pointing it out. Bustling about on the bank beside the second ferry were almost forty mounted men.
But that wasn’t the worst thing. Moving straight toward us, slowly, implacably, and absolutely silently, was a semitransparent sphere the color of scarlet flame. It hung just slightly above the water and was about the size of a decent barn. Standing on the bank from which our death was approaching I could just make out a female figure, standing motionless with her arms raised in the air.
Lafresa!
“What is
I knew what it was. Kronk-a-Mor. Exactly the same kind of sphere, only ten times smaller, had killed Valder. Neither Kli-Kli’s medallion nor Miralissa’s skills would save us from this magic.
“Off the ferry! Look lively!” I roared, then grabbed the goblin by the scruff of his neck and plunged into the water.
Kli-Kli squealed in surprise and kicked at the air with his legs. I fell awkwardly, with no time to gather myself together—I was in too much of a hurry to get as far away as possible from the doomed ferry.
The water was warm and black. I opened my eyes, but down in the depths I could hardly see a thing. The floundering goblin and I were surrounded by specks of drifting sediment and hundreds of little bubbles.
I struck out as hard as I could with my free arm and my legs, trying to get as deep under the water as possible. Kli-Kli struggled and panicked, like a rabbit in a noose. I saw his eyes, gaping wide in terror, and the bubbles escaping from his mouth, but I kept moving deeper and deeper, without worrying about the goblin. I just hoped he had enough air to last until we surfaced.
The shock of the explosion struck my ears, for a moment everything went dark and I was completely disoriented, not knowing which way was up and which way was down … The glimmering ceiling of light above my head showed me that I was moving in the right direction.
A stroke with my free hand, a hard thrust with my legs, another stroke, another thrust. I seemed to be stuck in one spot, making no progress at all toward the blessed air. When the surface of the water finally parted above my head, Kli-Kli had almost stopped moving, but as soon as he took a breath in, he started coughing and thrashing about even more violently.
“I don’t know how to drown! I don’t know how to drown!” the goblin squeaked, getting his words confused.
“Stop struggling!” I shouted. “You’ll drown both of us! Stop it! Do you hear!”
That had no effect on the jester at all, and I ducked him under the water for a few moments. When I lifted his head back above the water, Kli-Kli coughed, spat, and spouted foul abuse.
“Stop struggling! Or I’ll let go of you! Do you hear me, you idiot?”
“Ghghabool! Yes! I hear you!”
“Relax! I’m holding you, you won’t drown! Just relax, lie on the water, and breathe!”
He gurgled to let me know he had understood.
I looked around. All that was left of the ferry was a memory and scraps of wood scattered across the river. A few especially large beams were still burning and the air was filled with the smell of smoke and soot. I could see the head of someone who was swimming about forty yards away from us, but I couldn’t tell who it was. One other person had survived, then.… But what about the others?
This isn’t the moment to mourn our losses, Harold! You have to get out of the water. It was a fair distance to the bank, but I had to make it if I didn’t want to feed the fishes on the bottom. I could see people swimming to help us, but it would take them a long time to cover the distance.
I set off. Stroking smoothly through the water, counting every stroke and trying to breathe as regularly as possible.
“One! Two! Three!”
I don’t know how many times I repeated that “One! Two! Three!” It was certainly a lot of times. All I could see was the splashing water, the pitiless sky, and the thin, distant line of the bank.
I’ll make it! No you won’t! Yes I will!
One! Two! Three!
Just a little farther! Just a little bit more!
One! Two! Three!
Kli-Kli was an impossible burden, weighing down my arm; and my boots, clothes, crossbow, knife, and bag were dragging me to the bottom, too. I ought to have dumped my weapon, but I’d rather have abandoned the jester than my equipment.
Of course, what I just said wasn’t true—I’m not the kind of swine who would drown a helpless goblin, but you can’t just abandon your only weapon.
My boots had filled with water and were pulling me down. There was no way I could get rid of them—they were laced on, and I’m no acrobat or conjurer, I couldn’t unfasten them with just one hand—it wasn’t even worth trying. It was a real stroke of luck that I’d taken off my cloak. It was lost forever now, but at least it wasn’t winding round my legs and dragging me down to the bottom.
After about fifty strokes, I realized that I wouldn’t get very far with a load like this. If help didn’t reach us, Kli-Kli and I would be glugging our final farewells as we sank under the water forever.
My arms and legs felt like they were made of lead, my strokes were getting weaker and weaker. It was hard to breathe. Often all I could see ahead was black water, with only an occasional glimpse of the edge of the blue sky above it.
I was hanging on, just to avoid sinking straightaway. I’d swallowed a lot of water and my mind was clouded.
But the riverbank—that vague, blurred line—was still a very long way off.…
“Kli-Kli,” I gasped hoarsely. “Try to get your boots off!”
“I’ve done that!”
Well done, goblin!
“Then … why … are you … so heavy?”
“The chain mail…”
Darkness! That’s what was pulling him down! The little shit had covered himself with chain mail!
“Kli … Kli … I’ll … kill … you.”
“Only … when we get … ashore! Please!”
Ashore! I’ll never reach that cursed shore!
One! Two! Three! And again! And just a few more!
My clothes were pulling me down more and more heavily, I was putting my last ounces of strength into my strokes, everything was dark in front of my eyes, there was a ringing sound in my ears, and the arm holding Kli-Kli felt like it would fall off at any moment. I sank under the water three times, and three times, with an absolutely immense effort, I struggled back to the surface for at least one more gulp of air.…
When I felt someone’s hands take hold of me, I was on the point of fainting.
“Harold, let go of Kli-Kli. Harold!” Marmot’s voice said somewhere close by.
I reluctantly released my grip on the goblin’s clothes.
“The bank’s not far, don’t struggle!” Ell was breathing heavily; the fast swim had tired him.
If I could have managed it, I would have giggled. Don’t struggle! Wasn’t that what I’d said to Kli-Kli?
When my feet touched the bottom and Ell and Honeycomb dragged me onto the bank, it was too miraculous to believe. I’d made it after all, Sagot be praised!
I sank down on all fours, exhausted, and puked up river water. I felt better for that. I spat out some sour saliva, and someone slapped me on the back:
“Are you alive, thief?”
“I thi-ink so, Milord Al-listan.” I was shuddering violently.
Somewhere nearby Kli-Kli was coughing hoarsely.
“Take a sip,” said Deler, sticking his flask under my nose.
I nodded gratefully and took a big swallow. A second later a gnomish powder barrel exploded in my stomach, searing my insides with raging flame.
A crazy thought passed through my mind: “Poison!”
