldn't follow her warrior's calling for gender reasons. Harrim told how he'd left his god who had denied him even the most basic forging skills, then how he'd given in to alcohol, hit the rock bottom, and found a new deity in Groetus, god of the end times. Linzi told how she'd left the Academy of Arts in Pitax, or more exactly, how she'd been kicked for her irreverence towards King Irovetti.

Guelder listened, but didn't join in. She felt a little under the weather after her radish trip yesterday and the boat run this morning, and she didn't trust her senses quite as much as her companions did. Especially when she saw a little shape, the size of a child but with blue skin and matted green hair, paddle towards them lying prone on a floating log. Getting closer, Guelder could make out the creature's unnaturally big eyes and mischievous grin. Probably a nixie. But how could it proceed upstream so effortlessly? Guelder nodded in greeting and smiled back. The creature let out a bubbling giggle, then jumped headfirst into the river and disappeared from sight, leaving the log unattended.

By the time Guelder cried an alert, it was too late.

A huge wave rose from the middle of the river and rolled towards the bank, defying the laws of nature and slamming the log against the boat. Amiri yelled a juicy curse in her native tongue as the oar in her hand snapped in two. The crash splintered the left side of the boat and turned it upside down.

"I can't swim!" screamed Linzi. "Shelyn, help me! I'm too young to die!"

"Keep calm, Linzi! Help is on the way!" cried out Guelder. Amiri was already swimming towards the riverbank, not looking back, while Harrim was holding onto the side of the boat for dear life. However, she still had her most reliable friend, who happened to be an excellent swimmer.

Linzi panicked, thrashing about and trying to keep her precious lute case from drifting away. She bobbed up and down in the water, carried further and further away by the current, and didn't even notice the leopard heading towards her. She emerged once more for a last desperate breath, but inhaled a lungful of river water instead. In the next moment, she disappeared without trace, leaving only a soft popping sound in Guelder's incredulous ears.

"LINZI!"

But Guelder had no time to grieve for her lost companion. Next to her, Harrim let go of the timber and sank down like a stone in his heavy armour, in the hope of finally meeting his demise in a silty grave. Guelder had to act quickly. She called for Pangur, joined him in leopard form, and both of them dove down to get to the dwarf. It took a long struggle to drag him out to the shallows, but the effort paid off. Harrim threw up some water, then muttered something about annihilation and passed out.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Guelder resumed her elf form and spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva. The challenge of pulling an uncooperative, armoured dwarf out of the water had left some of her teeth wobbly, and Pangur seemed to have the same issue. That meant all her prepared Cure Wounds spells had to be used up in one go. She clenched her fists in frustration. The adventure had hardly begun, and she'd already failed and lost a friend. Was she leading her party on a fool's errand, into certain death? Or was she just incompetent? Or both?

"Linzi is gone," she muttered. "This cannot be happening."

Amiri shrugged and went on emptying river water from the furry boots she miraculously hadn't lost while swimming out.

"She'll be fine," she said nonchalantly. "You know, she has that rescue ring."

Guelder paused for a moment. Indeed, the rescue ring. How could she have forgotten about that? The magic ring from Linzi's mentor, one that was meant to snatch her away from the clutches of danger and take her to the safest spot nearby? That kind of explained the popping sound. Served her right for shutting the little bard's constant blabbering out of her brain. A leader couldn't afford not to listen.

So Linzi was probably alive somewhere. But where could that ring have taken her? Into a comfortable cavity under the roots of a tree? Or to an inn's common room back in Restov?

"I hope you are right, Amiri. Still, I will look around downstream, just in case. Until I return, start a fire and beat some life into Harrim. Literally, please."

Guelder struck out with Pangur, hoping against hope to track down the bard. However, after prowling and sniffing about for half an hour in the thick of the rushes, the only things she caught sight of were a warbler making its nest, a dead pike floating among the vegetation, and the little blue creature, this time sitting on a weird-shaped willow and laughing heartily. It smelled like fresh fish. Appetising. Guelder quickly dropped her shapeshift. In leopard form, the urge to devour a potential source of information was just too strong for comfort.

"This was great fun, wasn't it?" giggled the nixie.

Guelder closed her eyes for a moment, and took a deep breath. She yearned to let the nixie know in no uncertain terms how little appreciation she had for fey pranks right now. For instance, by slapping her on the neck. But she knew that would only make things worse. If she had long-term plans on the Stolen Lands, she had to pick her battles.

"Well, a long journey by boat is much less boring if you suddenly have no boat, I admit. Nice job making that huge wave. That was impressive. By the way, can you tell me what became of my smallest companion? The girl who could not swim?"

"Gone. My guess is you won't find her anywhere nearby. Hee-hee!"

This was all Guelder could squeeze out of the nixie. She bade her farewell and returned to the rest of her team, shivering in the cool wind.

She found Amiri doing her best to make a heap of driftwood catch fire. It was a sorry little fire, more smoke than flame. There was no chance for their clothes or bedrolls to dry out. They dined upon what remained of their food reserves after their river adventure, then went to sleep early. For lack of a better idea, Amiri and Harrim were kept warm by Pangur and Guelder, who used her bear form for more cuddly surface, and Harrim prepared a few spells in case any of them would catch a cold by next day. They didn't keep watch, trusting that the fog would protect them from unwanted visitors.