I smacked another arrow down with my sword and pulled glamour from the air, feeling it swirl around me. With a sharp gesture, I sent a f lurry of ice darts into the bushes lining the riverbank. The shards ripped through the leaves, shredding them as they passed, and painful shrieks rose into the air.
Ariel a stood, her bow in hand, pulling back the string. She didn’t have a quiver, but glamour shimmered around her, and a gleaming ice arrow formed between her fingers just as she released the string. It f lew into the bushes with a thump, and a small, pale body tumbled out of the ferns into the river.
“Nice shot, Ari,” Puck crowed as the Wolf drew close to shore. The hail of arrows thinned, and the marauders shrieked as the Wolf dragged his dripping black form out of the water and shook vigorously. Yelp-ing, they f led, scattering into the bushes, and the Wolf lunged after them with a roar.
“Go get ’em, Wolfman!” Puck cheered, as the attackers vanished into the trees. “Looks like he scared them off, whatever they were.” I saw movement on the banks ahead and narrowed my eyes. “Don’t be too sure about that.”
Something small and pale like the other forms scrambled onto a rock jutting out over the water. Seen clearly, it looked like a squat, bipedal newt with slimy white skin and a froglike mouth full of teeth. Its beady eyes were filmy and blue, unlike the bright crimson of the others, and it wore a strange headdress on its naked skull.
Raising a staff in both claws, it started chanting.
“That can’t be good,” Puck muttered.
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“Ari,” I called, ducking as another hail of darts f lew at us from the bush. The natives were definitely protecting their shaman. “Take him down now!”
Ari pulled back and released an arrow, a perfect shot that would’ve gone right through the shaman’s chest had another creature not leaped in front of him, taking the lethal blow itself. I f lung a hail of shards at him, but several newt creatures sprang up and huddled around him, shrieking as the darts tore into them, but not moving. The chanting continued as the raft drifted by, taking us out of reach.
Around us, the water started to boil.
I drew my sword as a monstrous coil broke the surface of the river, black and shiny and thicker than my waist. Puck yelped, and Ariel a cringed back. A huge head reared out of the water with a screech and an explosion of nightmare debris. Not a snake or a dragon; this monster had a round, lipless mouth lined with sharp teeth, built for sucking instead of biting. A giant lamprey, and where there was one, there were usually more.
“Puck!” I yelled, as the raft spun wildly and two more giant eels rose out of the water. “If we end up in the water, we’re dead! Don’t let them crush the boat!”
The first lamprey lunged at me, snaking in for an attack. I stood my ground and slashed upward with my blade, cutting through its f leshy maw. The lamprey screamed and reared back, mouth split in two, thrashing wildly. From the corner of my eye, I saw Ariel a shoot an arrow right into the mouth of another eel, which convulsed fiercely and sank back into the depths. The third lunged for Puck, mouth gaping, but at the last moment Puck leaped aside, and the lamprey struck the boat instead, razor teeth sinking into the wood. It started to pull back, 113/387
but not before Puck’s dagger f lashed down, stabbing the top of its head.
Shrieking, the eell coiled its entire body around the raft, squeezing hard. The planks creaked and started to snap in places as the mortally wounded lamprey clung to it with the strength of death. I spun and sliced through a coil, cutting it in two, but with a final snap, the raft splintered, f lying outward in an explosion of wood and dumping me into the river.
The current caught me instantly, dragging me down. still clutching my sword, I fought to the surface, calling out for Ariel a and Puck. I could see the lamprey as it sank below the surface, coiled around the remains of the raft, but my companions were nowhere to be seen.
Something struck me in the back of the head. My vision went dark for a moment, and I fought to keep my head above water, knowing that if I lost consciousness now, I would die. Brief ly, I hoped Puck, Ariel a and Grimalkin were all right; that they would survive, even if I did not.
Then the current pulled me under again, and the River of Dreams took me away.
CHAPTER EIGHT
THE HOBYAHS
I awoke on my stomach, my cheek pressed into something hard, river water soaking my clothes. There was a dull roar in my ears, which I quickly discovered was the river behind me. I listened for other things, for familiar voices and the rustle of movement, for a snide feline voice asking if I was finally awake, but there was nothing. It seemed I was alone.
Slowly, I pushed myself up, testing for sharp pain and broken bones, anything that seemed out of place. Though there was a gash across my forehead and a throbbing ache in my skull, nothing seemed seriously injured. I was lucky this time. I hoped the others were as fortunate.