“Water sprites!” Dulindir shouted back to them. “Very dangerous! Keep alert!”
Before Thaddeus could call out a question, Dulindir was suddenly pulled beneath the water. With the source of their light swallowed up by the Wretched River, the night pounced on them, leaving them blind as the current spun them farther off course.
Chapter 8
The current of the Wretched River strengthened and the surface became choppier. Thaddeus was tossed between half-submerged trees, and he scrabbled to grab on to something to keep from being swept even farther downstream. Each time he thought he had a good grip on a tree branch or trunk, however, someone from their group rushed past and the vines connecting them wrenched him loose.
He went under quite often, and the mooshberries inside his clothing brought him back up, but they had absorbed many impacts of his journey downriver. With each bump, they became less buoyant, and Thaddeus found himself struggling to keep his head above water. Around him, he heard the shouts and cries of Teofil and his siblings as they tried to grab something to keep them in place.
There was no sign of Dulindir.
“Dulindir!” Astrid shouted from the darkness ahead of him. “Where is he?”
“Something pulled him under,” Teofil called out from close to Thaddeus’s right.
Thaddeus had an idea. Instead of each of them pinging off down the river separately, maybe if they formed a group they could locate Dulindir and use their combined strength to get to shore.
“Teofil!” Thaddeus shouted. “Where are you?”
“Here!”
Teofil’s voice came from behind this time, and Thaddeus turned in that direction. “Try to get closer and grab my hand!” He waved his hand, hoping for all of their sakes that gnomes could truly see in the dark better than humans, because he couldn’t see much past his nose.
“Almost there,” Teofil said.
Just as Teofil’s fingers grazed his own, Thaddeus felt cold, thin fingers wrap around his ankle. He was pulled beneath the surface before he could shout a warning.
The water was murky with dirt, leaves, and other debris. Thaddeus hadn’t had a chance to take a proper breath, and his lungs ached as he was carried along underwater. He tried to pull free of whatever held him, but its grip was too strong, and he remained under. Not even the mooshberries could get him to the surface now. He looked down but could see nothing in the clouded water. Kicking with his free foot at the fingers around his ankle, Thaddeus tried to use his arms to get to the surface, but he wasn’t strong enough. Blood pounded in his temples, and he knew that soon, very soon, he would need to open his mouth and try to take a breath. But all he would be able to do was fill his lungs with the cold black water of the Wretched River.
A pale face appeared directly in front of Thaddeus and a shout of surprise nearly ended him. The creature’s face was white and smooth, with no nose or ears. Long, pale green strands of hair floated around the head like seaweed, and its lips were a blue slash in its white face. Large, black eyes blinked at him, and gills on the side of its neck pulsed as it breathed.
This was a water sprite, Thaddeus figured. It stared at him as it floated just inches away, its long, limber arms slowly moving back and forth to keep it in place. Thaddeus could still feel fingers around his ankle holding him down, so there were at least two of them. As he struggled to free himself, the water sprite in front of him opened its mouth to expose rows of small, sharp teeth.
Thaddeus jerked back from it and lifted his free leg to kick out at the creature in front of him. He caught it in the chest and pushed against it, shoving the sprite away and pushing himself back. The fingers around his ankle loosened, and he pulled free. But the water sprite below and out of sight was quick, grabbing for him again, long nails snagging his shoelace and pulling him down as he thrashed for the surface. His lungs burned, his mind and body screaming for air. He could feel his fingers break the surface of the water above him, but he couldn’t get his face up high enough to breathe.
Panic fluttered in his chest. The water swirled around him, dirt and debris stinging his eyes, and he wished he could see well enough to fight back. If only he had a light. His heartbeat banged in his temples as he struggled to keep his mouth closed against the Wretched River. Just when he thought he was done for, his palms grew warm where they stuck up out of the water, and a sudden light bloomed above him. In the new glow, he could see a water sprite hovering just a few inches away, staring directly at him as if it was just waiting for him to drown. The sprite flinched away from the light, and the one holding him loosened its grip enough that Thaddeus was able to yank his foot free.
He broke the surface and drew in a deep breath, coughing and spitting. Someone grabbed the collar of his shirt. He gasped in surprise as he coughed, then relaxed when he found Teofil floating beside him.
“Hold on to me,” Teofil said.
Thaddeus put an arm around his shoulders, holding on as Teofil tried to paddle closer to shore. Thaddeus had lost track of which shore they needed to be on, so he focused on getting his breath back and trying to help move them forward as much as possible. He could see the vague outline of trees ahead, the flooded river water parting around them.
When he realized he could actually see the shore, Thaddeus looked around, expecting to find Dulindir nearby, but there was no sign of any of the others. Thaddeus’s heart sank. What had happened to Fetter, Astrid, and Dulindir?
He looked up, then did a double take and stared a moment, his hands floating idle as Teofil continued to swim. A glowing ball of light, about the size of a basketball, hovered above them, illuminating their way.
“What is that?” Thaddeus asked.
“I was going to ask you. You conjured it.”
“What?” Thaddeus stared at him. “I did that?” The brush of a water sprite’s fingers along his leg made him kick out, and the movement propelled them closer to shore.
“Keep kicking!” Teofil said, gasping for breath. “We’re close. Come on, kick with me.”
They clung together and kicked, frothing the water as they angled toward the shore. The ball of light followed after them, maintaining a discreet distance about ten feet overhead.
“Where are the others?” Thaddeus asked, pausing for breath between words.
“I don’t know. One of the water sprites chewed through the rope.”
A cold ball of grief spun to life inside Thaddeus, but he fought it back and stared up at the light, amazed at what he had conjured. He wondered if he could ever do it again. It must have happened when his palms had grown warm. But he hadn’t said any words, just wished for light to be able to see the water sprites. Was that all it took? Maybe he did possess magical abilities after all. He desperately wished he could talk to his father about it.
Once they were on land again, they would find the others and pull them from the water. He couldn’t even consider the idea that Fetter, Astrid, and Dulindir had drowned. Not after all they’d been through. They’d been separated and swept farther downstream, that was all.
It took a long time for Thaddeus and Teofil to reach shore, kicking to keep the water sprites away and measuring out their arm strokes. Thaddeus’s muscles were burning, especially in his injured leg. The plantain leaves had come off the wounds on his palm, and he’d pretty much given up hope of ever standing on firm ground again when his hand struck a tree branch. He grabbed on and directed Teofil to it as well. The branch was part of a tree growing from what was probably a small hill, and which now acted as a bank for the flooded river. They pulled themselves along the branch and, eventually, out of the water. Gasping and grunting, they helped each other climb over fallen trees and wade through sucking mud until Thaddeus finally collapsed onto solid ground, panting as he caught his breath.