The Unending Epic Written to Appease a Friend, Tell a Tale, an...

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          They take off into the trees. The men's cries are close behind. "Where can we go?" Asher says. "We're already at the foot of the mountains.

          "To... the river," May pants. They tear down the hill. An arrow thuds into a tree next to them and May says something violently in her own tongue.

         They come to the river. It's no more than fifteen paces across, and shallow as it tumbles through the trees. Asher and May splash into it and May sinks down to her knees.

         "What are you doing?" Asher cries. "They're right behind us!" She has her hands cupped in the water, and she's whispering words he can't understand. He goes to her and tries to lift her up, but she pushes him away.

          "Trust me!"

          He looks back the way they came. The sound of someone crashing through the brush is drawing nearer.

          May returns to the water. In her own tongue, she whispers, "Please, O River, help us. You are the attendant of my mother, you feed her and supply her. Protect her child. Protect us from the harm wicked ones wish upon us. Please O River. Protect the child of the one you attend."

          As she speaks, Asher watches the woods with trepidation. He can hear someone drawing closer, and then Saman appears from the trees. He holds a bow, and when he sees May kneeling in the river he nocks an arrow. "I've got you, you witch." He draws the arrow back, but Asher leaps to stand between him and May.

          "Leave her alone!" Asher shouts. "She hasn't done anything to deserve being hunted like this."

          "Move, boy," Saman snarls. "I won't feel any guilt if the arrow has to go through you get to her."

          Asher doesn't budge.

          "So be it."

          He raises the arrow to his eye and looses. With a cry Asher tries to leap toward May and knock her out of the way. They tumble into the water, and yet there's no sting of flint, no burning cut. Bewildered, he turns around.

          Saman's arrow hangs in midair. Faint mist swirls around it, twining from the surface of the water. Saman's mouth hangs agape. Asher's likewise. The mist gathers into a vague form beside the arrow. As if from all around them, a voice speaks.

          "Leave them," it commands.

          Saman takes a frightened step backward. He drops his bow and reaches into his shirt, drawing out a pendant with a shaking arm. He holds the amulet, on which is graven the image of a scythe, toward the figure. "I am a servant of Ninbaba."

          "He has no power here," the voice responds. "Now be gone!" The man is thrust back into the trees as if struck by an invisible arm. Frantically he scrambles up and disappears. For a moment the mist swirls, and Asher and May stay perfectly still. Then, as if it had never been, the mist dissipates, and the arrow falls into the stream.

          May places her lips against the running water. "Thank you," she whispers.