Chapter 19: River Rescue
They came to the river that bisected the kingdom a day later, and found that the spring floods had rendered the bridge unsafe. Maybe it would be okay for one or two horses, but the timbers that held the bridge up were groaning from the force of the water pummeling them. The King reined up, and his knights did the same, ranging along the bank as they watched the roiling water and waited for the King's decision.
Richard turned to the young shepherd who had told them about the bridge. "There is no other bridge?" he asked the man.
The man shook his head. "No, my lord King. The only other one that crosses this river is three days' travel downstream that way," and he pointed to the King's left, "And there's them as says that's none too safe either."
Richard sighed and stared at the roiling water, and the slim little construction of wood and rope that spanned its width. "Remind me to allocate some additional funds from the Treasury for the rebuilding of the bridges," he murmured to the Weaponsmaster, by his side. The man gave a sharp nod, then said, "What shall we do, Your Majesty?"
Richard squared his shoulders. "The shepherd says it's been safe so far for small groups of people, or one wagon at a time. A wagon would be about equal to the weight of three horses. Let's cross here, three horses at a time." The Weaponsmaster turned to speak to the herald behind him, and the man began to spread the word down the line.
Jubilee blinked as Logan and the knight in front of him conversed quickly with the herald before the man moved on. "What is it?"
"The King says we've no choice but to cross here," Logan said grimly. "The herald says the shepherd said it's been safe so far for the wagons and groups of people, so Richard's going to risk it. We're going to go across in groups of three horses each." The boy's face went white, and he bit his lip.
Logan studied him carefully. "You don't like water."
Jubilee shuddered. "I was on a bridge like this once, when I was very young," she said. "It collapsed under me, and I fell into the river. I almost drowned. I never liked water since. This," she gestured to the white water, "Scares the hell out of me, frankly."
Logan leaned forward and patted the boy's shoulder. "I'll cross with ya," he said cheerfully. "You an' me an' the pack horse makes three horses, so it oughtta be all right. An' let's wait till last, maybe watchin' everyone go first'll help." Jubilee shot Logan a grateful look, which wasn't lost on the knight. The boy was really scared.
King Richard went first, with the Weaponsmaster and the herald. The King's Guard went next, three by three; then the King's knights. Logan hung back when their turn came, gesturing the others to go first. Julian stood beside him, watching Vincet and two other knights cross, and said to Logan, "You're coddling the boy, Logan. He scared to get his feet wet?"
Logan growled at Julian, "Shut up. Kid nearly drowned when he was little. I don't blame him fer bein' scared. Get your butt over that bridge before I kick it over there." Julian went.
Slowly, the rest of the knights went over, and then the wagons went over. One at a time, of course. The Cook's wagon, the wagon for the camp followers (some of the girls got out and ran across the bridge themselves, not wanting to trust all of their weight in the wagon atop those groaning timbers). The supply wagon went over next, then the wagon with extra weapons and armour for the knights. Finally, only Logan and Jubilee were left.
"Okay, they all went over, an' nothin' happened." Logan turned to Lee. "Come on, kid, nothin' t'be scared of. I'm right here, I ain't gonna let nothin' happen ta ya. Let's go." He rode his horse out a few steps onto the bridge. "Don't look down, now." Jubilee caught herself starting to look down at the white water she could see between the gaps in the bridge's boards, but at Logan's gentle admonishment she returned her gaze to the air between her horse's ears. The horse took a step forward. "All right. Go, then." Logan let the boy precede him on the bridge, since he had the pack-horse to lead as well. He brought up the rear, shouting encouragement to the kid, until the horse's hooves touched the bridge on the other side. Lee turned and flashed Logan a brilliant smile, happy that he'd gotten across. Logan grinned back. "Good," he said, starting across the bridge himself.
He was almost to the other side when it happened.
A tree upstream had fallen into the river, and been carried along by the current. It flew along the surface of the water, careening wildly, knocking everything in its path over with a crash. When it got to the bridge, it slammed into the supports of the bridge, smashing through the rotted wood like a battering ram through a city gate. Logan's horse heard the splintering crash, the shrieking of rotting wood, and reared. Logan, paralysed by the sound of breaking wood under his horse's hooves, didn't grab onto the reins tight enough to keep from falling over, and as his body struck the bridge the horse bolted safely to the other side.
The next moment the bridge listed sharply to the side, and Logan just barely heard Lee's scream of terror as he fell into the raging river.
He tried to keep his head as he fell into the water, but it was so cold! The season had not been advanced enough to really warm the water, and with the bulk of it coming from snowmelt in the mountains to the north, the water felt like needles of ice pricking his skin. He lost a lungful of air in the gasp of shock as the cold penetrated his clothes, and clawed his way to the surface to replenish the air. He just barely got a gasp in before the current dragged him under again.
He fought the current, trying to make it to the shore. The current was strong, but he was making some headway when suddenly a timber from the bridge smacked into him broadside. He lost his breath entirely from the impact, and when the rap in the ribs was followed by a blow to his head, his body went limp as his consciousness receded.
Jubilee screamed in terror as the bridge collapsed. She barely noticed the terrified, riderless horse go plunging past her, so intent was she on the dark-blue figure falling into the roiling water. "LOGAN!" she screamed. "LOGAN!"
Ten feet below her she saw his head break the surface, thick, wet black hair plastered to his skull. He took a gasp of air before the current pulled him back down, and she could just barely see him under the surface. Several of the other knights were throwing ropes in the water, shouting at him to grab on, but he didn't hear them, and he didn't see the ropes. They were all too short anyway. She thought about the long coil of rope in Julian's pack, and spared a quick glance behind her. She couldn't see him. "Save him!" She cried to the two knights standing on the bank with their ropes trailing in the water.
"We can't go in there," the knight shook his head. "It's too cold, and the current's too strong. We can't save him."
"You have to!" Jubilee stared at them wildly, then at the water below. She was afraid of that water. Even though she'd learned to swim later, she was still afraid of it. But Logan was in there…and then she saw the floating beam from the bridge slam into his ribs. His mouth opened in a cry, underwater, losing precious air, and then another chunk from the broken bridge struck him on the head. He sank like a stone.
She started running, barely realizing what she was doing, hearing but not really listening to the voices behind her calling her back. All that mattered was saving Logan from the river; if he didn't make it, she would die. She loved him. Loved him enough to jump into an icy river for him.
She never stopped, just took a deep breath in mid-stride and dove into the water where she had last seen him. It was ten feet to the water's surface; the impact was enough to knock the breath from her, and the icy cold made her gasp. She gritted her teeth and opened her eyes underwater, searching for a figure in blue. If only he'd been wearing his dress uniform, with the yellow trim, it would be easier to find him! She searched the water, fighting the current and came up for a gasp of air before diving underwater again.
On her third dive she was blindsided by a huge beam. It swept her under, and she lost some of her precious air in a scream of pain as she stuck the river bottom. The current swept her along as she tried to fight tears of pain from the impact of her leg against the submerged rock, and suddenly the breath rushed from her as she was slammed against something else. She tried to fight her way free of the floating flotsam, to get to the surface for air, and suddenly as her fingers flailed with the weight against her body, she felt cloth, soft and yielding, and something fine tangling in her fingers. She opened her eyes, and saw him. Logan. The fine stuff was his hair, and the cloth was the shoulder of his tunic. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled.
He seemed to be stuck on something on the river bottom; and when she looked again, she saw that a beam from the bridge had gotten caught between two rocks, and Logan's body was draped over it. Praying she had the strength, Jubilee grabbed him and lashed out with her foot. Once, twice. The beam held. Damn you! She thought furiously. You're not taking Logan from me! I'll die with him if you don't let him go! She kicked at the beam again.
Afterward, she'd never know if it was the beam that broke, or if the rock she was braced against shifted and released the beam. But suddenly Logan was free, and she kicked for the surface, where she gasped a deep breath of air, then blinked the icy water out of her eyes to see where everyone was.
Up on the bank, Vincet saw the two heads break the surface. "There!" he cried, pointing. "There they are! Throw the rope! Throw it!" George threw it, and missed. Vincet growled in anger, and grabbed one end of the rope, tying it around his waist. His home was north of here, in the mountains; everybody who lived in his village was experienced with water rescues. He handed the other end of the rope to George, gasped out, "Hold this! Pull it when I have them!" and then he dove into the frigid water after the two dark heads.
His dive was straight, and true. He had jumped out instead of down, and the arc of his dive carried him just upstream of the struggling pair. He went limp, let the current carry him to the small lad carrying the unconscious knight, and wrapped his arms around both. The boy was so light he was hardly a burden to Vincet; Logan was the dead weight. Vincet, however, could feel the slight rise and fall of the other man's heaving chest, and knew Logan was till alive. So was the boy. Now he had to get all three of them to shore. "Pull!" he shouted as loud as he could to George on the bank. George didn't hear his words over the water, but as soon as he saw that Vincet had Lee and Logan, he started to haul backward on the rope with the help of several of the other knights. Even the weaponsmaster dismounted and grabbed the very end of the rope, helping George haul the three wet figures from the icy grip of the river. Once all of them were on the muddy bank, Lee collapsed next to Logan, and the Weaponsmaster hurried down the steep bank to the narrow strip of dirt beside the river, dropping to his knees beside the two still forms. "Logan!" he called urgently. "Logan, wake up!" He turned the man over on his stomach and started to pound his back, trying to drive the water from his lungs. "Logan, damn your stubborn hide, wake UP!"
Logan returned to consciousness with an angry voice in his ear and what felt like a gallon of icy water flooding from his mouth and lungs. He coughed and choked on the water, gasping and hacking until his lungs expelled all the water, then sat up. "Damn, ya don't gotta hit me," he grumbled, rubbing his temple, where a sizable bruise was forming. "What happened?"
"A log slammed into the bridge and it collapsed," the Weaponsmaster said grimly. "You went in, along with the pieces of the bridge. If your squire and Sir Vincet hadn't gone in after you, you'd be dead."
Logan blinked. "Lee? But…the kid's scared of water!"
"Apparently not scared enough to keep him out of it while you were in it," Vincet said, sighing as he knelt beside Logan. "He jumped in after you, found you underwater trapped under a beam wedged between some rocks, and got you free and pulled you out. You owe him your life, Logan. If he hadn't gone in after you, by the time I got there, you'd have been lost. No one else wanted to go jumping in there after you."
"Where…" Logan turned his head and saw Lee, lying bedraggled and still on the dirt spit beside the river. "Lee!" He scrambled over to the prone figure, whom everyone had forgotten in their concern over Logan. As Logan crouched next to him, the boy's eyelids fluttered. "Logan?" came the weak, thready voice.
"Yeah, kid," Logan bit his lip. The kid was muddy, dirty, his hands, face and arms scratched and bruised from fighting with the various floating objects in the water; but to Logan, at that moment, he was the most beautiful person in the world. "They say ya jumped in ta save me." His voice was husky.
"I…couldn't let you die," the boy said weakly, reaching up to grasp Logan's hand. "I …lost …everyone…I ever cared about…once…I couldn't…let fate do that to me…again." His voice trailed off as Logan clasped his hand.
"I owe ya a life debt," Logan said, his voice raspy with emotion. "I swear ta God above, I will always be with ya, yer protector an' mentor, an' friend, fer as long as it takes fer me ta return what ya gave me. Sworn and witnessed."
"Sworn and witnessed!" The Weaponsmaster, Vincet, and George exclaimed in unison.
Logan stood shakily, his legs still rubbery from his near-brush with death, and bent over to help the boy to his feet. Life debts were serious things, for knights. Usually only sworn between two knights who had been friends for some time, it could also be used to acknowledge that one person had saved the life of another. Those present had heard it sworn between two knights, a knight and a noble, and in rare cases, a king and a knight; they had never heard it made between a knight and a squire, especially a squire as young as Lee was. That didn't mean it couldn't be done, or that it wasn't as binding as it was between two equals. Whatever happened, Logan and Lee were now inextricably bound together by a solemn sworn oath, and witnessed by two knights and the King's weaponsmaster. If Logan ever tried to cast the boy off, or violated his life-debt before it was discharged, the three men would be honour-bound to defend the boy by crossing swords with Logan. And Logan knew that these three knights were at least his equal, if not better, than himself. If he violated his oath, he would die at their hands. And it would be only what he deserved. Oathbreakers did not belong in the King's Knights.
Lee leaned heavily on him as they climbed the slippery, steep bank up to the road, where the King and the rest of the knights waited. Logan knelt before the king, indicating Lee should do so as well. The boy knelt, slowly, and the King dismounted and touched Lee's wet, dark hair. "You have saved the life of one of my knights, and I am beholden to you," he said. "Anything you wish, anything you want, ask. If it is in my power I shall grant it to you."
Lee looked up, but his eyes seemed to have trouble focusing. Finally he gave up. "I just…need rest," he sighed. "I'm so tired, oh God…" And his legs gave out, and he collapsed on the dirt there in front of the King.
Logan carefully lifted the boy in his arms, and tipped his head to the King. "Your Majesty, can I ask that we halt progress fer the day? I gotta admit I'm sorta tired too."
"I believe we all are," Richard looked up at the setting sun, and then around at the field on their side of the river. "Yes, we will camp here tonight. Do you need help putting your tent up so the boy can rest?"
Logan smiled wearily. "No, I think I might be able to get the tent up myself. Might want someone ta save us some grub, I bet the kid's gonna be hungry when he wakes up, though."
"I shall have the cook set aside a portion for you both," the King said. "Now allow me to inform everyone else that we will be stopping for the night." He turned his horse and rode away.
Despite Logan's protests that he could do it for himself, the Weaponsmaster and George both got his tent up and the sleeping rolls for both of them set up inside. Logan put the boy down on his bed, then collapsed onto his own blanket with a weary sigh. In moments he too was asleep.