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21, Dark River

I've found someone to bring here, an armed search party.

What did you take which got them all to follow you?

A piece of paper. Faithful said.

That's helpful, I mean what's on it?

A whole heap of lines.

Representing what?

The castle.

Oh, I see. Well, good job, we're ready for them to come.

They're coming in now.

Even though Britta knew she couldn't hear over the river, she strained her ears.

"Faithful has led in castle guards." She whispered to Diana, who she knew warned Mable immediately.

Yes, people are coming in. Mable told both of them at once. There are lots of them, and they're fighting.

Are they evenly matched?

Yes. Wait, no. Micah and some others just came in. Mable paused. And now they've made the ground angry.

How does that even work? Britta asked. If Mable answered, Britta was too distracted to hear.

All around her, the ground was trembling.

"Earthquake." Diana shouted.

Britta pushed her sister into the cave as the ledge began to crumble at the edges. She moved to follow her back in, but saw a dark shape fall past her. She stopped, for just a second, in case it was Mable, but Diana called her to tell her she knew Mable was fine. She went to get to safety, but the shaking ground loosened the edge, and her foot slipped. For a moment, her scared eyes met Diana's, and her sister reached out for her. Then Britta was falling.

She had enough time to make another wild grasp and the ledge, before she was in thin air. She was too shocked to scream, and noticed dimly that the rumbling of the shaking ground had stopped. Only seconds later, she was plunged into the cold water and jerked back to awareness.

Every part of her body stung from the impact, and the air was knocked from her chest. Following the bubbles upwards, she surfaced and managed a brief gulp of air before being sucked back under. She noticed a dark shape, slowly floating downwards. Not wanting to lose sight of it, she swum down and pulled it back up. She knew it was a person, and between her, struggling to keep them both afloat and breathing, she realized it was Micah.

In a less dire situation, she would have been somewhere between terrified and disgusted. Terrified of the endless river, and disgusted that she was keeping Micah afloat. When she was a boy in the training camp, she had liked him. Now she was not going to allow herself to like someone who'd never spoken a word of truth. Despite her dislike for him, she couldn't bring herself to just let him drown. Trying to think rationally, she managed to pull off her boots. Struggling with the tie around her waist, she pulled that off too, knowing that everything was weighting her down. She took off her shirt but left the binding on, thinking the bandages might be useful. Micah would notice she was a girl now, but currently? She couldn't care less.

Britta, are you okay? Came Diana's voice.

Oh yes, everything's going swimmingly. She said sarcastically.

Ha. Ha. Did you see who it was that fell.

Micah.

Have you got him?