Chapter 8
Amaris
All thoughts of questioning whether her reality was real or not evaporated from Amaris’s mind as Gris leapt from the horse. She didn’t even bother with Amaris as she rushed toward the steep river’s edge.
“Theo!” Gris screamed, scanning the water.
With the pace of the current, he had to be farther downstream. Amaris slid from the saddle, biting back the pain in her hand. She shoved it away and headed toward Gris’s cries of distress.
“Theo!” Gris yelled again.
“Can you swim?” Amaris asked.
She turned to Amaris, the whites of her eyes growing into porcelain saucers. “I…I can’t.”
Amaris stepped closer to the edge. It was a five-foot drop, but the water had to be deep without a single sign of Theodoric floating above the surface.
Her boots kicked off with ease. She only wished she could be jumping into her bunker pants instead of a river.
Amaris stepped back a few paces, released a breath, and jumped.
The cold water shocked her. Shit! What the hell am I doing?
Her legs kicked furiously as she treaded water, and the river washed over her face.
Did I just jump in for this asshole? She choked out a breath, refusing to swallow the nasty river water.
The current swept her downstream before she could even assess how deep it was.
“Theo!” Gris screamed from the edge of the river.
Amaris righted herself, getting her feet behind her to propel herself forward. Apparently, someone cared for the prick. He had to be here somewhere, but a hard lump in her throat formed. She didn’t see his head or any part of his clothing poking out.
“Ride farther down and let me know if you see him!” she shouted to Gris.
Gris jumped on her horse and forced the creature to a sprint.
I’ll find him. Amaris swam faster, kicking her feet and dragging her arms over her head one after the other.
It was entirely too natural for her body to adjust to the water again.
She’d begged Gran to put her in swim classes as a child, fearful what happened to her parents in the shipwreck would repeat itself.
Her hand sliced through the water’s surface, but a river was different than a swimming pool.
“He’s down here!” Gris shouted.
All Amaris could see along the river’s edge were trees as they extended over the water. She swam faster, her legs burning with each kick.
“Over here!” Gris pointed across the river.
A moss-covered tree had fallen across the water. Her eyes peered closer, and hanging along the edge of a branch, looking like it could break any second, was a belt.
Amaris fought against the current, trying to veer toward him, but it swept her up and smacked her into the tree. It shifted, and the branch creaked with the thud. Her nails dug against the tree, trying to gain leverage. The bark bit into her fingertips as she inched toward him.
Lucky bastard. If it hadn’t been for his belt, they never would’ve found him. Unfortunately for him though, his belt was also holding him beneath the tree.
Amaris reached out, a cry of agony escaping her lips as the current snapped her hand back. She needed to push through. She couldn’t move her fingers, but she could feel for his head and cradle it around her wrist. Her legs were leaden, threatening to get sucked underneath.
She reached again, feeling down his shirt until his hair was brushing against her hand.
Her fingers tried to open to grab him, but they wouldn’t move.
She fought the tears of pain surging through her.
Wrapping her wrist around his head, she tried again to pull him back, but the current was too strong against the weakness growing in her hand.
She forced a breath, frustration overcoming her.
She needed a different strategy. The belt caught her eye, and she instead slung her arm around it, wedging it into the crook of her elbow.
Painfully, her swollen hand wound around the leather.
She slid her other hand down the slippery surface of the tree, feeling for his head again.
She was so damn close but couldn’t reach him.
She knew what she needed to do but she didn’t like it. Why did I have to punch that stupid mirror? Holding her breath, she dove under the water. The current tried to take hold of her, dragging her under.
She further twisted her hand around the belt, hooking her wrist. She opened her eyes, fighting the sting of the murky water and the tunneling vision from the pain radiating up her arm.
She couldn’t pass out. Her lungs burned, but she wrapped her legs around his torso and pulled his body closer to hers.
She reached into the murky darkness, feeling for something to pull his head up.
She wiggled her fingers, and her hand slid to the back of his head.
Theodoric’s face breached the surface, but there wasn’t a gasp for air. Amaris shifted herself behind him, allowing his head to cradle against her shoulder.
“Theo!” Gris shouted as she came running down the tree. The weight of her feet caused it to shift. They almost slipped from the branch, but Amaris held Theodoric tightly with her legs wrapped around his waist and his back pressing against her chest.
She placed a finger on his neck as she waited for Gris to reach them.
A pulse beat beneath her fingers—thank God.
His head rolled toward her neck, but she didn’t feel a shallow breath or even see the rise of his chest. She pinched his nose and forced a breath into his lungs—gross!
She’d never done actual mouth-to-mouth since they carried masks, but if she didn’t, he was going to die.
Gris dropped into a crouch and leaned over. Her feet shifted, keeping her balance as she tried grabbing underneath Theodoric’s arms. She couldn’t possibly pull him up herself. He was too big.
“Get his belt off the branch, and I’ll grab him,” Gris said, readying herself.
“Can you—”
“Yes,” Gris insisted, and Amaris unwound her hand and jimmied the belt off the branch. “Let go of him. I’ve got it from here.”
Amaris studied her. Gris’s muscles flexed and strained as she fought his dead weight. Amaris unwrapped her legs but was ready for when he slipped from Gris’s hold.
No way she does it. Amaris took a breath to dive to the bottom and push off the river floor to give Gris any bit of help, but she grunted and stood, deadlifting Theodoric out of the water. Holy shit!
Gris grabbed Amaris’s arm and hurtled her onto the fallen tree. Seizing under his arms again, she dragged him toward the shore. Amaris froze, draped over the tree. She’d never seen anything like it. Gris was pretty much her size with the strength of Viv.
“Let’s go!” Gris shouted to her.
The rushing current looked all too appealing to make a quick escape, but Gris fought her sobs as she dragged Theodoric down the moss-covered tree.
I’m going to regret this. Amaris swung her legs over and got her feet underneath her. Her muscles were riddled with fatigue, and her legs burned with each step. Gris hauled Theodoric off the tree, sprawling him on his back in the grass. He still wasn’t breathing.
Amaris flailed her arms, fighting her balance against the slippery moss as she ran the last few paces. Jumping down, she rushed toward his head. She bent down and gave him another rescue breath, ignoring his bad breath.
Jeez, brush your teeth lately?
Theodoric’s chest rose but settled as Amaris removed her lips. She took her left hand and began compressing on his chest.
“Do you have your cell phone? Call nine-one-one,” Amaris said.
Gris stood with her arms pinned at her sides. Her eyes trained on Amaris pressing against Theodoric’s chest.
“Give me your cell phone.” Amaris could understand her shock. Most family members would be hysterical.
Gris furrowed her brow, and the question she uttered was airy. “Cell phone?”
“If you don’t call for an ambulance right now, he could die!”
“What in the realm is an ambulance?”
“Go get the others,” Amaris demanded as her thoughts began to spin.
A cell phone…an ambulance…is she seriously this clueless?
An icy chill shot down Amaris’s spine as she pulled back her hand and leaned over to give Theodoric another breath.
She considered their matching clothes and the possibility they could be part of a cult that didn’t give them access to the world.
She brushed her lips against his as she gave another breath and resumed compressions.
She tried not to focus on his chapped lips but what was unraveling around her.
Maybe it was all a vivid hallucination from being doped up on morphine while she lay in a hospital bed with a broken neck. She kept compressing.
Maybe I’m not, she considered. Her hand wouldn’t hurt this bad if she was, or maybe her mind had a sick way of dealing with its subconscious. She gave another breath and concluded, This is just a desperate nightmare.
She wished she had her ambulance, her airway equipment, her automated vent.
She brushed bits of moss off Theodoric’s cheek for a breath and resumed pumping against his chest. She wished she had Viv and Charlie here to run the call with her, for her vitals monitor and drug box.
Sweat and water mixed along her forehead, trickling off the bridge of her nose as she used her entire body to power her compressions.
One handed wasn’t sustainable. He needed to start breathing, or she needed a damn ambulance.
She leaned down and forced one more breath. He lurched forward, smacking his head into hers. She fell back, groaning and gripping at her skull. Fuck, he has a hard-ass head.
Theodoric rolled over, vomiting and coughing up the water from his lungs. Short gasps followed a coughing fit. He rolled over and tried to sit up.
“Hold up. Catch your breath first,” Amaris said, reaching for him.