I don’t know what struck me, unless it was some instinct that overwhelmed reason at the sight of his frantic, contorted face, and his two cold eyes shining pitifully as they slipped underwater. His tan face had gone as pale as a grub in the grimy waters and before I knew what I was doing I’d grabbed him by the shirt and yanked him up to the surface. His body felt as if it were made of lead, it threatened to pull me under as he clasped himself to me, gasping air in long sputtering breaths. My lungs burnt and an itch at the back of my throat almost caused a coughing fit as my head was thrust again and again under the black water as I grew tired or he flailed, while we paddled inexorably towards the shore. I couldn’t really bring myself to search for the bank. I just doggedly paddled hoping to cast off Abdul and float if it came to it. Everything ached down to a mind dulling pain. Everything slowed. My limbs were wooden. My eyes stung with each lap of water that slapped me in the face. If I stopped for a moment, I knew that we would both sink to the bottom.
After what felt like hours, I thought I would give in, but then my legs hit a squelchy muddy bottom and I pushed forward off it, until I could sink to my knees. We climbed out like two drenched rats, dragging ourselves through the foul mud and collapsed halfway onto a bank of sand. Laying there on our stomachs, covered in mud and slimy grass we spit up black water and bile until we simply rose and fell on our heaving chests. I smiled wearily and the water rolling down Abdul’s face looked like tears, but vamps can’t cry. No words passed between us and with the wet sand as soft as a pillow I slept.
Fat warm rain drops splattering on my cheeks and the brown river water lapping up my legs awakened me. A desultory light filled the air beneath the fat dark clouds that traveled along a warm breeze. I stood rolling the stiffness out of my neck and brushing the sand from my cheek. Several strands of slimy plants were wrapped around my legs, so I ripped them off and pulled my sopping socks of as well. I looked into the water. My boots were lost, my pack was gone, and Abdul was nowhere to be seen. His indentation was stretched out beside mine but there were no indications of where he’d gone. No tracks that had survived the rain. I moved off to the trees lining the bank and stood under widespread branches scanning the dark day for any signs of the ambassador. I shivered, assuming he was feeding, and then quickly looked behind me, but there was nothing, but the rain drops sliding off the tree’s leaves. Thunder rolled in the distance. Nothing moved but water falling and rolling along the ground and the surface of the river.
Momentary indecision gave way to ingrained action and I made my way back to the river hoping the rain would obliterate my tracks. The water was slightly cool as it slapped against the bottom of my thighs and I wished desperately for a cap of any kind to block the stream of rain rushing into my eyes, but I began to make my way north through the water. I moved upstream as quickly as I could sloshing through the water stumbling over rocks and branches buried under the swirling brown water as I fearfully scanned the bank for Abdul. I expected him to appear at any moment, fish me out of the water and break both my legs, transforming me into a human backpack he would then tote wherever he liked, but such a heavy rain was a god send, washing way tracks and scents, reducing visibility. After a thousand yards I emerged from the river my sopping socks balled up in one hand and cut a beeline away from the river. Larger rivers often had roads that ran parallel to them, all I had to do was find one, follow that to the nearest town and then head north to my brother’s camp without a vampire in tow. The trees that clung to the riverbank quickly gave way to tall grasses spread between fewer trees as the land rapidly sloped upwards and I regretted the beaten down trail of grass that followed behind me, but I couldn’t force myself back into the muddy water as the rain began to pour out of the clouds even harder, bending down the grasses of its own accord and making the slope slippery. Despite it all I found myself running, falling to my knees in the mud in my haste, unable to see following the sudden descent of darkness. My legs quivered turning to straw beneath me as I forced them onwards up slopes and down the other sides. My hair was pasted to my face by the rain; my beard was twisted into ropey knots that gathered the water into little streams that ran down my chest. As lightening filled the sky, seeing nothing on the ridges behind me, but trees waving wildly, I ran on suppressing howls of fear, pleasure, and the madness of the stormy night.
When I awoke late, I was curled around a little tree clutching a wet sock in each hand as the sun rose over a steaming landscape. Nothing moved and no sounds came to me except a latent sigh, everything was dampened until a thump and the grating of a black leather boot hitting the ground pulled me away from the enchanting landscape.
“Good work continuing north,” Abdul sad smirking, “Saves time.” He threw another boot down beside the first. “I don’t think you’ll need those,” he handed
