Sabit’s long arms pushed against the cut, stripped tree branch to propel the little boat away from the shallows, out into the current of the river. Allamu leaned over the back of the cramped craft, using a round plate lashed to the end of a branch as a makeshift paddle. Qays and Qaansoole huddled in the middle of the boat, staying low to keep the overloaded vessel from tipping.
Before long, the watery susurrus of rapids grew louder. The boat bobbed in the quickening current. Ahead of them, caps of white crowned a scattering of boulders beneath the water’s surface.
“Push faster!” Allamu shouted as he cut hard into the water with his makeshift paddle. Sabit stabbed her pole into the riverbed as though she were plunging a spear into a fat boar on a hunt. Thews rippling beneath the dark brown surface of her skin, Sabit hauled the little boat swiftly toward a gap between the rocks, where the water was smoother.
With a mad rush, the boat sped over the rapid. Another billow of white water loomed ahead, and to the left, and to the right. Allamu and Sabit battled the water for control of the craft, fighting with all their strength to keep it upright. As they bounced from rapid to rapid down the river, Qaansoole found herself continually grabbing the leg of one rower or the other to keep them from being flung overboard.
The river calmed for a moment. Sabit and Allamu let their tired arms sag as they caught their breath. Qaansoole looked around. “How could the bandits’ crude raft have survived those rapids?” she asked.
Allamu answered in a soft voice, but his words were drowned out by a building thunderous roar of water. Looking downstream, they saw a solid wall of whitewater ahead of them. Beyond the frothy caps, the river seemed to vanish into a cloud of mist beyond the waterfall.
—–
Wayfarings of Sabit: Pursuit is copyright (c) 2017 by Michael S. Miller. All rights reserved. New chapters post every weekday. You can support this and other stories on Patreon: https://patreon.com/michaelsmiller or http://ipressgames.com/fiction/