Hands flailed up from the water, then Simra’s head broke the surface at least ten paces downstream. “I see her!” Lamorun paddled fast. “Hilana, your oar.”
Hilana shifted to the side and extended her oar as Lakhoni, Lamorun, and Alronna paddled furiously.
The boat crashed into another underwater boulder, this time hard enough to set Lakhoni’s teeth vibrating. A cracking sound came from the wood of the vessel. Alronna flung her arms out to get her balance, shouting. Lakhoni grabbed her with one hand while the other held out his oar. “Simra!” He pulled hard on Alronna and got her back in the boat.
Simra had disappeared again.
“Where is she?” Lakhoni scanned the water, fear chilling him deeper than the frigid river water.
“I can’t see her,” Lamorun shouted back.
Hilana pointed off to the left. “There!” Her voice could barely be heard above the relentless crash of river against rock.
Simra’s head broke through froth, hands scrabbling against a massive, smooth boulder that parted the river five paces away. Lakhoni launched himself into the water, grabbing the side of the boat with one hand as he plunged into the icy water. His legs were jerked hard, as if by massive watery fingers. He nearly lost his grip on the side of the boat, but gripped harder and reached for where Simra had just been.
She had dropped back into the water. Lakhoni stretched his legs in the direction she’d gone under, reaching to see if he could find her. Nothing. “Where is she?” The boat careened toward another rock, threatening to smash Lakhoni between the two. Lamorun, still in the front of the boat, dove at the huge stone, the oar leading. Lakhoni pulled with all his strength, hugging the side of the boat. With an audible snap, Lamorun’s oar splintered. But it had been just enough and Lakhoni’s back scraped against the stone instead of his bones being mashed by it.
“Do you see her?” Lakhoni screamed and held on with both hands as the boat spun. How long could Simra survive the frigid, violent water? As the boat came out of its spin, a powerful current lifted Lakhoni, then jerked him downward. He caught his breath the moment before his head went under. He channeled all of his strength into his fingers, but felt them slipping. Then the wood of the boat was gone from under his fingers and the river slammed him into a rock, scraping his legs and back.
Something hard and tight grabbed his hand and pulled. Lakhoni came out of the water, gasping for air. Lamorun’s powerful grip guided Lakhoni’s hands back to the side of the boat. “Don’t let go again.” Lakhoni spat water and didn’t respond. This river was trying to kill them all by crushing or drowning.
“There!” Alronna pointed with her oar.
Lakhoni coughed and twisted. Two lengths away, there was a relatively calm spot just behind two boulders, which let a powerful looking jet of water between them. Simra had surfaced in that spot, but she wasn’t struggling anymore. The current turned her and pushed her toward the narrow opening between the boulders. She didn’t resist. Fury exploded in Lakhoni. “No!”
He pulled up on the boat, planted his feet against its side, and shoved off hard. He bounced off a rock under the water, twisted, and pushed off it too. He came up out of the water, both hands reaching. He caught her ankles and pulled before she could be squeezed by the current between the boulders. He kicked hard and pulled her closer, grabbing her around the middle. The current that had been pushing Simra caught him and tugged him toward the boulders. He couldn’t swim and hold Simra.
He gave into the pull and contorted his body, careful to lift Simra’s face out of the water. She hung limply in his arms. Panic fueled his movements. The current drove him against the boulders, but he was ready. Each of his feet planted against one of the dark stones and he bent his legs, then shoved hard toward the river bank. His desperate stretch found the river shallows and he shoved off again, finally breaking the current’s grip on him.
“Simra!” Lakhoni kicked and twisted, swimming clumsily to the shore. “Wake up. Simra!”
She didn’t move. She didn’t appear to be breathing. Her lips were still red, but with a hint of blue. His feet under him, he floundered through the water, trying to run the final distance to the river bank. He got out and lowered Simra onto tall grass. Her arms flopped limply to the ground. His heart stopped, his breath catching in his throat. No. NO!
Lakhoni leaned closer and shook her shoulders, calling her name. She didn’t respond. No. This couldn’t happen. One of her arms, the one with the betrothal ribbon, was splayed out to the side and had scrapes all along it. She couldn’t be gone. The river. Why did it feel like it had been trying to kill them?
The river. She must have swallowed water. “Simra, please.” Lakhoni turned her over, onto her side. Holding his breath, he did what he had seen Mother do to Alronna years ago when Alronna had choked on some meat. He slapped Simra between her shoulder blades. “Too soft.” He shook his head and tried to find his center. No good. He smacked her harder in the back. “Cough!”
This had to work. His knees. On the cold, grassy ground. The blades of the grass thick enough he could feel them through his breeches. He breathed slowly and slapped again, jostling her shoulder with his other hand. “Cough, Simra!” Frustration and fury and paralyzing fear carved into his chest. He clenched his fists and breathed again, pushing everything away as he expelled air. She would not die. Simra would not be taken from him. He angled his hand and thumped his palm right in the middle of her back, between her shoulder blades. Hard. He did it again, then again. “Breathe!”
She twitched, jerked, then coughed. Her body spasmed and curled in on itself as she wretched and water spewed from her mouth and nose. Lakhoni held her on her side. It had to be easier to get water out of her lungs while on her side than on her back.
As Simra’s coughing grew less violent and the water stopped spitting from her mouth, Lakhoni checked her for injuries beyond the scrapes along her arm. “It’s all right,” he said softly. “You’re out. You’re breathing. You will be all right.”
Simra pushed to her back, blinking at Lakhoni with drowsy eyes. “Lakhoni?” She sounded confused and her breathing grew labored.
Lakhoni pulled her to a sitting position. “I think it’s better for you not to lie on your back.”
A tremor passed through her. “Cold. So cold.” She shook again.
Of course. The river had been icy. She needed to warm up. Lakhoni raised his voice. Lamorun and the others had to have found a way ashore by now. “We’re here!” He shouted a few more times as he scooted closer to Simra and wrapped his arms around her. He rubbed her back and arms, trying to warm her up.
Lamorun burst through the grass and river brush, panting from exertion. He was wet, his feet muddy, and scrapes covered the part of his bare chest that didn’t have the long claw mark. “You got her.” He leaned on his knees to catch his breath. “Well done, brother.”
“She needs a fire.” Lakhoni was shivering now too as hot desperation left him, replaced with cold, wet clothes and damp ground. “Fast.”
Lamorun straightened. Alronna and Hilana appeared behind him, both of them wet and muddy as well. “Quick. We need firewood. And a place to light the fire.” Lamorun scowled at the damp ground. “This won’t do.”
“Hurry,” Lakhoni said through clacking teeth. “Cold.”
Lamorun and the women ran up the rest of the river bank, calling out to one another.
“Lakhoni?” Simra’s voice was weak and raspy. “What happened?”
They both shivered and shook, but the warmth where they held each other helped Lakhoni keep his thoughts straight. “You fell out. I got you.”
“Didn’t fall out,” Simra said.
Lakhoni leaned back to get a look at her eyes. Had she hit her head? “I watched you go under.”
“Something pulled me.” Simra blinked and sounded weak, but her beautiful dark green eyes were clear. She curled up tighter against Lakhoni. “Pulled me in.”
Lakhoni tightened his embrace, willing all of his warmth into her. The r
iver had been violent and unbelievably powerful, but it was just a river. Simra needed to warm up and clear her head. But there had been a moment there, he thought. A moment where it felt like an inhuman hand had wrapped around his body and jerked him under the water.
A shiver cut through him again, driving the ridiculous thought away. It was just a river. Nothing more.
Lakhoni turned again, stretching his legs toward the big fire Lamorun, Alronna, and Hilana had built. He wished he could climb into the coals to burn out the cold that had settled into his bones. Across from him, in a rough lean-to of branches that the others had built, Simra sat huddled with Alronna and Hilana, all of them wrapped in a few skins that they had been able to salvage from the swamped boat. The two women had told Lakhoni and Lamorun to turn away as they shed their wet clothes and helped Simra out of hers, then wrapped themselves up. They had been sitting bundled together for an hour as evening fell and the flames reflected on tree trunks and large, oval leaves that hung low overhead. Lamorun kept the fire burning high and hot.
“Any sign of Gadnar?” Lakhoni asked Lamorun as his tall brother strode back into the circle of firelight, another pile of branches in his arms. “It’s possible he didn’t make it through the rapids either.”
Lamorun scowled and fed the fire. “Nothing. But it is dark. We will pick up his trail in the morning.”
The ground beneath Lakhoni seemed to be sucking heat from him as fast as the fire was producing it. He stood and spread his arms wide, stepping closer to the fire.
“We will soon have roast Lakhoni,” Lamorun said, pausing his work to rub his hands next to the fire to warm up.
Lakhoni snorted, but couldn’t manage anything else. “Did we lose everything but our weapons and the skins?” The four kattes sat in a pile near the lean-to, with all of the weapons spread out near them to let scabbards and sheaths dry.
Lamorun kicked a bundle at his feet, which turned out to be two sacks. “I pulled these out before the river tore the boat completely apart.”
“Oh, good.” Lakhoni turned to heat his back. The fire’s crackling and popping made him flinch at the possibility of embers hitting his skin. But that would be worth the heat. “Those people could have told us about the terrible rapids.”
Lamorun stomped on a thick branch to break it. “Yes.” He tossed one length of wood on the fire. “They must be very good at guiding their boats through there to not be destroyed every time.”
“Maybe they carry the boats across land at that spot.” Lakhoni poked through the sacks. Neither was his. It looked like one was Simra’s. It had bandages and other wound-healing gear.
“Good point,” Lamorun said.
“The next question is how do we sleep through the night without freezing?” Lakhoni stood. “There are only two sleeping mats and blankets.” He unrolled the thin, reed mats near the fire to help them dry.
“We will have to keep the fire going all night,” Lamorun said. “We will trade off as usual. But the four who sleep can stay close to preserve heat.”
They worked together to draw low a nearby tree branch to throw the blankets over to get them drying.
As the night cooled and the brothers continued working, gathering more fuel for the fire, Lakhoni realized that they had come ashore somewhere beyond the canyon. The tall stone walls were not there to block out the stars. He wondered at how fast the river had carried them, but his sore muscles reminded him that they had all been working to control the boat the entire time. He still had to watch his footing, as the ground was rough with rocks and gnarled roots, but the canyon had been left behind.
Back at the fire, with a pile of wood large enough for the cold night, Lakhoni carefully approached the lean-to. It was mostly branches with leaves that were leaning on a nearby fallen tree. More branches had been bunched at the back and sides, leaving only one side open—the one facing the fire. The hope had been to make a space where heat from the fire could be at least somewhat held in place for Simra. “How is she?” Lakhoni crouched near the lean-to and was careful to look at the fire, not the people inside. He didn’t need Hilana or Alronna berating him.
“She has stopped shivering,” Alronna said.
“I can speak.” Simra’s voice was raspy and quiet, but strong. “Even though it hurts.”
“So don’t,” Hilana said. “The shelter helps keep some heat in.”
“Lamorun thinks we should all sleep in a group, trading off to have one person always feeding the fire.” Lakhoni glanced at the outside of the lean-to. “Do you think it’s big enough in there for us to use it for sleep? We’ve dried out the two sleeping mats we have left and the blankets as well.”
“Four people in here?” Hilana leaned out and took in Lakhoni’s crouching figure. “It would be very tight.”
“Which would be good for Simra.” Lakhoni rocked back and forth on his feet, staying crouched, but turning to warm his left side.
Lamorun volunteered for first watch and Lakhoni waited for the women to get dressed again. Then they worked carefully to arrange the sleeping mats side by side. They bundled tightly under the blankets, which were pleasantly warm, and did their best to pass the night. Hilana woke Lakhoni when it was his turn to take watch—the last of the night—and he perched next to the shelter and built the fire as big as he could. They had plenty of wood. He and Lamorun had made sure.
As the sun began to peek over the mountains they had come from, its pale yellow light streaming in narrow rays through the heavy-leaved trees, a sound came from the lean-to. Simra emerged a moment later and crouched next to Lakhoni, hugging tightly to him. “You pulled me out of the river.” Her voice sounded like she had swallowed a jagged rock.
“I did.”
“You jumped in after me.”
“I did.”
“That was really stupid.”
Lakhoni searched for what he could say that didn’t sound dramatic. Finally he simply said, “It was the only way.” He poked at the fire with the long branch he held. “I wasn’t going to let you die in there.”
“Thank you,” Simra squeezed him and kissed his cheek. “I don’t remember anything after I swallowed water, coming off the huge rock I hit. I thought I was gone.”
Her pale face and lips turning blue came back to him. Her limp hands sprawled. Her unmoving chest. Lakhoni shook the images away. “It was close.”
“I can’t figure out why I don’t remember you pulling me out.”
“You were unconscious.” More than unconscious. “You weren’t breathing.”
Simra flinched at that and turned to be able to see Lakhoni better. “I wasn’t breathing?”
“You’d been under the water too long.” He took her hands in his. Her perfect eyes glowed at him. “I was so scared. You weren’t moving at all.”
“I wasn’t breathing?” Simra repeated. She swallowed and shook her head. “But I remember coughing and throwing up most of the river.” Simra shifted in her crouch, her eyes still on his. “And my back hurts.”
“You only coughed all that water out after I turned you over and hit your back. I didn’t know what else to do.” Lakhoni soaked in her beautiful face, the way her hair fell around it, her strong chin and straight nose and the now healthy color in her cheeks. “It took a few smacks.”
“I wasn’t breathing and you hit me in the back to—” she trailed off. “I was dead. Or almost.”
“Maybe. I don’t know.” He brushed one thumb down her cheek and gently caressed her chin. “I just thought if we could get the water out, you would be okay. I wasn’t going to let you die.”
She reached for his hand and kissed his fingers one by one, blinking rapidly. She scrubbed a finally dry sleeve on her face to dry the tears that had started to fall. “You brought me back. I was dying and you brought me back.” Her voice was thick with unshed tears. She lifted a hand to his face and traced a finger around his jawline. “You beautiful boy.”
“You beautiful woman.” Lakhoni took her wrist and held it tigh
tly, soaking in her eyes and lips.
As if on a signal, in the same moment, they pulled each other off their crouch and into a kneel, lips pressed into a kiss. He felt her warmth in the perfection of her lips, basked in the sensation of her fingers tracing lines on his face. She filled every sense, every part of him.
Too soon, they separated and Simra cocked her head to one side, looking at Lakhoni through heavily-lidded eyes. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He stole another kiss, his heart beating fast.
She smiled. “You deserve more thanks.” She stood and pulled him to his feet. “We will need to be wed soon.”
Heat crashed into Lakhoni’s cheeks. His vision momentarily darkened from standing so fast. He stammered. “Uh. Yes. Soon.”
“If you’re finished,” Alronna said, emerging from the shelter. “The sun has risen and we should be walking already.”
Lakhoni and Simra worked together to break the fire apart to make it burn down faster, while the other three packed up their meager belongings. The sacks were still damp from the icy river and the companions’ last minutes in the campsite were spent slowly turning in a circle near the separated chunks of fire, trying to catch the last heat.
With all the fires burned down and doused with river water, they started out, Lamorun leading and Alronna taking up the rear. They stayed close to the river, picking their way around thick clusters of dark-trunked trees with the big, flat leaves. A living, green scent filled Lakhoni’s nostrils. The river crashed and flowed over rocks, its rumbling making conversation difficult.
“Found a path,” Lamorun called from ahead.
The shout pulled Lakhoni from a war in his head. He wanted to break into a run and chase Gadnar down like a hapcha or a walan like they’d seen on the plains not far behind. Track him down, spear him, and burn his body. End this ceaseless chase once and for all.
But Simra. Lakhoni fingered the betrothal ribbon. They could turn around now, return to her village. Be wed. Leave all of this and push the plague of Gadnar from their thoughts and lives.
Red Prince Page 15