The Quest

Chapter VII

Chapter VII

They drifted down the river all night, the occasional star peeping through the canopy overhead and into the next morning when the sun rose, spreading its arms across the deep black sky. They made good progress until midday, when the river became extremely shallow and they both had to get out so that the hull didn’t stick on the riverbed or any of the tree roots that wound through it.

Once this was done they both jumped back into the ciosa again and continued to paddle out of the forest, silence hanging between them like a veil. Their paddling settled comfortably into subconscious habit, and they dreamt of far distant lands and powerful men as they floated downstream.

 “Here,” said Ellaime, breaking the silence as he passed her a piece of bread and cheese from the packs that were stashed in the front. Anamaia took it wordlessly and bit it, putting the rest in her lap while she paddled; at intervals she would take one hand off to pick it up and bite it again. It was very soft and a little sweet, but salty at the same time – the Duine bread never went off, so elves never ate stale bread – and Anamaia chewed it slowly, savouring it.

They kept cruising through the forest as the day drifted past, the chirps of the birds forming a soothing background orchestra. Occasionally they saw an otter dancing through the water, and whenever they looked overboard, they were sure to see fish darting in and out of the shadows. Eventually night fell and their way was lit by moonlight and the fireflies that gathered in little random clusters; continuing to wind through the forest Anamaia saw a were-light, dancing on the surface of the water, but as they approached it, it pranced away, floating tantalisingly just out of reach. “Look Ellaime,” she called out, letting go of her paddle with one hand so that it was free to point at the little light.

 “Were-light,” he said knowingly, “I didn’t know there were any so close to our communities.” They passed by where it stood flickering and once they turned a bend in the river it was lost to view, the only lights around them now the fireflies.

They passed through the night and into the next day without any other odd occurrences, and in the morning their tributary joined up with the main river; they navigated the rapids easily, the boat keeping level in the water as they entered the major river, apart from one scare when the bow was in the faster flowing river which caused the ciosa to spin around until they regained control of it. They followed the larger river with no difficulties until later on in the afternoon they followed a bend in the river and came suddenly across a large dam.

 “Camaih!” swore Ellaime, “How do we get past that!”

Anamaia looked around and noticed that, rather helpfully, the banks were fairly flat and not too deep. “We could get out and carry the ciosa up the banks, round and down into the water again; it shouldn’t take too long I don’t think.” Ellaime smiled and jumped out of the boat, standing in the knee high water waiting for Anamaia to get out. “Could you hurry up a little,” he teased, “these boots are long and waterproof but I don’t know if they’ll survive waiting around in a river well.”

Anamaia jumped out and yanked the ciosa up the bank causing Ellaime, who had been leaning on it, to tumble forwards; he caught himself at the last second, but then tripped over a rock that had been concealed under the surface and Anamaia dissolved into laughter. “You know as well as I do that they would have been fine.”

Ellaime surfaced looking extremely angry.

“Why are you angry with me darling, you told me to hurry up,” she mocked.

“I hate you.”

“That’s such a strong sentiment, you really ought to stick to our politeness, it would get you further.”