"I know he wanted us to go back to Little Chance," Sariana told the lizard, "but there isn't time.
Something has happened. I have to get to him."
Sariana strained to see the dark river and wondered how angry Gryph would be when he discovered her latest act of disobedience.
"He can yell at me all he wants as soon as we find him, Lucky. And you can bet your tail he will yell. He seems to have been born with the odd notion that other people should always do what he tells them. I just hope that arro-gance hasn't gotten him into real trouble this time."
She was chatting to calm herself again, Sariana realized. The truth was she was scared to death because she couldn't analyze the earlier explosion of light inside her head. There had been a sense of pain, but she had known it wasn't her own pain she was feeling. That meant it had to be Gryph's. But the sensation had vanished quickly along with the bursting beam of light.
She knew Gryph had to be a long distance away from her and it scared her to think of how devastating that light beam had been to have been reflected all the way from Gryph's mind to hers. Gryph had said the link between them was highly erratic and unpredictable. It worked best in moments of passion or moments of danger. Whatever had happened to Gryph, it definitely qualified as a moment of danger.
"What if he's dead, Lucky? What am I going to do?"
Sariana pulled harder on the blade handles. She would not allow herself to even think about that possibility again, Gryph wasn't dead. She would know if he were dead. That realization gave her comfort and energy. The blades and fins of the river sled sent the small craft skimming over the surface of the sluggish river.
The sled was a model of efficiency, but even so Sar-iana's arms ached by mid-moming. She switched to the foot pedals for a while and tried to estimate her progress. The sled was making good headway but the river was flowing more swiftly and powerfully now as the gorge narrowed. She glanced toward shore and wondered if she should tie the sled along the bank and go the rest of the way on foot.
One of the problems was that she didn't know exactly how far she had to go. She was counting on the odd sixth sense she seemed to have developed to let her know when she was getting close to Gryph. It had always worked best at short range, she reminded herself encouragingly. She had always been so acutely aware of him when he was near.
Absently she fingered the elegant pin on her cloak white she scanned the steep walls of the gorge. The water was definitely getting rough and the sled was slowing rapidly. The shoreline was not particularly inviting with its scrubby vegetation and rocky terrain, but Sariana knew it was time to get out of the sled. She decided she would tie up the craft somewhere around the next bend.
She heard the roar of the rapids a few seconds before she felt the sled begin to buck. Sariana grabbed the blade handles, steering desperately for the shore.
Putting the small craft at an angle to the strong current proved to be a mistake. It heaved once and then the whole right side lifted majestically up out of the water.
"Lucky!"
The lizard was already moving, darting into the safety of one of Sariana's cloak pockets. Sariana fought for control of the sled as it heaved again in the rough water. But she knew she did not have the expertise to save the boat. It was going to flip over and her biggest fear was getting trapped beneath the sled.
"Hang on," she muttered to the hapless lizard as she sealed the pocket of her cloak. "And hold your breath if you can." She bunched up the cloak and tied it around her shoulders so that it was out of the way. Then she grabbed the blade sling Gryph had entrusted to her and leaped out of the sled.
The water was cold, a shock to her system, but she had little time to think about it. Sariana's main concern was fighting through the rough current to get to shore. It wasn't that far away, she told herself, and the water wasn't that deep. She could make it.
But the driving power of the water was a force with which to reckon. It knocked the breath out of Sariana as it flung her carelessly against a boulder. She clung to the rock, gasping for air as she gazed longingly at the shoreline. Right now it seemed a hundred kilometers away. Lucky made anxious noises from deep inside the wet cloak.
Sariana glanced downstream and saw that the river sled had been driven against the bank. It was upside down. She decided that, on the whole, she would rather be where she was than underneath the sled. She sought for handholds on the rock and grimly fought her way out of the water.
Once seated on top of the precarious perch, Sariana ripped open the pocket of her cloak. The scarlet-toe blinked back at her. Lucky was cleariy disgruntled but otherwise unhurt.
"Just hang on a little longer while I figure out how to use this gadget Gryph gave us," Sariana said bracingly to the skeptical looking lizard.
Sariana concentrated, remembering Gryph's terse instructions. She selected the blade with the thin cord wound around its shaft. Then she notched the blade, cocked the bow and aimed it at the dense foliage around the shoreline. Cautiously she released the tension in the small weapon.
The blade left the bow with a jolt that took Sariana by surprise. She held onto the rock to keep from falling into the raging current. Even as she made a grab for her balance the arrow was thudding into some unseen object in the foliage. The thin line it was trailing went taut in Sariana's fingers.
Sariana gingerly tested the line. It felt strong and tightly anchored. She pulled a little harder and it went abruptly slack in her hands as the blade dropped out of its target.
"Damn it to the Lightstorm!" Sariana's temper flared, overcoming her fear. Savagely she jerked at the limp line, pulling it back through the water.
A few minutes later she was holding a lapful of ungainly rope and a blade. She realized she had no idea how to recoil the line and rearm the bow.
"Of all the stupid, idiotic weapons," Sariana raged. "Dumb westerners and their gadgets. Arrogant Shields and their silly toys. I tell you, Lucky, I've about had it with the western provinces. Nothing is simple and straightforward around here. Nothing is logical and dependable. Do you think an easterner would have designed a crazy weapon like this? Or a useless sled that gets tipped over by the first wave it encounters? Never in a million years." She glared at the line spilling over her wet skirts.
It was a good, strong line. If one ignored the overly clever bow and the useless blade, one was still left holding a strong length of rope.
"I think. Lucky, that the key here is simplicity, not clever gadgetry." Sariana picked up the end of the rope and reached down to loop it around the rock on which she was sitting. Water splashed over her hands and arms as she worked, but it proved relatively simple to tie a strong knot.
