Owlknight

connection.

“Well, this is deeper today,” Hywel said dubiously, eying the fording place. “We should have crossed yesterday; something must have happened up in the mountains. A storm, maybe, or massive snowmelt.”

Hywel was right; the water was higher by a significant amount, and faster, too. It licked at the rocks just beneath his feet now; if he stepped down to the point where yesterday’s waterline had been, he’d be knee-deep in the torrent. “Too late now; let’s just swim and have done with it,” Darian replied with a shrug. “It’s not that wide; we’re in good shape. We can get across.”

“No, but the current is swifter than yesterday,” Hywel pointed out. He peered upstream. “Look there. If we’re going to swim anyway, let’s pick where we want to come ashore, then go upstream from there and cross diagonally. That way we won’t have to fight the current as much.”

Darian nodded, and sent Kuari up into the air ahead of them. The owl often got a better vantage from above than they had. Looking through Kuari’s eyes, he examined the riverbank on the other side. Kuari perched in a tree just above the ford, and looked down at the riverbank. Water swirled treacherously among rocks, creating turbulent eddies and vortices.

“I don’t much like the look of the ford,” he said.

“Now that the water’s high, there’s a nasty current right there at the bank, and a lot of rocks for hooves to get caught between. But - ” This time he asked Kuari to land right on the bank, as he spotted a much better candidate for a landing point. “Look where Kuari is - we’ve got a nice, shallow slope going up to the shore and no loose rocks - yesterday that was a stone shelf leading down to the water.”

“There’s quite a drop-off at the end of that shelf, but that won’t matter since we’re swimming anyway.” Hywel considered what he could see of the bank from here. “All right; that’s probably the best we’re going to get. Let’s go upstream and see what we can find for a starting point.”

They checked spot after spot; they had Kuari drop chips of wood into the river at various points to gauge the current. It took the better part of a candlemark to find what they were looking for, which was another shelf to allow them to walk into the river, but by midmorning everyone was ready to make the crossing.

Half the dyheli would carry baggage only. The other half, and Karles, had handhold-straps fastened to either side of their saddles. Like it or not, the larger creatures were better equipped to make the crossing, and the humans would have to take advantage of that.

Those carrying the baggage went over first, and Darian ran downstream as they were carried by the current, anxious to see them safely on the other side. He was just as anxious to see how their initial guesses panned out.

Not well. He knew that as soon the dyheli were halfway across. They fought the current every bit of the way, necks stretched out, eyes fixed on the farther shore, legs pumping, nostrils flaring as they panted - and they were the strongest of the mounts. One by one, they clambered ashore, where they stood with heads hanging and sides heaving. They had barely made it to the assigned landing spot; if any of them had been any weaker, he could have gotten swept along to a point where there were no more places to climb out. And after that came the rapids, which were certainly much worse by now.

Darian came back to the group on the shore, and looked from Steelmind to Hywel and back. “What do you think?” he asked them; Shandi had already disavowed any experience in these matters, as had Wintersky.

“We can’t rely on the dyheli to help us; they’re going to have enough to do to get themselves across.” Steelmind spoke first, and Hywel nodded.

“I think we can get across all right anyway. We’re all strong swimmers.” Hywel didn’t sound as certain as Darian would have liked, though.

:I can help.:

It was a mind-voice, but it wasn’t any of the dyheli, nor was it Hashi.

As one, they all turned incredulously toward Karles, who bowed his head and pawed the ground. :I can stay downstream; if anyone begins losing ground to the river, I can come to help him.:

Darian and Keisha, alone of all of them, knew how astonishing it was that Karles should begin talking to everyone. Darian decided not to make an issue of it; if Karles continued to speak to the rest of the group, all well and good. Maybe he had decided to take his cue from Neta and Hashi.

“I can tow frrrom the airrr,” Kel pointed out. “I can have a rrrope rrready to drrrop to anyone who needsss help.”

But that gave Darian an idea. “We can put up a catch-rope across the river at the crossing point; if the water carries any of us off, we can save ourselves with that. Karles and Kel can stand by in case that’s not enough. That’s three kinds of rescue, and that ought to be safeguards enough.”

It would have to be enough; there was no one to help them here except the members of their own party.