I ran for another hour, encountering my fair share of obstacles. When I looked behind me, I saw that my four pursuers had become five. The newcomer was Hieda. That confirmed that she wasn’t running ahead. Thanks to the interference from these kids, I had veered away a fair bit from my original standing in the race, and I was all but bringing up the rear now. Not only that, but I was more exhausted than they were.
They all seemed overjoyed to see me suffer, especially Hieda. I tried to turn my focus away from her unrelenting smile and toward the road ahead, but when I did so, they flung stones and kicked at me. My only choice was to continue running while keeping one eye on the scene behind me.
When I looked over my shoulder for the umpteenth time, I noticed that they had lost their foolish smiles. I wondered why, and it was then that I heard the foreboding sound of rapidly flowing water. Snapping back forward, I was met with the sight of the forest opening to a muddy torrent. It was probably a gentle stream under normal conditions, but the torrential rain had transformed it into rough ocher rapids that offered no chance of resurfacing.
“What the...” I heard Hieda mutter.
This was probably their first time seeing something like this. Maybe they thought pouring rain was a good thing, a chance to shower in the open air. I looked downstream, searching for any rocks that might act as stepping stones.
“What now?” one kid asked.
“We need to cross as soon as we can.”
They weren’t attacking me anymore. They must have known the situation superseded that. I considered going upstream and trying to find a way around when I realized I was forgetting something.
“Six? That’s a lot.”
The deep voice that spoke did not belong to a child but to an adult. Something slammed into me like a moving vehicle, propelling my body into the air. As my vision spun, I spotted Konji’s blond hair. He was standing right behind where I’d been seconds ago. The other children had been knocked into the air by his club too. All of us fell into the filthy water.
It was colder, quieter, darker than I had imagined. It brought to mind my most loathed memory: my moment of death. Air escaped through my mouth as I swam for the surface. I broke it for a second, spluttered, and then the current swallowed me once more. I needed to stop myself on the wall of the bank, otherwise I would have no chance of drawing another breath. An even more powerful current caught me then, flinging me around until I had no idea which way was up. I slammed against rock after rock, like I had become a plaything for giants.
My fingers brushed against a rock above the surface; it was too slippery, and my grip slid right off. It happened again. I couldn’t fail this time. I didn’t have the oxygen for it. I focused my essence on my hand just as Sister had taught me. Despite how poorly I performed when I practiced, I somehow managed a much better attempt this time. Blinded by the flow of the water, I waited for my chance.
Now.
I screamed inwardly—I was pulling up my entire weight with the tips of my fingers. Water turned my clothes to lead. I didn’t have the means to predict if the rock would break suddenly. I just wanted to breathe.
My left hand found another rock. I climbed, bit by bit, keeping my essence focused in my fingertips.
I gasped. One of the rocks had fallen free, leaving me dangling by one hand. Though my whole body was out of the water now, the ocher rapids were right beneath me. I needed to keep my cool and keep climbing. I exhaled quietly and tried to reposition. That was when a kid’s hand shot out of the water and grabbed my ankle.
It was the deerborn boy. He looked desperate. I could feel my bones protesting under his fingers, an iron grip born of the urgent need to avoid death.
“Let go!” I demanded in my own desperation.
“Don’t move, or I can’t climb up!”
I tried to shake him free, but his grip only tightened. He wouldn’t budge. We would both end up in the water again at this rate.
It wasn’t fair. I shouldn’t have to die. I wanted to live, and he was trying to take that from me!
“I’m the only one who gets to survive here,” I said.
Maybe if we cooperated, we could have climbed up together. But I couldn’t justify letting my chances of survival slip by even one percent. I grabbed a fragment of detached rock with my tail. It had become as thin and sharp as a thorn. Just what I needed it to be.
“That’s right. Don’t move.” The deerborn sounded satisfied. He looked up, and that was when he noticed my tail.
By the time he let out a gasp, the fragment was sinking deep, deep into his eye socket. His grip around my ankle loosened rapidly. I saw the light of his eyes go out, which was when his hand finally let go completely. His body fell back, his arm still outstretched as if asking for help, before the rapids swallowed him, and he vanished. I heard the splash distinctly, despite the deafening roar of the water.