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“How did you know it was there? I didn’t hear anything.” I swung my legs over so he could sit beside me, his back against the trunk and one leg bent up.
“I had to take a piss. Just happened to see it in the distance as I was laying back down, then climbed up here to wake you.” He wasn’t boasting. He spoke as if it was the normal thing to do—to look out for me.
I dipped my head in thanks and gave a tight smile. Not sure how to feel about having someone around, even someone as helpful as Njall, but grateful for it nonetheless. We sat in silence with our legs hanging over the edge of the branch until the sun began to rise before we made our way down the tree and continued toward the mountain.
The first dawn.
After finding a spot up the river that wasn’t moving as rapidly, we swam across. The bottom was deep, too deep to see or touch. Njall had to help me through the water, keeping myblood-covered arm above the surface so the riddle didn’t wash away.
“We should refill the canteens before continuing. I’ll go see if I can find anything edible in those bushes if you want to take care of the water.” Njall said, handing me his canteen from a pocket on the side of his pants.
“Alright. But watch out for tanganats. They look like little orange balls hanging from bush leaves mimicking berries,” I warned while removing the canteen from my dripping belt.
Njall blanched. “Do they bite?”
“Not your skin. But they’re venomous parasites that will chew through your intestines if you consume them.”
“Right,” he squeaked out before slowly walking away.
I chuckled as I made my way back down to the bank of the river. I would check whatever he brought back before we ate anything.
Opening the canteens, I bent down to submerge them in the cold water one at a time. I did my best to hurry. With the rapids, I couldn’t hear if Njall shouted for me.
I didn’t see the dark shadow moving through the water. I didn’t hear the thrashing of the tail on the surface as it came in my direction. It wasn’t until a long snout full of serrated teeth burst out of the water that I realized the river contained monsters.
Within a fraction of a second, the creature broke through the surface of the water and wrapped its teeth around my leg. I barely had time to comprehend what was happening, let alone scream before it dragged me from the bank, slamming my head against the ground, and pulled me under the water.
I had the good sense to expel my lungs before being submerged but aside from that, I couldn’t think outside of the pain searing my leg while the creature carried me further down. Twisting and kicking did nothing but tear my wounds more.The creature’s bite was firm—there was no chance of pulling myself free. My lungs were aching. With my instincts finally functioning, I pulled a dagger from my back. I bent forward against the swift current and stabbed the black, gaping holes in the creature’s face where its eyes should be.
My blood clouded the water when the creature released its hold on me and pushed myself to the surface as fast as I could with my arms and uninjured leg, leaving a trail of red in the wake behind me. The moment I felt myself breach the surface, I gulped down air into my burning lungs. I scrambled to the bank, grappling with the dirt to pull myself out of the water.
The creature burst from the river again, snapping its jaws. I rolled out of the way just in time and screamed. Ignoring the pain in my leg, I quickly got to my feet and backed away, arming my other hand with a dagger from my thigh. I couldn’t run. At least not fast enough to get away, and I was not turning my back on the beast before me. Hopefully, it couldn’t walk on land. Otherwise, I would have to fight it. Or perhaps it couldn’t breathe air and would have to return to the river soon. Maybe I just needed to get far enough away before it gave up.
As if hearing my thoughts and taking it as a challenge, the creature slowly emerged from the water. Its head was half the size of me, and its skin was covered in a slimy-looking substance. Its body was long with a pointed tail flicking at the end of it and was carried by two legs with claws at the end of webbed feet.
I had never seen nor read about any type of water creature in the Trials. I had no idea what I was up against. I did know that it could be wounded, as blood seeped from its eye sockets.
It stalked toward me as I slowly backed away before it came at me again with a strike so fast I barely escaped its jaws once again. Its head landed next to me and I drove both daggers into its skull. It was then that I learned that the translucent, slimysubstance was acidic, and burnt my skin as my wrists touched the top of its head.
The creature hissed and thrashed its head from side to side. I was flung down the bank from the force and landed painfully on the side with my injured leg. I grunted from the impact but never took my eyes off the beast. I watched with wide eyes, as it continued to hiss and screech and claw at itself, trying to dislodge the blades anchored in its skull, tail lashing from side to side in an attempt to remove them.
I heard the clamor of metal dropping to the ground a mere second before hands hooked underneath my arms and pulled me away. I grabbed his discarded sword and whipped my head up to look at Njall. The color had drained from his face as he watched the dying creature in horror.
I gritted through my teeth as he sat me up against the trunk of a tree, far enough away from the water and the beast.
He took his sword from me, while his eyes remained trained on the creature until it finally stopped thrashing a few moments later. He sheathed his sword and dropped to my side. His eyes roamed over my body, taking in my injuries as I tore off a strip of my shirt. They were hard and cold, so unlike what I had seen so far even when he was taking on those Gaolin males. I started to shiver, and I wasn’t sure if it was from the chill of the water, my nerves, or the pain.
“Shit…” Njall whispered.
He took the makeshift bandage from me and rolled up my pant leg to expose my shredded calf. I couldn’t tell where the wounds were underneath all the blood coating my skin. I removed my soaked jacket and winced as the leather ripped at the skin it was seared onto from the acidic slime.
Without asking, I dried my arm on Njall’s pants. They were still damp but at least more dry than mine. Then I reached down and gathered blood from my leg onto my fingertip. Hisbrows scrunched, but he didn’t question me as I re-wrote the washed-away riddle on my forearm. He corrected me on one word, but didn’t say anything else as I finished and slumped back against the tree.
Njall took my jacket and gently wiped away as much blood as he could before he wrapped my leg with the scraps of my shirt.
“We shouldn’t have separated,” he said in a low voice. His face was tense.
“Don’t worry about it,” I grunted. “I’ve never read of anything like that before. You?”
