Six Will Stand (First Draft)

Chapter 7

Before crossing the Colossal River—13:47
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"...This is a lot bigger than I thought it would be."

"It's called Colossal River, Cade, what did you expect?" Marion shook her head, a little laugh escaping her.

"Something crossable without a boat...?"

Josh looked thoughtful. "Yeah, they're never fun with names here. They should've named it 'Tiny River' just to see what would happen."

Caleb rolled his eyes. "That wouldn't have worked. Someone would have changed it."

"You," Josh gestured at his brother, "my dear brother, are no fun."

Caleb cocked an eyebrow. "And you make no sense."

"Hmm.... Fun, sense. Who wins here?"

Caleb looked incredulous. "Sense."

Josh threw his hands in the air in an 'I give up' gesture. "See, there you go being no fun again."

Caleb rolled his eyes. "Okay, arguing about how fun I am is not going to help us cross this river. Ideas?" He looked around the group.

"...I'm sure there's a bridge crossing the river somewhere," Marion suggested.

"We could use Fai as a raft," Cade huffed.

"Yeah, well, then the council will probably find out Riv is inside your head. And I, for one, really don't want to find out how that one'll end."

"How would they find out that Riv's inside my head by just trying to get over a river? Eh, your council is weird..." Looking off to the side, Cade noticed a large oak tree by the riverbank. "Hey...we could probably use that tree trunk to cross, like how some people burn out trunks and make canoes out of them. How about that?"

Josh took an amulet out of his pocket and threw it at the trunk. It glowed brightly, and after the light dimmed the trunk tipped over, cleanly slit at the base of the trunk. He threw another one and, after another blinding light, it was neatly carved out into a canoe. He looked at the others. "Well? What are we waiting for?"

Needing no other invitation, Cade and Marion began pushing the canoe into the water. When the boat was almost off the riverbank, Cade went over to the fallen branches of the oak and picked out four large rods that could be used as makeshift paddles. Handing each of the sticks to everyone once Caleb put Fai in the boat, everyone picked a side of the canoe to wait by. When they all were ready, they grabbed the side of the boat they were on and hauled it into the water, hopping inside once the canoe was safely floating.

Cade sighed. "Okay, now we just need to paddle...." Lifting his branch and placing the wider end that had been attached to the trunk in the water, everyone else doing the same, the group began to head to the other side of the river.

Suddenly, Josh stiffened. Eyes widening, he shouted a warning. "River monsters! Duck!"

Cade and Marion ducked immediately, not wanting to risk anything going wrong if they didn't obey correctly. Cade took his bow off his back, nocking the arrow. Marion took out her steel whips.

"Josh! What type?" Caleb shouted, paddling faster.

Josh, still paddling, shouted back, "Green serpent, eight feet long, poisonous but not deadly, our biggest worry will be its teeth. It can't leave the water, so we just need to get across. Marion! Cade! Keep it occupied! We'll get you across!" He dug his paddle into the water again and started paddling in sync with his brother.

Caleb looked bewildered. "I will never understand how you can do that, but you can't remember the word 'cake.'"

"Son of Ilya, did I just hear you tease me in a dire situation?" Josh grinned.