Alain lent a hand and they pulled it free. The Mage eyed the cracked wood dubiously. “Will it hold us across the river? Will it even hold us and stay afloat?”
“Do we have a better option?” Mari asked. As she waited for Alain’s answer, they heard rubble falling a short distance upriver in the direction they had come from.
“Not unless we want to fight again soon,” Alain agreed.
It took both of them to shove the old door to the river. Mari climbed on first, balancing with difficulty, then going to her hands and knees. “We’re not standing up on this trip,” she advised.
Alain nodded, began to join her, then paused. “We should get paddles of some kind.” But as he turned back a thrown rock struck less than a lance-length away from him, thudding into a rotten crate. “Then again, perhaps we need to trust to luck.” He sat down on the door and then used his legs to shove off from the shore as hard as he could.
Mari hung on, her arms and legs quickly drenched as chill river water washed over the makeshift raft. But the raft didn’t sink, supporting them as the river’s current carried them out toward the center of the water and down toward the remains of the nearest bridge. “We need to try to catch ourselves on the remains of that bridge and pull ourselves across the river,” she yelled over at Alain. “Otherwise we might get swept completely out of the city.” She didn’t want to think about what would happen to them if the Imperial sentries saw a couple of people on a raft drifting out of Marandur.
“All right,” Alain called in reply.
A moment later, Mari heard the plunk of something small and heavy hitting the water. Looking back, she saw more barbarians on the riverbank, still too close for comfort and all of them hoisting rocks and bricks from the endless supply around them. She could see dark objects arcing toward her, following them with her eyes until they landed around the raft, sending up splashes that soaked any parts of Mari and Alain that had remained dry up until then.
“They have bad aim and little strength,” Alain told her. “That is not surprising. They probably get barely enough to eat to survive, and in the warren of the ruined city, they surely fight normally at close hand by ambush.”
“Does that mean we’re safe?”
“Not yet. I think I remember something about being in water. Swimming, it was called?” Alain put his feet in the water and began kicking, helping shove the raft farther from the river bank.
Mari kept her eyes on the approaching bridge, trying to judge their chances of snagging some part of the wreckage. But a wide stretch of river ran free between two supports, and the raft was heading straight down the center of that. Cursing, she tried using one hand as a paddle to propel the raft toward some of the debris sticking up above the river, but made far too little progress. The current swept them through the gap and downstream. “Okay. Let’s aim for the next bridge. It’s a big one. Probably used to be the main bridge for the city. There should be lots of wreckage sticking up far enough for us to use.”
Their pursuers had been left far behind now, small shapes on the riverbank, as Mari did her best to aim the foundering raft toward a bridge support, cutting across the current with the help of Alain’s kicking in the water. For a long moment she feared they would fall short, but then the raft hit, almost knocking her off as she grabbed for handholds, the worn stone and masonry cold and slick from river water and algae. A hard lump formed in her stomach as she imagined getting thrown from the crude raft into the river, having to abandon her pack with her jacket and her tools, struggling through the cold water but perhaps not making it, sinking slowly into the darkness of the river, her spirit becoming one more restless wraith haunting the ruined city.
Mari gripped the shattered bridge support so hard her hands ached, taking deep, shuddering breaths.
“Mari?” Alain’s voice was close by. “Are you all right?”
“Yes,” she gasped. “No. I’m scared to death.”
“I am glad I am not the only one.” His voice held no trace of humor.
Mari turned her head enough to stare back at him. “Are you really?”
Alain nodded, his face tight with strain, his clothes drenched. He lay on the other side of the small, improvised raft. “I do not swim all that well, and I am tired, and this raft is…not very good.”
“Alain, I’m too scared to move. There’s just been too much. The storm and the trip south and the Dark Mechanics and Professor S’san and the prophecy and this awful, awful city and—” She tried to still her shaking. “You know.” He nodded again, silently. Mari closed her eyes, trying to block out the world for a moment, but she kept seeing an image of Alain. He trusted me. He got on this raft. He’s counting on me. I have to get him to safety.
Thinking about someone else made her own fear subside a little. Mari forced her eyes open, staring at the ruined bridge support just before her face, then moved her head to look where they needed to go. There were plenty of rough spots ahead. Plenty of places to grab and hold. It wouldn’t be easy, but it could be done. Just keep telling yourself that. You can do this. It’s gotten you through life this far and it’s going to get you to the other side of this river.
She focused on her left hand, willing it to release its death grip on a protruding brick. And finally it did, jerking free. She scrabbled the fingers along the surface of the column a short distance, to a place where some bricks had fallen, leaving an opening she could latch onto. Shivering, Mari wrenched her right hand free, bringing it up to grab a hold near her left hand. The raft swayed and grated sidewise along the bridge support a little. Seeing another handhold a little farther down, Mari lunged for it and grabbed on there. The raft moved a little more.
She found that once she had started moving, keeping going was hard but not nearly as hard as starting had been. The raft swung alarmingly under her knees as she pulled it along, Alain helping where he could from the back and using his legs to push the raft when he could find a spot to rest a foot. They came to places where branches and other debris had piled up against the bridge supports, and yanked the raft around them. In one of those piles, Mari found a stout branch long and light enough to be useful as a pole and passed it back to Alain.
They cleared one column. Mari stared down into the rushing water, seeing the layer of broken bridge remains lying beneath the surface here. If you’re the daughter of Jules, then your ancestor sailed unknown seas. You can get the rest of the way across one lousy river. “Don’t let me fall off,” she said to Alain, then slid down so her upper body was resting face down on the raft and her feet dangled into the water low enough to reach the submerged rubble. Step by step she walked the raft across the gap, the cold water biting into her legs and hips and grabbing at her as it raced past through the opening.
“Let me take the front now,” Alain suggested as they reached the next bridge support.
Mari shook her head, keeping her eyes fixed on the next stretch of wreckage. “We can’t get by each other without losing the raft. It’s barely together as it is. I’m all right.”
After the fight through the gap between supports, pushing along the solid surface of another support seemed easy, even though her shivering was increasing as the cold water stole the heat from her body. She pushed her fears back a little again with thoughts about heat-sinks and fluid dynamics. The next gap between supports wasn’t too hard, with the remnants of the fallen bridge so close to the surface Mari could brace herself against them. Then another column, another gap…