~
Once we’d finished eating, Petre brought up the bridge to Nurmin.
“I thought we’d ride out and take a look,” he said. “After all, a broken bridge shouldn’t be a match for the Du’rangor Slayer.”
I sighed heavily, knowing I shouldn’t deprive him of this joy that would be so short lived. The others agreed to see the bridge, knowing that if we could repair it, we would be well on the path to restoring Riverdoor to the glory that Petre claimed it was.
Today was also the day we were supposed to be heading back to the Academy. We sent a runner with our apologies, explaining in our joint note that there was just too much for us to explore in only a few short days. We asked for a few extra days excusal, though we were cheating a little bit; it would take the runner four days to return with their reply, so odds were good that we’d be allowed to stay.
The day was breaking bright by the time we set off. I spied more servants around the stable as I was saddling Echo, and as we rode off down the drive, I mentioned my uneasiness to Petre.
“Do they always do that?” I asked him as the servants who’d been gardening stopped what they were doing to watch us pass.
“No, they don’t,” he replied. “They’re looking at you; they know you saved Sammy, and they know you’ve now killed two Du’rangors, the creatures they’d been brought up to regard as mythical. In their eyes, you’re a living legend.”
His explanation didn’t help. I flushed as every new pair of eyes sought mine, keeping my gaze on Echo’s mane. It was almost a relief to reach the gilded gates, turning out onto the road that would take us to the Nurmin Bridge.
The road to it was rough and unkempt. It made sense; when there was other work to be done in the city, why bother maintaining a road that, for the current part, was unusable?
We reached the bridge within an hour of setting out from the manor. It had crumbled in the very centre, so that only the beginning of the bridge still clung to each side of the river. The heavy stones of the bridge had dropped into the muddy, dilapidated river, and I was in no mood to go and heave them out by hand.
“Who’s ready for some magic?” I asked eagerly, dismounting.
The others certainly were. Together we began levitating the stones out of the mud, bringing them up to us on the Riverdoor side of the river. By midmorning we were covered with sweat, but the pile of stones beside us showed our effort and teamwork. I rubbed my sore muscles as the others stopped for a drink. Lifting the stones out by magic certainly didn’t grant us a rest from manual labour; my bones were aching as though I’d lifted them out by hand.
We ate our packed lunch quickly, and with full stomachs and rested arms, we set about pulling the stones into place against our side of the crumbled bridge, and two would hold it in place while the others sealed in into the main stone work. It was slow, hard work, and the sun was setting as we completed half of the bridge. We headed back to the manor exhausted, but feeling rather pleased with ourselves. By tomorrow, we reckoned, we would’ve reopened the road between the two sister cities of the state.
“And then,” I said in between mouthfuls of roast beef. “I want to look at the dam over the border.”
“We can’t though,” Rain said, looking shocked. “Like you said, it’s over the border; we’re not allowed into Orthandrell.”
“Who would know?” I asked her, winking. “Just a covert mission. I’m sure no one would notice. And wouldn’t it be terrible if the illegal dam happened to be destroyed in some way. Oh!” I leant back in my chair with my hand pressed against my forehead dramatically. “Imagine! All of that water flowing into the drought-stricken state! What to do, what to do...”
The others laughed at my antics. Despite my grin though, I was feeling apprehensive about setting foot into Phoenix’s home state. After everything I’d heard about it, the way Petre spoke of it, I was expecting a dank, awful country absolutely crawling in uneducated, wild mages.
The next morning we woke bright and early, packing our breakfast rather than eating it with the family. We were all eager to get to work on the bridge; the sooner we completed it, the better.
The portion of the bridge that we’d repaired had lasted overnight, so, renewed in our faith that we could indeed repair a bridge, we picked up the thread of yesterday with the aims of completing it by midday.
It was a goal we achieved. Encouraged by the clear skies, we set the last stone in place, and then gathered over the other side, looking back at our horses and our handiwork and feeling rather proud of ourselves.
“C’mon,” I said as we all threatened to stand about all day patting ourselves on the backs. “Let’s get to work on these supporting arches.”
We got down in the mud, having dressed appropriately. Once Ispin, Petre and I had completed the base work, we let the other girls work on the flair of the bridge, having discovered that we had no artistic talent at all. Dena had been working on the sides of the bridge, a task I’d been banned from when I’d started placing stones higgledy-piggledy about the place.
As the sun began to set, we stood on the river, admiring the bridge that up until yesterday, had been unusable, a blight on the countryside. Now, we could inform Lord Hugh that the road to Nurmin was, in fact open again.
Those days were some of the happiest of my life. I was discovering a feeling of acceptance unlike anything I’d ever known in my life. I was the light of my friends’ eyes and I have to admit to revelling in it. I’d certainly earned it, but I was so unused to it that it still caught me by surprise when they included me in on a joke, or we were praised as a whole. The ‘legend’ thing that Petre kept bringing up whenever he caught servants or townspeople looking at me was something so unusual to me that I kept forgetting about it, and as a result was shocked into silence whenever someone did something that brought it to mind again.
A few brave townsfolk had ventured into the marshes to burn the body of the Du’rangor, something I’d been too preoccupied to do when I first killed it. They came back telling people that it had been three times as large as they’d been told, something that embarrassed me to no end because the adoration that had slowly falling by the wayside, increased tenfold.
When Lord Hugh announced the road open again, it was though clouds that had been casting a pall over the city had cleared. Commerce and trading opened up between the two cities again, with many travellers commenting on the handy work on the bridge.
“By hand it would have taken us months,” Lord Hugh said to us one night at dinner, not long after the road had reopened. “You’ve saved us a lot of work.”
I accepted his compliments with a faraway mind. We didn’t have long before we were going to be forced to return to the Academy, and I desperately wanted to have a look at this illegal dam.
One night, instead of going to bed like good little lambs, we all met in the stables. We’d dressed in black, though the odds of us being spotted weren’t high. We rode from the estate quickly, hoping to put distance between it and us so that the estate wouldn’t be connected to the destruction of the dam.
We took one of the disused roads to the border. Tension mounted as we closed in on it, and it was rather anticlimactic when Petre stopped to open a gate.
“That’s all?” I asked in a hushed whisper.
“What were you expecting?” He hissed back. “Full security detail? Just be thankful it’s not.”
We rode upstream, staying off of the roads. The night was bristling with frost, and I had to keep wriggling my fingers so they wouldn’t go stiff. There was no moon, and as a result, Petre had to light our way with a magelight close to the ground. Beside us, the river was almost dry, with only a small trickle of water running through it.
“If we destroy this all in one go, won’t it flood Riverdoor?” I heard Rain ask up ahead.
“The river widens just down from here,” Petre replied. “It should slow it enough that it won’t break its banks.”
I found
myself nodding subconsciously. I’d also been worrying about accidentally flooding the river. I had no doubt that our hero status would decrease significantly if everyone woke up to find themselves floating away in flood water.
The dam loomed up ahead. In the stark light of Petre’s magic, it looked even bigger than I’d thought. We rode up around it carefully; we weren’t sure how close we were to civilization. Before us, the river glinted softly, soft waves lapping at the muddy bank. I gulped; there was a lot more water here than I’d thought.
What are they doing with it? I wondered. I glanced about, though I wasn’t sure what I was looking for.
Petre and the others were dismounting by the bank and I quickly followed suit. Echo, completely non plussed by what we were doing, began to drink from the imprisoned river.
“As soon as we weaken the base of it, it’ll all go,” Ispin said, examining the logs by the light of his own magic.
“How about we start from the top?” Yasmin suggested. “It’ll be a lot less work, and we might be able to maintain some control over the water.”
I doubted it – the river looked about ready to go – but I didn’t say anything.
And so, by the light of our magelights, we set about removing the top logs the same way we’d brought the bridge stones to us. Dena and I carefully managed to dislodge the first log, and a sliver of water trickled down the front of the dam, as though testing its freedom. Encouraged even by this small breakthrough, we worked steadily through the night, using our combined magic’s to dismantle the dam built by unknown persons.
As we removed the whole top layer of logs, more and more water began to trickle over the edge. Eventually, there was a solid stream, hitting the hard mud of the river with a soft splatting noise.
Rain and Yasmin were already working on their next set of logs before any of us had returned to the dam after piling our own aside. I turned back just in time to see them remove one from the very centre.
“No!” I cried, my harsh call tearing through the night silence.
It was too late. The water, sensing its freedom was close, burst out of the gap like a fire hydrant. The dam, weakened by our meddling and now stricken with thousands of litres of water, burst.
I dove for higher ground. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dena do the same, Theresa on her heels. As I hit the ground, my magelight went out and I was plunged into darkness. All I could hear was the gush of water and the clunking of logs as they were carried downstream by the flow. I kept crawling up the slope, finally managing to get my feet under me. I slipped in the mud with a cry, flinging my hand out for something, anything to grab a hold of. My hand caught a rein, and I realised Echo was right in front of me. She snorted as I pulled myself up, and then began to guide me away from the river.
When the river had faded into a dull roar, I reignited my magelight in my palm. Slowly, carefully, Echo and I padded back towards it and I hoped desperately that no one had been caught by the raging water.
I sent my magelight high over the area, risking getting caught, but I needed to see properly. The light it shed fell across the scene like moonlight, and I could see what we’d done.
The dam had broken completely, and water was still surging forwards, flowing towards Riverdoor. Dena and Theresa were huddled near the bank, trying to peer over the other side.
“Can you see anyone?” I asked as I drew closer, dreading the answer.
“Petre was on the other bank for a little while, then he shouted something to us but we couldn’t hear,” Theresa answered, her voice strained with worry. “He and Ispin have disappeared into the trees.”
“What about Yasmin and Rain?” I asked, but Dena shook her head.
The noise the dam had made had been unbelievable, like a roar of thunder. I could only hope that any Orthandrellians that had heard had assumed it was just that; thunder. The storms had been increasing in number and ferocity as the seasons changed.
I could see no way across, but we’d passed a bridge on the way to the dam. I mentioned it to Theresa and Dena, who agreed to head in that direction. Hopefully the boys had thought the same and we’re on their way to it as we spoke.
We hitched the horses together and began to ride in that direction. As we rode beside the newly re-birthed river, I noticed I was searching its banks for two bodies.
Stop it! I chided myself angrily. They’ll be fine.
I hadn’t seen where they were when the dam had burst. I could only hope that they’d been on the other side with Petre and Ispin. But then why would Dena and Theresa say they’d only seen the two boys on the opposite bank of the river? I shoved the thought away uneasily.
We were nearing the bridge. I eyed the horizon with concern; it was beginning to lighten as dawn approached. We needed to be back over the border and safe in our beds at the manor before anyone saw us.
I could see the bridge. But before we got any closer, my eye was caught by something in the water.
I was off of Echo and sprinting towards the river before I had time to think. I knew what I’d seen; Yasmin’s long honey blonde hair bobbing along next to one of the logs from the dam.
I hit the water and was immediately taken aback by how fast it was flowing. I fought it angrily, striding out as far as I could. As I felt the soft muddy bottom of the river give way, I pushed off, gaining a little bit extra momentum as I began to strike out towards Yasmin.
I fought the water straining around me. I fixed my sights on her, determined to reach her.
I will not let you go!
As I slowly drew closer, the frigid water beginning to numb my body, I saw that she was close to unconsciousness; her arm draped loosely over the log was the only thing keeping her above the surface.
“Hang on!” I shouted to her and managing to swallow a lot of river water. “Don’t let go, Yasmin!”
Her eyes flickered and she began to slip closer to the surface. I growled and forced my aching limbs to go faster, using the current of the water to close in on her. Her arm slipped from the log and she sank out as sight just as I reached her.
I heaved a breath and dived to the spot where she’d disappeared. I opened my eyes, but it was useless; I couldn’t see anything at all.
Suddenly, something brushed my outstretched hand. It felt like fine tendrils, and I realised her hair was flowing around my hand as she sank.
I grabbed a handful of it and not very gracefully pulled her up to me as my breath began to run out. We were both being buffeted by waterlogged logs that had sunk, as well as the current. I wrapped my arms around her torso and kicked my legs furiously. I felt heavy, trapped by the water, and I quickly kicked off my boots, remembering what my old swim teacher had said.
I strained, beating my legs as fast as I could. I had no idea how close I was to the surface, but the pressure in my lungs was beginning to build and I knew that soon I’d reflexively inhale, consigning us both to the muddy depths of the river we’d freed.
It almost came as a surprise when my head burst through the surface of the raging river. It was beginning to calm now, slowing down as it reached the wider section that Petre had mentioned. I quickly pulled Yasmin’s head up to my shoulder so that she could breathe.
As the river began to slow even more, I struck out a one arm stroke towards the river bank. I could hear thundering hoof beats as the others searched for us. I could only hope that Rain was with them; I hadn’t seen her at all during the course of my mission to get to Yasmin before she slipped off the log.
My feet scrabbled against the bottom of the river, sinking into the icy mud. I heaved myself upright, water gushing from my clothes. I half carried, half dragged Yasmin up the slope, laying her on the grass just as Dena and Theresa arrived.
“Sky!” Dena was running towards me. “Is she-“
“I don’t know,” I wheezed. “She was conscious just before I reached her.”
I sat back on my haunches as Dena worked on her. She’d rolled Yasmin into the recovery posi
tion, checking her airways.
“She’s breathing,” she announced and I thought my heart would burst from relief. Dena moved some of her wet hair aside, and in the pale magelight Theresa was casting, we could all see the nasty lump on the side of her head. “I’m guessing she was hit when the dam burst. She probably clung to consciousness as long as she could.”
I began shivering violently, not just from the cold that was beginning to bleed into my bones, but from the thought of Yasmin losing consciousness before I’d spotted her, or if I hadn’t noticed her in the water at all.
Petre and Ispin barrelled out of the darkness, having run as fast as they could when they heard the hoof beats. I was relieved to see that Rain was with them, damp and shivering, but alive.
Petre fell with a cry to Yasmin’s side. I think he thought for a moment that his soul mate was dead. Dena reassured him quietly, but that didn’t stop him from checking her vitals himself.
“We need to get her back to the manor house,” Dena said to us all. “She needs warmth.”
We all did. Rain and I were both frozen to the bone, having been the only ones to experience the icy water. The other four, though cool, weren’t feeling the ice crawl into the marrow of their bones and set up camp. My teeth chattered, breaking the silence that had fallen between all of us.
We all managed to climb back onto our horses. As we rode, I showed Dena and Rain the charm to dry clothes and we set about drying ourselves, with Dena working the charm over Yasmin, who was slumped in front of her.
The ride back was dismally slow. After the eager ride there, anticipation flowing in our veins, we plodded back towards Riverdoor with heavy hearts. The sun was just beginning to rise as we turned into the estate. For once, when we reached the stables, we turned the reins of our horses over to the stable hands who were up and about. We were just too exhausted to look after them properly.
I rolled into my bed gratefully, the soft blankets enveloping me like a cloud. Petre had pulled a mattress into Yasmin’s room to keep an eye on her. Dena had told us that she should wake up in a few hours, though someone would need to be with her at all times to make sure she didn’t have concussion. I would take my turn come daybreak if she still wasn’t awake, but for now I certainly did not begrudge Petre the gruelling task of waking up every half an hour to check on her.
It felt like I’d only just fallen asleep when the servant who brought me my pre-breakfast (I liked to have two breakfasts) knocked on my door. I was so tired that it felt like trying to drag open my eyelids from drying concrete. She began to approach me with my rolls and tea, and then stopped when she saw the mud still caked on my face and the river water tangling my hair.
“I shouldn’t ask, should I?” she said.
I shook my head once and fell back asleep.
When I woke again, the sun was high in the sky. For a second I was confused; why did I feel guilty? Then I remembered that I was supposed to have relieved Petre so that he could sleep.
I burst into Yasmin’s room, still blinking away the heavy sleep. I was surprised to see her sitting on the edge of her bed, slowly brushing her hair free of river muck.
“Good afternoon,” she said breezily as she saw me in the doorway. “Dena tells me I’d be dead without you.”
What did one say to that? Uh, yeah you would?
I settled for giving a noncommittal shrug, combined with a jerk of my head that could have been a nod or a shake of my head.
“Oh, Sky,” Yasmin sighed. “One of these days you’re going to have to start owning up to the fact that you are a hero.”
“I’m not,” I protested immediately.
“You are,” she countered, laying the hairbrush down on the table next to her. “Dena says that when you saw me in the water, you took off after me without even hesitating. We both could’ve died last night.”
“But we didn’t.”
“We didn’t, because of you.”
It had been my idea to go to the dam at all. Didn’t she remember that? She should be blaming me, not thanking me.
When she led me out of the room to meet the others, I followed with a heavy heart.