Deitrich
The river is beautiful, clean, clear, not too deep here. It is amazing that it becomes a part of the river further north; wide and placid as the silt builds up. The canyons are interesting, the water has cut fantastic shapes and channels over the millenia. The woman tells me we are getting close to the headwaters, but also to where the oasis once stood. We are far deeper into the continent than I am comfortable being. Too far away from the front.
Noise carries in the canyons, but it also distorts. Troy and his men are following me. I have not seen them, but I cannot doubt that the Allies are close by. Still, I see no reason to send my men after them. They are as cut off as we are, more as they have little room for supplies on their vehicles.
The further we go through the canyons, the more disquieting it is. I see no fish in the crystalline waters, no life. There is some vegetation this close to the river, but no birds, nothing else; just us.
"A penny for your thoughts." Cheri's voice cut through my considerations. She smiled as I looked over at her. "Cat got your tongue?"
"Hardly. I find the lack of fish difficult to understand."
"What?" she asked with a laugh. "The lack of …" She turned to look at the river. "Damn. You're right. Crystal clear water and not a fish in sight. Of course, there aren't any crocs or snakes or anything else. Any ideas?" She asked the Bedouin in his own language.
"About?"
"Fish … or rather the lack of them in the water."
He shook his head. "The Creature used his magic to create a great wave to destroy us. I don't remember any fish then either."
"He doesn't remember fish the last time he passed this way," she translated for me.
"None?"
"Well, not that he recalls. But then, they were concentrated on Alex and retrieving him from his kidnappers rather than documenting the fauna of the river. They might just have missed them, I suppose."
Yet her look said she didn't think so, that even then the river was barren. Still, the water tasted fresh and clean. I reminded my men to use the anti-bacterial tablets to clean the water before drinking it. It would not do to come down with dysentery or intestinal parasites because we did not use the proper precautions.
In spite of their beauty, I will be glad to see an end to the canyons. As we come closer to our destination, we are all becoming more tense. I am not a superstitious man, but I begin to see how legends could grow in this area.
