Rthan
Rthan's canoe was shaped like folded hands. It was made of bark, light enough for a warrior to carry on his back during portage. It was long enough to hold three people rowing. Or, in this case, Rthan, his prisoner, and two packs of supplies.
They had paddled downstream for hours without stopping to eat. But soon they would reach the first waterfall. They needed to eat before carrying their boats around it.
Beyond the waterfall was Yellow Bear land.
Rthan gave a signal. The seven canoes pulled into a quiet pool beside the river. Drooping willows hid them from view. None of the warriors got out. They pushed their paddles into the mud through the canoe handles to keep the boats still.
The captive lifted his head to look over the side. Rthan slapped him back down.
The boy didn't cry out. He just stared at Rthan with sharp, watchful eyes.
Rthan rubbed the boy's bruised jaw with his thumb. "How often do you shave? Your mother should've kept you in the clanhold until you stopped nursing."
The boy pulled his chin away. It was the only move he could make. He was tied up from head to toe like a trapped lobster.
Rthan wondered how much of Kavio's reputation came from his father. The boy didn't look dangerous. True, his little trick might have fooled Rthan's men—if the Blue Lady hadn't warned him. But Kavio seemed like just another dryfoot, full of talk, not skill.
Speaking of meat, they hadn't eaten in days.
Rthan opened his oiled leather pack. Inside was a treat he had saved. His mouth watered as he peeled back the gut-wrapping.
Kavio turned his head and gagged. "That's foul!"
"Are your nostrils broken? This is hakarl!"
"Kill me now. Just don't make me eat that."
"I wasn't going to share." Rthan held the hakarl close. "I hunted the poison shark myself. Buried it in gravel near my house. Waited six months for it to rot just right."
"Most people eat food that doesn't use the words poison, gravel, or rot."
"Hakarl was the first gift given to our War Chief Hathan by the Shark Lord."
"A failed murder, if I remember right."
"No!" Rthan waved the meat in Kavio's face. "It was a sacrifice. The warrior Hathan made peace with the Merfae. During a famine, his family was starving. So he made a bet with his faery friend. They threw bones. Whoever lost would kill himself to feed the other. But Hathan cheated—he gave the Shark Lord only knuckle bones. The faery let Hathan kill him, bury him, and eat him.
"But the next morning, the Shark Lord came back to life. He told Hathan, 'You killed and ate me. Now you must let me do the same to you.' Hathan agreed.
"But then his daughter Mariah ran in and—"
Rthan stopped. He no longer felt like talking. Or eating.
Kavio saw the change in him. "She threw herself to the shark, didn't she? To save her father." He spoke more softly. "You have tattoos on both cheeks. You're married. Do you have children, Rthan?"
Rthan punched Kavio in the face. Kavio spat blood into the bottom of the boat.
Rthan cracked his knuckles. "What were you going to tell Nargano? If you plan to betray your father, I should warn you—I hate traitors more than anything."
"Nargano will hear it when I tell him."
Rthan hit him again, harder. "I don't fall for tricks. I'll kill you unless you give me one good reason not to. Don't say you'll fight for us. I don't want you. I want you dead."
"Kill me then." Kavio licked the blood from his lip. "What I have to say goes to Nargano. Or dies with me."
"Fa!" The boy was bluffing.
Time to gut the fish.
Rthan wouldn't risk his men by dragging a prisoner across enemy land.
He picked up his knife.
But Kavio had twisted his body into the curve of the canoe. He kicked with both feet, hard into Rthan's chest. Rthan fell overboard, hit the river bottom, and came up just in time to catch a paddle to the face.
Kavio wiggled free!
The boy shoved the canoe into the current.
Rthan's men grabbed their paddles.
"Two to a boat!" Rthan shouted. "One spout, one fin!"
He jumped into the canoe of his second-in-command. The men followed training. They doubled up in boats without supplies. The front man paddled. The back man crouched low, knees spread wide to keep balance, and fired arrows.
Rthan had lost his bow. He used his second's instead.
To his surprise, Kavio knew how to raft. He paddled fast into the rapids. He shouted at nixies and water sprites, daring them to chase his canoe. They did. The fae pushed his boat with waves of whitewater.
"Lady, help me!" Rthan called.
The river rose under his canoe and threw it forward like a sling.
Two other boats followed in the surge.
Rthan started to feel respect—until Kavio aimed his boat at a low tree.
At that speed, he would die in the crash.
But Kavio's boat rode over a rock and jumped over the tree.
The boat beside Rthan wasn't so lucky. They missed the bounce. Their canoe smashed into the tree. It broke into pieces. One man slammed into the tree. The other flew into the river.
Rthan couldn't help them yet. His own boat was almost there.
"Flip!" he shouted.
He and his partner shifted their weight. The canoe tipped and slid under the tree. It turned upright again as they cleared it, still racing through the rapids.
Kavio leaned back in his canoe. He used Rthan's stolen bow. He fired arrow after arrow. The Blue Lady sent a wind across the river and blew them off course.
Kavio shot again. This time the arrows caught fire. He must have called on Red fae.
One of Rthan's other boats burst into flame.
The men leapt into the water.
Kavio could not shoot again. Sharp rocks forced him to steer.
Rthan knew those rocks. "Turn to shore!"
He and his partner paddled hard. The wild fae now had control of the water. Even the Blue Lady could not stop them.
The kayak refused to turn.
Rthan crashed the boat into a rock on purpose. He and his partner climbed to the dry top of the boulder.
From there, they saw Kavio's canoe shoot out of the narrows like an arrow. It flew straight over a giant waterfall. The drop was at least a thousand feet.
Rthan felt no victory. Only tiredness.
He still had to find his surviving men, carry the boats down the cliffs, and reach War Chief Nargano before the Autumn Equinox.
A flash of blue light stopped him. He smelled the sea.
His daughter Meira climbed onto the rock beside him.
"He's not dead," said the Blue Lady. "You must follow him."
"No one could live through that fall, Lady. Even if he grew wings. I have to help my men first."
"If you ignore me, you will suffer."
"Is that a threat?" Rthan frowned. "Or a prophecy?"
"Water rolls downhill to the sea," she said. "Is that a threat—or a prophecy?"