Friday, May 25, 2018

Row

The Heroes of Fannen-Dar, Chapter 24

They took my daggers, otherwise I would be able to cut these ropes,” Hudtan said. The boat drifted closer to the writhing waters of the hungry, angry fish.

Anzo grunted and tensed his arms, but gave up again. “They’re too tight to break!” he complained. Gwynt was twisting and turning at the back of the rowboat, trying to slip out of his bonds. Robin just sat and tried to think.

“Could we get the fish to bite the ropes off?” she said.

“They would be more likely to just bite our wrists,” Hudtan said. Robin frowned.

She heard the revelry of the goblins turn into tumult, and watched as many of the goblins drew their weapons and moved away from the lake. She thought it might be some sort of cave beast that distracted them. She hoped it was something big enough to eat all of them, although that wouldn’t stop the fish from devouring Bedlam.

“At least we’re safe as long as we’re in the boat,” Anzo said. Robin then heard a sound like a cork being popped out of a jar. She looked down to see water squirting up from a hole in the bottom of the boat, with a cork lying next to it. As she watched, another cork popped up, creating another leak, and she realized that the bottom of their boat was covered in corks plugging various holes. A piranha head tried to poke through the most recent hole, though it couldn’t fit. The popped cork had blood coated on the bottom side, which had attracted the piranhas to push against it. Anzo grunted. “Well, that’s pretty clever, even I have to admit.”

Robin struggled against the bonds, rubbing the ropes against the side of the boat to try and fray them. They remained thick as before. She tried looking around the cavern for anything that could help, anything that might save them...and then she looked up.

“Look out!” she shouted, just as the man landed feet-first in the rowboat. The boat rocked and tilted, but Anzo threw his weight towards the higher side to stabilize. However, more water sloshed over the side. The piranhas seemed to have realized that a meal was forthcoming, and were swarming the boat.

The man who had fallen from above quickly righted himself, then started untying Gwynt’s bonds. “No time to explain!” he said. “Just get everyone free, then think of how we can escape!”

Once Gwynt was freed, he drew a dagger that had been hidden somewhere on his person. Robin held out her hands so that he could slice the ropes, then move on to Hudtan. Hudtan immediately started plugging the stoppers back in the holes. A piranha inserted its head into one just as she had her hand by it, snapping at her fingers and drawing blood. Hudtan flinched and pulled back, but Robin quickly grabbed the stopper and slammed it down on the fish’s face. She then turned to the stranger, who had stood up and started reaching for the ceiling.

“Who are you?!” she said.

He looked down at her. “What, you don’t remember clocking me two nights ago?”

Robin scooted back from him. “You’re that guard?!”

“Yes, and now I’m guarding you.” He reached again, but started to lose his balance. Anzo grabbed his shirt and pulled him back into the boat.

“What are you trying to do? Save us and then immediately send us to our deaths?” he said.

“I’m trying to reach something so we can steer the boat!” the guard said. “They didn’t give you any oars!”

Hudtan cleared her throat. “We’re about to have company,” she said. Robin and the others turned from their conversation to see two more boats and a raft moving towards them, each containing four or five goblins armed to the teeth with knives, clubs, and a few slingshots.

The guard nodded. “Then we’re about to commandeer a vessel. Did they leave you with any weapons at all?”

“I’ve got a couple,” Gwynt said. He handed another dagger to Hudtan.

“Hey, I want one,” Anzo said.

Hudtan smiled. “I can use it better. You’ve got your huge fists.”

One of the goblin rowboats got close enough for a barrage of thrown daggers and rocks shot from slings to wash over them. Robin ducked under the cover of the lip of the boat, just as a dagger sunk itself into the side. She reached over and tugged it out.

Gwynt dodged the attacks almost effortlessly, then jumped up onto the edge of the boat and immediately flung himself over to the other. The goblins, not expecting such a retaliation, shielded their faces as Gwynt’s dagger went about its work of slicing them down. One of the goblins at the back was able to charge forward with a blade pointed straight at Gwynt’s gut. He was stopped by a dagger entering his throat. Gwynt turned to Hudtan. “Very good aim!”

“Thank you,” Hudtan said. “I want my dagger back though.”

Gwynt threw the goblin bodies overboard, ducking from more projectiles shot and thrown from the other vessels. He grabbed one of the oars and started rowing the boat closer to their sinking one.

A piranha managed to jump over the now dangerously low side of the damaged rowboat, landing in the water that continued to rise at the bottom. Robin kicked at it, then scrambled away from it as it snapped back at her. The boat tilted again, threatening to turn over.

Gwynt got the stolen boat close enough that Hudtan could jump over. Robin tried to stand and balance long enough to follow suit, but the turbulence threw her back to the floor. Anzo grabbed her arm and hoisted her to her feet, while Chester swapped boats as well. Hudtan had already picked one of the dead goblins dry of weapons. Robin flinched and yelped as another dagger went flying past her face. Anzo picked her up and tossed her to Gwynt just as the boat reached its filling point and sank underneath the surface of the water. Gwynt caught Robin, deftly turned to deposit her on the floor of the new boat, then extended the oar out for Anzo to grab. He yanked hard, almost pulling Gwynt off his balance, but then Anzo’s thick fingers curled around the rim of the boat and he pulled himself up. Once he was on the rowboat, he smiled.

“There! That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Hudtan pointed down. He looked to where she indicated, seeing a piranha latched tightly to his lower leg. Anzo grabbed a dagger lying in the boat and stabbed it, removing it from his leg and tossing it back into the water. Robin saw some of the other piranhas follow where it landed to gobble up the remains.

“We still have two more groups to deal with, and they’ve almost got us surrounded,” the guard said. He dodged another slingshot bullet. “If we try to go back to the shore they’ll ram us for sure.”

“Sure, the shore,” Anzo said. “But we’re not going back to the shore. Gwyntmarwolaeth, hand me one of those oars!”

“There are too many to take at once!” the guard shouted, panic creeping into his voice. Robin suspected he hadn’t thought past the part where he almost landed on her.

“This river’s got to go somewhere,” Anzo said, taking the second oar from Gwynt. “Let’s find out where!”

Robin looked to the far end of the lake, opposite from where the river entered it. The light from the goblins’ torches didn’t reach that far. But if she strained her ears past the yammering of the goblins, she could make out the sound of rushing water in that direction. The boat started moving as Gwynt and Anzo rowed.

“With me, Gwyntmarwolaeth,” Anzo said. “Row! Row! Row!”

“Yes, row! Um, row…”

“You’re off rhythm!”

“Music was my worst subject!” Gwynt said. The guard groaned and grabbed the oar, falling into time with Anzo’s rowing.

A goblin shouted a battle cry. Robin turned to see it flying through the air, having been apparently launched by its allies. It landed on the far end of their boat, then drew two short swords and screamed. Hudtan flipped herself around to push it off, but it jumped at her and forced her to parry with her own weapon. The goblin’s blows came quick, and there wasn’t enough room in the goblin-sized craft for Gwynt to assist. Hudtan swiped her dagger back and forth, blocking each attack, but Robin could see the perspiration start to form on her forehead.

The rushing water grew louder as they approached the other end of the lake, and the boat started moving faster. “Wow,” Robin said, “you guys are really getting the hang of this rowing stuff.”

“It’s not us,” Anzo said. He was paddling furiously, trying to get the boat aligned properly, but not in a way that would move it forward as fast as it was going. Robin looked around in the dwindling light and realized that the lake deposited out into another river, but this one was narrow, steeper, and moving far too fast for a little rowboat holding five people.

The boat lurched, causing the goblin to lose his balance. Hudtan had braced herself in the nick of time, and punched it as soon as it faltered. The goblin lost its balance entirely, falling backwards into the rushing current. Hudtan then turned back to the others. “You’re steering us into rapids?!”

“It’s our only escape!” Anzo whined.

The guard was silent, gritting his teeth as he tried to keep the boat from spinning out of control. Robin realized she had ended up at the front, sitting up against the bow. She watched as the cavern seemed to tilt away from her. Gwynt and Hudtan grabbed each other and yelled. Robin involuntarily opened her mouth and joined them.

<< Prologue, Heroes
<< Chapter 23, Diversion
Chapter 25, Rapids >>

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