Laryn fought through the strong current of the floodwaters. Enhanced strength allowed him to push through the river to the mangled remains of the bridge as it floated down stream. Kenna clung to a log.

  He reached the wreckage of the bridge and grabbed the log that Kenna clung to. Cords trailed off of it into the river. He grabbed one of these, and began towing her toward the north bank.

  Laryn swam hard, fighting back the panic that rose up in him. He’d nearly been killed by this river once before.

  He managed to tow Kenna out of the main current of the river, into a large eddy that swirled through trees and shrubs that had once lined the riverbank.

  Laryn found the muddy ground beneath his feet, and pulled Kenna in toward the shore. She still clung to the log. When she was able to stand, he helped her as they waded out of the floodwaters. She was cut and bleeding in several places, but nothing immediately problematic. A large gash marred her forehead, and blood trickled down her cheek and behind her ear.

  “Horel’s balls,” Laryn said, grunting as he recovered his breath. He’d just pulled off an incredible rescue, one that would have been impossible without the stat benefits of being a ruler.

  The rain had stopped, but the sound of rushing water still roared in the night around them. Laryn didn’t think that they’d washed past the confluence with the Lewin.

  Kenna leaned against a boulder.

  “What was that?” Laryn demanded, whirling on her. “What were you thinking?”

  Kenna raised her hands defensively. Her face was drawn and pale in the darkness. Her teeth chattered as she spoke.

  “…had to… get… away,” she said.

  “Did you kill Devlin?” he snapped at her.

  She nodded feebly.

  “Horel’s balls,” Laryn muttered again. “We need to get you warmed up.”

  He glanced eastward, looking up river toward Vallor.

  Something moved in the darkness there.

  As Laryn watched, he picked out more movement; patches moving in the darkness. Men, shifting in the trees, between the water and the cliff.

  The wind died down, and he caught the sound of boots scrabbling over stone, and gravel splashing into water.

  “We need to go,” he said, pulling Kenna to her feet. She looked half drowned, but staggered along with him. “Those are Harrat’s men, coming this way. They probably tried a flanking maneuver, but I bet the flooding river blocked their path.”

  Kenna leaned on Laryn as he pulled her along. To their right, a steep, rocky slope rose, plants growing on it here and there until giving away to jagged stones. To their left, a few meters away, the floodwaters of the Ebil lapped at mud and roots.

  This narrow passage was the only way forward. Harrat’s men would be coming this way; and there was nowhere to hide.

  Laryn wracked his brains trying to remember the map. As he recalled, they’d remain pinned between this ridge and the river until they reached the Lewin. He had no idea how far that would be from here.

  Even if they made it to the Lewin without being caught by Harrat’s soldiers, then what? That river was likely swollen and dangerous to cross as well.

  But—as the saying went—they’d ford that stream when they came to it.

  Kenna shivered, teeth chattering loudly. The murmur of voices echoed from behind them. Laryn checked over his shoulder a few times, and spotted an occasional flash of light from a shielded lantern. Perhaps they were being less cautious now that their path of attack was obstructed.

  “Adi,” Laryn called. “What’s the status there?”

  “Where are you?” she responded. “The flood has washed away both the bridges and scoured the beaches. The core is mostly underwater, but it is fine. Everyone who made it back to the island is gathering at the temple foundation.”

  The highest point on the island.

  “Who’s missing?” Laryn asked.

  “Widan, Gaten, Kenna, and Gall,” Adi said. “I think everyone else is here.”

  “My mages.” Stationed up on the ridges, they’d had the most difficult route back down to Vallor. He hoped they’d be able to fend for themselves. With Harrat’s men retreating, they stood a chance.

  “I’m with Kenna,” Laryn said. “She’s okay, but she’s shivering a lot. We’re on the north shore of the Ebil, I think near the Lewin confluence. We can’t come back though, there are soldiers.”

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “You killed their core?”

  “I did,” Laryn said. “I heard them signaling a retreat. I don’t know how long it will take them to regroup, but you should be safe until the water recedes.”

  “What are you going to do?” Adi asked.

  “We’re going to need something more if we’re going to beat Harrat.” Laryn said, glancing at Kenna. “I’m going to get a spell module”

  Kenna felt cold to the touch, and her shivering was interfering with her ability to walk.

  “I’m going to pick you up,” he said.

  She didn’t reply. He scooped her into his arms, pressing her cold, wet body against his chest. Laryn’s pace increased.

  “Adi, Kenna’s really cold, and shivering. I’m afraid she’s ice-shocked. Or maybe stone-faced.”

  “I’ll ask Hela,” Adi said.

  Laryn continued in silence, straining his ears for sounds of the enemy approaching behind them. He would need to get her somewhere dry and warm, he knew that much. But everything was cold and wet, and even if he had a fire he needed to stay hidden.

  A cave of some sort might be perfect. A dry, warm, non-void infested cave, where they could rest and recover, hiding until Harrat’s men left, and then work their way back to Vallor. He’d take that.

  But he spotted no such cave. Not even a wet, cold cave.

  “Hela says you got to warm her up,” Adi said. “Make a fire if you can, try to get her dry.”

  “That’s what I was worried you’d say,” Laryn said.

  He continued walking.

  Kenna’s eyelashes fluttered, and her eyes unfocused.

  “Hey,” he said softly, “Stay with me. Don’t go to sleep.”

  “I’m sorry,” she muttered.

  “Talk to me,” he said. “What did you do?”

  “I killed him. Harrat can’t know where I am. I won’t let him have the spell module.”

  “Where did you hide it?” Laryn asked.

  “I’m not telling,” Kenna said. “Not telling.”

  She was fading again.

  “Come on,” Laryn hissed through his teeth.

  The water drew closer to him, and he walked closer and closer to the rocky wall. The narrow strip of earth thinned, then disappeared. Laryn’s boots splashed in the swirling water, not too deep but impossibly to see where he was walking.

  The uneven ground beneath the murky water threatened to trip him up, or conceal a deep hole into which he could blindly plunge. His legs shook as he tried to maintain grip on slick rocks and soil.

  He paused, taking a breather. The low rumble of men talking flowed up from behind him. He pressed on.

  Finally the ground rose out of the water, and he was walking on firm ground again. The ridge preventing him from turning to the north crumbled here, and he thought he saw a way to climb to higher ground.

  He took this. Kenna mumbled the words of a children’s nursery rhyme as he climbed.

  The trees here grew taller and thicker. Dense canopies overhead blocked much of the rain water. Beneath the skirt of an ancient pine, Laryn found a dry space.

  He laid Kenna down on the thick matted pine needles, and dug down to soil. He scraped away dry matter, creating a large ring of safety, then dug a small hole to hold a fire.

  He set up several stones, building a small wall to help shield any light from reaching prying eyes, a trick that the scouts in his father’s army had taught him. Then he checked Kenna’s pulse. Her heart beat slowly, and her breathing was shallow.

  Removing his wet cloak, he draped it over her and dug a flint and steel from a pocket. If he’d had any fire affinity, he might have been able to start one with just a spell.

  But he didn’t, so he got to work. The first clump of kindling he prepared got too wet, from water that dripped off his sleeves. He removed his soaking shirt, and hung it from a branch, then started again.

  This time he got a small trickle of smoke, a few burning embers. Blowing carefully on these, he transferred them to his fire pit, carefully adding slightly larger sticks until a small fire burned.

  He placed a large flat stone over his pit, blocking out the light but allowing the fire to burn. Then he moved around, collecting larger sticks.

  Using his sword, he cut them down into various sizes. Master Felwin would have scolded him for that, but sometimes you had to use the tools that you had.

  Carefully adding larger bits of fuel to the fire, he soon had a hot, burning fire going. It warmed him nicely. He moved Kenna closer to the flames, where the heat would help warm and dry her.

  He added a few more stones around the fire, to block out more light, then had an idea.

  Reaching for his magic, Laryn cast elemental [Shield]. A thin stone protection formed in front of him, creating a perfect blind to hide the fire.

  He slipped out from under the tree and into the rain again.

  Some light glowed from the skirt of the tree. Nothing he could do would fully block it out, but at least it wouldn’t shine like a signal through the night. Someone would have to be right on top of them to notice it.

  Back under the skirt of the tree, and to his relief, he found Kenna sitting up, moving closer to the fire. She was still shivering, and had Laryn’s wet cloak pulled closely around her.

  “We need to get you dry,” Laryn said. “Now that there’s a fire going…”

  “I know,” Kenna said, releasing the cloak. He took it, and draped it from a branch where the fire could dry it out. He surveyed her wet clothes.

  “You’re not going to warm up until you get more dry,” he said.

  Kenna wrung water from her dress, then took a shuddering breath as she leaned closer to the fire.

  “I’m okay,” she said. “I’m going to be okay, now that there’s a fire.”

  Laryn didn’t push the issue. She seemed to be doing better, probably from the extra constitution she received for being a [Mage]. He stoked the fire a little, then added more wood. It flared up brightly for a moment, which made him nervous. He didn’t feel confident in their hiding space.

  As the flames died down, orange glow replaced by the red light from the embers, Laryn pushed Kenna for answers.

  “Why did you kill Devlin?”

  Kenna stared at the ground. “He saw me,” she said. “He knows me.”

  “Saw you how? What happened?”

  “When the soldiers started their attack, everyone was falling back to the island. But the water was rising. Somehow Krupp and Devlin had gotten free. Everything was so chaotic, and I was afraid that Harrat was winning, and he was coming for me.”

  She wrung her hands, holding them closer to the fire. Laryn added more wood.

  “I knew I had to run again. But the south bridge was flooded. I had to get away to the north before the soldiers came. When I got to the bridge, I ran into Devlin there. He laughed, and tried to grab me. I had to stop him.”

  “It’s okay,” Laryn said. “You did what you had to.”

  Kenna nodded stiffly.

  “My plan worked, though,” Laryn said. “They were sounding the retreat when I came back.”

  "Great,” Kenna said wryly. “So all that was for nothing.”

  “Who knows when they’ll try again?” Laryn said. “Probably soon. We’ll need something better if we’re going to be able to beat them.”

  Kenna’s brows narrowed.

  “You know that if Harrat gets our kingdom core, it’ll be bad. Think of what he could do with it.”

  “I’m not telling you where the spell module is hidden,” Kenna snarled. “I swore to keep it hidden, and out of Bram’s hands!”