Dream of Me/Believe in Me

he's still doing this!”
    The men behind Udell also laughed but they sounded distinctly less amused. Krysta scarcely heard them. She was staring at the water through the dancing rainbows of light, thinking about what the little man had said. The river was running hard and there were the rocks, not to mention the rapids she had glimpsed just north of where they had left the boat. The current would take her at once and she would have very little chance of fighting it. But if she could catch hold of a fallen log and keep her head up enough to get air—
    Udell would not be delayed much longer. Already he was drawing his sword.
    “Get out of the way, old man.”
    Krysta pressed her heel into the side of her horse, urging him over near the edge of the bridge.
    “And move that damn pole.”
    All in the space of a heartbeat, she breathed deeply, raised her hand in thanks to the little man, swung her leg over the horse, and jumped. The current took her with stunning force. There was no time to think or breathe or even try to swim. Behind her, she could hear Udell shouting and managed to turn her head just enough to catch a glimpse of him frantically gesturing to his men. Then bridge, Mercians, and all else vanished from sight as the current pulled her under.
    Just beneath the surface, the river looked far calmer. Dappled light illuminated forests of waving fronds that grew out of the gravelly riverbed. Swirls of mud rose in eddies, momentarily obscuring Krysta's vision until she was thrust clear of them. Rocks flew past, some small, others the size of huts. Of a sudden, she found herself staring directly into the eyes of a fish, a salmon she thought. Then it, too, was gone and the current flowed on.
    It was very peaceful really for all its speed. She was vaguely surprised to have no sense of danger. Indeed, she felt nothing but relief to be free of Udell and all the turbulence above. The river rounded a bend and she was suddenly thrust again into the sun. She surfaced gasping, terrified for an instant that she could not breathe, and had no time to think of the absurdity of that before her starved lungs drew in air.
    Her clothes dragged at her and she was pulled under again. This time, she fought her way back into the open and found herself cast into a quiet pool that flowed off to one side of the river. On hands and knees, she crawled onto the mossy bank and collapsed in an exhausted stupor.
    Some while later, she had no sense of how long, she raised her head and looked around. She had no idea how far she was from the bridge but all her instincts told her to keep moving. Udell would not be willing to lose the hostage who stood between him and certain death. Hewould come after her if only to recover her body, for if Hawk was hunting them and he found her dead, he would attack without mercy.
    Staggering to her feet, Krysta struggled to decide what to do. If she tried to follow the river road back the way she had come, Udell would have a far easier time of finding her. But if she abandoned the road, she might easily become lost in an area where there were few settlements and many natural dangers. That left the river.
    She stared at it hesitantly. The current was still flowing fast. Ordinarily, to trust herself to it would be madness. And yet it had not killed her when by all rights it should have. She was weary and a little bruised but that was as nothing against what might well have happened. Somewhere up ahead were rapids. She was quite sure she had not come upon them yet and that she would not survive doing so. But if she could keep aware and leave the river before the rapids, she just might have a chance.
    The pool lay in the shadow of several old oak trees. One of them was dying. A long arm of a fallen branch lay on the bank, almost in the water. Tentatively, Krysta pushed it into the pool. She watched until she saw it float. Quickly, before she could think better of it, she stripped off most of the clothes that had so weighed her down. Wearing only her shift, she waded back into the water, grabbed hold of the tree limb, and kicked toward the river.
    H AWK DREW REIN AT THE EDGE OF TH E CLEARING . He took note of the boat drawn up on the shore and of the marks left in the soft earth. A wave of his hand brought Thorgold to his side.
    “Let the dog have a go at this.”
    Scarcely had the animal been set down than he began to race around the clearing, nose to the ground. He didthis faster and faster, narrowing his search