“Yes!” Elion shouted. Golden threads of light swirled in the air. Vitality surged through him. A cool breeze prickled his skin as something formed around him.


    The handle of a weapon coalesced in his hand.


    Elated, Elion sprang toward the nearest harpoon. Keyla began firing her laserarm, providing a distraction.


    Swinging his blade down onto the harpoon cable, Elion found in his hand the butter knife he’d borrowed from Catherine Martin’s clubhouse. A sting of disappointment struck him in the chest, and he nearly dropped the knife.


    The blade had changed slightly; a vein of gold now ran along its spine. Momentum carried Elion’s hand to the cable, and the blade struck it. The knife bit into the twined strands of metal, far deeper than a normal butter knife should have.


    Elion grinned. Something had sharpened his butter knife. He continued hacking, twists of the cable breaking away with each strike. After five or six cuts the cable snapped, whipping backwards toward the raft it had been attached to.


    Elion forgot where he was. He raised his hands in triumph, thrusting the knife into the air.


    “That’s your sword?” Keyla asked, incredulous.


    A bullet struck Elion in the leg, knocking him over before he could retort. Pulling himself up, he felt strangely weakened. He clutched at his thigh, surprised to find his leg bare but not bleeding. Bullets bit into the dock nearby as he scrambled to hide behind one of the pilings of the dock, near where another harpoon anchored itself.


    The dock house screeched loudly, tilting sideways as pressure from the two rafts anchored to it overcame the strength of its pilings.


    Elion broke from cover, chopping at the cable. It was attached to the closest raft, three scavengers still on board. One with a rifle fired, the air popping around Elion as bullets whizzed past his head. He dropped, crouching back behind the piling before he managed to sever the cable.


    Keyla’s gun thumped twice, and two scavengers fell into the water. Elion pulled himself back up, hacking at the cable, nearly cutting through it. His leg throbbed where the bullet had struck it.


    A panel of the dock house dislodged itself, pulled into the water and towed downstream by a raft of scavengers. The scavengers cried out in dismay as their raft was smashed into the cliffside. It disintegrated into splinters, and the wreckage was washed away.


    The building tilted precariously, then collapsed sideways into the water, as the other harpoon came free.


    From the river another raft fired its harpoon, this one splintering the dock not far from Elion and Keyla. Sharp splinters blasted across Elion’s back and side. More than a dozen scavengers crowded on this raft. Two of them aimed rifles at Keyla and Elion, their shots smashing into the dock and crates nearby.


    Elion struck the cable again as Keyla moved into cover alongside him. A single scavenger remained on this raft, a dirty, scraggly woman. A dirty blue and yellow rag tied her hair back. She abandoned the winch and recovered a fallen gun, taking careful aim.


    Keyla froze, scavenger in her sights. Her eyes widened, color draining from her face. Her finger flexed on the trigger of the gun, but she did not fire.


    The scavenger woman was so close, Elion could see her eyes. They were totally black, like pits, reflecting no light.


    The scavenger fired her rifle. The bullet struck Elion in the side, a blow like a hammer knocking him backwards. He grabbed his ribs, again surprised to find nothing but bare skin and a stinging welt.


    “Shoot her!” Elion yelled, cutting through the last of the cable. The woman fired again, this shot going wide as the freed raft bucked, swinging out into the current of the river. Keyla did not move.


    Stolen novel; please report.


    Elion ran down the dock to the anchoring spear of the final raft, and severed the line with three powerful strokes of the knife. The cut cable flipped back through the air, and the freed raft changed direction, towed by the current of the river. The sudden movement sent several scavengers tumbling into the river.


    Behind Elion the remains of the dock house exploded. A pressure wave from the detonation burst Elion’s ears and sucked the breath from his lungs. A fireball consumed the remains of the structure, sending flecks of shredded metal flying into the sky.


    With a woosh, air swept past Elion, funneling black smoke upward into a billowing mushroom cloud. Heat washed over everything, and the smell of burning hair permeated Elion’s nostrils.


    Keyla remained paralyzed on the dock, rifle aimed down river. Flecks of smoldering debris rained down around them. Elion gasped for air, scrambling to his feet and yelling Keyla’s name.


    He couldn’t hear himself. She did not move. The dock burned, wind fanning the flames and pulling smoke upwards into the swelling cloud of smoke. Larger chunks of flaming debris rained down around them, crashing through the dock and splashing into the water.


    Elion ran down the docks. A second, larger explosion erupted violently behind him. He grabbed the stunned Keyla, hauling her off her feet as the blast smashed into him, hurtling them into the river.


    The splash of cold water snapped Keyla back to reality, and she struggled out of Elion’s grasp, thrashing in the river. More debris splashed down nearby as the current pulled them away from the docks.


    Keyla pushed Elion underwater, forcing him to swim away from her as she flailed. He tried yelling at her, but she didn’t respond. Elion didn’t know if she could swim. Heck, Elion could barely swim. They floated out into the river, bobbing among the wreckage of the dock house.


    As the river pulled them around a corner, Elion saw people running along the cliff, down the path from the village. Fire burned on the dock, and a large portion of it collapsed.


    Keyla disappeared under the water, and he tried to swim to her as water splashed into his nostrils and eyes, blinding him. She resurfaced nearby, her eyes alert and intent as she treaded water. She yelled something, but Elion didn’t understand—couldn’t hear her over the sound of the river and the ringing in his ears.


    She gestured toward the cliffs of the island and started swimming toward them. Elion did the same, but the current of the river surged around him, pulling him viciously along. He continued, half swimming, half flailing, desperate to escape the grip of the cold water. It was all he could do to stay afloat, buffeted by chunks of the destroyed dock.


    The sides of the canyon rushed past, the river sweeping them beneath the bridge. Elion panicked, swimming as best he could. He gasped for breath, sucking in air and water, spluttering with each stroke.


    Aches built up in his arms and legs. The creeping cold of the water numbed him, leeching his strength as continued trying to swim. His lungs burned as he gasped for breath with each stroke, swallowing mouthfuls of water. The current twisted him around, making it almost impossible to keep his heading.


    Elion wasn’t going to make it back to the island. The river was going to take him.  I’m going to drown.  A wave pulled him under. He inhaled water, choking as he searched for the surface. His shin banged against a rock.


    Kicking out, pushing against the bottom of the river, Elion burst from the water. Nearby a scavenger gurgled, caught in an whirlpool, spinning helplessly as rapids repeatedly dragged him under the water.


    Elion swam with renewed strength, fear propelling him, face buried in the water as his arms and legs churned. Desperation and water suffocated him.


    His hand brushed sand, striking against the bottom of the river. He lifted his head and saw that he had managed to pull himself into a shallow eddy. Keyla stood ahead of him, splashing through the water toward shore.


    Elion pulled his legs up beneath him, kneeling in the water on his hands and knees. He coughed up a gallon of swallowed river water, gasping for breath. His legs shook, and he thought he might collapse back into the river, but he rose and waded forward, water streaming from him.


    Keyla pulled herself ashore and collapsed on dry land, nestled between the roots of a tree. She’d lost her heavy boots and her rifle in the river. Her thick overalls seeped water onto the ground around her, her hair slicked back from her face.


    She saw Elion walking toward her and burst out in laughter. Elion scowled at first, but she only laughed harder, grasping her sides.


    Elion looked down at himself, and found he was totally naked, except for a strip of golden cloth wrapped around his waist and between his legs like a speedo.


    Something about the way she smiled and her hearty chuckle wormed its way through his embarrassment. Too tired to disagree, he began laughing too, and when he reached the shore he flopped down beside her. They both laughed until they couldn’t breathe.