Passenger

Chapter 25

"there's a river here..."

I said that. So did Krys, though his was one of surprise, and mine was one of remembrance. I'd forgotten that a river was between Cassion and the capital – this wasn't new like the ravine had been, at least. Did I ever get an answer on why that had appeared?

Eh, whatever. I glanced at Krys, who was eyeing the fast-moving rapids ahead of us. "we're not...going to swim that." he said nervously, looking at Neb. "are we?"

"of course not! The Erebor river flows far too quickly for us to swim across reliably." Neb scratched his ear absently. "and I think Sarah would probably sink and drown in all that metal."

Sarah scoffed. "you wish. Regardless, Neb's right; we're not gonna swim when we can likely find a ferry or a bridge somewhere close." She paused, eyeing the banks of the river, then nodded to herself. "been awhile since I've crossed at this point, but I'm certain there's a ferry not too far from here. We'll head upstream."

The other two had no better plans, so they followed behind Sarah. I grinned as I recalled a story from a few years ago. "you know, Sarah did try to swim this river, once." I told Krys. "armor and all. Wanted to see if she could do it while we were in a fight or something. Long story short...we hauled her out of the water with a Salmon-catcher's net."

Krys stifled a laugh, then looked at me curiously. "sorry, but...what's a Salmon-catcher?"

"uh, someone that catches Salmon...oh!" I snapped my fingers – well, I tried to – in realization. "you don't know what Salmon are! They're fish – pretty big ones, pink and silver. They swim down the river's rapids during their breeding season, and fishermen come out here to catch them and sell them at the local markets."

The Avian nodded in understanding, turning back to listen to something Neb was saying. I took the chance to float behind Krys and check on his wings. It had been a few days since we had last checked, with everything that had happened with Sarah and all, though I was fairly certain he'd been taking those pills doctor Petre had given him.

Sure enough, there they were. His wings were bigger now; last time they had been around, I dunno, the size of my hand? Now they about the size of my head, reaching down almost to Krys' waist. I could see the dark brown feathers now had flecks of lighter coloration here and there, sort of like you would find on a hawk or falcon. And, if Rose's wingspan was anything to go off of, Krys' wings were only about a quarter of the way fully grown. We'd need to find him some new clothes in order to hide them. Maybe Neb's hoodie would work?

"hey, look over there!" shaken from my thoughts, I looked up to see Neb pointing down the river bank. There, not too far away, was a little hut on the side of the river, a boat moored to a post outside it. "I'm sure we can get them to take across, eh Sarah?"

In response, the Royal Guard folded her arms and eyed the hut. "I've seen better. But also worse." She conceded. "better than nothing, and we can always move on. Let's knock and see."

A few more minutes of walking led us to the door of the hut. It was on a bend in the river, I noted as we approached – that meant the crossing was wider. Why would a ferryman's hut be on a wider spot? Was the water not deep enough in other places or something?

Neb sniffed the air. "um...you guys smell that?" he asked, sounding surprised.

Sarah grunted and shrugged. Krys shook his head. "I don't smell anything. What is it?"

"uh...not sure." Neb frowned curiously. "it's really fruity...maybe some kind of berry? I can't quite tell."

"well, if there's a giant blueberry man in this house, we'll know soon enough." Sarah stepped up to the front door, then pounded on it hard with a gauntleted hand. "Royal Guard! Open up, now!"