A few weeks had passed since Tehri first heard the rumors about her sister. It was safe to say that she had been jumping in silent glee since then. She had celebrated with Kamren later that first day and Hana cooked something nice as well.

There were still a few challenges, especially with how expensive it was to get something delivered to the capital in any meaningful time frame, and there was no guarantee that she would see it. She had tried before with Tyris, and it hadn’t worked. Either that or he had ignored it. Tehri didn't really want to consider that option, so she did her best to disregard it.

Even with the cost and the risks, Tehri was still willing to consider sending a letter. She had even spent every moment that she could when she wasn't otherwise distracted composing it. When it was finally done, she rushed to the market to find a merchant bound for Tærin City. She paid the woman handsomely and even bought some of her wares in the form of some brightly coloured yarn. Tehri was of a mind to do some knitting.

There was one slight dampener to Tehri's mood as she made her way home, however, which came in the form of an angry-looking mass of clouds coming in from the west. Even so, a little rain never hurt anyone, and the house was nice and warm

*****

The rain started falling a few hours later. It was light at first, but as the day went on, it got heavier and heavier to the point of being akin to a violent cacophony. Byrden returned home before it became too severe. Had he waited much longer, he might have needed to hole himself up at the forge. As it was, however, he had done his best to seal it up before leaving.

Tehri could see that he was scared about the smithy. It was close to the river and he had said that the normally gentle flow was already breaking the banks. Tehri had already given up hope that her garden would survive. She cursed herself for thinking it was just going to be a mild downpour. Every crash of thunder made her practically jump out of her skin.

By nightfall, the full weight of the storm was upon them. The thundering rain spoke to a primal fear in Tehri. It called to the night of the eclipse and the sound of a thousand crashing hooves. The memory was ingrained into her unconscious mind regardless of the fact that she had slept through the whole thing.

The small family of three huddled around the fire for warmth. It was a small comfort for Tehri. She craved the company of others out of fear that she would lose herself to the storm. From the way the usually confident Hana was shaking, she felt the same.

Tehri knew that they were lucky. Their house was especially well built as far as the village was concerned. Only a few others could compare. The rest were perfectly functional most of the time, including when it was particularly stormy. This was not, however, anything close to an average storm. Even the worst storms of the past five years didn’t compare. Neither did the earthquakes or the eruptions to the north.

Tehri was scared that the majority of the village wouldn't survive the night. The lightning made everything worse. It was assaulting the village with vicious intent and every strike was accompanied by a deafening roar. Before long, the charged air started to produce a sickly sweet aroma, and Tehri could feel blood coming from her ears.

A few hours later, Tehri was practically deaf in her left ear, and her right wasn’t far behind. For that reason, she was denied any warning for what was about to happen. The storm had been feeding the Tarik and Kanra Rivers that flanked either side of Aran Village nonstop, and they had grown decadent. Each river drank its fill and then carried on drinking until it could hold no more. The two torrents crashed together at Aran Village, and the river banks became a distant memory.

The flood came crashing through the house in an instant. Within seconds Tehri was separated from Hana and Byrden. They had both managed to grab hold of something as the combined might of both rivers hammered into them. Tehri had no such strength. She was slammed against a wall, and moments later, she was being pulled through the broken remains of the front door.

Panic hit hard and fast. For the second time in Tehri's short life, the Karik River was trying to kill her, and this time it would likely succeed. She started hyperventilating, which wasn't exactly the smartest thing she could do while she was being thrown around like a ragdoll by the river.

After anywhere from a few seconds to an hour passed, Tehri felt someone grab her arm. Then she was coughing up a day's worth of water from her lungs. Kamren was looming next to her on his knees, his hand up in the air. From the burning in her ribs and the fact that he was the only other person around, it was clear that he had revived her. She tried to get up and give him a hug. With how battered and bruised she was, it was a challenge, but the adrenaline coursing through her gave her the strength she needed to wrap her arms around him, and he returned the gentle embrace in kind. It was a small comfort, alongside the familiar touch of her bracelet and her sister's pendant.

Now that she was aware, Tehri realised that they were in one of the village's barns, specifically the more durable of the two. Kamren had managed to carry her through the flood and up the ladder to the barn's second level.

They'd be safe there as long as the barn remained strong. Tehri was willing to risk it. Anywhere else was too risky, and she was too scared to go back into the water.

Unfortunately for both of them, staying safe from the flood was only one of the more pressing issues they were facing. They were both soaked to the bone.

"We can't stay like this," Tehri signed, her fingers struggling to form the words because of the chill.

"What do you mean?" Kamren responded, both verbally and through sign.

"We'll get sick if we stay in these clothes," Tehri answered. "We need to remove them and huddle together for warmth."

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Tehri wasn't sure if she had signed clearly enough because she was shivering, and he was blinking in confusion. She was about to sign it again when he asked, "Are you sure?"

She replied with, "Yes." One of her first lessons with Master Idyr had been survival techniques, and right now, she loved him for it.

Out of respect, they stripped back to back, though it was largely a moot point once they sat side by side against the hay. As they sat there in silence, the storm raging around them, Tehri wanted to ask Kamren what had happened and why he was alone. Unfortunately, signing wasn’t exactly designed for side-by-side communication, so she had to improvise. That is to say, she shuffled around until she was facing him, and then she simply asked him.

"We were hiding in our home like every other sane person. Once the winds really picked up, however, the thatching practically disintegrated. At that point, it was too dangerous to stay inside, so we braved the storm. I got knocked off my feet pretty quickly, and Ma got pinned down by a tree. Lightning struck as Da tried to free her. It hit the tree, and it exploded in their faces. I could barely recognise Ma after that, and Da wasn’t much better. There was nothing I could do for them. If I was any closer, I'd probably be dead as well."

Kamren was visibly crying as he told the story in both sign and spoken word. Tehri placed a comforting hand on his leg as he continued.

"After that, I tried finding shelter with our neighbours but no one would let me in, so I tried to make my way to your house. I was around halfway when the flood hit. Thankfully, I saw it coming, so I was able to get some height before it swept me away. I'm glad I did as well because it let me catch a glimpse of your bracelet quickly enough for me to catch you. After that, I struggled to get you here, and you know the rest."

As Kamren finished his telling of the events, Tehri reached up and hugged him fiercely, not caring about the pain or discomfort. She knew all too well the pain of loss. All she could do now was provide comfort for Kamren and pray that Hana and Byrden were alive and relatively well.

*****

Tehri and Kamren woke up the next morning covered in hay and holding onto each other. They scrambled up and threw on their now relatively dry clothes. The barn had survived the night, and it was clear that the storm had passed for the most part. It was still very much raining, the noise made that abundantly clear, but there weren't any howling winds or rushing flood water.

They slowly made their way down the ladder. Tehri was nervous to be heading back into the water, but there was no helping it; she had to find her guardians. It helped that the water had retreated enough to only reach her knees. The flow was also much slower than it had been the night before.

When they were both in the water again, they waded to the barn doors, making sure not to stand on anything hidden by the muddy deluge. Kamren opened the doors with some effort so that they could step outside.

The village was in ruins. It had been completely devastated by the storm. Tehri was amazed that there was anything left. She was also terrified, with the nightmarish scene before her eating away at her hope.

"Let's hurry," she signed to Kamren.

"Sure thing," he answered back, only half signing. Fortunately, Tehri's hearing had started to return.

They made their way through the village, seeing only the occasional person looking around aimlessly. Tehri tripped a couple of times as they made their way to her house, and she was extremely grateful that she couldn’t see what she had caught her feet on.

When they finally reached the Kaafast home, Tehri was glad to see that it was in a much better state than much of the village. That is to say that there was still half a building. Tehri wanted to call out for Hana and Byrden, but she couldn’t even manage a whisper. Even now, her voice was lost to her. Instead, Kamren did what she could not.

After five minutes of shouting and searching through the rubble, they heard a noise coming from one of the intact rooms. They had to remove a fair bit to get inside, but once they did, Tehri breathed a sigh of relief. Hana and Byrden had managed to jury-rig their bed and a wardrobe to elevate themselves above the water line. They were both alive and in miraculously good condition.

Hana dived off the bed and hugged Tehri. "I'm so glad that you're safe. We thought we'd lost you."

"I had to stop Hana from going after you," Byrden added as he hopped down. "Do you know if the forge is safe?"

"We haven't seen it yet," Kamren answered.

"That's a shame. It's good to see you, Kamren. Is your family safe?"

"Dead." His answer didn't really need more elaboration than that.

"I'm sorry."

"I couldn't save them, but I did save Tehri."

Hana let Tehri go and turned to face Kamren. "Thank you, Kamren, and sorry for your loss."

“What now?” Tehri signed.

"We check the forge and then look for survivors," Byrden answered.

"And then we'll need to ask if we want to rebuild or move on," Hana added.

"I don't think there will be enough people left to rebuild," Kamren lamented.

He was right. By the end of their search, less than a quarter of the village's population had survived. Even if there were more survivors, more than half of the buildings were just gone, and less than a tenth were close to being moderately intact. It was clear they couldn't stay.

Still, there was one thing they needed to do before they could even consider getting ready to leave.

The survivors all worked together to gather any bodies that could still be found in the village. Many had been dragged away by the flood, but those that remained would threaten to contaminate the river for everyone downstream if they weren't removed.

A few more people fell to their injuries and sickness as they worked.

Tehri was numb by the end of it. At the same time, numb wasn't quite the right word to describe what she was feeling on account of the fact that she was still very much feeling. She just didn't know any words that'd be more suitable.

There was a silver lining to the conclusion of their grim task, however, as they could finally start getting ready to leave. It didn’t take long. Hana and Byrden settled on taking little more than a change of clothes, their lockbox, a small cache, and the few tools they could salvage from Byrden's smithy. Most other people didn't even have that much. A coin purse here or there. A blanket. Maybe an heirloom if they were lucky. Most had nothing.

By the time everyone was ready to leave, the question of where came to the forefront. Tehri already had her answer.

Næmyris.

It didn’t take long to convince Hana, Byrden, or Kamren, and her guardians, in turn, were able to convince a little less than half of the survivors to join them at least some of the way. The rest chose to go west.

With destinations decided on, a single task remained. They gathered all the food that could be salvaged and then shared it equally. Any unclaimed valuables from the search were also considered fair game for anyone who found them.

When dawn broke the day after the rain stopped, they were ready to leave in earnest.