The Lost and Found

Chapter 8

Leaving the horses, the group packed up the bandits' loot and headed across the bridge. Hak kept an eye on the bridge, noting the places where the boards seemed weak. It was a wooden and old, and it seemed like damp had finally gotten to some of the boards.

"Watch your step," he cautioned the group and trained his eyes on Yona.

She was walking in front of him, fox-form Sumi standing on her shoulder, half-draped across her head. She glanced back at him, making the fox-girl readjust her stance. "I'm fine, Hak."

"Yeah, somehow I think you'd be the one person who would step on a rotten board," he said, making a face at her.

She stuck her tongue out at him and turned forward. Sumi jumped from Yona's shoulder to Yoon's, but the boy genius wasn't giving out free rides.

"You have four feet, you can walk," he said as he plucked her off his shoulder and set her on the bridge. She froze and then curled up in a little ball, her fluffy tail covering her nose. Hak stopped and picked her up before sticking her on his shoulder.

When they had first started to cross the bridge, Sumi had been reluctant to go. She had paced around in her fox-form, flicking her tail back and forth, and jumping out of reach whenever anyone grabbed at her. Finally, Hak had lured her in with a piece of pork jerky and snatched her. She had squirmed and put up a silent fuss until they had gotten a third of the way across the bridge, then she had calmed down a little.

"Can't swim, can you?" he asked, casting a sidelong look at the little fox. She responded by hitting him in the face with her tail. "That's a yes."

Sumi glanced at him and then leapt forward from his shoulder to land on Yona's shoulder again. She grinned, running a hand over the fox girl's big pointy ears. "That's right, you like me more than you like Hak, don't you?"

Hak rolled his eyes. Like he cared...

They were almost all across the river when something cracked. Yoon and Yona had stepped on the same board at the same time, and it couldn't bear the weight. There was a split second where everyone froze and Yoon and Yona looked at each other before the board shattered and dropped out from under them, taking the board in front of it when Yoon tried to grab onto something.

Hak dove forward to catch them, but his fingers closed around empty air. He almost headbutted Jae-Ha, who had been right in front of Yoon, Yona, and Sumi. The drop wasn't far, but the river was fast, and they were all already being dragged off by the current.

"Yona!" Kija shouted, and his clawed hand almost took off Hak's head as he reached down through the hole. It was too late.

"Kija, go down the river!" Hak shouted at the white dragon, "See if you can catch them, Shin-Ah, Zeno, go with him!"

The other two took off, racing down the river bank while Kija hurried after them.

There was a splash, and Hak turned to see that Jae-Ha was already in the water, swimming as hard as he could. Hak tossed his glaive and yanked off his boots and robe before diving in after him.

He surfaced and worked with the current, following right after Jae-Ha. In front of him, he could see three heads bobbing up and down. Sumi must have turned back into a human out of shock.

The river was fast and wide, and as they rounded the bend, the water turned white with rapids. Fear surged through Hak, not for himself but for the others. He saw Yona go under as the water dropped over a small rapid, but she quickly came back up, straining to get to the shore. While she was an all right swimmer in calm lakes, swimming in a river was totally different, especially when the water was rough.

"Hak!" she screamed as the river gained speed.

"I'm coming!" he shouted back, pushing himself harder. He could see Yoon struggling to swim to shore, but he also had one hand on Sumi, trying to keep her head above water. She was paddling as well as she could, but her red-haired head kept dipping beneath the water.

Yoon wasn't even a great swimmer himself. Sure, he knew the basics, but he had been raised during a drought in the Fire Clan territory. Swimming wasn't a priority. He waded in the pool of the waterfall back at Ik-Soo's sometimes, but that was it. But he had learned a few things from talking to others during their travels.

"Don't put your feet down," he called to Yona, "They could get stuck in the rocks!"

"Over here!" Kija shouted. He was leaning out over the water, his hand enlarged to enormous proportions. Zeno and Shin-Ah were holding onto his clothes so he could lean over as far as possible. "Yoon, Yona!"

"Yona, swim toward Kija," Yoon said, realizing that he and Sumi were on the wrong side of the river to reach him in time. There was no way they would make it back over there in time.

"What about you?" Yona cried.

"Yona, you dummy, just go!" Yoon said. He needed to get himself and Sumi to shore, and he was scared of losing his grip on the girl. "Don't go fox, understand?" If she shifted to her fox shape, he would lose his grip on her. Wide-eyed in terror, she nodded and kicked her legs.

Hak felt a rush of relief as Kija reached down and lifted Yona straight up out of the water with one hand and pulled her onto the rock. She collapsed against him, and all four of them fell back into a pile. Yona recovered first and she scrambled to her feet. "Yoon! Sumi!"

Jae-Ha could see the two youngest of their group bobbing ahead of him, neither of them doing very well. He hurried, using the strength of his leg to propel him forward.

They rushed down the river, both of them going under as they hit another rapid. Yoon hit the bottom, and the jolt ripped Sumi from his grip. Under water, he tried to grab her, but the current snatched her and carried her off.

When he managed to get back to the surface, he couldn't see her. Her redhaired head wasn't visible above the water.

A strong hand latched onto the back of his shirt and yanked him back. Jae-Ha grabbed him by the arm. "Couldn't wait until later to swim?"

"Sumi's not here!" Yoon said, looking around frantically. Had he lost her? He couldn't have lost her!

A moment later and Hak burst out of the water, an arm around Sumi. The little girl was coughing and spluttering, but she was alive. Yoon and Jae-Ha both let out a breath.

"That's everyone," Hak said. Jae-Ha started swimming toward the shore, followed by Hak.

When they reached land, the rest of their group was already there. Hak passed Sumi to Jae-Ha, concern on his face. "Is she okay?" Jae-Ha had more experience with water-based injuries and dangers, seeing how he had partially grown up on a pirate ship.

"She'll be all right," Jae-Ha said. He set the trembling girl on the ground and patted her back, getting her to cough up the water she had breathed in. "She's mostly just scared."

Well, Hak knew how that felt. He looked around and found Yona hugging Yoon, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"I thought you were going to drown!" Yona said.

"Ditto," Yoon replied, exhausted.

Hak sighed and walked over to the two of them. Without warning, he grabbed them both and hugged them to him, pressing his face into the top of Yona's hair for a moment. Okay. They were all right. He could calm down now.

"Hak, you're squishing us..."

"Thunder Beast...I...can't breathe..."

Hak held onto them for a moment longer and then released them. He looked down at Yona and touched her chin, turning her face toward him. There were a few scratches on her cheeks, and she was absolutely soaked. The majority of them were. They needed a fire so everyone could get warmed up.

Jae-Ha walked over, holding Sumi on his hip. She had her forehead resting against his shoulder, and she looked absolutely exhausted, golden eyes half-closed. Hak reached over and tugged gently on her hair, but she didn't look up. Yona and Yoon looked like they were about to fall over too...

"Let's make camp," he said, "Right here."

It was a better idea than forcing their soggy, dripping group to march to the next town.