Aesor grumbled something, but said nothing more as Gudon resumed his singing. It was more like a lullaby than anything else, and Lynan found himself finally drifting off to sleep. Then Gudon’s foot tapped him softly in the ribs.
“What is it?”
“Our guardian has joined his dreams again,” Gudon said, nodding at Aesor slumped against the bales. “The other one will not hear us talk if we speak as quietly as the river.”
“You weren’t singing to the wind, were you?”
“Oh, yes. But some songs are meant to slow down the wind. I need to warn you, little master.”
“Warn me?”
“Do you wish to leave the company of these villains?”
“Very much.”
“I have a plan, but it will be dangerous for both of us.”
“Dangerous? How dangerous?”
Gudon shrugged. “Can you swim?”
“Yes, but not quickly.”
Gudon frowned. “Do you think, if you had reason to swim quickly, you could learn?”
“What reason?”
“I am thinking it is best you do not know yet.”
“When must I learn?”
“Soon. Before the sun is fully up. Before the beneficent master is awake to stop us.”
“Us?”
“Truth. It is time for me to leave the river. I have a need to travel again.”
“You would do this for me? Why?”
“There are signs, little master. We are both wounded in the head. We are both prisoner. We both wish to avoid the fate the beneficent master has in mind for us, for I do not believe he will let me live after you reach Daavis. And the river is telling me it is time to go. I listen to its waters very carefully. I told you before, it is destiny.”
“Destiny hasn’t served me too well up to now.”
“Ah, but destiny serves no one. She has her own secrets, her own plans, and although we may sometimes read them, we may not change them.”
Lynan noticed the barge was edging closer to the shore.
“You are going to beach the barge?”
“I could, but then the others would just pursue us, and on horses they would catch us.”
Lynan remembered Gudon’s questions about his ability to swim. “We are going to dive overboard and swim to the shore?”
“Yes, but not yet. It is not dangerous enough. Otherwise, the others would then beach the barge and still be able to pursue us.”
“I’m not sure I like the sound of your plan.”
“It is a good plan, little master, with only small problems.”
“What small problems?”
Gudon pointed to the left bank about sixty paces away. “Those small problems.”
Lynan stood, and in the soft pink light glowing in the eastern sky he could make out drooping spear trees and tangle weeds.
“I see nothing dangerous.”
Aesor snorted and his eyes fluttered open.
“That is because you do not see properly,” Gudon answered quickly, pushing the rudder away from him and drawing back on the left sheet at the same time. The barge swung noticeably toward the spear trees.
Aesor snorted again and stumbled to his feet, blinking. His action woke Prado in turn, who stood up and stretched his arms above his head. He looked out over the river, turning in a circle. He saw how close the left bank was and gave an order for Gudon to veer away. Gudon ignored him.
“You heard the captain!” Aesor roared. “Bring us back to the middle of the river!”
Again Gudon ignored the command.
Aesor started drawing his sword. Gudon kicked hard at the rudder pedal and yanked back on the sheets. The boat lurched as its stern swung but and Aesor lost his footing. Lynan did not hesitate. He lashed out with his right foot, connecting with Aesor’s head. The man grunted and collapsed. Lynan reached for the sword and stood up in front of Gudon.
“I pray to God you know what you are doing, Pilot.”
“Just one god?” Gudon asked, keeping his eye on the spear trees on the bank. “You should be more generous, little master.”
By now Bazik had joined Prado, and together they advanced toward Lynan, their swords drawn.
“Come on, boy, don’t be a fool. You can’t take on both of us.”
“I can,” Lynan said with more confidence than he felt. In an open arena, with his own weapon and without a jaw that throbbed in pain, he was sure he could have taken on the two thugs. Right now, however, he was not sure he could take on an angry rat and win. He was relying on Gudon’s plan coming up with a real surprise in the next few seconds.
The barge drove into the overhanging branches of the spear tree. The ends of several of the branches disappeared beneath the surface of the river and offered more resistance before finally giving way to the barge’s momentum. They whipped up and over the gunwales, and Lynan saw large boles attached to each of them, with white stolons growing from them that seemed to wave like tendrils. Many of the boles flew up so rapidly they tore from the branches and arced over the barge. Prado and Bazik watched them pass and then splash into the water on the other side. Lynan saw several of them split open, releasing seething black masses that quickly disappeared beneath the surface.
Lynan quickly looked over his shoulder at Gudon. “They’re not—”
“Yes! Jaizru!” Gudon shouted before he could finish the question.
Lynan felt his blood run cold. He knew he had to find cover, but was paralysed by fear. Gudon pushed him hard in the back and he fell to the deck, the pilot on top of him. He heard sounds like whole sheets of linen being ripped apart, then the soft thwacks of things landing on the deck, and on the bales and on the horses. And then the screams started, coming from the horses and, he thought, Bazik.
“Now!” Gudon shouted in his ear, and stood up, dragging Lynan with him. Gudon pulled him to the port side. Lynan caught a glimpse of thin black strips of wriggling eels with wide, dark red fins. Most were gaping on the deck, but many had landed on warm flesh and were using their small mouths filled with needle-sharp teeth to rip and tear. Prado was dancing a macabre jig, trying to shake off one that had latched onto his sword arm. Bazik was writhing in his own blood on the deck, covered in four or five of the eels, one of them gorging in his eye socket. The horses were bucking and kicking, trying to break loose from their tethers around the mast.
“Jump!” Gudon ordered, and half-lifted him over the gunwale. The prince fell over and down. The cold, dark water punched him in the chest and face. He kicked furiously, broke the surface and sucked in lungs full of air. He saw Gudon’s face looking down at him.
“Swim for the bank!” Gudon shouted. “As fast as you can! Get out of the water!” Then Gudon disappeared.
Something bit at his hair. He screamed and splashed, swallowed water, spun in a circle. He caught a sight of the bank and swam toward it. Teeth punctured his boot and scratched his skin. He furiously shook his foot and lost his rhythm. Teeth bit into his knee—it felt as if he had been stabbed with a fork. He wanted to scream a second time, but managed to keep his mouth closed and start swimming for the bank again. He was bitten on the hand, under the armpit, on the groin. A low keening forced its way out between his teeth. He knew he could not take much more of this. His hand touched something beneath him and he jerked it away, but then his other hand touched something as well. It was soft, yielding, and he realized it was mud. He brought his feet down, took three strides and heaved out of the river.
A jaizru flapped by his face, its fin touching his cheek, and it landed on the grass about three paces in front of him, writhing as it asphyxiated. Another one smacked into his back. He ran, waving his hands about his head in panic. He slipped, got up and slipped again, and could do no more. He curled up into a ball and waited for the next attack, but after several seconds none came and he slowly looked up. He was at least twenty paces from the river, and the eels could not glide that far. A dozen of them were wriggling uselessly on the ground halfway between him and the bank, their white teeth glistening moistly in the dawn light.