Morgan Rice - A Vow of Glory

They paddled so long that Thor felt his arms would fall off his body. The second sun sank low in the sky, and just as Thor felt he couldn’t lift the paddle one more time, the wide body of water shrank into a narrow channel. Land came into view on either side of them—a vast, desolate land made of a black, craggy soil, stretching as far as the eye could see. It looked like endless fields of upturned dirt, and it felt as if they had come to a place where nothing lived—as if they had come to the very end of the earth.

“The Wastelands,” Indra said softly, ominously. “The falls aren’t far now.”

Thor began to hear the distant sound of running water, growing stronger, as the current, too, grew stronger, pulling them down what was becoming a river. Soon they all lifted their paddles, no longer needing to use them, as the water carried them its way.

There came a bend in the river, and as they turned, the sound of rushing water grew louder; Thor’s heart sank as in the distance he spied foaming water, a drop-off. He could begin to feel the spray, the moisture in the air, even from here. Indra was right: waterfalls.

They all looked at each other ominously.

“Looks like you’re wrong again,” Reece said, turning to Drake.

“You better be right about this map,” Elden said threateningly.

“Those falls will kill us!” O’Connor cried.

“How deep is the drop?” Conval asked.

Now they all looked to Indra for answers.

“I don’t know,” she answered. “But if we survive it, I assure you, the falls will be the least of our problems.”

The current became too fast, the noise and the spray stronger, and Thor and the others clutched the sides of the boat firmly.

“We have to turn around!” Conven said, trying to back-paddle..

“It’s too late!” Thor yelled. “The current is too strong! Brace yourselves!”

The boat rushed downstream, faster and faster, and Thor’s eyes opened wide as the falls came into view. It was a wall of white water, gushing down. Beside Thor, Krohn started to whine, and Thor reached around with one arm and held him tight.

“It’s okay, Krohn,” he said. “Just stay close. And if you fall in the water, swim back to us.”

Krohn whined again, as if in response, and a moment later, Thor’s stomach began to drop as their boat was beginning to tip over the edge.

Thor looked down over the edge and saw a tremendous drop, at least fifty feet. It was a wall of white water, and there was no time left to react.

The boat went over the edge and as one they all screamed, plummeting straight down through the air.

Thor found himself immersed in a wall of water, falling from the boat, flying through the air, flailing. He became lost in a world of rushing water, as he was flipped end over end, water washing all over him.

He plunged beneath the water for he did not know how long. His lungs were bursting as water shot up his nose, tumbling end over end, his face stung by the impact of the fall.

When he was finally sure his lungs were going to burst, the water cast him up; he emerged, flailing, taking huge breaths, somewhere downriver. He was disoriented, water in his eyes and ears and nose, and as he struggled to open his eyes amidst the roaring, gushing current, all he saw was more water.

The current sucked him down, submerging him again and again, until finally it began to slow, and he surfaced, several seconds later, gasping for air and able to stay afloat.

Thor treaded water, looking all around for his friends. One by one they began to surface, bobbing their heads, gasping for air, flailing, as the current carried them downstream. Thor also spotted Indra pop up, Elden swimming over and grabbing her. Thor looked everywhere, frantic, for Krohn, but could not find him.

“KROHN!” Thor screamed.

He turned every which way, and for a moment, far downstream, he saw his head surface, then go under again. He saw a look of fear in Krohn’s face which he had never seen before; it was a look of helplessness.

Their boat surfaced not too far from them, beaten up but somehow still intact, and all the Legion began to swim for it. But Thor swam off by himself in the other direction, heading for where he had last spotted Krohn.

“Swim for the boat!” Reece yelled to him.

But Thor ignored him; he had to get to Krohn, especially as he was about to enter a section of the current which would force him off in a different direction.

“Get back!” O’Connor screamed. “Don’t go that way!”

But Thor swam with all he had, fighting the current.

“KROHN!” he screamed again.

Images flashed through Thor’s mind of the time he had first found Krohn, of his being a tiny pup, of the bond that they had. The thought of losing him pained Thor beyond what he could imagine.

Suddenly, Thor saw one of Krohn’s paws surface, before going down again. Thor dove down, beneath the water, and swam; as he opened his eyes beneath the surface of the crystal-blue waters, he spotted Krohn, sinking towards the bottom.

Thor dove deeper, his ears bursting from the pressure, then grabbed Krohn and swam to the surface, dragging him.

As they surfaced, Thor took a deep breath and Krohn did, too. Krohn whimpered, treading water against the current, and Thor turned and kicked, trying with all he had to distance them from the fork. He wasn’t making as much headway as he would have liked.

Thor felt a hand on his arm and looked over to see Reece; he kicked, and together they made headway, fighting the current and making it towards the boat.

As they reached it, Thor hoisted Krohn up on board; he stood on all fours, grateful to be out of the water, and shook like crazy, then coughed out water, again and again. Thor and Reece held onto the rim of the boat and it carried them both downstream.

Thor turned and looked back, up at the falls; from here, they looked impossibly high, like a mountain. He could not believe they had survived the fall. They were just lucky there were no rocks at the bottom, and that at its base was a deep pool of water.

As they hung on, floating quickly, Thor and Reece turned to each other at the same time, still dazed, and suddenly burst out laughing.

“We survived, old friend,” Reece said, unbelieving.

Thor shook his head.

“Somehow, we did,” he answered.

Thor and Reece pulled themselves back up onto the boat, and as the current took them all downstream, they spotted their paddle floating in the water. They directed the boat over to them and each reached down and snatched them up. Thor was finally beginning to feel a sense of control again.

As the river bend turned, though, Thor’s relief turned to anxiety. A whole new land spread out before them, and Thor realized immediately that everything Indra had warned of had been true. He realized they had made a big mistake in coming here.

The underworld was the darkest, most desolate and gloomy land Thor had ever seen. The river cut through its countryside, comprised of a volcanic, black dirt, in which there grew endless fields of stubby, black trees, leafless, their dead branches twisted into ominous shapes, covered in thorns. It looked like a forest that had been burned and never grew back, and it felt as if nothing had ever lived here to begin with. Nothing good, anyway.

Even the sky here had a pallor of gloom unlike any Thor had ever seen. A dark grey had replaced the bright blue, and black clouds rolled amidst it, threatening a storm. The sun, too, hung lower, and a gloomy twilight replaced the afternoon light. Thor felt as if they had left afternoon and arrived in twilight, as if they were being carried into a land where despair ruled.

There arose strange noises all around them, like a bird’s song mixed with a wail, and Thor looked over and spotted flocks of enormous blackbirds perched on the branches. They resembled ravens but were four times the size, and they had eyes in their heads and on their chests. Instead of wings they had claws, and they shook these furiously as they leaned back and stuck out their chests, creating the strange noises.