They made good time as the day started with a long descent. Going downhill, while tough on the knees and quads, was still a lot easier than climbing up. As a result, Maria didn’t find herself needing to sample the mysterious alien elixir just yet. And, as she’d guesstimated, it was just shy of three hours before they reached the winding expanse of water.
Tall trees flanked either shore, submerged up their trunks, showing just how much the water had risen in a short period. And that water was movingquickly. It was also muddier than it appeared from a distance, the churn of storm runoff mixing things up and making it look even more imposing. This was definitelynotsomething she wanted to try to swim across.
Fortunately, Zepharos was of the same mind.
“Help me gather fallen branches,” he said, dragging a length that was as thick around as his forearm.
“Are we building a raft?”
He looked genuinely shocked at her answer. “Yes, actually. Very perceptive.”
“Not like there’s much else we could do with a bunch of wood. I mean, a bridge is out of the question.”
“True. But if you look downriver, do you see the fallen tree? The one jutting into the river from the opposite shore?”
Maria squinted and surveyed the area. Her eyesight was nowhere near as sharp as his enhanced vision, but she soon picked out the shape of a tree laying in the water to about the halfway point maybe two hundred meters downstream.
“I see it.”
“Good. That’s what we’re going to aim for.”
“Excuse me?”
“Look at the far side. The water is much faster near the far shore and would likely wash us away. But this tree can be accessed where the flow is slower.”
“It’s still plenty fast.”
“I know. But it is still better than the alternative. We just need to reach it. And that’s where the raft comes in. Now help me find more branches. The sooner we’re across the better.”
Maria couldn’t argue that, and she set to work in a hurry, surveying the area for suitable specimens.
“Ow! Fucker!”
Zepharos dropped the branch in his arms and hurried to her side. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
Maria plucked a small insect with a nasty set of pincers from her leg. “Little bastard bit me!”
Zepharos’s shoulders relaxed. “It’s just a Formikan. Nasty bite but harmless.”
“Tell that to the welt on my leg.”
He bent over and gently touched the red spot. “You may hurt, but you are harmless.”
“Ha, ha. Funny.”
“I thought so. Now help me bind these. I think we have enough for our purposes.”
They worked well together, Maria holding the branches close while Zepharos cinched them together with one of the many knots he apparently knew. Whether it was from his youth as an outdoorsman or some kinkier games in his adulthood she didn’t know, but all that mattered was they had fashioned a crude raft in no time. Now all that remained was the risky part.
“Grab hold here. I had enough extra cordage to make a loop for you to put your hand through.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll be fine. Now lay here and I’ll get us underway.”
She did as he said and lay down on the raft which he then pushed out into the water wading after it until he was waist deep. With a powerful push of his legs he guided them out into the current, jumping aboard and paddling with makeshift oars of wood and bark. They weren’t great, but beggars couldn’t be choosers, especially not in this situation.
“It’s working!” Maria cheered as they slipped into the fast-moving water.
