He pushes us more toward the left side of the large, thundering river. I assume his tail must have something to do with it. Now we are on a direct path toward the tree trunk lying halfway in the water, its large branches jutting out in every direction.
After a few more minutes of being carried through the current, he latches onto one of the thick branches with his free arm, his chameleon-like hands digging his claws deep into the bark.
I grab onto one as well.
"Use the branches to start pulling yourself closer to the river's edge. I'll follow right behind you," Drasuk instructs.
"I don't think I can," I yell over the rushing water. "Broken ribs."
"This will hurt, then," he yells back, then I feel his tail go around my waist and tighten.
It does fucking hurt, but it also makes me a lot more confident.
I start the slow and challenging process of pulling myself to shore. It's hard because the strong current keeps knocking my body forward into the jagged branches and rough bark of the tree. I'm once again thankful for my new tougher hide, since only my chest, face, and palms take damage as I drag myself over.
Drasuk stays right next to me and makes sure my grip doesn't slip. I try not to think about just how easy it would be for the current to suck me beneath the surface and under the tree trunk. I'm not sure I would avoid drowning a second time.
It takes some time, but eventually my hands reach the pebbled ground right next to the water's edge. My feet can also touch the bottom here. I crawl out of the rough water and collapse onto my back, huffing out rapid, painful breaths.
A few moments later, Drasuk makes it out and sits beside me.
"How serious are those bleeding wounds?" he asks me.
"Nothing all that bad."
Mostly, I'm just exhausted and winded. I lay there for a couple of minutes, just inhaling and exhaling, trying to get more oxygen back into my body. My dazed eyes lazily move to the big blue lug.
He's breathing hard, too.
Once I feel some of my strength return, I push myself up into a sitting position next to him.
"Thank you, Drasuk. That would have killed me. Pretty sure you grabbed me right before I drowned."
Drasuk makes his pleased rock grinding sound. "I should start keeping a tally of how many times I need to save you because you aren't strong enough," he teases between breaths.
I weakly huff out a laugh. Even now, he's still making jokes at my expense.
The big jerk. I like his style.
Then I look around. We are still surrounded by dense foliage, but I also see what looks like a mountain range in the distance. "Excrement, how far downstream did we go?" I inquire.
Drasuk looks around. "The current took us far. We are quite a distance west of where we entered the water."
My head snaps in his direction. "How do you know that?" I ask.
"Wind," he replies simply.
I stare at him longer for clarification, yet the meaningful look goes over his head. Or he just ignores me.
Probably that.
"So, where do we go from here, then?" I ask.
"I'm not sure at the moment. Either way, we are definitely being hunted right now, and not just in the more general sense. Now that Xar'Ar'ax is aware of my presence here, he will continue to track us."
Too bad I lost both my daggers to that fucker with him. The first one when he grabbed me, and the second to get away from him. The gun is smashed against a tree somewhere, the imprint of my body probably in the bark like those Wile E. Coyote cartoons after getting tail-tossed into it.
A tail is a stupid advantage.
