“Yes.” Ryker tapped the dirt map with a stick. “We go this way and we’re going to have to travel outside the forest, and it’ll add days to the trip.” He tapped the stick in the other direction. “We go this way and we have to cross the Brim River.”
So this was the reason Ryker had always been staring at these maps. As far as choices, I didn’t know which was worse. They were both bad, though. I’d thought going through the Ruined Forest was rough enough, but crossing the Brim River, if the stories were true, was like agreeing to take a bath in a vat of acid.
“I say we try and cross the river.” Burn pointed to the line that must’ve been the Brim River.
If we went around, I’d have more time to figure out how to break the ward before Ryker sent me to my death. I’d also be a much larger target out in the open.
Ryker’s eyes met mine. “What do you want to do?”
Was he leaving this up to me?
Burn tapped his heel next to the dirt map. “East and cross the Brim River or west and risk being seen?”
I kneeled in the dirt and dug my hand in until I found a worm. It wasn’t as large as I normally would use, but it would do. I cupped my hands and whispered, “Do we go around or straight to the river?”
I placed the worm back onto the ground in the center of the dirt map. The worm wriggled around for a couple of seconds. We all watched it as it crawled and wriggled this way and that before it seemed to head in a definite direction.
“We head east and cross the river.” Now that the choice had been made—by the worm—the reality set in.
Ryker reached forward, picked up the worm right before it disappeared, and then placed it back down. When he leaned back, there was a smirk on his face.
“I’ll go wake the troops and spread the joy.” Burn stood and walked toward the heart of our camp.
Ryker stayed put, as if he knew I wouldn’t let what he did with the worm go. “What was that about?”
“You juiced up the worm.” He smiled, as if I was also part of what was amusing him.
I didn’t like it and I did. It wasn’t like that look, the one he had when our magic was reacting all sorts of crazy. This was something else. Not as hot, but warm and gooey.
I took a couple of steps away. Karma and gooey wasn’t good either.
“You mean like I juiced up Burn?” I asked, getting us back on track and away from any feelings that were warmer than ice cold.
“Yep.”
“How?”
“No idea.”
We all stood on the bank of the Brim River, watching the strange purple current. Before the war had happened, this had been a normal river.
“I’ve heard it burns some people alive,” Ruck said.
I’d heard the same. There were plenty of stories about strange things in this forest, but I’d been hoping some were false. “Why don’t we all dip a finger in and see what happens?”
For a bunch of people who’d agreed to follow the worm’s advice, no one seemed to trust the worm now.
“I’ll go first.” I knelt on the ground, rolled up a sleeve, and saw that Ryker was doing the same. We shoved our hands in at the same time. The stuff might look weird, but it felt like thawed spring water as it rushed over my skin.
I pulled my hand out. “Feels normal to me.”
Ryker removed his hand and shook off the moisture.
I sat back on my heels. “Maybe it’s all made up?”
“Rivers aren’t purple when they’re normal,” Ryker said.
Ruck moved forward and thrust his hand in but pulled it out quickly, waving it about and screaming bloody murder. His flesh was bright red, and I knew it had to be throbbing.
“Burn, you try,” Ryker said.
Burn didn’t look too eager, but he did it anyway. “It feels like warm bathwater.”
“It was warm for you?” Ryker asked.
“Was it cold for you?” I asked Ryker.
He nodded. The river water reacted to magic. The more you had, the more it felt as it was supposed to.
We all looked at Sneak.
Sneak walked over and dipped a hand in, letting his fingers flutter for a few seconds, as if he enjoyed the feel. He finally lifted them out. “Hot bathwater, but nice.”
I did the math. Four with magic, and two without. I wouldn’t be able to carry anyone across, but we had carriers to spare.
“I’ll cross first,” Ryker said. He looked at me. “Once I get across and it’s fine, you follow.”
It made sense. I’d seen firsthand how he could clear out an area. If there was something waiting on the other side of the river, he’d flush it out.
Burn walked toward Ruck. “I’ll take Ruck.”
“Then I’ll get Sinsy across,” Sneak said.
Sinsy and Ruck were agreeing, but neither seemed confident. I knew if that water was capable of boiling me, I wouldn’t want to go across on someone’s shoulders.
“From the looks of it, the water gets pretty deep. You’ll have to go on their shoulders, on unsteady terrain,” Ryker said.
He was giving them a chance to change their minds, and I was watching closely, hoping at least one of them would take him up on the offer. This was what I’d wanted from the beginning: them away from this danger.
“We’re good,” Ruck said for the both of them.
Maybe it was my imagination, but there was a flash of disappointment on Ryker’s face. He didn’t hesitate long. He turned and stepped into the river. “Don’t cross until I get to the other side.”
We all watched him cross, getting in deeper and deeper until his shoulders barely cleared the water by a couple of inches. I wasn’t sure I breathed until he got across the hundred-foot expanse.
It was as if it hit us all at the same time. Sneak was too short to get Sinsy across, even squatting on his shoulders. He was at least four inches shorter than Burn and five or so shorter than Ryker.
“I’m too short to get her across without her getting burned,” Sneak said. He was devastated.
“Maybe we should all turn around and you guys should go back to the—”
Sinsy was shaking her head before I’d finished my sentence. “Absolutely not.”
Burn patted her on the shoulder. “Bugs, you go across. I’ll bring Ruck and then come back for Sinsy.”
Out of the five of us on this side of the bank, I was the only one who didn’t seem on board with the new plan.
Ryker gave me a signal that the other side was clear, but I stalled. “Maybe we should worm it.”
Sinsy shook her head and waved her hand. “This will be a breeze. We don’t need the worm.”
They all stared at me as if to say, Get going. It was a river. A funny one, but not the end of the world. I nodded and headed in.
I was on my tiptoes and bouncing off the bottom by the time I hit the middle of the river. The current was pushing me farther downstream as I pushed forward. Ryker stood on the bank, at the ready to jump in after me.
“I got this,” I yelled, feeling better as the ground rose and I made it past the halfway point. Moving quicker now, I grabbed the stick Ryker held out to me. Then he wrapped his hand around my wrist and pulled me the rest of the way out.
I’d just gotten to dry land when I heard one of the scariest sounds you could hear in these parts. It was a horde of chewers. They’d been wolves once upon a time, until the War of 810 had turned them into something much fiercer. I’d heard them before on the outskirts of the Ruined Forest, but they didn’t usually leave the woods.
I spun, trying to determine where the sound was coming from, and saw one burst from the forest across the bank. The last of our group was quickly surrounded as a pack of twelve emerged. They would’ve looked like regular wolves except for the fangs that hung down twice as long as they should. The eyes glowed red, and they swiped with claws coming out of their paws.
“Get in the water,” Ryker screamed across the bank, already heading back across to help them.
They all turned, backs to us to face the chewers. “Hurry!” I screamed as I jumped in myself, Ryker ahead of me.
Burn was using his flame to ward them off as Sneak slashed his sword. Sinsy let an arrow fly, but it fell short. Ruck was squatting down, dagger in hand. They all were backing toward the water.
Water that had grown a lot warmer since I’d first crossed. It wasn’t quite burning yet, but it was becoming uncomfortable.