The Riverbank – Day 3
The river ran wide and fast, its grey water churning over hidden rocks. It cut across their path like a blade, fifty meters of cold, violent current with no bridge in sight.
The Royal Team stood on the muddy bank. Three days of hard travel had stripped away their polish.
Dugu Yan's hair hung in a tangled, messy knot. Mud streaked her expensive leggings. She didn't bother wiping it off anymore. Osler leaned against a tree, eyes half-closed, swaying slightly. The Graphite Brothers looked like they'd been buried and dug back up, which, given their affinity for earth, wasn't far from the truth.
Arthev walked to the water's edge and tossed a twig into the current. The river snatched it and swept it downstream in seconds.
"Current speed, about three meters per second," he said. "Depth varies. Likely four meters at the center."
He turned to face the team.
"We cross here."
Yu Feng spread his wings immediately. "I'll fly everyone over. One trip each. Easy."
"No."
"Why not? I'm a bird. Flying is literally what I do."
"If you fly, your wings get stronger and your legs stay weak. That's how you lose balance in a fight. Also, what happens when someone breaks your wing? You need to know how to swim."
Yu Feng's wings drooped.
Tortoises could swim, Shi Mo pointed out. His family had done it for generations.
"You're heavy," Arthev said. "You'll sink unless you learn to move right."
He pointed upstream.
"We're not just crossing. We're doing the Salmon Run."
The team groaned. Arthev had a name for every exercise, and the names were always worse than they sounded.
"Everyone jumps in here," he continued. "Then we swim upstream for one kilometer. Current pushes against us the whole way. We exit on the far side."
Yu Tianheng stared at the violent water. "Upstream? Against that? Without using soul power to boost?"
"Salmon do it," Arthev said. "And they're delicious. You want to be delicious, Captain?"
"I... no?"
"Then be stronger than a fish. Strip off heavy gear. Keep your boots on."
"Boots?" Dugu Yan's voice climbed half an octave. "Do you know how much wet leather weighs?"
"Yes," Arthev said. "That's the point. Into the water."
SPLASH.
The Royal Team jumped in
The river hit like a fist.
"COLD!" Osler shrieked, thrashing. "My heart stopped!"
"Keep moving," Arthev called out. He was already in the water, his strokes long and smooth. "Hypothermia takes at least twenty minutes. You've got nineteen left."
The current pulled at them constantly. Every stroke forward cost twice the effort. Yu Tianheng fought his way to the front, his dragon-blood burning against the cold. The Graphite Brothers bobbed like stones—too dense to float well, their heads barely breaking the surface.
"I'm drinking the river!" Shi Mo gurgled.
"Don't," Arthev said, gliding past. "Fish live in it."
Shi Mo spat violently.
Ye Lingling grabbed a floating log. Arthev didn't stop her, support types got privileges. Dugu Yan, to everyone's surprise, moved well. Her snake spirit gave her a natural undulation, a slither even in water. She cut through the current with a competitive snarl, eyes locked on Arthev.
"I'll beat you to the bend," she hissed.
"Good goal," Arthev said. "Watch out for the rock."
"What rock...."
She found it face-first. The impact sent a spray of water over her head. She came up coughing and cursing.
---
An hour later, they crawled onto the far bank like drowned rats.
Osler kissed the mud. "Land. Solid land. I will never complain about walking again."
Yu Feng shook his wings, spraying everyone nearby. "I feel like a wet chicken."
Arthev stood up, water streaming from his black clothes. He checked the sun's position.
"Good pace. You only took three times longer than a salmon."
"Salmon don't wear boots," Yu Tianheng gasped, flat on his back.
"Lunch," Arthev announced.
The team perked up. Shi Mo sat upright. "Food? Real food?"
Arthev pointed at the river. "The river is full of fish. Catch them."
Dugu Yan looked at her muddy, scraped hands. "Catch them with what? We don't have nets. We don't have rods."
"You have hands. You have reflexes. Rule one still applies, no third soul skills. But first and second are allowed for utility."
Yu Tianheng raised a crackling hand. "So I can zap them?"
"If you use Thunderbolt, you'll electrocute the water. You'll kill every fish in a twenty-meter radius, and probably yourself, since you're soaking wet. Also, burnt fish tastes terrible."
The lightning died. "Right."
"I could use my poison to...." Dugu Yan began.
"No," Arthev cut her off. "I'm not eating poisoned fish."
"Then what?" Osler threw his hands up. "Do we ask them nicely?"
Arthev walked to the water's edge. He stood still, watching. His hand shot down, ablur,and came up with a silver fish, thrashing and gleaming.
He tossed it onto the grass.
"Like that. The water bends light. You have to aim below where you see them."
What followed was an hour of chaos.
Yu Feng dive-bombed from the air and missed three times, each impact sending him face-first into the shallows.
The Graphite Brothers built a small dam with river stones, trapping water, and exactly one frog, which Shi Mu held up with a confused expression.
"I'm not eating a frog," Shi Mo said.
Osler used his speed to splash through the shallows, yelling at the fish. The fish ignored him.
Finally, Yu Tianheng figured it out. He coated his hand with a paper-thin layer of lightningjust enough to stun, not fry. He waited. He struck.
A carp came out flopping.
"I got one!" The captain held it overhead like a trophy.
"One fish for eight people," Arthev noted. "Who wants the eyeball?"
Hunger sharpened their focus. Dugu Yan started striking with snake-quick jabs. The Graphite Brothers cornered a school against their dam. By mid-afternoon, they had ten decent-sized fish piled on the grass.
---
"Now fire," Arthev said.
Yu Tianheng raised his hand again. "I can...."
"No lightning. Too hot. You'll shatter the wood."
Arthev handed Dugu Yan a flat stick, a pointed one, and a bundle of dry moss. "Hand drill. Friction creates heat. Go."
Twenty minutes later, sweat dripping down her face, Dugu Yan produced a thin curl of smoke. Then a tiny ember. She blew on it gently, and flames licked up through the moss.
"I made fire!" she shouted. "I am the Goddess of Flame!"
"You're the Goddess of Sparks," Arthev said, adding twigs. "Feed it gently."
The fish went on sticks. The smell of roasting meat drifted through the clearing. No salt. No spices. Just charred skin and white flesh.
When they took the first bites, nobody complained.
"This is the best fish I've ever eaten," Osler moaned, grease on his chin. "It tastes like victory."
"It tastes like survival," Yu Tianheng said. He looked at his scratched, wrinkled hands. They had caught this food. They had made this fire.
Arthev sat apart, eating his portion in silence. His eyes moved constantly, scanning the tree line, the river, the sky. Old habit.
"We did good today," Ye Lingling said, settling down beside him.
"We did adequate," Arthev replied. "Tomorrow we learn which bugs are edible."
She stopped chewing. "You're joking."
"I never joke about nutrition."
From the far bank, a cluster of bushes shivered despite the lack of wind.
A small mechanical rat crouched in the shadows, its lenses fixed on the campsite.
"They're eating burnt fish and acting like it's a feast," Spark whispered into his comms. "It's disgusting."
"It's bonding," Whisper replied. "Shared hardship builds units. Arthev knows exactly what he's doing."
"I dropped my sandwich in the river earlier. When the big one splashed."
"Suffer in silence, Shadow Eight."
Spark watched the team pass around a second round of roasted fish. They were laughing now, tired, dirty, but laughing. He really, really hated camping.
To be continued.....