Chapter 16 - Suicidal Salmon

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Warning - This is a very scary chapter. But don't worry! Nobody dies in this story!

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The trio followed the river upstream, knowing that the entrance to their destination
was at its source. They didn't encounter anyone except the suicidal salmon that dared
test the freezing, raw power of the river all for the sake of a bit of spawning. The road
was easy enough but the weather was steadily getting worse and now it was raining
heavily every day. Nobody said much, they were all too tired and wet and hungry. The
incessant rain penetrated everywhere from their spare clothes to their sleeping bags
and no amount of waterproofing could keep it out. Their supplies were running low
(apart from the Goblin bread, but no one was prepared to eat that again) and Hilarity
was beginning to get increasingly worried that they didn't have any kind of weaponry
to speak of. To top it all off, Jareth was experiencing some mightily rotten withdrawal
symptoms from his magic and was in a foul mood for most of the day. In short, they
were bloody miserable.

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That night they pitched their tent as usual, not far from the river and carefully
protected by a circle of Holy Water. The storm raged outside and the rain pelted the
canvas walls like arrows to a city under siege.

"Well, that's the last of the whiskey." said Hilarity grimly, turning the flask upside
down to check. Just then a torrent of water landed on her head. They had sprung yet
another leak. "Oh this is ridiculous!" she quickly plugged it up with the spare sheet of
plastic she used to line her back pack. It was pretty futile, seeing as everything was
already saturated with water. In fact she was up to her ankles in it anyway. Wait a
minute! Up to her ankles!!

"Jareth, does this river have a nasty habit of flooding when you don't want it to?" she
asked urgently.

"I don't know. Why?" he replied, not really paying attention.

"Because I don't think tents fill up with water on their own!" she cried.

They both frantically tried to gather up their food and equipment and escape the
rapidly rising waters. Jareth grabbed their belongings and made a dash for higher
ground while Hilarity and Thomas tried desperately to dismantle the tent. But they just
weren't fast enough. From somewhere upstream a crowd of rocks gave way, releasing
another massive wall of water which crashed its way through the valley and engulfed
them in its wild fury. Jareth arrived back at the quickly receding river bank, only to
see his two friends get washed away....

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Thomas opened his eyes. Everything was dark and cold. He tried breathing but
realised in the nick of time that he was underwater and couldn't. He began to struggle
as the panic hit him. Which way was up? He decided to take a wild guess and swam
(somewhat inexpertly) in a random direction. He emerged, spluttering and gasping for
air, only to be swept under again. The river was so powerful that it was a struggle to
even keep your head above water. A tangled up sheet of tent canvas floated past him.
To his sheer horror he noticed there was an arm hanging out of it. Hilarity! That was
the very second that he sprang into action, blindly swimming after her, desperately
hoping she wouldn't get caught in another underwater current. The river swept them
further downstream until he finally caught her, dragged her head above water and
frantically tried to untangle her from the tent. She wasn't breathing and had a large cut
above her left eyebrow. They continued to accelerate downstream. If only there was
something to grab hold off. Then he noticed a fallen tree whose branches reached just
half way across the river. He fought off the urge to fall asleep from the cold and
prepared to lunge for one of the branches. Still resisting the hypothermia he slowly
dragged himself along the tree trunk with his free arm, always making sure his
protectrice was safe. She had saved him from Earth a long time ago when he was on
the run from both the FBI and the Interstellar Space Force. Being from another galaxy
had made him an unidentified species to both organisations and both would no doubt
have ended up dissecting him gruesomely. She had saved him, even though she didn't
know it. Now, six long years later, he was returning the favour. To his love, the only
reason why he was still alive.

He crawled onto dry land, wheezing with exhaustion, Hilarity's unconscious form next
to him. The last thing he remembered before he passed out was the feeling of her cold
fingers in his palm...