Dragon Scales

Chapter 39

The water was surprisingly cold, and Regorn started swimming immediately. He heard a splash behind him, and didn't need to look back to know that Aresa had followed him.

His heart beat faster and faster as
he looked at the dark waves, and the cold started entering his body. “Keep on swimming!” Aresa yelled behind him. “We are almost at the middle!”

Regorn swam with all his might, and his arms and legs were getting tired. The stream was to strong for him, and he was pulled down stream quickly.

The rain was hard already and a wave splashed water into Regorn face. He coughed as water entered his lungs. Panicking he tried to stay above water, and his arms desperately tried to grab something to hold on to.

Suddenly he felt something warm slam against him, and in his panicked state he tried to hold on to it. It was Aresa that had tried her hardest to get close to Regorn, but now he was pulling her under water.

She held her breath and her head disappeared under the water.

Werlek pulled the still coughing Migor out of the river. The rain was hard already and he could scarcely see
Grenin with Mevin five feet away from him. He was abit disappointed and angry that they had to help Migor and Mevin, and now Aresa and Regorn were left behind.

If the rain continued pouring down like this, they would not be able to get across at all. After Werlek deposited Migor on the river bank he ran and
stopped beside Grenin who was busy looking at the water. “Wh-” Werlek started to ask, but Grenin pointed wordlessly at the water.

Werlek squinted his eyes and saw something that looked like a head above the water. It was Regorn, and his head disappeared below the water and came up again. He was being
pulled away by the current.

Aresa suddenly appeared beside him, and Regorn in his panic pulled her underwater. Without saying a word both Werlek and Grenin ran beside the river, trying to catch up.

Werlek jumped head first into the river and swam with all his might. He came to where the current was the strongest, and let the water carry him.

He glanced around, but could not see Regorn or Aresa. He let the current carry him a bit, but still didn't see
them. He looked to the side and didn't see Grenin.

Had he passed Grenin, or was Grenin already further down the river? Where where Aresa and Regorn? Just when Werlek decided to get out of the river, he saw Regorn's head above the water in front of him.

Swimming the short distance Werlek reached Regorn. Aresa's head shortly appeared beside Regorn, but disappeared as quickly again.

Regorn's eyes were closed, and it looked like he was already unconscious. His head dipped underwater.

Quickly Werlek took ahold of Regorn to keep him above water. Aresa came up beside him, and coughed once. Between Werlek and Aresa, Regorn
was kept above water, and they started swimming to the riverbank.

It was difficult, but at last they reached the side, both exhausted. Grenin awaited them, and helped pull the unconscious Regorn out of the river.

“What happened?” Grenin asked a bit worried. Aresa lay down on the ground, her breathing hard, “I don't
know exac-- cough. Exactly when he got unconscious, but I tried to help him.”

“And almost got drowned in the process.” Werlek had a frown on his face.

Aresa shrugged and closed her eyes. She felt past tiered and shivered from the cold. Her tattered clothes had holes, and the material was worn thin. She was aware that she needed new clothes as soon as possible. And a coat. A thick warm coat, and a bowl of hot soup.

“Hullo!” Aresa heard Migor's voice. “What happened? Are they dead?” She did not move and let Grenin do the explaining.

“Regorn is unconscious and Aresa is
resting. They barely made it, even with Werlek's help.” Grenin looked worried. “They where lucky.”

“If they hadn't been lucky, they would both have drowned.” Werlek stared at Migor and Mevin accusingly. His eyes said that if would have been their fault.

“Why are you accusing us?” Migor asked unhappily. “We would have gotten across fine if we weren't tired out of our wits before we even began swimming.”

“You just sing excuses. I got across even with having to pull you along. And Grenin pulled your brother over to.”

“You are basically a legend, and Grenin is a Dragon Hunter! You can't compare us to you.” Migor was quick to retort.

“Stop your bickering. We need to get some kind of shelter, and we need to wake Regorn up. And have you at all noticed that Aresa is not in a great shape?”Grenin stopped their discussion midway. “Now, let's
get moving and not waste time.”

“How are we going to go Denereth?” Migor suddenly asked. “Are we going to go along the river, and then pass through Bereth?”

“Aren't there a lot of soldiers around there?” Grenin frowned.

“There are a lot of soldier camps.” Werlek didn't look worried. “They train the soldiers around Bereth, the
wood Hermen and Lake Reth. However nobody expects us to go to Denereth, do they? To them it would be absolutely unimaginable stupid, because even if you came near the king, he could easily kill you. At least that's true for most people.”

“If you think it's safe, we will go through Bereth.” Grenin still looked uncertain.

“It is not safe, however any other way is much more dangerous and would take much longer. Also, I know the region around Bereth fairly well.” Werlek face was serious.

“Do you all agree on going through Bereth?” Grenin asked, looking at Migor and Mevin. Migor was smiling, but Mevin looked a bit depressed.

“Yes.” Migor said immediately.

“Sure.” Mevin muttered.

Grenin wondered what was up with the two.

Werlek silently assessed their behaviour and a frown appeared on his face.

“Aresa?” Grenin turned to look at her.

“I don't care as long as we get to Denereth quickly.” Aresa did not
open her eyes. If they where finished there, then she could go search for Thon and Dion.

Aresa forced herself to stand up, even through she felt immensely tired.

Werlek was looking at her with a frown, as was Migor. Grenin was looking at Werlek and Migor a weird look on his face. “What?” Aresa snapped. She rubbed her forehead with her left hand.

“Let's wake Regorn up.” Werlek crouched down and lightly shook
Regorn. Regorn groaned something and slowly opened his eyes. “We are at the other side of the river, can you walk?” Werlek asked.

“Yes.” Regorn got up and looked around. “What happened exactly?”

“I will tell you on the way.” Werlek said.

“We should get going.” Grenin turned around and picked up the only bag they had. As they started walking, Aresa felt the hunger gnawing at her
stomach. The others must have been hungry too, they all had gloomy expressions.

Werlek was telling Regorn what had happened, but otherwise there was
silence among them.

Aresa's thoughts went to Thon and Dion again. A dull ache in her chest made her close her eyes. They could be dead already. Aresa snapped her eyes open. She had almost started
crying, but pushed it back. “Can we walk faster?” Aresa asked in a serious voice. “We will get warmer, and hopefully closer to food.” And maybe she could go back and find Thon and Dion after this.

“Good.” Grenin agreed immediately. “We should switch between jogging and walking. And no, Migor, we are not going to walk on at this shameful pace no matter how tired you are.”

Grenin walked in front and Aresa just behind him. Migor was behind Aresa. He grumbled something under his breath. Mevin silently followed Migor. Werlek and Regorn walked at the back and talked in low voices.