Page 19 of The Arcane God

Chapter Eight

Ty

It felt good to finally be on the move again after spending three days holed up in their inadequate shelter while the storm raged. They’d passed the time okay—telling each other stories and resting when they could—but now, at long last, they were making progress towards their destination once more, as nebulous as it was.

Ty tried not to let his anxiety around that seep in too deep—the fact that they had no idea where they were going and instead seemed to just be aimlessly wandering deeper into the snowy, icy tundra of the Chasm Mountains while the weather got progressively worse.

He was, of course, extremely concerned about all that, and thought constantly about how he would continue to find them all food, or how long the rest of their supplies would hold out before they found what they were looking for, but he couldn’t let it show. He needed to take care of Ena and their unborn child. He needed to be strong—for them—and that meant putting on a brave face.

It was, after all, his mistake that had led to all this. Not that having sex with Ena was ever a mistake, but he had realized a few weeks ago that it was he who had been late taking his contraceptive tonic. Just by one day—the day they’d gone to take the allucinae and then swam in the hot springs. Naked. Ena had been impossible to resist, all dripping wet and gleeful from her progress learning to swim and…well, now she was pregnant.

The idea of it still shocked him. Being a father was not something he had ever envisioned for his life. But protecting Ena—his wife—was his duty, so he would be there for their child too. He had to, even if it came at a cost to the Underworld. Because he knew what it was like to have a parent abandon you just because things were tough, and he could never bring himself to do that.

He actively suppressed his anxious thoughts about meeting his mother now too as his horse’s hooves sank into a particularly deep snowbank. The weather had warmed slightly as they’d descended from the peak, and the snow was slushy in spots. They’d been traveling most of the morning, everyone in good spirits and happy to be riding once more.

But then, sometime in the afternoon, that ended abruptly as he heard the unmistakable sound of a rushing river.

Fuck. This could be a problem.

He looked back at Ena and Turner, unsure if they had heard it yet.

“What is it?” Ena asked.

“I hear a river up ahead. I’m gonna go scout it out,” he replied.

Ena nodded, and he spurred his horse ahead of the others.

After about a quarter mile, he came to the river.

Double fuck. It was huge.

Nearly as wide as the River Wry, the melting snow from the mountain’s peak thundered through it, crashing over boulders and giant wayward logs like they were nothing but a nuisance.

How in the fuck were they supposed to cross this?

Ty led his horse further upriver, looking for a spot where the water wasn’t as deep so the horses had a chance at crossing, but after about a mile, he turned back to no avail.

He found Ena and Turner waiting by the bank, their faces grim with concern.

“Find anywhere to cross?” Turner asked.

“Nowhere. It’s just as deep and swift upriver. But I’ll check downriver too,” he replied. “You doing okay?” he asked Ena, who sat on a downed, snow-covered log silently eating a piece of jerky.

“Fine,” she assured him, smiling lightly at him in that way that made his heart warm. “You go. We’ll wait here.”

He took off again, moving as quickly as the terrain would allow. By about one and a half miles down, thank Iblis, the river moved into a wider plateau where the land flattened somewhat. The river spread out, and he found a spot with no rapids that looked like it might be shallow enough to cross, though it still moved swiftly. It wasn’t perfect by any means, but it was the best he’d found, and they needed to cross somehow. To go around the river would mean backtracking, and potentially several more weeks trying to find a route, if there even was one. Their supplies wouldn’t last that long, and if the storms came back… No. They had to find a way to cross here.

He went back to get Ena and Turner, leading them to the spot.

“What do you think?” Ty asked as they dismounted at the potential crossing spot.

“Still looks pretty swift,” Turner said, speaking loudly over the rushing sound of the river. “Do you think the horses can make it?”

“If the river bottom is solid enough,” Ty said, understanding his concern. “Either way, I’ll go across first with my horse and make sure it’s doable. Then I’ll go back and escort Ena and her horse, since she’s not a strong swimmer. You can follow with your own horse once she’s safe.”

“No, no, no, martyr boy,” Turner said, shaking his head. “I’ll go first and make sure it’s doable, then you come with Ena.”

“What? Why should you go first?” Ty asked, arching an eyebrow skeptically.