Page 20 - The Window_ A Foundations' Style Rapier

The horses were stubborn, like they knew something the three riders didn’t. Cortem’s
stopped walking, Lily’s tried to turn around, and Iris’s bucked. Continued from page 18
“Whoa!” shouted Iris as her horse ran off. “Great. Now we’re down to two horses. I’ll wade
through the river, and lead your horses. Then we can take turns walking while two of us ride the
horse.”
So Iris started to wade across. However, the current was stronger than they knew. Iris
stumbled halfway across and was being swept away by the rushing waters! Arms flailing, she
was able to grasp a corner of a rock sticking out from the river.
“No! Iris, hold on! We’re coming!” shouted Cortem. He pushed his horse into a gallop and
tried to grab Iris, but his horse too, bucked and ran back the way they came. He threw Cortem
in the water, and he was just able to swerve to escape from getting impaled on a very sharp
rock jutting out at a deadly angle. He was able to grab it, though. Now, there were two horses
down, and Iris and Cortem were holding onto rocks.
“Lily, leave the horse!”
“No, make it across and come back!”
Just make it to us!”
“Grab a stick to pull us back. We’ll go back to the Ferst.”
Lily looked around. She didn’t get off her horse, but coaxed it to get closer to the river.
She then got off, as to lead it across, but the horse was stronger. Her horse too ran back to the
Ferst. Lily now was on one side of the raging river, and Iris and Cortem were in the middle.
“I have an idea!” shouted Lily above the currents.
“Hurry! I can’t―whoa―hold―whoa―on!” Iris slipped off of the rock, but luckily, as she was
moving downstream, Cortem caught her hand.
Lily did some quick thinking. “Cortem, can you stand up on that rock?”
Cortem nodded while trying hard not to wince. His left arm, the one holding Iris, was
bleeding badly. It had been grazed by another sharp rock that had come loose and barreled
downstream, cutting across his arm. He looked to be in pain, but he didn’t show it. “Good. Get
up on the rock, but don’t let go of Iris. Let me get to the other side.” Lily, instead of wading
through the wide river, tried to hop across the rocks. She almost made it, when the rock she was
standing on broke, leaving her holding another rock far away from Cortem and Iris. So much for
my plan, she thought. Now we’re stuck in an impossible situation. She was about to give up
when Cortem spoke up.
“I―can―try to―move―across―”
“Don’t talk. If you think it’ll work, do it.”
Cortem let go of Iris, who clung onto the rock again. Regaining both of his hands, he was
able to stand up and hold a branch from the trees overhead. Pulling himself upward, he got
onto the tree’s branches and climbed down to the other bank. “Lily, give me your hand!” he
shouted. He was clutching his bleeding arm, but he didn’t look to be in an immense amount of
pain, not compared to when he was in the river.
“No! You’ll be pulled in with me!” Lily looked wildly around. The rock she was on was
lodged against another, smaller rock. If she could move it, she and Iris would be closer together,
and Iris could get out. But she didn’t dare try to lose grip on the slippery rock. She tried kicking
her feet, but the current made them clumsy and useless.
“Cortem, any idea on how to make this rock move?” she called to Cortem.
“Try wiggling the rock back and forth!” he called back.
So she did. Unfortunately, she lost her grip with one hand in the process, but caught
another rock jutting out at an odd angle. Stretched out above the water, Lily was in even worse
shape than before. “Now what?” she called.
“Try jumping!” said Cortem.
Lily did as she was told, having no better ideas herself. In fact, she had no ideas at all!
She gained enough balance, and―
The rock was too slippery. She fell into the water stomach first, narrowly missing the rock
that would have shattered several ribs and given her bruises for months. She was able to lunge
back on to the rock she started on, a good deal away from Iris but closer than any other
nearby ones. She began kicking again, but kicking made her hands slip, so she just stayed still.
19 She didn’t realize that the more time she spent in the river, the more tired she would be to
fight it. She just had to catch her breath and think. She didn’t know a spell to stall a river, much
less the Saeven. It would take majorly advanced magic to do so.
Just then, a loose rock from up the stream came barreling towards her original rock.