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Then we dive into the rapid.
Munro paddles hard, steering the raft left and right to stay on track and avoid the obstacles he'd mentioned. We hit a few big waves that swamp us, but nothing like what we'd experienced back in Hermit Rapid. Ashley keeps hold of my hand the entire time, and only when we've left the rapid behind does she loosen her grip on me.
I pull Kincaid's map out of Ashley's pack, where we'd stowed it for safe keeping, and begin to scan the canyon for signposts that match what's on the paper.
"There," Ashley says, pointing toward the cliffs on the left side of the river. "That looks like the squiggles on the map."
"I thought squiggles meant rapids."
"Not on this map." She taps her finger on the snaking line of the river as depicted on the paper. "These little wave shapes are the rapids. They have sharper peaks than the squiggles that are clearly the lighter-colored rock embedded in the cliffs."
Though I had studied the map earlier with Ashley, we didn't want to waste too much time on it then. We need to reach our destination before nightfall. Traveling down the river in the dark would be too risky, and we might miss the landmark that will take us to the place where we need to be.
"Watch on the left, Munro," Ashley says. "We need to land on the flat area at the base of that gorge."
"Aye-aye, captain. Any other orders?"
"Do I need to come up there and skelp you, Munro?" I ask. "Donnae be harassing our fearless leader."
Ashley laughs. "Fearless? I freaked out in Hermit Rapid."
"No, you didn't." I throw an arm around her. "You showed a reasonable amount of panic under the circumstances."
She eyes me sideways. "You're full of shit, but it's endearing. I'm not the leader, though. We're a team."
"Landing spot coming up on the left," Munro informs us. "Doesn't look too difficult."
I keep my arm around Ashley until the raft bumps into the rocky shore. Then Munro and I jump out to push it fully out of the water, far enough away that it won't slide off and float away, leaving us stranded. We also resort to a tactic we haven't felt was necessary until now. We cover the raft with a camouflage tarpaulin. That won't stop someone who seriously wants to steal our raft, but it should deter the casual thieves. I also plant a device from the stash in my "mystery bag," as Ashley calls it, and hide that under the tarpaulin. If someone should attempt to nick our raft, their movements will trigger my security device.
"What is it, exactly?" Ashley asks me. "Your anti-theft whatsit, I mean."
"Donnae fret the details."
Munro grunts. "That usually means it involves explosives."
"Ahmno blowing anybody up." Well, not right here, right now. But I won't share what else is in my stash, not quite yet.
"I know that look," Ashley says, leaning toward me and squinting with obvious sarcasm. "I can practically see little land mines going off in your eyes."
"Only when you rub yourself against me like you're doing right now."
"My body is at least six inches from yours."
I take hold of her upper arms and tug her into me. "No, it's not."
"That's cheating."
Munro snarls, "Are you two done flirting?"
"Jealous, are ye?" I say with a smirk. "When was the last time you had a girlfriend? I used to have one for every day of the week."
Munro snatches up his pack and stalks toward the gorge.
"I think you hit a nerve," Ashley murmurs. "Maybe you should apologize."
"He would batter me for sure if I tried that. Munro isn't the sort who cares if anyone insults him, which is why I'm confused by his reaction a minute ago."
"Grill him later. Let's find the cavern first."
