‘Now what do we do?’

Piggy and Rhino-xi stood in the empty arena staring at the spot where the gods had charged into battle against the horde. The portal pulsed blue and purple.

‘Sparrow and the gods are going to save the day.’ Piggy said.

‘And if they don’t?’

‘Well… I guess we’ll be dead.’

They stared at the portal a while longer. The battle in the distance wasn’t going well, the horde were wrapping around the gods like chains and the sparkling helmets of their allies lay trampled and bloody under the horde’s feet.

‘I’m going in anyway,’ Rhino-xi walked toward the portal.

‘What?’ Piggy grabbed Rhino-xi’s shirt, ‘No you’re not.’

‘Listen, Piggy, You did things with your life. You became a bigshot merchant and got rich and had everyone licking your boots. I ended up lord of some backwater town. Although I craved it, I never had a chance to shine. A chance to really mean something.’ He gestured toward the portal, ‘But now my town is under attack. I’ve got no idea what state it's in, but I know this is my chance, my chance to do something bigger than myself.’

Rhino-xi shook Piggy’s fist from his shirt and marched toward the portal, plunging through. His legs sunk up to his ankles in the mud the gods had churned up the other side of the portal.

He took a deep breath and eyed his target - the island he’d called home for the last few years.

Flames were crawling through the last of the city’s wooden rooves. Walls were crumbled all over the place, yet the horde were gone from it, the mass of killing machines seemed drawn like magnets to the gods.

On the shore of the lake stood a dock with sinking barges strewn around it. A little way away from the barges sat a tiny washed up rowing boat lying face-down. That would be Rhino-xi’s route to the island.

The hairs on the back of Rhino-xi’s neck stood up as the sound of feet squelched in the mud behind him.

He spun quickly, pulling at the short sword that hung from his belt. The sword flashed up to rest beside the neck of the thing that stood behind him.

It was Piggy.

‘Couldn’t let you go alone.’ Piggy wheezed, ‘If you’re going to do something stupid, you may as well do it with me by your side.’

A grin spread across Rhino-xi’s face. He clutched Piggy’s forearm, ‘Thank you.’

A scream echoed from the battlefield. Two horde had broken off and were chasing an almost headless god back towards the portal.

Rhino-xi gestured to the tiny, mud encrusted rowboat, ‘Shall we?’

The pair slipped as they ran. The damp taste of dirt filled Rhino-xi’s mouth. He spat, leapt forward, and then spat again.

Piggy was struggling to keep up, his lungs wheezed, his face was bright red. The heavy sword by his side and the pot of ambrosia clutched in his hands didn’t help.

They reached the boat just as a contingent of horde were emerging from the lake. Rhino-xi twisted the boat onto its side, and gestured for Piggy to get under it.

Piggy rolled into the sticky clay-mud of the lakeside and Rhino-xi followed him under. The boat covered them with a thump and they squashed themselves flat to the mud as the horde’s feet squelched by.

The ground around them fell silent.

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“How far do you think it is to the water?’ Rhino-xi whispered.

‘Mmmh, ten meters.’ Piggy mumbled through a wad of ambrosia.

‘Are you eating Piggy? At a time like this?’

‘I figure if I’m about to die, then I’m gonna die with a full stomach.’

‘Right…’ Rhino-xi tipped the boat back slightly, they were alone, ‘I’ve got a plan.’

The pair of them lifted the boat with their hands and heads, its sides dipped down past their shoulders. To anyone watching it appeared the boat had grown four legs and was walking itself towards the lake.

They flipped the boat over with a splash and clambered in. Swirls of mud coloured the dark water. There was a single set of oars that Piggy dipped into the lake and strained against until they began to move towards the island. Their progress was slow and a light wind blew towards them from the island, carrying with it the smell of smoke and burnt flesh.

‘What are we going to do when we get there?’ Piggy asked.

‘Whatever we can. Whatever the island needs us to do.’

In the distance, a white shape floated in the water. As they got closer they saw it was the body of a young woman.

Blood had stained her clothes. A thick wet ash matted her hair and her face seemed to shine in the morning light. One side was perfect - the face of a sleeping child without the faintest care in the world. The other side was blue and swollen from an impact.

‘She would’ve jumped,’ Rhino-xi said, ‘That was the plan if all else failed. We’d jump.’

A trail of bodies littered their route, bobbing up and down in the ripples coming from the lake shore.

One girl they came upon wasn’t lying flat and peaceful like the other, her right arm flapped over and over again, creating a lapping, splashing sound that matched their oars.

Piggy swung the baot around to bring her in.

‘Give me a hand, this one’s breathing,’ he called, and the pair leaned over the side of the boat to drag her in.

The girl was heavier than they expected and the rowing boat was unstable, as they both leaned over to grab her limp wrists and ankles the boat rolled over plunging them into the murky depths.

Everything in Piggy’s vision went blurry, the water pushed into his ears and stung his eyes and he couldn’t tell what way was up.

At first, he tried to swim… but then he remembered tales of disorientated people swimming away from the surface. For a moment he allowed himself to be calm and began blowing bubbles.

He watched the bubbles drift around each other and then quickly move towards his feet and beyond at a 90-degree angle to the way he’d been swimming.

He followed the bubbles, floating, thrashing, swimming his way to the surface where his lungs exploded as they hauled air in.

Cough, cough, cough.

Piggy looked around - he was the first to surface. There was a body beside him - an old man’s all puffy, with bites in its neck.

It stunk.

The rowboat was on the other side of the body. Bobbing upside down. Probably filling with water. Piggy looked at the bodies floating around him. He didn’t want to share a grave with them.

He crawled over top of the floating, soft man’s corpse, the smell made him gag, and his hand passed through into the man’s stomach. His legs slid over the man and then he was by the rowboat. Still no sign of Rhino-xi.

Glug, glug, glug. Splash.

Piggy tried to flip the boat. It got halfway there, then rolled backward, filling with water. He grasped the wooden planks and took a few deep breaths before his next attempt.

Glug, glug, glug. Splash.

This time the boat fell right side up, a pool of water in its centre. Piggy hauled himself into it with a splash.

He looked around, Rhino-xi was still under and the little girl. Piggy wished he had some ambrosia. He felt guilty about that and wished he didn’t want it. His stomach growled, and then he threw up over the side of the boat.

His puke was green and pink, full of marshmallows and fruits and it floated on top of the water lazily making its way away from the soggy boat.

When it had moved a metre a bubble disturbed the puke and then another. Piggy leaned forward to watch and as he did Rhino-xi emerged, face covered in pink and green liquid, gasping for the air.

He had the little girl in his arms.

Hurp, hurp, help me! Rhino-xi croaked, trying to swim, but with one arm holding the girl he moved like a wounded duck.

Piggy dug his hands into the lake and tried to bring the boat around towards them. But the boat was heavy and sluggish.

Piggy’s eyes darted for an oar, or rope to drag Rhino-xi and the girl in.

No oars were nearby. There was no rope on the boat. Piggy scrambled around hunting for something that would float.

And then he remembered the dead guy.

‘Oh no,’ Piggy said, ‘please no.’

‘Piggy!!’ Rhino-xi called, ‘Piggy!.’

Piggy gave a sigh, reached over the side of the boat and grabbed the dead man’s chest.