The Gift (Rabiah book 1)

Chapter 8

It wasn't until the next day that the water levels were almost back to normal. The soldiers on the opposite bank crawled down from the ledge, wet and miserable. The rope and the raft were gone. The healer was concerned. "They are sure to get sick."

"Do you have any rope?" Rabiah asked him.

"No."

Rabiah searched the shore. She could see the rope that had previously stretched across the river dangling in the water on the other side of the river. She waved and yelled to get the soldiers' attention but it was impossible to communicate verbally over the roar of the water. She pointed to their rope and mimed shooting an arrow. They didn't understand. She repeated the message. They looked confused. Then Mitch, who had been searching downstream, joined the group. He understood at once and ran to get his bow, then pulled the rope out of the water. It was obviously too short. He studied it a moment, then went to dig through a pile of supplies he had just rescued from the flood. He held up a piece of rope and a coil of thinner line triumphantly, then set about tying the ends together. When he was done, he tied one end of the thinner line to an arrow.

His first shot fell ten feet short of the bank. He rapidly pulled the arrow back to the bank and tried again. He aimed the second shot high and long. Rabiah stepped behind a large rock just to be safe. The arrow made it, but barely. She ran and grabbed it from the edge of the bank before the water could tug it away. After pulling the rope over, she secured the end to a boulder on her side. She waved to Mitch and went back to the cave to retrieve some wood and something to put it in.

All she had was her satchel. She removed her belongings and filled it with wood. Owen was standing by the rope when she got back.

"You're not going over are you?"

"No. Just sending them some wood."

She affixed the bag to the rope so that it could easily slide, then tied the thinner cord to the bag. She shot the other end of the cord back across the river and was pleased when her arrow hit where she had aimed.

Mitch eagerly retrieved the arrow and began pulling the bag across. It got stuck on the knot in the middle. Fearing Mitch was going to make all the wood fall into the river the way he was tugging on the satchel, Rabiah jumped out over the water and walked hand-over-hand until she could push the bag over the knot. The knot looked to be well-tied. She turned around and made her way back, thankful that Mitch knew how to tie a knot.

Owen was standing with his arms crossed when she swung off the rope and landed at his feet.

"Show off."

"You can do it next time."

"Do you think it will rain again soon?"

"I don't know. Some years it can be quite wet. Other years are very dry."

He nodded across the river. "We need to head back and rejoin the army."

"I don't think Tristan is ready to travel."

"We'd have to carry him."

"It would be easier if we had a horse."

"I don't know if he's ready for a horse."

"He might be by the time we found one," Rabiah said. "We need a raft too. We can make one if we find enough wood. Let's search the river and see what we find. I'll tell Alexander where we are going."

It was pleasantly cool in the cave after the warm sun and her exertion by the river. Tristan did not look warm though - he was pale and his lips were tinged with blue. He needed to get out into the sun. Alexander was reluctant to carry him down to the shore in case it rained again. Rabiah was sure the sun would help. She thought for a minute, then remembered a large, flat area up the trail. It wasn't that far and there was another cave if it started to rain. It was even sheltered against the breeze. She helped the healer carry Tristan up the path. They propped him with his back against a rock and the sun shining onto his pale face. He smiled a thanks and weakly squeezed her hand. Then he turned away to cough. He seemed worse now than he had a day ago. She kissed the top of his head and said a quick prayer for him. 'I'll be back soon. You behave while I'm gone.' He nodded and closed his eyes. It was hard to leave him.