“Uhhh,” Joe grunted, staring at the hissing swells of rushing water. “We are going to try and cross this?”

The pair were standing beside the river’s edge, watching the swollen currents of the Andoo’ak River surge by. A decent-sized log cut through the frothing waves. In a matter of moments, the timber flew past the observing young men and vanished downstream.

“You thought we could swim through that?” Joe asked, pointing at the churning torrent of water.

“I messed up,” Kaid exclaimed, clapping both of his palms over his face. “It’s spring, you idiot!” Dropping his hands, the little man looked up at Joe. “Sorry, Joe. The last time I was here was in late summer and there would have been an easy ford for you. I figured you’d give me a ride across.”

The Andoo’ak certainty wasn’t in a suitable state for fording. The river was lapping high in his banks, and the far back was at least a tenth of a mile away. Given how fast the current was moving, it was impossible to guess how deep it was.

“Well, we are not getting across here. We need the widest section we can find. That should at least spread out the water and slow the current down. Which way, Kaid?”

“Upstream is the Varboro Bridge,” the gnome stated, nodding his chin to his left. “We don’t have any option but downstream.”

“Downstream it is. Let’s run.”

The pair made a weaving path following the river. When they could, they ran along the riverbank. Occasionally, stands of trees forced them to find a path further inland to the east. As they ran, They both heard the sounds of the howling dogs behind them. Even though the two were just shy of sprinting through the woods, somehow, the hunters were gaining on them.

Fairy trickery was surely afoot.

“How about this?” the little rogue asked, grinding to a stop along the bank,

The river was twice the width it had been when they first encountered it. There were ripples in areas, showing the flow was passing over rocks not far below the surface. The water was slower here, but it still moved along with a strong rolling current.

“You should be able to wade most of the way across,” Kaid said. “I’ll hang on to you. We’ll just have to swim the middle.”

“I don’t know, Kaid. That’s still an awful lot of water moving downstream quickly.”

“This might be the best we get, Joe. Granted, I have never walked this far south down the river before, but this is the widest spot I have ever seen. With the sprites speeding up Gondavese, we are not going to be able to get away as long as we remain in the trees. We've got to get in the water or we’re caught for sure.” Kaid looked at the churning river dubiously before adding in a hopeful voice, “Unless your new medallion can blink us across.”

It was far too wide, especially here. His boost to Vigor had increased the number of jumps he could make, but the maximum distance of a teleport was still only sixty feet.

“Nope. It’s too far.” Joe shook his head, looking at the swollen river. “Ok, but I want to go on record saying I think this is a bad idea.”

“So noted. Stand still. I’m going to climb up.”

Kaid clamored up Joe, perching himself on the top of the backpack. When his rider was settled, Joe stepped into the river and immediately began to feel the current’s pull on his calf. He immediately huffed out a deep breath. Even worse than the drag on his calves was the biting cold. His skin puckered with goose pimples, and the flesh started to gain that chilled-numb sensation. In seconds, Joe’s feet burned with the cold.

This was nuts.

Even Hawking thought this was nuts.

New Quest [Desperate Gamble]

The hunters, unknowingly aided by angered fey, are nipping at your heels. Extreme measures are called for, but this might be pushing it. Can you ford the thaw-swollen river and survive?

Reward: Traits

‘That’s not much of a vote of confidence, bud,’ he thought. When Hawking didn’t reply, Joe continued his slow creep into the river.

Thankfully, after that first big step down off the bank, Joe found there was a long stretch of submerged pebbly beach to cross. The water stayed at his knees for a dozen yards. Even then, Joe lost his balance several times as the current tried to drag a foot out from under him. Each time he jammed the [Smouldering Staff] down to steady his footing, it hissed and sent tiny puffs of steam into the air where it hit the water.

When he reached the point where the stones gave way to mud, he almost went down again. He managed to jerk himself upright thanks to the heated staff. Between the slick footing and a gnome-adorned backpack, he would have fallen without it. His pants, wet from the splashes, clung to his legs like clammy vises.

“This is insane, Kaid. There is no way we can make this.”

“I know you can do it. Have faith.”

“Dude, your balls are not the ones being doused with ice water. Enjoy it while it lasts. I’m pretty sure you are going to be having the same experience very soon. And we know how much you like the cold.”

Joe picked his way deeper into the river. He found that if he braced his feet against rocks and leaned back against the current, he could make progress while still maintaining his footing. The water climbed up his legs. By the time he was waist deep, Joe knew they were going to be yanked downstream as soon as he misplaced a foot or trusted a loose rock.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

His toes were packed up tight into the front of his boots. On the left, it was not too bad, but his right foot felt like it was in a vise.

Joe was certain it was not a question of if they were going to be pulled downstream, but when.

Wedging his wonderfully warm staff into a crevice in the rocks, he braced himself for a minute so he could think. ‘Work the problem,’ Joe thought.

He knew he was not going to be able to creep all the way across the massive width of the Andoo’ak. The only way he could see them managing the trip with any control was with a life preserver, which they didn’t have. As he had that thought, he briefly pictured a kid wearing pool floats around their arms.

Joe made a goofy pondering face as an imagined mental ‘ding’ sounded in his head.

“Kaid, empty out the waterskins.”

“Yuh. Ok? why?” asked the voice behind his head.

“I’ve got a plan. Probably not a great one but it’s the best I’ve got. When they are empty blow as much air into them as you can and then cork them tightly. I need them to float with weight on them. How many do we have?”

“Three. Mine, yours, and the one Konren gave us.”

“Great. Use some of my bandages to make sure the corks can’t pop out. Give me two, and you keep the last one just in case you fall off.”

A minute later, Joe pushed the air-filled bladders under each of his armpits. He had Kaid tie the straps on the bladders tighter, hoping to better keep them in place.

The problem was his staff. If he held onto it, the waterskins flopped down his arm. He tried holding it horizontally across his stomach, allowing him to clamp his elbows to his side, but that left him without any good way to balance. Finally, he leaned way back into the river and pulled the staff free, handing the weapon back to the gnome.

“Lash that to the outside of my pack,” he commanded, as his wedged toes were practically snapping. Joe sent a [Healing Touch] their way to ease the pain.

After a minute, he heard, “Done. Now what?”

“Ok, this is it, Kaid. We are going to be swept away any minute now. I’m barely able to keep my feet on the rocks. Tie a rope from your pack to mine,” Joe ordered in a clipped voice. His footing was deteriorating by the second. “Don’t want us getting separated, but tying ourselves together seems dangerous. We can ditch the packs if we need to or keep them to stay connected.”

“Give me a second.” While Kaid worked, Joe felt his legs start trembling. The strain and the cold were taking their toll. “Ok, it’s done. What next?”

“I am going to lift my legs in a second. I want you to hang onto my backpack like a kickboard. You are going to kick on an angle. Push us toward the middle of the river.”

“What’s a kickboard?”

“You know the thing you use when you are learning to swim? Never mind. Just have your feet upstream and push us that way,” Joe explained, quickly pointing towards the far shore. “I’m going to keep my focus forward to try to keep us from getting smeared on a rock.”

“This sounds bad,” the gnome’s voice uttered behind Joe’s head.

“I know, but it's all we’ve got. So hang on. Here we go.”

He considered spinning his new ring but holding himself erect against the current called for Strength more than it did Dexterity.

Wanting to control his descent into the river, Joe began to sit deeper into the water. As soon as the river’s surface reached the inflated skins under his arms, he lifted his feet. They slid quickly forward.

Until they suddenly jammed to a hard stop.

Joe tipped face-first into the river. He tried to get his legs under him, but he could not find a good purchase for his feet. He kicked away loose rock after loose rock, holding his breath. He could feel Kaid pulling back, but the gnome was unable to pull him up out of the water. Finally, Joe hooked a heel onto a solid rock and pushed back and up.

His head popped out of the water. He grabbed a huge gasp of air. Even as he did so, he could feel the current forcing him back down.

“IT’S THE STAFF,” Kaid shouted. “It’s caught on something.”

“DITCH IT!”

“Really? It’s your only ...”

“.... DON’T CARE! DITCH IT!” Joe yelled as the surging river inched his face toward the water once more.

The second it took Kaid to cut the lashings felt like an eternity. The pair popped off the staff in an uncontrolled tumble. Joe tried to get his butt down and his feet forward, but with the awkwardly heavy pack and his arms limited by the floats, he was not strong enough.

Thankfully, Kaid understood what Joe wanted. The small man grabbed the upper shoulder strap of the larger pack and threw himself to one side as hard as his whopping forty-pound body could manage. It was enough. Joe’s pack spun him so he was sitting with his head up above the surface.

It took a minute to find the right balance, but Joe finally found it. “You still back there?” Joe called.

“Yeah. I know you said it was cold, but this is so much worse than the powrie and his damn moss,” came the reply through chattering teeth. “Should I start kicking?”

The gnome’s shivers worried Joe. He was struggling with the leaching cold, and Kaid was even more susceptible to the chill than he was. Hypothermia was a real danger for both of them, but far more so for the tiny ruffian.

“Yeah. I’m ready,” he answered. “Kick hard. It will warm you up.”

Joe leaned against Kaid’s push to keep their balance as, ever so slightly, they began to move away from the shore.

“Make sure you take breaks, Kaid. I’m not sure if I can cast like this, so we may not have [Efferous Endurance]. Don’t exhaust yourself.”

The feeble grunt he received in reply was not heartening.

Joe found that he could use his arms and legs to steer them a little. When the first large rock rose out of the water ahead, Joe considered trying to stop against it and check on the little man. Their semi-insane strategy was working. He was leery of trying to make it any more complicated. Deciding he did not want to destroy the equilibrium they had achieved, Joe angled them away from the boulder.

They surfed downstream for a while until Joe noticed Kaid’s kicks were slowing down and becoming more erratic.

“Hey Kaid. Are you ok?”

“Hmmurph,” was the sluggish sound that reached Joe’s ear.

“Come on, Kaid! Answer me!”

“Uhg huh, yurshelf. Gib it back, Kip …,” the blurry voice slurred deliriously.

“Oh, come on, Buddy! Don’t fade out on me now!”

Joe cranked his head around as much as he could without tipping them over. Kaid was still hanging on tightly to his pack, but his eyes were mostly closed, and his lips were blue. He would kick every now and then, but those efforts were becoming less frequent.

Joe was about to try and cast [Purge] on the thief or [Heartfire] on his backpack when something else caught his eye. He looked further upstream and saw they were not alone in the river.

A large tree was following them. Its roots were on the far end, while the top of the tree was heading at them. Most of those branches had been snapped off on their journey so far. This meant instead of presenting a soft canopy of twigs and greenery, there was a wall of sharp, jagged spears looming toward the pair.