PANACEA-Book One-By Hell or High Water

33. What a Steal

I might have cussed her out, if my mouth wasn't full of fresh water.

Unfortunately, the scarf around my mouth was gone, leaving nothing to serve as a barrier. Not that I could see thin cloth doing much for me.

Breaking the surface briefly, I saw she was almost straight like a board, dragging me under the water. I tumbled against a few rocks, but other than that I was only drowning a little.

Hope returned for a moment as I took a deep breath of air, having broken the surface. All of that disappeared when I saw we had been thrown off the cliff and there was indeed, no ground in my sightlines.

Again, I wished I could scream, but I was coughing up sopping grass and mud.

As we fell, I wondered if I would live to see the day I could smack her across the face for this. Seeing the dry, hard ground approaching, I guessed not.

Mel spread her dragonfly wings, and propelled herself towards me, she let go of the whip and grabbed under my arms. I watched the wings glow, and they grew, curving like a parachute. Each individual fractal caught the light, as did the water spraying around us. Her legs swung to my side, and I felt I was being lifted by the air.

The rushing wind was replaced by a calm breeze. Then, my heels touched the ground just as Mel's feet hit dry soil, and I remained at a slanted angle with her arms gripping under mine.

Her fingers slipped off my wet, slippery back, and I fell into the sand.

For a moment, I just stared up at the mountain from where we were. It looked like we'd only fallen a quarter of the way down. Luckily, the rushing stream of water was quite a ways away from where we'd landed, and the dripping from through the flattened grass was pouring down just beside us.

I sat up on the ledge, and looked down. Water was rushing towards the kingdom, and I could see the empty channels filling from here. The muddy brown turned to blue, and each city became properly sectioned off again. The golden towers and temples were bold against the water. I squinted, and looking carefully, saw a few of the giants bodies washed into random places.

Mel sat down beside me, muddying her white pants. "You did it."

"No, I think you did that," I replied, barely drawing enough breath for the response.

She smiled a bit. "We didn't die." Her tone was cheerful. She said the phrase like another might say they passed a test in school. "I guess that means we're still friends, right?" Her eyes turned to me, the look she wore smug. Maybe there was a small mix of hopeful in there as well.

I remembered my promise to sever our friendship if we died. She was right, though I didn't say anything.

I heard a loud scratching behind us, and looked up to see Jackie sliding down the slope, garrott lodged in the mountain, slowly dragging through the hard dirt to keep her from falling as she descended. Orlean was tucked firmly under her arm. They hopped off a few feet from our ledge, and I braced for questions about how we were alive.

Instead, Jackie walked up and raised a hand. Then, I was bracing for a slap.

Gently, she took mine and shook. "It was definitely interesting working with you. Glad you're alive."

I almost said "You too", but stopped myself from sounding stupid. "Thanks," was all I managed.

Orlean was looking down at the collection of squared off cities being refilled with water. "Walking down sure should be fun," she said.

I saw Mel get up, and head over to a nearby tree. "This could serve as a raft if we cut it down."

Once again, another wonderful dangerous idea from Mel. Gotta love her.