Stud (41 page)

Granted, the raft wasn’t large, but Tarq begrudged every millimeter that lay between him and Lucy. Though he understood the need, he had to content himself with glances that occasionally caught her eye. From this he derived at least some comfort, but the words
I
love
you, Lucy
still reverberated through his mind like one of Walkuta’s chants, keeping time with the beat of his heart, even slipping past his lips as a whisper from time to time.

Since most of his experiences with vrelnots had occurred near dawn, Tarq felt reasonably safe at the moment. With any luck, the storm would track to the north or south, though with the way the wind was filling the sail he doubted it. Still, the storm was a long way off and might blow itself out before it reached them.
And
draniks
might
sprout
wings
and
fly…

Tarq had good reason for worrying; thus far every storm the Eradics had conjured up seemed determined to seek them out, either to destroy them or to make their journey as arduous as possible. He knew, of course, that storms didn’t have minds of their own, but that was the trouble with having to keep quiet while on watch: your mind was free to imagine all sorts of disturbing things.

He glanced back at Terufen, whose bulbous eyes gleamed in the starlight. With eyes like that, the Norludian’s field of vision had to be better than anyone’s—certainly better than his or Lucy’s—but if he’d seen anything that Tarq hadn’t, he gave no sign.

They hadn’t gone much farther when Tarq heard the ominous flap of leathery wings. Searching the sky, he spotted it off to the southeast, flying west above the riverbank.

“There,” he whispered, pointing. “See it?”

“I only see one,” Lucy whispered back. “Are there others?”

“I don’t think so. Remember, don’t shoot at it while it’s directly overhead. We don’t want it landing on the raft.”

“I’ll try to keep that in mind.”

Tarq heard the sarcasm in her tone and had to admire her pluck. She might not be able to see well enough to shoot at anything, but having already come face-to-face with a vrelnot and emerged victorious, she no longer seemed petrified with fear. Granted, it was only gallows humor, but it was humor nonetheless.

“Leave it to a fuckin’ vrelnot to ruin an otherwise lovely evening,” Terufen grumbled. “Wonder if they ever go after fish.”

On the word, the vrelnot turned and circled around to the east, flying straight down the river toward them.

“I don’t like the looks of this,” Tarq muttered, trading his bow for the atlatl. “Don’t waste your arrows. Wait until it’s in range and hold your fire until it goes into a dive.”

They waited breathlessly, but the vrelnot didn’t dive right away. Instead it circled again, this time making a wide loop to come at them from the bow. Tarq could see it clearly now, its talons outstretched, preparing either to land on the raft or to snatch one of them right off it. He heard the twang of bowstrings as Lucy and Terufen both fired arrows into the night.

Regardless of whether they struck the beast or not, the vrelnot kept coming. More arrows were fired and Tarq threw a dart that ripped through the thin skin of the wing. The others were stirring, making a considerable racket as they scrambled for their bows. They could make all the noise they wanted, Tarq thought grimly. Keeping quiet certainly wouldn’t help them now.

Tarq launched another dart and immediately threw again. The first one missed, but the second found its mark, hitting the huge bird at the base of the wing. The vrelnot tumbled out of the sky, but its momentum carried it forward, skimming above the sail toward the rudder, plucking Kotcamp off the stern before plunging into the river beyond.

Lucy screamed and rushed to the side, staring down at the water where Kotcamp had fallen. The raft had already sailed onward; all she could see was a swirling vortex where the vrelnot sank. There was no sign of Kotcamp at all. Rescue was next to impossible; even if they took down the sail, there was no way to stop the raft and turn around out in the middle of the river. Unless…

“Vertigan!” Lucy shouted. “Can you make the wind blow us back upstream?”

“I can try,” he said. “But the current is really strong here and so is the wind. It may not be enough.”

Vertigan focused his eyes on the starlit sky, and moments later the wind shifted, blowing steadily from the east. Lucy scanned the surface and then her eyes darted toward the shore. As dark as it was, it was difficult to tell if they were moving at all. Even so, holding their position might enable Kotcamp to swim toward them—if he were still alive and conscious. Tarq lashed a rope to the mast and tossed it overboard, and Lucy watched for any sign that Kotcamp was trying to reach for it, but saw nothing. The rope trailed behind the raft, floating untouched on the waves.

Vertigan scrambled past the others to take the rudder. “Can you see anything?”

Lucy shook her head as Tarq joined them, his sharp eyes searching the dark water. “Nothing,” he said finally. “Not even a ripple.”

Vertigan glanced behind him. “We’re still drifting. Don’t think we can hold this position much longer.”

“We’ve got to give him more time!” Lucy pleaded. “He had to have gone down really deep with that vrelnot. It would take a while for him to surface.”

“I’m going in,” Terufen said suddenly. It was only this warning that enabled Tarq to seize the Norludian by the scruff of his neck before he made his dive.

“You’ll never find him,” Tarq said bluntly. “And you’ll probably end up drowning yourself.”

“I’m a good swimmer,” Terufen protested. “I can find him.”

“And then what? You might make it to shore and walk the rest of the way to Noklar—or meet up with us wherever we happen to stop—but in the meantime you’d be sitting ducks for any predator that came along.”

“But he was the best friend I ever had!” Terufen wailed. “I’ll never forgive myself if I don’t try.”

“And he would never forgive you if you died trying—especially if there’s no way to save him. And there isn’t. Not unless he saves himself.”

Tarq’s words were brutal, but they had the desired effect. Tears filled Lucy’s eyes as Terufen sagged hopelessly in Tarq’s grasp. The night was quiet once again, with only the muted sounds of flowing water, the wind in the rigging, and Terufen’s sobs to break the silence.

Walkuta stepped forward and took the Norludian’s hand, leading him away from the edge of the raft. “Come. Together we will mourn our friend’s passing and send his spirit on to his maker.”

Tarq nodded at Vertigan, and the east wind swiftly died. The raft sailed on, leaving Kotcamp behind.

***

There were no further attacks during the night, but the next day dawned on a very subdued and mournful crew. Vertigan showed his brother how to steer the raft while the rest of the company sat in silence, deep in their own private thoughts. Terufen had finally gone to sleep but was awake now and still seemed stunned. Lucy could scarcely believe it herself. To have come so far through so many dangers and then lose one of their friends in such a way was unthinkable, and yet it had happened.

The storm had passed by to the north, leaving behind a fresh breeze that drove them downriver even faster than the day before. The current was stronger too, and having seen maps of the region, Lucy knew that the river would take a bend to the south not long before reaching the falls. Tarq had said they needed to make for the northern shore, which would allow the best passage down past the falls to Noklar, but thus far no one had said how they were going to do that. Even with Vertigan to control the wind, she was beginning to believe that a watery grave awaited them all.

Lunchtime came and went and Lucy tried to nap, but even with her head pillowed in Tarq’s lap, she couldn’t relax enough to fall asleep. Finally abandoning the attempt, she sat up, rubbing the stiffness in her shoulder. Glancing upriver in the forlorn hope that she would see Kotcamp waving at them from the water, she spotted a huge fish swimming doggedly behind them, its dorsal fin knifing through the waves. “Look at that!”

Crilla nodded. “I’ve been watching it for a while now. It doesn’t seem to be fast enough to overtake us, and I’d hate to think what it would do if it ever did. It’s certainly too big to catch and eat.”

“It’s probably just waiting for the raft to sink so it can eat
us
,” Natasha said nervously.

No one seemed willing to say what they were probably all thinking, which was that it had already eaten Kotcamp and was now following the raft, hoping for more tasty morsels to fall overboard.

“Think we should shoot at it?” Faletok asked.

“We should not kill a fellow creature on suspicion alone,” Walkuta said wisely. “Its presence here may have nothing to do with us at all.”

Lucy doubted that and so, apparently, did Natasha. “I’m getting sick and tired of everything and everybody trying to do us in. In fact, I’m not even sure I want to go back to Yalka. Seems like the whole damn planet is against us.”

“My friend Dax can take you anywhere you want to go,” Tarq said. “If all goes well, he may even be waiting at the spaceport.”

“Not sure how we’d ever be able to afford space travel now,” Natasha said. “It’s not as though any of us has any money.”

“I do,” Lucy said. “I could loan you some.”

Tarq shook his head. “No need for that. Dax wouldn’t charge you much anyway, and like I said, he’s a friend of mine.”

Faletok snickered. “Must be a really
good
friend.”

Tarq chuckled softly. “Well, I’ve known him since he was two years old, and he’s only alive today because I found him and took him with me to the refugee ship right before Zetith got hit by an asteroid.”

Faletok recoiled as though he’d been slapped. “Ah… yes,” he conceded. “A
very
good friend.”

Lucy cocked her head, listening. Something was different. “What’s that sound?”

“The falls,” Tarq replied. “We’re getting close now.” He stood up, directing his gaze downriver. “I can already see where the river bends.”

“Guess I’d better steer toward the north shore, then,” Traldeck said.

Tarq nodded. “Even if we beach the raft here, we can still walk the rest of the way. The water looks pretty rough up ahead too. There’s bound to be a helluva current the closer we get.”

Traldeck eased the rudder over and the front of the raft nosed to the left, heading for the shore. Moments later the raft gave a lurch, followed by a loud crack, and then began to spin completely out of control. “I think we hit a rock,” he shouted. “The rudder’s broken.”

“Must be shallower here than we thought,” Faletok said. “Look at the turbulence ahead. Rapids.”

Natasha let out a scream, waking Vertigan, who scrambled to his feet, heading for the now useless rudder. Walkuta began to chant, Bratol had something akin to a seizure—wheezing to the point that Lucy was sure he would stop breathing altogether—while Terufen moaned and rolled onto his side—the only sound he’d made all day.

“We may have to swim for it,” Tarq said.

Lucy gauged the distance between the raft and the shore. She wasn’t sure she could swim that far. Not against such a strong current.

Crilla voiced a similar concern. “I don’t know how to swim.”

“Then we’ll move on to Plan B,” Tarq said with unflappable calm. “Vertigan, can you get the wind to blow from the south?”

“I can try,” Vertigan replied. “Not sure it’ll be enough against this current, though. Guess we should have beached this thing sooner.”

“No shit,” said Tarq. “These rapids weren’t part of my vision.”

“Sure would have been nice if they had been,” Vertigan said.

It was a testament to the shift in Vertigan’s attitude that he hadn’t taken the opportunity to make some disparaging remark. Lucy was still waiting for it when she finally realized it wasn’t going to come. The wind shifted, presumably due to Vertigan’s intervention. If she’d had any doubts that Vertigan’s aim was not to supplant Tarq, but to join him as Lucy’s second husband, they were now put to rest.

Tarq nodded. “That’s the trouble with visions. They don’t always tell you everything.” He stooped down to pick up the long pole they’d used to launch the raft. “Might be able to touch bottom with this and at least keep us off the rocks.”

The raft suddenly dipped into a pocket of current so rapid, Lucy thought the whole thing was going to slide right out from under her. Wedging her fingers between the logs, she clung like a leech, riding out the wild bucking of the raft. When she stole a glance at Tarq again, she saw that he already had the pole in the water and prayed that he would hit something with it and not simply follow it over the side, plunging into the turbulent depths.

Her prayers were answered. The pole grated on rock and Tarq managed to lever the raft a little closer to the shore, which they were racing past at an alarming speed. The falls were in sight now; they’d taken the bend in the river without even noticing it. Terufen was helping Tarq with the pole, his sucker-tipped fingers fusing to the wood with a grip so tight he was dangling from the end. The raft jerked sideways, nearly unseating her again.