Leory watched the group divide themselves from the top of a tree near the river bank. During his escape, he managed to find a vine dangling into the river from the tree and it appeared strong enough to support his and Sol’s weight.
Without delay, Leory leaped onto the vine putting his full weight onto it. The moment he found it viable, he climbed to the top of the tree while dragging the vine’s length up with his foot. The momentary rest was long enough for Leory to take account of Sol’s situation.
He pressed his hand to her forehead and frowned immediately after. Too hot. Sol’s body was scorching. The girl was barely holding onto consciousness despite the inferno wrecking havoc inside her. She had enough sense remaining to dampen her panting the moment the bandit group arrived.
Now that the group pressed on, Leory faced a decision. His eyes drifted between the trail they just traveled and the group of men who pushed downstream. Heading upstream would only isolate Sol and him from further, potentially preventing a timely rescue. For similar reasons, Leory was unwilling to travel deeper into the forest behind the team that passed under him.
Rather, heading back along the original route would speed their travel up and boost their chances of being rescued. His only fear was that the bandits were on horseback. Should they decide to backtrack, the already paved trail would then become he and Sol’s weakness.
Downstream looked increasingly like the right option. Leory closed his eyes and focused on his hearing. After ensuring the horses were out of range, he lifted Sol to his back once more and slid down the vine. Upon reaching the river, Sol awoke from her dizziness.
In her moment of clarity, Sol said. “Sir Leory, soak me in the river for a moment. I need to drop my body temperature.”
Leory hesitated at the order. Was the immediate relief worth the long term tradeoff? As if to read his thoughts, Sol continued. “We’re running out of time. If we don’t move soon, the team that pushed into the forest will return after finding no traces of us. I don’t have the luxury of remaining so incapacitated.”
While saying so, she applied what strength she could and dropped from his back into the water. The waist high river consumed her in an instant and woke her up just as quickly. A muscular arm reached in and pulled her from the depths before she managed to swallow any water.
The eyes gazing back at Leory retained the clarity lost from the fever earlier. She tapped his arm and gestured downstream as if she came to the same conclusion as Leory. Despite his astonishment at the girl’s willpower, he threw Sol onto his back once more before pressing down stream.
Every hundred or so meters, he’d dip down slightly to cool Sol’s body. There wasn’t enough time for him to stop and check on her condition, but he could feel the girl’s scorching temperature through his back. His concerns about her health continuously pressed against his mind, yet their situation prevented him from acting.
Until their situation changed, the utmost priority was to press on and create distance. Their travel continued for nearly 30 minutes when Leory caught sight of the bandit group stalled in the river downstream. The group seemed to argue amongst themselves, however their inactivity posed a sudden problem for Leory and Sol.
The occasional cooling sessions appeared to keep Sol’s mind active as she too, saw the situation. Her mind immediately started planning. She took account of her body’s situation. Weak, but not incapacitated. Her gaze drifted to the river below her. There was a degree of certainty that she could withstand the rate it was flowing.
Intelligence flickered across her eyes as a plan came together. Sol tapped Leory’s shoulder and the two moved to the bank of the river. A heated debate took place moments later with an obvious loser dragging a thick vine weighted with rocks across the river. Leory dragged the vine around two trees to use as makeshift pulleys.
His gaze settled on the river and his whole being seemed to meld into the forestry. Nearly 15 minutes later, a scream sounded upstream from him. A young girl flailed in the water while screaming for help. The bandits downstream who had been arguing immediately turned their heads.
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Greedy gazes locked onto Sol and legs kicked the sides of horses to egg them on. Horses tore through the river against the flow, each doing what they could to run as ordered. Having succeeded in gathering their attention, Sol immediately wedged her small body into the riverbed. The chest high water pushed against her, however the vine within her grip kept her from slipping away.
She measured the bandits' distance internally. No plan was perfect and even the simplest of plans were subject to failure under the right circumstances. Sol, however, was unfazed at those circumstances. She’d never devise a plan that fell apart from one or two failures. A hidden ferocity in the depths of her eyes glowed as she saw two of the bandits abandon the river to rush along the riverbank.
It appeared things wouldn’t go as smoothly as she hoped. Determined eyes jumped between the three enemies moving at different paces. She sighed internally after concluding the situation wasn’t as bad as it could have been. The men along the riverbank appeared to stay in lockstep with each other.
It was clear they wanted to trap Sol in the river for the 3rd man to catch her should she get carried downstream. She smiled as the two horses jumped back into the river on each of her sides. One deep inhale later, Sol released her grip on the anchoring rope, let out a short scream, then pushed off to let the river carry her.
Rocks smashed against her body from the river carrying her. Despite those impacts, Sol remained determined. She used the many impacts to adjust her positioning so as to increase the slim odds she started with. Only moments later, her body was slammed against a boulder just before the center point of the split party.
The expected jolt drove waves of pain through Sol. Her small body was being abused from fever and the extra collision nearly tipped her over her breaking point. Stars flickered across her vision and she felt a portion of her sight alternate between dark and white.
Despite her frail condition, her small arms latched onto the boulder with a vice grip. Her fading consciousness only managed to pick up excited shouts. Moments later, her vision blacked out entirely and her grip slipped.
While Sol was fighting for her life, Leory was as well. He remained hidden even when one of the bandits passed by him on horseback. The moment they passed, he knew the primary plan Sol made failed. Luckily, the girl was clever enough to build multiple plans around the same key elements.
He trusted Sol to do her part and as such, kept his gaze fixed on a marker across the river. As soon as the remaining bandit passed that marker, Leory found a strength he never knew he had and pulled taut the vine. Dislodged from its resting place in the river, the vine sprung up from the riverbed and lodged itself inside the horse's midriff.
The poor animal struggled to untangle itself, however between Leory maintaining the taut rope and the river fighting against the horse, the animal stumbled over into the river. The bandit atop it was carried in just as well. Without a moment's hesitation, Leory leaped from his location at full speed and drew his sword.
He neared the riverbank and used a bulky stone outcropping as his platform to jump into the river. His sword faced down and with gravity’s assist, drove the tip of the blade straight down through the man’s clavicle. The bandit was killed instantly and his blood stained the river.
Leory hid behind the struggling horse right after landing the killing blow. It had just managed to recover from its stumble and remained standing calm much to Leory’s delight. The disturbance was loud, however it might not have attracted the attention of the other two bandits as their focus was on Sol.
According to the plan, Sol would drift downstream into his grasp. The two would make their way to the pre planned route filled with obstructions and continue downstream after. Leory’s eyes darted around trying to lay sight on Sol, however his heart skipped a beat after realizing she was nowhere to be found.
In fact, not only him, even the bandits were panicking. They hadn’t even realized their partner was killed as they were too distracted by the sight of Sol slipping underwater. They were terrified. It was fine if the girl died as that was their goal from the start, however they were required to bring her head back or else.
It was only moments after reaching where she slipped under the water that they looked downstream. The hope that their partner would be able to fish the girl out downstream shattered just then. The dead bandit had long since been carried away leaving only his horse behind.
“Shit! Go go go!”, cried one of the bandits. It was a matter of time now. The two pushed their horses downstream and nearly passed by their partner’s horse when a sharp blade extended from its hidden side. The blade dug into one of the horse’s sides making it collapse in pain. The two men finally understood what happened.
As the bandit was forced from his wounded horse, he screamed to his partner. “Quickly, find her! I’ll take this guy!” Following orders, the remaining bandit abandoned his partner and raced downstream. Leory was being driven near insanity from the anxiety, however he could only do so much.
Within his heart, he could only pray Sol was capable of handling herself while he kept one of the men behind. The image of that stubborn girl flickered across his mind just before his sword struck out. Somehow, he felt a strange sort of pity for the man chasing after her.