Rise of the Warrior of Everfen

Chapter 26: Dagger To Her Heart

No one was splashing water on her face so much as they were kicking it as they walked and stepped by her head. She was nearly submerged as her eyes fluttered open, part of her body lifted up on a jagged rock, the only reason she hadn't sunk beneath the river's surface. The water couldn't have been more than knee deep, the current just strong enough that she could feel it tugging at her.

Legs churned the water by her head as rider's waited from the shore and her neck ached so painfully that she almost couldn't turn it to see two men trying to work the rope out of a crevice it'd wedged itself into while they drug her across the water.

"Is she dead yet?" One of them called from the shore.

"Barely breathing, we'll get her loose and keep dragging!" One of the two in the water shouted back, laughing. Her throat felt like it burned and she opened her mouth, the cold water filling it. It was all she could do to suck in breaths through her fiery throat but the more she breathed the cool air and drank the soothing water, the more her head cleared.

She hurt everywhere. Not an inch of her body didn't have a scrape or bruise festering on her, and the clothes she could see was ragged and torn. She had two choices, wait to die or try one last time to fight, while these two had their backs to her. She didn't think she had the strength to strike as she tilted her head to look at them again.

One of them was kicking at the rocks now, cursing the gods as he pulled up on the rope while the other complained about getting wet. As his foot lifted out of the water to kick at the rocks, too, she saw a knife tucked into his boot and hope flared inside of her.

Try!

She gripped the edge of the rock that she was splayed on, hoisted herself towards them, and slid the dagger from his shoe. Just as he glanced down at her, she thrust it into his leg. He screamed and went down on one knee and she slammed the blade into his ribcage, piercing straight through to his lung.

The riders shouted, the second man whirled towards her and lifted his foot to kick. She held the knife out towards him and his foot landed directly on it. He shrieked and stumbled backwards and she lost her grip on the dagger as the man sprawled out in the water, slipping under the surface. The current was just strong enough to drag him away from her, giving her room to breathe as she struggled to slide the rope off her neck.

Her movements were clumsy as she scrambled, breath coming in and out of her lungs haggardly, her throat still burning, wheezing with each pull of air. The riders were charging and her mind, though foggy, knew she had to move.

She finally pulled the rope off her neck and plunged into the water. The man she'd stabbed in the foot, no matter how indirectly, paid her no mind as he clung to a rock, trying to lift his leg higher and remove the blade while begging for one of his comrades to help him. The horses came running after her, the riders holding swords high, threatening to take her head.

Erinne swam, pulling hard at the water, kicking off the bottom with her feet. Rocks jutted up, nicking her as the current got stronger and she glanced back and realized going with the current-not running-was the wisest choice she could have made. One of the horse's tripped and submerged in the water, barring another two rider's paths while two more were stumbling on the rocky bottom of the river. Another outright refused it's rider's command to go forward and the current was getting stronger.

Her sole focus became keeping her head up as she tread water, letting it pull her along, trying to avoid boulders jutting up out of the depths and into view. It drew her in like a bitter hug, a cloak of ice, sweeping her farther out of reach, until she looked back and saw them charging for the shore, motioning after her.