“If anyone here does not know how to swim you must excuse yourself from participating in this part of the assessment now.” The Captain began without preamble, sweeping his gaze across the assembled students.
“Despite the mandate that all able citizens know how to swim, we have had students arrive here without having learned the skill. Make no mistake, anyone in that position who attempts to continue this test under the absurd notion that overall conditioning will overcome their deficiency will very quickly find themselves in mortal danger.
Excusing yourself will result in an assignment for remedial training, yes, but continuing will leave slim chance of your remaining alive to receive that remedial training.” Captain Gelth let silence fall over the field, waiting for anyone to speak up.
In spite of the countless hours and days he had spent swimming in the river waters, Eldan found himself growing nervous as he listened to the Captain’s ominous introduction for the next assessment. He had thought the aquatics test might take place in one of the manmade pools favored by many for recreation, but it seemed clear from the speech that it would take place in the river itself. Eldan had no illusions about the dangers of the river, it was deep and the currents could be swift and unpredictable, with insidious undertows. It was also home to a number of dangerous animals, from sharp-toothed eels and massive sharks that swam far upriver from the sea to pup, to heavy plated reptiles that lurked in the shallows and could snap off a leg in a single bite, and dusky gray flat-tailed river cats that had been known to hunt large prey in pairs or packs. Attacks from any species were rare, especially deeper in the city, but the river remained a wilderness even there; no one had ever seen the river floor or mapped its depths.
Looking around, he saw he was not alone in his worries. The other students fidgeted uncomfortably, glancing at each other surreptitiously to see if anyone would bow out of the test. Stal looked troubled for the first time since they had met that morning, standing with his head down and lips pressed into a thin line. Eldan felt foolish as it dawned on him that Heliotians probably had few opportunities for swimming, and this was likely what Stal had been referencing when he took the lead in the running assessment. Though he had just met the boy, he did not seem like the type to skimp on preparation, and Eldan hoped it would be enough to see him through the challenge ahead.
“Very well, then. We will proceed to the testing grounds.” The Captain turned on his heel and marched toward the nearest fort, the class forming into a column behind him. Eldan tugged self-consciously at his swim attire, feeling small and exposed even though almost everyone wore the same slim, lightweight short tunics and short pants that ended above the knee. Amuel and Stal were the notable exceptions, Amuel wearing a form-fitting bodysuit that covered her arms and legs and was made of a skin Eldan didn’t recognize, and Stal simply dressed in what appeared to be a shorter robe.
Eldan and his roommates had retreated to the dining hall for a light lunch during the break between assessments at Stal’s urging, eating fruit and salted nuts to replenish themselves after the grueling run without leaving themselves overly full for the aquatics test. They returned to find only one Seargent waiting at the field, a short statured young man with a stern expression belied by twinkling eyes, who wore a patchy beard and swim clothes that stretched over bulging muscles. He marked a new number on each of their arms with a greasy, black pencil as they walked out, denoting their ranking after the first test. Eldan’s eyes widened as the number 32 was written on his arm, and the Seargent gave him a wink before moving on to the next student. Amuel had received the number 31 and Cale 33 so he had no real reason to think it was personal, but he couldn’t help but wonder if stories of his outburst at check-in had traveled around the school. Stal had received an impressive number 4 but refused to acknowledge the achievement other than to say running was valued highly in the sands. The boy who had the number 1 written on his arm strutted around with his sleeves rolled up, making sure everyone could see, loudly telling anyone who would listen that he was a natural athlete and sure to be short-listed for officer track.
The line processed slowly into the fort, and inside Eldan saw a door propped open in the floor, with students descending into a staircase beneath, and cool, musty air rising up from below. The steps were narrow and steep, only wide enough for the line to move in a single file.
The staircase was lit by flickering torches on the walls. Eldan supposed the Seargents must have gone ahead to prepare the test and light the torches while the class was dismissed to rest between assessments. Eventually the stairs opened into a tunnel, wide enough for two people to walk abreast but with a low ceiling so Stal and a few other unusually tall students had to duck under the support beams that crossed overhead at regular intervals. The walls and ceiling were smooth and weathered, like stones that had been worn down from years of storms or the passage of water.
“Do you think this and the tunnel we found are part of the same system?” Cale walked beside Eldan as they traversed the wider tunnel, speaking softly enough that only he could hear.
Eldan thought about the chasm they had discovered the day before, with the flickering and thrumming lights, and the insistent whispering buzz. He listened for a bit, then shook his head. “No. I don’t know what that was but this is different.”
Cale nodded and they continued in silence until light began filtering in from ahead. When they emerged, blinking into the sunlight, they found themselves on a long, narrow ledge with the river spreading out in view before them. The Captain and several Seargents in swim attire with diving knives strapped to their calves stood at the tunnel mouth. One of the Seargents split them up, Eldan and Cale each sent in the opposite direction to join the lines of students waiting, backs to the wall in either direction.
Eldan took a couple steps out to look over the edge and then up, realizing they stood in a shallow alcove set into the harbor wall, with the river running directly beneath. He quickly stepped back to the wall, considering the test anxiously as he took his place in line. They had clearly traveled upriver far enough that they were past the main harbor, as he could see the activity of ships moving in the near distance to his left but little took place directly ahead or to his right. He saw a long, narrow floating dock holding a few people anchored in the center of the river, almost directly in front of the ledge.
He heard a loud creaking noise overhead, and watched as two well-muscled Seargents worked thick ropes that trailed down the wall to lower a huge wooden platform from above, finally bringing it level with the ledge. The Ironkeeper sat primly on a chair at the center of the platform, reading from a leather bound book as casually as though she were resting beside a fire. Captain Gelth and his Seargents walked out onto the platform to join her, turning back to face the students.
“For the first portion of this test you will swim the distance from this wall to the dock you see in front of you twice, touching the dock or wall at each turn. Seargents are positioned on the dock to mark your progress, and we will descend to the water level as the test begins to assess from this position. Are we clear?”
After the ‘yes, sir’ had been cried out in unison, Eldan saw a boy on the far side of the ledge raise a hand tentatively.
“Not so clear, I see. What is your question?” The Captain asked, seeming to enjoy himself.
“How do..I mean..how are we expected to reach the water, Sir?” Eldan thanked the boy silently for asking the question that must have been on everyone’s lips.
The Captain smiled, baring his teeth menacingly. “Why, you jump.” He ran his gaze slowly over the lines, clearly relishing the reaction. “Now, if there are no more questions..”
“Wait!” A voice came from further up the line, “I..know how to swim but..not well enough to complete this test.”
“An honest answer.” The menace faded from Captain Gelth’s face immediately. “Hear me, soldiers, when I say that knowing your limitations saves lives, whether your own or that of the person who would try to save you. This soldier was brave enough to state her limits.” He glared up and down the lines.
“Like this morning, if someone is physically unable to complete the full test they must leave the course, but unlike the first test each one of you must know your limits well enough to stop before you put yourself or others in danger. That means if you are not sure you can complete the next leg of the swim you pull out onto the docks, and if you cannot complete the first leg you withdraw now.” He turned to the girl who had spoken, his expression softening slightly. “Are you a strong enough swimmer to complete a full leg of the test?”
“No.” Her voice was almost a whisper.
“Is anyone else unable to complete the first leg?” The Captain barked.
Two more hands were slowly raised. Eldan looked toward Stal, visible in the line because he stood a full head higher than those on either side of him, but the boy stared grimly forward, his hand not raised.
“You three, come forward to the dock. We will conduct a less strenuous test from here to assess your current ability.” Eldan watched as the three students broke from the line and reluctantly made their way along the ledges to the platform. As the girl who had first spoken up passed him he recognized her as the same one who had broken down in tears on the running course. The boy who had helped her stood only a couple places behind Eldan, and he smiled apologetically at the girl as she passed.
Once the three had shuffled onto the platform, clustering together behind the Captain’s group, he resumed. “Step forward to the edge, and space yourselves out.”
The lines stepped forward. Eldan tried to catch a glimpse of Cale but could not see her, so he focused on the water below, his heart pounding in his chest. The drop to the water was about the same as from the roof of a two-story building. Eldan knew it was not a dangerous jump if made correctly, but it looked terrifyingly high from the top. In another circumstance he might have been thrilled to find such a jumping point, climbing up again and again to make the leap. He let out a slow breath, closing his eyes and steadying his nerves.
“Jump in feet first, and leap out to ensure you clear the wall. When you hit the water, turn back and touch the wall to begin the first leg. The test begins now!”
Eldan bent his knees deeply, swinging his arms as he pushed off to gain as much distance as possible. The drop lasted only an exhilarating moment before he felt the shocking cold of impacting the water, sinking deep beneath the surface. He turned and kicked back upward, surfacing right before the wall to clap his hand against the rock, twisting to kick off and strike toward the floating dock.
He swam with an economy of movement, pressing the water down and back with the flat of his hands, and quickly pulling ahead of many of the other swimmers. The current was slow at this point in the river, and anyway, he was used to navigating against the persistent sideways pull downstream. He sighted the dock in the distance frequently, holding his bearing. The swim would be long and tiring but he felt cautiously optimistic that he could complete all four legs.
Eldan had always loved the river. He loved playing in the shallows and deeper water alike, diving and exploring or performing underwater acrobatics, his movements graceful and agile far beyond his abilities on solid ground. He loved swimming over distance, as well, enjoying the silence and solitude of the noisy outside world vanishing beneath the surface. He had found a spot in the river near his home where the current was steady and tested himself against it for years, first drifting inexorably backwards until he had to swim to shore and walk back upstream to his starting point, then matching its speed with his strokes, and eventually conquering it, ending his swims by letting himself float lazily back downstream.
Now he settled into the familiar rhythm of a long swim, every muscle in his body straining in concert, his breaths exact. The water, originally icy cold, began to feel warm against his skin. He slapped the floating dock with a thunk and took a large breath as he turned, kicking off again.
He paid little attention to the other swimmers except when they were close by. He noticed when he passed a handful still working toward the dock on his way back, and knew others were keeping pace with him or pulling further ahead somewhere in the distance, but he made no effort to look for them. He was alone with his thoughts, the events of the past three days pressing at him insistently from all sides even as he tried to push them away. His grief would drown him here if he let it, a hitch in his breath enough to take in a lungful of water and sink him under the gentle waves, finishing the job left incomplete during the storm.
He slapped the wall for a second time nearly an hour after the first, turning again, his thoughts growing increasingly dark and murky. He felt like he was completing the motions of the swim only partially conscious and participant as he drifted in some liminal state between the deep gulfs of his grief and the consuming exactitude required of him now in the physical world. He felt a guttering terror each time his awareness dropped into his body, deeply aware of how fragile and vulnerable he was, a tiny thrashing animal clawing his way across the top of waters of unknowable depth. He was suffused with a sense of unreality, the thought occurring to him that he hadn’t survived the events of the tunnel, existing now only as a fraught spirit haunting the river. Once this idea had come it became persistent, nagging at him until it seemed the only possible truth.
Eldan almost swam face-first into the dock, throwing his hand up at the last second to arrest his movement. He hung there briefly, startled and disoriented, before slowly turning around and kicking off, swimming underwater with wide strokes and frog kicks while his pulse slowed and hazy thoughts cleared. He was exhausted, the strain of carrying his memories and sadness while presenting a normal face to the world was a constant drain on top of the weariness that came from the grief itself. The physical exhaustion from the tests was almost a welcome relief, even now when his leaden arms felt like they were threatening to fail. He opened his eyes in the water, looking through the pale green murk fading to black below. He caught a glimpse of something white moving in the water, probably a fish. He surfaced, taking a couple of deep breaths as he continued in breaststroke before pulling a tired arm over his head to begin the final leg of the swim in earnest.
The swim had worn him out enough by this point that his mind no longer drifted, each stroke and breath taking his full attention to execute. He briefly saw flashes of white limbs in the water nearby, which had to be another student who was swimming mostly underwater. They hadn’t been given any instruction on how to execute the swim, after all, and Eldan considered switching to his back to rest a bit, a possibility that hadn’t occurred to him until he noticed the underwater swimmer. He vaguely heard voices calling in the distance, alternately muffled and silenced as he turned his head to breathe and then back under, and wondered if the first swimmers were receiving encouragement as they approached the dock. He saw another flash of white and then the water boiled as he suddenly slammed into the other swimmer, their bodies colliding with bruising force, knees and elbows flailing and limbs tangling. Eldan threw himself backward in the water, pulling free and hanging upright, treading water as he looked around for the swimmer he had hit. The ripples and waves around him died down and he found himself alone, the other swimmers crossing the water far away.
He could hear the shouts from the docks much more clearly now, they were obviously agitated, though the water in his ears still muffled the exact words. Most of the students were standing on the two docks by this time, and many of the people were waving their arms and gesticulating at the handful of oblivious swimmers still in the water. Eldan felt a rising sense of panic, something was obviously wrong. Had he somehow sunk the swimmer he ran into? He was almost exactly halfway between the two docks, he had no idea what to do. He ducked his head underwater, looking around him in every direction, but the water was empty. The crowds on the dock were still panicked when he surfaced, so he dove down, grasping wildly as the waters grew colder and darker, hoping to grab hold of a hand or arm. He swam down until his ears hurt from the pressure and his lungs screamed for air before turning back, the watery light of the surface seeming impossibly far above him. As he swam back up he had to fight against every instinct to take a breath, groaning into his mouth as his stomach cramped from holding back the reflexive inhale his diaphragm demanded.
Just as he crossed into the warmer surface waters he caught movement in the corner of his eye, and suddenly a body was above him, a white, bulbous head looming over his own. The features were fuzzy underwater, but he could see beady eyes set wide in a bald head with no ears, mouth and nose formed together in some hideous hybrid of a snout and human features, the mouth protruding forward to reveal long canine teeth and a lolling tongue yet still wide enough to curl up in a grotesque smile at the sides. The body of the creature was lumpy and bloated, and it had thick, stubby arms and legs ending in widespread, webbed hands and feet tipped with talons. Its skin was rubbery and white, though Eldan knew its back would be a mottled gray. It leered at him, arms and legs dangling while its eyes rolled in its head in seeming delight at his entrapment.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Eldan’s vision was darkening at the edges, he had to get to the surface. He weakly tried to swim to the side but the figure over him simply made a tiny push with one leg and slid into position above him again. Desperate, he finally swam straight up, ignoring the creature entirely. At the last possible second it rolled to the side, its face brushing the side of Eldan’s own. As he passed, it lazily swiped down the back of his leg with a rubbery hand, talons slicing deeply into his flesh.
Eldan did not quite breach the surface before he began to suck in a breath, taking in a mixture of air and water that left him choking and retching, taking on more water even as he tried to expel the first. He could see the water around him clouding with blood, his body spasming uncontrollably while he flailed to keep his head above water, kicking with his ruined leg. The creature poked its head above water in front of him, its membranous inner eyelids retracting from the sides to expose pitch black sclera within bloody pink orbs. It pulled back its upper lips, its entire nose sliding back as the skin bunched and wrinkled, exposing wide, speckled gray gums and yellowed teeth. Eldan sputtered and gasped, trying ineffectually to push back and gain some distance from the thing in front of him.
The animal leered at him, looking nearly gleeful. It made a grunting, chittering sound Eldan thought was a grotesque laugh and vanished beneath the surface. Eldan looked around wildly, expecting it to resurface, but the waters appeared calm and empty again. He knew he could not trust that the beast was gone, but had no choice except to turn onto his back to float, coughing and drawing in a shuddering breath. He could feel flaps of skin hanging from the back of his leg, and his hands trembled as blood flowed into the water.
Eldan craned his head, and to his immense relief he saw what could only be one of the Seargents striking toward him from the wall, slicing through the water with strong, sure strokes. He rolled back over, launching into a choppy, uneven swim toward his rescuer on the strength of adrenaline alone. His heart beat far too fast and his body felt hot even as the water began to feel very cold. He swam with his head above water, eyes searching wildly for his attacker.
Delta ape, the words rang over and over in his mind. The creatures were nearly a myth in this region, a story told to children to keep them from venturing into waters they could not handle yet, but they lived far, far away, where the river opened into the sea. The aquatic apes were vicious, intelligent carnivores that seemed to delight in torture and violence in a manner only equaled by man; they toyed with their prey, wearing them down and isolating them before striking a killing blow. The few people who had survived an attack told of being pulled under again and again, the apes allowing them to fight their way free only to immediately recapture them, or of being worn down by attrition, one wound at a time accumulating until they were bled almost to the point of death. They did this solely for enjoyment, as hungry delta apes, even weakened ones, had been known to ambush, strike and kill an adult in a single motion, slashing an artery with precision or snapping a neck. Eldan had even heard stories of coordinated attacks on ships that annihilated entire crews, leaving the vessel to float aimlessly until it was discovered, the sides gouged with claw marks and deck stained with blood. He had read about delta apes with morbid fascination, and knew that one appearing this far inland was impossible, yet it was unquestionable that the creature he had encountered was anything else.
Eldan was caught in the current now, his jerky movements and one legged kicks insufficient against the inexorable pull downstream. He drifted closer toward the other swimmers, whose panicked, splashing strokes made clear they understood they were in danger of some kind. A wet head popped up in the distance, looking around anxiously before ducking back under, and his stomach plummeted in horror as he realized Cale was still in the water. Unthinking under the will of blind panic, he immediately shifted direction to swim toward her, feebly kicking with his injured leg as his arms windmilled wildly.
He saw, then, the moment she was dragged under the surface. He cried out incoherently, screaming over the distance. He felt strong arms wrap around his body, trying to subdue him as he thrashed at the water. He vaguely recognized the dark-haired Seargent who had announced the end of the running test earlier but he pushed against her, straining to free himself from her grip.
“Stop! We have to go back. You can’t help.” She growled at him. Eldan didn’t respond, focused entirely on the spot where Cale had disappeared as he continued to struggle. “There are others in the water who are trained for this. You are going to kill us both if you don’t stop. Just stop and look!”
Eldan slowed down, looking around. He saw that she was right, there were other Seargents in the water and a ship flying the naval flag was approaching with archers at the railing. He stopped struggling against the Seargent’s grip. “Can I let you go now?” She asked, her breath hot on his ear. He nodded, and the iron grip encircling him slowly released. Eldan began to tread water as his arms were freed, unwilling to look away as time ticked on far too long from when Cale had vanished beneath the surface.
Suddenly she breached and Eldan surged forward again, hands clasping him around the shoulders as soon as he did so. This time he twisted violently, kicking back hard with his good leg and feeling his foot connect with the Seargent’s ribs. Her grip loosened and he dove under, swimming as hard as he could toward Cale. He knew on some level that the Seargent was right, that the armed soldiers were vastly better equipped than him to save her, and that injured and exhausted as he was he would only interfere, but in that moment he was far beyond rational thought. Cale was all he had left in the world. He could not lose her, it was too much.
He dove deep into the cold waters, putting as much distance between himself and the Seargent as possible before climbing to the surface for a gulp of air and diving again and again to stay out of sight from his much stronger rescuer. His injured leg was still mostly useless but he could no longer feel the pain, it seemed distant and unimportant. When he came up for another breath Cale was at the surface again, gasping, close enough that for a second he met her terrified eyes. One of the Seargents was nearby, treading water, and Eldan saw the glint of a knife held in one hand. The ship had drawn close enough that the archers had arrows nocked and trained on the surface, and he saw them rapidly lowering a smaller vessel from the side. The water rippled, and the delta ape was on Cale again, leering as its webbed hands clutched and dragged her under. The Seargent surged forward, catching the ape with a glancing blow on its rubbery hide only to be immediately thrown aside with a kick to the head that sent him hurtling backward, water arching in a crest around his shoulders. He looked dazed and disoriented when he stopped moving, blood trickling from his ear and one eye rapidly swelling closed. The archers followed the ape’s movements with rapid adjustments but it was gone before they could loose any arrows, a clear shot impossible while it was entangled with Cale and the Seargent.
Eldan dove, swimming as hard as he could to cross the distance to Cale, with no plan at all other than the driving thought that he had to reach her. He felt his strokes getting stronger as he focused on that thought, pushing the fear from his mind and simply refusing the reality of his injury and bone-deep exhaustion. He searched the dark, murky waters to the limit of his breath and had begun to rise when he saw a hint of something moving beneath him. He folded and plunged, grabbing blindly until he grasped what was unmistakably a human arm. Cale’s hand closed on his wrist, linking the two of them together, and his heart leaped. He could barely see the two figures but in this moment it seemed the ape was simply pinning her in place from behind while she exhausted herself trying to fight free. Eldan pulled at her ineffectually, unable to gain any purchase or momentum in the water. Desperate, he elbowed the creature in the head and pushed against it with his foot, grabbing Cale with both hands to pull.
The ape didn’t fight against him. It didn’t need to, all it needed to do was sink deeper. Eldan refused to release Cale’s arm, and was pulled along with them further and further under the surface as he hit and kicked and even bit at the ape. He realized the cost of toying with Cale at the surface must have grown too high, the animal was intelligent enough to know it was being surrounded. If he let go now to surface he would never see her again. He felt her grip on his arm growing weak and his own body spasmed from lack of air. Finally he grabbed the ape by the head, clenching his teeth and shoving his thumbs into its eyes. The inner eyelids were tough and resilient, and Eldan recoiled at what he was doing as the ape thrashed its head back and forth, trying to throw him off, but he held on, and pushed with all the strength he could manage. He felt the orb under his right thumb burst with a flood of warm liquid and the creature exploded into action, wrenching Cale from his grasp and holding her with one hand as it kicked him in the stomach with a taloned foot, shredding the skin and forcing the air from his lungs.
Even as he reflexively inhaled Eldan grabbed the creature’s leg to his chest, wrapping both arms around it and locking them in place, utterly unwilling to let it swim away with Cale. The water burned and ached in his sinuses, throat and chest, the pain dwarfing that in his leg and abdomen. His lungs were heavy, throbbing, leaden weights, expanded to the point of bursting. He somehow expelled the water, only to immediately draw in another excruciating lungful of the icy cold water. The cold water in his head felt like a ringing bell, vibrating with sharp, stabbing pain behind his eyes.
It took him a moment too long to realize that despite the pain, he was breathing. He had no time to process that impossibility as the ape stopped trying to escape and twisted around, sinking its teeth into his shoulder and letting go of Cale, who immediately began to sink. Eldan didn’t hesitate for a second this time, reaching around and gouging his fingers into the animal’s uninjured eye, snapping through the inner eyelid and plunging into the eye itself. The ape released his shoulder with a short, bubbling scream of pain and rage, clawing at its face with webbed hands.
Eldan dove toward Cale, grabbing her limp body and pulling her away from the blinded ape. Each breath of water was easier than the last and as the pain began to recede he felt a trickle of strength and energy flowing into his exhausted limbs. His wounds were hot, the pain he already felt exacerbated by what felt like red-hot needles stabbing into his flesh. His left arm was stiff and weak from the deep bite on his shoulder, and his right leg still nearly useless, making his progress painfully slow as he tried to ascend with Cale’s dead weight dragging him down. He clutched her to his chest with his shaking left arm, only able to gain any distance backwards and up at all because he was able to breathe, panting mouthfuls of river water in and out as he stroked and kicked with one arm and leg.
The enraged delta ape stilled in the water, and Eldan realized, to his horror, that taking its sight would not be enough to prevent it from being able to find him. He knew time was running out to get Cale to help at the surface, if there was any time left at all, so despite every instinct telling him to stop moving he kept on in the desperate hope that the Seargents might still be diving to look for them, and that someone might see him and take Cale if he could get out of the depths.
The ape slowly turned and tilted its head up toward them, blood leaking from its savaged eyes and teeth bared, its grins and leers replaced with an expression of pure hate. In the back of his mind Eldan registered that he saw the ape clearly, his vision no longer clouded by the water. He looked up, willing someone to be headed toward them. He could see the dark silhouette of the ship in the distance, and a few people moving at the surface, treading water or swimming, but none were close and no one moved to dive into the deeper waters. He tried to call out but no sound emerged, only an exhale of warm water.
Helplessly, Eldan watched as the ape swam directly toward him. It seemed entirely aware that he was now defenseless, flicking its hands and feet in slow, sure motions as it rose. He kicked and pulled even harder and faster, feeling a little more strength than he had before in his injured leg and abusing it mercilessly, gritting his teeth against the agony of forcing shredded muscle into violent motion. With a single fluid movement rippling down the length of its body, the ape shot forward and was on him. Eldan threw up a foot and managed to connect with the bony top of its head, not doing any damage but preventing it from swiping him with its talons again. He kicked frantically, gaining a little more height as the ape rolled and struck forward, and then something blurred from behind him and stuck the animal in the face, drawing a clawed paw across both ruined eyes. The ape threw its head back in shock and the other animal ripped into its neck with its teeth, tearing the thick hide open. The fight was a blur of tawny fur and white skin, but Eldan could see enough to recognize the animal attacking the ape as a river cat, hope and fear warring in his chest. Blood poured into the water as the ape swam backward erratically, flailing with its arms and disengaging the cat at its throat with a wild swipe that sent it spinning to the side.
When the delta ape retreated its attacker did not pursue. Eldan continued his dogged ascent as Glade swam out of the blood cloud, his heart pounding. A trickle of blood trailed from her mouth, and another from her side, but he was relieved to see she did not look seriously injured. She swam to his back, gathering the neck of his tunic in her mouth and swimming toward the surface, the additional pull from the large, muscled cat finally enabling him to make real progress. Cale felt so cold against his chest, and as he swam he tried to figure out how long they had been under since she went limp. It felt like he had been fighting his way upward ineffectually for hours, but he knew it had only been a couple of minutes. He had heard of people being pulled from the water and surviving after being drowned, but he didn’t know how quickly they had to come back out. Everyone knew the story of the girl who fell through the ice and was pulled out the next morning and revived, though they said it was being frozen that saved her. Was the water cold enough now to make a difference?
Finally they broke the surface and he began waving wildly, laying on his back so Cale’s head was above the surface. A cry went up immediately, and he saw the small boat turn toward them, rowing fast. Water poured out of his mouth and when he inhaled his body screamed in protest, his lungs and throat burning and aching all over again as he took in air. When the boat reached him he was choking and gasping, only Glade continuing to tug at him keeping him from slipping back under the water.
Strong arms grabbed Cale and lifted her onto the boat and he heard shouts as they laid her on the deck to attempt revival. He felt hands reach under his own arms and he was hauled onto the ship and sat on a bench, wrapped tight in a blanket. Bloody water ran in rivulets around his feet and his teeth began to chatter uncontrollably. The boat rocked as Glade clawed up the side and leapt onto the bench next to him, shaking out her fur with a spray before pressing her warm bulk against his side. The sailors backed away but made no move to attempt to remove her.
Eldan could only watch as two of the sailors worked on Cale. He had heard one of them say her heart wasn’t beating, and those words echoed dully in his head. Medical scholars had developed techniques for reviving drowning victims long ago, but the process for one whose heart had stopped was a relatively recent discovery. Efforts were being made to teach the new technique in the annexes, though many people were suspicious of a process for returning someone from the dead, so it hadn’t been adopted widely yet. Eldan’s mother had explained to him that a person revived in this way hadn’t truly been dead, but was somewhere along the brink of death. Eldan was grateful they had been picked up by sailors unafraid of trying to pull her back to the realm of the living.
“Hey, kid. Is it still down there?” A sailor with dark, wet hair crouched in front of him, eyeing Glade warily then looking back at him with a serious expression.
Eldan nodded. “I don’t think it’s dead but it’s injured pretty badly. It’s blind and has a wound in its neck, and I think maybe a smaller wound, too.”
The sailor looked surprised, his eyes widening slightly. “Did the brushie do all that?”
Eldan’s forehead crinkled in confusion before he realized the sailor was referring to Glade. The sailors must have a shorthand for differentiating the two species of river cats.
“She got it in the neck and in the face at the end, it’s what finally made it stop. We wouldn’t have.. it would have..” he shivered uncontrollably, folding in on himself. “One of the Seargents got it with a knife but I don’t think it was deep, and I..did the eyes.” The horror of the experience seemed to fully manifest as he tried to explain, darkness closed down on him, pressing at his aching, savaged lungs until he was panting in shallow breaths that didn’t bring in enough air.
“Hey, hey. It’s over now, you’re safe here. You did real good, kid. Real, real good.” The sailor put his hand on Eldan’s knee, the touch pushing the darkness around him slightly back. Glade turned her yellow-green eyes on the sailor, staring at him balefully, and he quickly withdrew his hand.
“Turn her on her side!” The shout came from the other end of the boat, along with a whoop of joy. Eldan threw himself to his feet, his damaged leg collapsing under him immediately. The sailor caught him as he tumbled forward, his knee slamming down painfully and the boat rocking from his sudden movements.
“You gotta stay here, kid, give them some space. You’re hurt bad, too, but we gotta get you on the ship to patch you up so you’re gonna have to stay still.” The sailor eased him back down on the bench, keeping his hands as far away as possible from Glade, who was now standing on the bench with her tail lashing. He backed away rapidly as soon as Eldan was seated again. “So, what’s the story with you and this brushie, anyway?”
Eldan pulled his focus from the other end of the boat, where Cale was vomiting and coughing out vast amounts of water, though he couldn’t tell if she was conscious or reflexively expelling the liquid. He wasn’t sure if the sailor was trying to keep him talking or assess the threat Glade posed, but he was somewhat grateful for the distraction either way. “I found her a while ago, she wasn’t a kit but not full grown, either. She had a hurt leg so I wrapped it up and took her home. She still goes to the river every day to hunt but she’s always come back and she followed me to Court. I guess she was out hunting and found me in the water.”
“Huh. Never heard of such a thing but I reckon you see something new every day. Guess I’ll be able to tell my grandkids about meeting a hero river cat.” The sailor still gave Glade an anxious look but seemed to relax slightly.
“Is she going to be all right? I mean, have you ever seen anyone come back and be all right?” Eldan couldn’t stop tears from welling up in his eyes as he asked the question.
The sailor looked sad, casting his eyes to the deck. “You never really know. It’s a miracle any time someone makes it this far but sometimes people aren’t the same after and sometimes they don’t survive the first couple days. Comes down to how long they were under and whether they can survive having had the water in their lungs.”
“She’s breathing! On the oars!” The sailor crouched over Cale shouted over his shoulder and his partner and the sailor who had been talking to Eldan jumped into place at the oars, rapidly turning the boat and heading toward the large ship.
When they reached the ship there was a frenzy of activity, ropes thrown and stretchers lowered, sailors running along the deck of the larger vessel. Cale was lifted up first, looking pale and still under a tightly wrapped blanket, and then Eldan was laid down, secured across the chest, and lifted to the many waiting hands above. Glade dove over the side of the small boat as he rose from the deck, disappearing beneath the surface of the river with barely a ripple.
Once on board he was whisked into a large cabin where he was moved to a cot and his wounds were efficiently cleaned and dressed. He was given a draught of something bitter and viscous that made him feel warm and safe, and blunted the pain as his injuries were stitched closed. The medical scholar who cut open his tunic to dress the first wound on his abdomen looked taken aback when he saw the injury, but he just shook his head and kept working. Eldan saw the medics whispering to each other as they dressed his leg, pointing and frowning as they sutured.
Cale lay on a cot next to him, and Eldan kept his head turned to watch her throughout most of the process of his wounds being dressed. Her wet clothes were cut away and she was laid on her side, knees curled up, while two medics focused on wrapping her tightly in warmed blankets and rubbing her down to restore circulation.
Slowly, his surroundings grew fuzzy and Eldan’s eyelids became harder to open each time they closed. He felt warm blankets of his own being wrapped around his body and knew no more.