If I survived the fall, I would be bashed against rocks, held beneath the surface, and my body would be found limp and swollen with water. But when I turned to see the men paces away with malice in their eyes, I rolled toward the edge of the bank.
Fear widened their eyes as I felt the ground’s edge along the side of my hip.
“No!” yelled the green-eyed man.
The shout was hardly perceptible over the deafening sound of the water. I knew what would happen in this river, but I didn’t know what would happen if those men trapped me in that rope. Death was difficult to fear when life was so inconsequential. But capture could make this vapid reality more painful and horrible than I knew.
So I rolled and fell.
The water came faster and harder than expected.
Stark cold engulfed me as my body slapped the surface and was pulled under, flipping and turning like a limp doll. Air left my body in an instant, and agony licked up my leg as I spiraled, flying with the current. My cloak and the attached netting dragged me down like lead, trapping my arms as they wrapped around my body.
I needed to find the surface, to breathe, but I couldn’t tell which way was up or down as the water accelerated and dragged me like I was no more than a broken tree limb.
It would be so easy to give into the water.
Merelda would be crushed.
Sanity returned, and I fumbled with the clasp of my cloak until it released, taking the netting with it. Now, I could move.
I opened my eyes to see white foam above and another boulder in my path. Calling on all that was left, I readied my body before my feet slammed into the stone. Muscles bunched and pushed, and I surged to the surface. One gasp of blessed air was all I managed before being dragged down again. I curled my body into a ball, and I sank even as I was pulled by the currents.
Perfect.
My knees brushed what seemed like the bottom, and I planted my feet and sprung up to the surface. I breathed once, sank, became a ball, and did it again.
I continued the exhausting cycle, hardly feeling the bruises and cuts from jagged edges, invigorated by my newfound ability to work with the water as it carried me far away from the men. Time blurred, and at some point, the river became shallow and calmer. I surfaced for another breath and was gently swept into another boulder. Relief flooded me as my feet easily touched the bottom.
Leaning fully against the rock, I stood, finally feeling the coldness and aches pervading every bone and muscle and ounce of skin. I wanted to stay there for ages, resting forever, but the cold was deadly.
After all I’d just survived, I couldn’t die from mere cold. That would just be pathetic.
Holding on to the rock, I took a few tentative steps toward the bank, only letting go when I felt sure enough in my footing. The caution wasn’t necessary. In the relaxed current, walking was easy, and thewater was at my ankles soon enough as I waded toward the bank.
I collapsed onto my hands and knees in the mud. The small, still puddle before me was filled with silt. As tempting as it was to drink, the risk of disease was too high. I’d have to collect water in my flask and boil it later.
My focus shifted away from the debris in the water and to my reflection.
Braid long gone, my dull blonde hair, streaked with light browns, hung in dark, twisted cords down to the puddle. Small cuts dotted my forehead, and I followed their trail down to my nose—
And then I saw violet and gold.
I lurched away, landing on my ass. The lighting—the lighting had to be playing with the colors. Scrambling to another puddle, I thrust my face above the water.
In this one, too, purple was a thick ring that gave way to gold by my pupil.
Not lighting, then, but minerals reflecting their shades into my eyes. It had to be.
But no other coloring was changed. My skin was still light, my brows still curved and dark, my lips still small and pink. It was only the dull brown of my eyes that was different. Unnatural.
The same eyes as the woman with the violet cloak, who had made me see brightness and shapes as her gaze drilled into mine.
“Her eyes,”that tree man had said.
Laughter bubbled.
This…this wasinsane.Utterly mad. Completely impossible—this entire day.
