The words weren’t entirely clear, but he understood her general meaning.
“Tuh-day,” he agreed.
She made a noncommittal noise, then nestled closer. They stood in silence until she finally straightened and smiled up at him.
“Then let’s get going.”
The trust in her eyes made his heart skip a beat. He bent his head and kissed her. As always, the kiss quickly turned passionate, but he reluctantly forced himself to lift his head. This was not the time.
A short while later, they were ready to depart. Misstuh Tiduhlz had settled in Jayn’s arms, and Taraxan used a length of vine to secure him in place. The little creature grumbled but didn’t fight him. Taraxan also used a length of vine to create a harness for Jayn. He didn’t want to take any chance on her being swept overboard.
He had pushed the raft down the beach until it was close to the water’s edge, and now he pushed it the final few feet. As soon as the front end reached the water, he could feel the current pulling at it. He gave a last hard shove, and barely managed to leap aboard before the water swept them away.
He immediately realized that he had underestimated the power of the current. Despite the relatively placid surface, the water raced between the banks of the river. Jayn looked terrified, but she hugged Misstuh Tiduhlz close, murmuring to him in a reassuring voice as he shivered.
Taraxan grabbed his makeshift rudder and did his best to guide the raft to the opposite shore. It was an uphill battle. The rushing water soon tore away most of the leaves from the branch, but he managed to steer them towards the center of the river.
Then disaster struck.
The raft scraped against a rock hidden beneath the surface and two of his logs came loose. The rest held together but the surface area had diminished considerably.
Jayn looked back at him, her face pale and frightened, and he did his best to give her a confident smile.
The current carried them onwards, but he continued to try and guide the raft towards the opposite shore. They hit another rock and lost another log. If they lost many more, Jayn and Misstuh Tiduhlz would be next.
He looked at the diminishing raft and then at the riverbank, closer now but still a long distance away. He had to get them there before the raft disintegrated. His rudder was basically useless and he could only think of one alternative.
Tossing the branch aside, he bent down next to Jayn.
“Haf tuh swim,” he said slowly.
Her eyes widened and she shook her head frantically. “No! I can’t.”
“Naht yoo. Mee. Push.” He cursed his limited vocabulary as he tried to explain.
“You’ve got to be kidding. If you can’t steer from up here, what makes you think you’d be able to direct the raft from the water?”
Even as she spoke, the raft slammed into another rock and a log rolled away, taking half of their supplies with it.
“Noh chois. Fien,” he assured her.
Without waiting for her response, he tied his last section of vine around the log on which she sat and fastened the other end around his waist. As soon as it was secure, he lowered himself into the water.
The surging current tore at his body, trying to pull him away from the raft, but he held on with grim determination. The water was surprisingly cold, and he wondered if it had come directly from the distant mountains.
The raft was traveling parallel to the shore and he didn’t try to turn it. Instead, he allowed the current to carry them along as he started to kick, trying to angle them slowly towards the opposite side. At first it seemed to make little difference, but he refused to give in and slowly, so slowly, they began to move in the right direction.
Time passed with interminable slowness. His arms ached from holding onto the raft, and his legs felt like lead weights, but he would not give up, paddling with dogged determination. He was so focused on kicking that the feel of sand beneath his feet caught him by surprise. They had made it!
He could still feel the current tugging at him, but it was much weaker now as he pushed the remains of the raft towards the shore. Just as the front of the raft touched the beach, a shooting pain went through his calf. He looked down in time to see a long, dark reptile swimming away.
“Dam-uht,” he muttered as pain radiated out from the bite.
“What’s wrong?” Jayn peered back at him anxiously. “Do you want me to get out and help you push?”
“Noh!” he said quickly. He couldn’t stand the thought of the reptile’s sharp teeth penetrating her delicate flesh.
Pushing the raft further up the sand with the last of his strength, he finally decided that it was safe from the current. As he unfastened Jayn and Misstuh Tiduhlz, Misstuh Tiduhlz chittered angrily at him before disappearing towards the trees. Jayn shook her head, and then smiled up at Taraxan.
“Poor Mr. Tiddles. I don’t think he enjoyed his first boat ride one little bit. I can’t say I was a fan myself, but we made it.” She put her arms around his waist, then shivered. “Brr. I had no idea the water was that cold. You must be frozen.”
“Fien,” he managed to say, but his teeth were chattering.
“You’re not fine. We need to get a fire started so you can get dry and warm up.”
Her voice sounded odd, as if it were far away, but her words gradually penetrated and he nodded. As he headed for the jungle to gather firewood, pain streaked up his leg with every step, but he refused to give into it. He had to take care of Jayn.
Chapter Eleven
Jane watched anxiously as Tarax slowly gathered branches for a fire. Once they were assembled, he tried his usual trick with the two rocks, but he couldn’t get the fire to catch.
“Sahr-ee,”
