To Save a World Ch. 04

Aaron's face erupted from the depths of the river from sheer luck. The struggling man took one huge gulp of sweet, sweet air before the deadly claws of the freezing river dragged him under again. Pain blossomed in his right side as the unforgiving waters bashed him against unforgiving boulders. But this time he was a bit calmer, and through his panic he was able to at least assess his orientation. He was being pulled by the tide, but the strike to the boulder gave him an idea of which way was down, and he simply faced opposite of that and pulled at the water with all his might.

He succeeded. His head once again burst from the depths of the roiling waters, and this time he didn't go under quite so fast. The cold was still biting at his bones, the roar of the rapids still filled his hears and the current still threw him around, but now he was breathing and he kept his head and is alive.

"Aaron!" Trasnu came up to him desperately, expertly treading water from his right side. His heart swelled at the sight of his friend. "Hold still! There's a riverbank nearby, I'll drag you to shore! Don't grab me or we'll both die!"

It was actually difficult to just do nothing while the experienced hunter grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and laboriously swam them back to safety. Terrible thoughts passed by his desperate mind, whispering to him to hold on to Trasnu with all of his might, but he knew if he did that it would be exponentially more difficult for the hunter to maneuver in the water and might result in both of their deaths.

He felt a burst of joy when his feet touched earth, and soon after he was crawling up a pebbled riverbank away from the deadly rapids that almost took his life. The young man felt an almost euphoric rush from the fact that he kept his skin through everything, much more so when he saw two forms huddled together on the far side of the bank. Serche and Lydia. It seems he was the last one to be rescued.

But his mind soon caught up with him. It wasn't over yet. The water was bitingly cold, and now that he wasn't fighting against a quick death, his body had begun to fight against a slow one.

The young man had begun to tremble all over. So badly that he was actually unable to stand. He would have stayed on his hands and knees shivering to his death had Trasnu's solid hand not pulled him to his feet. The old hunter immediately started rubbing his extremities furiously.

"Not yet, pup, not yet. We'll get through this but I need you with me for a little more, yes?" He encouraged, willing determination into the rattled young man. He could already see the signs in his eyes, the kind that he saw often enough in his Clan's warriors right after a tough battle; that absent, glazed-over look. Trasnu's experience told him to hold the young man's face in his arms and give him two firm slaps to the cheek. The surprising pain gave him something to focus on aside from what he just went through. Aaron nodded stiffly at his words. "Good, good. We need a fire. I want you to collect all the wood you can get. All of it. Doesn't matter if its shivering wet just like us, yes? Just dump it all in one big pile. You with me?"

Aaron nodded again, though the movement can barely be distinguished from his general shivering. A shove sent him stumbling to the tree line to his task. A decent pile of wood soon grew in a clearing just inside the shade of the jungle before them, as the two men robotically went about their task. Trasnu then turned his attention to the unconscious Serche when he saw that the pile was large enough, rousing her from her slumber with a firm shake.

The wiped-out Shaman garbled half-words as she regained her consciousness. "Shaman," Trasnu urged, "Shaman, we need you to light us a fire."

Serche groaned, her eyes squinting open, the sound vaguely reminiscent to Aaron of a terrible hangover. She looked like her feet wouldn't be able to support her, much less magically conjure flames. "I can't. W- Whatever it is you are going to make me do, I cannot. I am finished. I simply have nothing left in me after all of that."

Five minutes later, Serche sank down on her knees with a long groan, a hearty, magical blaze crackling in the pile of wood that they gathered. Her arm was slung over Trasnu's shoulder to support the young woman while she worked her magic, and now that it was done, the grizzled old hunter let her down to slump on the ground. Aaron felt sorry for Serche, but the results were instantaneous. The gentle warmth seemed to seep directly into his freezing bones.

They gathered around the fire like moths drawn to light. They sat as near as they could tolerate, Lydia's small frame leaning into Aaron from the right, Serche's taller build leaning from the left. Together they held out their trembling hands to the campfire, a muted silence descending over the group as they revelled in the warmth of their survival.

"Well," Aaron broke the silence, "Damn. At least, now we have water."

* * *

This chapter was long in coming, but I hope it was well worth it! What do you think will be the group's next move? What further perils await them in the Great Forest? I'd love to hear what you think.