as it tried to dislodge his grip and drag him further downriver.
The cold water was leeching the strength from him quickly. Gasping against the bite of the cold, he looked around at his predicament. Still a third of the way from shore, it was going to be a tough swim to reach it.
“Riyan!” he hollered. Then after a short pause to hear a reply, he called, “Bart!” When no answer was forthcoming, he realized he was on his own. Glancing upriver from whence they came, he saw the waterfall and the turbulent waters where it plunged into the river. It was a miracle he still lived.
The thought that perhaps he was the only one to have made it attempted to push its way into his mind but he quickly squelched it. He wasn’t going to allow himself to ruminate about such things until he found proof to back it up.
He took only a few moments to steel himself against the struggle that was to come, then with a deep breath, he let go of the branch. Immediately, the water dragged him away.
Kicking and splashing, he worked frantically to get to the shore. Never having had much experience with water, his efforts were only slowly bringing him closer. Foot by foot, he worked his way ever closer to the shore as the water continued to take him further down the canyon.
“Kevik!”
Hearing his name being called, he looked up and saw Riyan and Bart running along the water’s edge on the west bank. Riyan was staring at him and waving his arms as he again cried out, “Kevik!”
He was not alone! With strength renewed, he put more effort into his struggle for the shore. Though he was kicking and using his arms with great determination, it didn’t seem like he was getting any closer.
Then all of a sudden, his legs struck a submerged rock. Panic seized him at the unexpected contact, but it was short lived. He was quick to realize that the submerged rock rested on the bed of the river and that the depth of the water was no longer over his head. Splashing was heard as Bart and Riyan raced through the water to him.
“Thank the gods you’re alive,” Riyan said as he reached him. Taking hold of his arm, he helped the magic user to his feet.
“Glad you thought to get rid of the goo,” commented Bart. “We would surely have drowned, attached to the shattered remains of the boat as we were.”
Kevik only nodded as he leaned heavily on Riyan’s shoulder. Walking with him toward the shoreline, he glanced around. “Where are the others?” he asked.
“We don’t know,” replied Riyan. Then he noticed the anguished look on Kevik’s face. “But don’t worry, I’m sure they’ll turn up.”
“Hmm?” asked Kevik as he turned to look at Riyan. “Oh, it’s not that. I lost my staff.”
Upon hearing that, Bart began scanning the river and the debris washed up on its shore. There was no sign of Kevik’s staff.
“First my master’s,” moaned Kevik. “Now this. Not much of a magic user am I?”
“Hey!” exclaimed Riyan. “Stop that right now! I will not hear such things from one who has saved our lives time and time again. If not for your magic, we never would have walked out of Algoth alive.” When Kevik failed to meet his eyes, he placed his hand under his chin turned his face toward him. With a stare saying he’ll brook no argument, Riyan said, “You are a great magic user.”
Bart clapped him on the back. “That you are,” he agreed.
Tears almost began welling up in his eyes at the words his friends were saying. Unable to speak, he nodded in acknowledgement.
“Now,” Bart said, “let’s find the others.” With that, the three friends began heading downriver.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Not far from where they rescued Kevik, they found Chyfe. His body was hung up amidst a pile of driftwood and he looked for all the world like he was dead. Bart raced forward calling his name but Chyfe gave no response. Thinking the worse, he was surprised to find him still alive. His forehead sported a large knot from where he must have struck a rock on his pell-mell journey down the river.
“Riyan!” Bart yelled as he began pulling him from the driftwood, “I need your help.”
Leaving a still shaky Kevik behind, Riyan rushed to help.
“He’s still alive,” Bart said as he joined him. He gently turned Chyfe’s head toward Riyan. When Riyan saw the knot, he nodded. They soon had him free and brought back to where Kevik was sitting on the shore.
“Do you still have the healing gem?” asked Bart.
Kevik checked his pouch and nodded when he found it.
“Good,” replied Bart. “Stay here with him and fix him up. Riyan and I will continue to hunt for the others.”
Nodding, Kevik placed the gem on Chyfe’s forehead. The gem’s light shone forth and the healing began.
“Two down, three to go,” commented Riyan.
“We’ll find them,” Bart assured him. Silently he added that he hoped they’d find them alive. He didn’t want to add to whatever fears Riyan already held.
“Chad!” Riyan hollered.
“Seth, Soth!” Bart yelled as they raced down the shoreline.
The river continued its journey down the canyon, steadily growing calmer and quieter. Further ahead, they saw where the canyon took an abrupt turn to the right and passed from sight.
“Chad! Where are you?” Riyan’s voice cried out as he sought his friend. Looking not only on this side of the river but the other, he grew more worried as time progressed.
“Riyan!”
Riyan came to a sudden stop when he heard Chad’s voice. He scanned the area but couldn’t find him.
Bart gripped his shoulder with one hand as he pointed across the river with the other. “There he is.”
Following Bart’s direction, Riyan looked toward a sandbar on the other side of the river. He saw Chad waving his arms frantically. Standing as he was before a pile of driftwood, he was hard to make out.
“Are you okay?” Riyan shouted across the water.
“Yes,” he replied. “Though I think my ankle is twisted.”
“Stay there,” Riyan hollered. “We’ll get you.” He saw Chad wave in acknowledgment.
“How do you propose we do that?” asked Bart.
Riyan glanced around at all the driftwood on the beach. “Make a raft and paddle our way over,” he said.
“Think you can do that?” Bart asked.
Nodding, Riyan replied, “May take a bit, but yeah.” He and Chad used to construct rafts and float out upon the lakes near Quillim during the summer. What he had to work with here wasn’t much different than the materials they used back then.
“Alright,” he said. “You work on getting to him and I’ll try to find the twins.”
“Good luck,” Riyan said.
“You too,” replied Bart. Riyan was beginning to gather pieces of driftwood as he headed toward the bend in the river. There, the wall of the canyon jutted out to within a few yards of the water.
Calling the names of the twins, he ran along the shore. No answer was forthcoming. Upon reaching where the river began to pass around the bend, he was about to shout again when he heard voices coming from around the other side of the bend. Relief washed over him briefly before he realized the voices were not those of Seth and Soth.
Immediately, he slowed and proceeded with much greater caution. He paused just a moment as he removed the rolled leather containing his darts from his pack and placed them inside his shirt. Once they were in their familiar position, he again started toward the bend.
“…do with them?” a voice asked.
Bart slowed to a crawl as he reached the canyon wall.
“Send both of them up to the top,” another said.
Both of them? Bart didn’t like the sound of that.
