CHAPTER 7 - RIVER

The twins kept their guard up as they trudged toward Denmall. Being robbed had sullied their spirits. The two walked past monsters that appeared in their path. They had no means with which to fight them. Cody was deep in thought as they walked. He knew Zack had an ability that powered up whomever he wished to use it on. It was highly unlikely that only Zack would be given a power. Perhaps it had something to do with his thought process. Zack had mentioned that what he was thinking affected the spell. What was Cody missing? If he had some sort of offensive ability, he wouldn't have to worry about finding a weapon to use.

"You paying attention?" Zack asked. He had stopped walking to snap Cody out of his thoughts. "If we get jumped again, we both need to be paying attention."

"True," Cody admitted. He was trying to stay one step ahead of anything they could bump into. In his anger with his brother, he'd forgotten about the bandits that Kara had mentioned. He was trying not to chastise himself in front of Zack. He knew that he'd made a mistake and he was mostly to blame for them not having their gold, food, or sole weapon. He was supposed to be the calmer among the two of them. He was supposed to be the thinker. He'd instead let his emotions get the better of him, and they were both paying the price for it.

"Maybe we should rest for a bit?" Zack suggested, noting the continued look of worry on his brother's face. Cody didn't respond. He was once again lost in his thoughts. Zack could tell from Cody's expression that he was disappointed in himself. Cody often took pride in his ability to think for both of them, but in this strange world, he hadn't been successful at that. Zack knew their petty arguments were to blame for their situation. Cody meant well, but he could be hard to be around. He was stubborn, and could be tough to get to when his ideas weren't acknowledged. Zack nudged Cody and this briefly snapped him out of his reverie.

"Sorry," he said, shaking his head vigorously, as if to shake the distractions from his head. "I'm just...lost," he admitted.

"This is the path to Denmall as far as I can tell," Zack piped up. He was hoping this revelation would bring a smile to Cody's face. It did not. Cody stared at his brother blankly.

"It may be, but the problem is the number of monsters that could be on this path." Cody answered. "Also, there's that bandit. Her group destroyed us without breaking a sweat, and we had a weapon then." Cody sat in the middle of the road and put his fists to his temples. "Without one, we couldn't even defeat one of the rats! You can at least do a spell, but I can't! What good am I here?" Cody's frustrations had finally boiled over. He had turned beet red and was breathing heavily. Zack didn't know how to cheer Cody up. Cody was always good at keeping his own emotions in check. Even if he did get frustrated, it never kept him off his game for long. This time seemed different. Cody's head was in his hands.

"Well, we still gotta keep going," Zack said slowly. "Even if we can't buy weapons with gold, we can at least start asking around," he tried adding a little bit of hope at the end, but Cody didn't seem to buy it. He looked up at Zack with a strange smile.

"What do we ask, Zack? At this point, I honestly don't know anymore," Cody said. His voice was cracking as his blue eyes flashed. Zack felt himself backing away a little bit.

"I don't know, but we asked Kara and Arka, and they pointed us in this direction. That's a start," Zack retorted. Cody got to his feet and put himself inches from Zack's face. He didn't drop his gaze. Their eyes locked. Cody's pupils had dilated and the sclera was filled with red branching lines.

"I think I'll just look for somewhere to sleep," he finally said. His voice shaking.

"Okay. Maybe rest is a good idea," Zack said wearily, his brow furrowing. Cody's behavior wasn't one to change this rapidly. Zack was worried about his brother now. Upon hearing the agreement, Cody began walking without another word. Zack followed as the two continued in the direction of the Shoal River. Zack kept a few paces behind Cody. He couldn't explain Cody's strange behavior. Zack remembered his own behavior when he had his leg injury. Was Cody hiding an injury from him? He thought about using his power up spell on Cody. Maybe that would make him feel better. Or would it succeed in making Cody angry?

The sound of running water filled the boy's ears. They were at an arched bridge that crossed a large river. The water ran toward the endless fields on the horizon. Zack marveled at the sight. Cody didn't seem interested, and immediately made his way to the bridge. On the opposite river bank, stood all manner of brick buildings. The buildings were far more opulent than those of Summerville. The streets were paved with stones, and the buildings were more tightly packed together. This must be Denmall. Unlike its counterpart, Denmall's citizenry was out and about at this time of day. They went about their lives, exploring the shops, and filing into the restaurants. Zack was impressed by the little town. He too made his way over the bridge.

"Somebody help!" A voice called out from the far shoreline. Zack and Cody were at the apex of the bridge. Zack rushed to the edge of the bridge to see where the voice was calling from. A boy was standing on the bank of the river. He was frantically pacing back and forth. "We can't swim!" He cried out. Zack saw what had been distressing him. Another person was in the river and was caught in the current. Zack saw a young girl's head breaking the surface, as she struggled to call for help, but only succeeded in swallowing water.

"We've gotta help them," Zack said to Cody. He had a good plan. He'd use his power on Cody and he could swim to help her. He turned to tell Cody his plan, but Cody was casually walking to the end of the bridge. "Cody?" Zack ran up to his brother and turned him around. A blank expression was on his face. "Where are you going?" Cody seemed genuinely confused by the question.

"I'm going into the city," he said dully.

"What about them?"

"What about us?"

Zack backed off from Cody. Why wouldn't he want to help? The little girl was under water, and fighting the strong current. He wasn't sure how much time she had left. Thinking quickly Zack pulled the cloak over his head and tossed it to the ground. He climbed up to the bannister and prepared to leap into the water. He'd always been a strong swimmer, but this current looked stronger than anything he'd do in the Tipton pool. He turned to Cody who was staring at him blankly. He made no attempt to stop Zack. Zack put his hand over his chest and his hand was enveloped by the ethereal blue aura. Zack felt the warm sensation overtake him. He felt unstoppable. His muscles felt loose, and powerful. His heart was pumping fast as the strength boost made its way through his body

Zack dove off the bridge. He hoped the water was deep enough at this part of the river. He hadn't considered it until his hands were in a v ready to break the surface. He sliced through the water with ease as he dove into the river. The water was extremely cold and stabbed at his body like knives. He kicked his legs with all the power he could muster as he swam toward the drowning girl. He could barely make her figure out through the current stinging at his eyes. Zack made it to the girl and wrapped his arm around her. With his free arm, he swam toward where he hoped the shore was. He didn't care which shore. He felt the effects of the spell starting to wear off. He just needed to make it to the shore. He felt the burning in his shoulders and he struggled to reach the safety. He felt the girl clinging tightly to him. He gave a final push and emerged from the water. The water was shallow enough for him to stand. He stumbled with the girl and fell over, exhausted. The two were gasping for breath. The boy had joined his friend, relieved that she was out of the treacherous current.

Zack was on his hands and knees coughing water out of his system. He looked over at the girl and she was sitting up, coughing as well. Zack let out a laugh of relief. She was safe.

"Thank you so much, Mister!" the little boy thanked Zack. Zack smiled at him.

"Mister? I can't be that much older than you," Zack laughed. "You can call me Zack."

"I'm glad you showed up, Zack. Ashe fell into the river, and I was too scared to jump in. I'm a horrible friend." The boy had his head in his hands, disappointed with himself.

"Woah, woah," Zack held his hands up. "I had to use a spell on myself just to be able to swim in that river. You'd have been in danger too!" The boy nodded at Zack's logic.

"I guess," he said quietly.

"What's your name," Zack asked.

"Niko," the boy said.

"Alright, Niko. You need to take your friend into the city. Have someone take a look at her, and get her some dry clothes." The boy nodded at Zack's orders.

"What about you?"

"I'll be fine. I've got someone on the bridge waiting for me." Zack smiled at Niko. This reassured the boy as he helped his friend to her feet. Zack watched the two help each other walk away from the river. He took a deep breath and laid down. He hadn't taken time to look at the sky in this place. It was a brilliant blue. The same color as his eyes. He smiled. He felt good about what he'd done. He knew it was reckless, and he probably could have died doing it, but saving the girl made him feel warm inside. He closed his eyes, content with the job he'd done.

When he reopened his eyes, Cody was standing over him, holding his cloak.

"Hey," Zack said. Cody said nothing and dropped the cloak on his brother's chest. Without a word, he started to walk away. Zack stared at him incredulously.

"Hey! Not so fast, Cody!" Zack yelled as he quickly stood up. He had his cloak under his arm. "I don't know what's going on, but this has to stop."

"What has to stop?" Cody still spoke with a flat tone. Zack walked up to his brother and started looking at him. Zack circled his brother, who didn't move. "What are you doing?" Cody asked.

"Where's the injury?" Zack asked bluntly. "You wouldn't be acting this way if you weren't hurt, or something was wrong. So fess up!" Zack demanded.

"I'm not injured…"

"Yes you are!"

"I am not"

"You wouldn't act this way, if you weren't"

"How do you know?"

"What?"

"I said how do you know?" Cody was fuming now. "How would you know anything about me? You've always been about you! I'm your twin, and you don't know the first thing about me!" Cody started poking Zack in the chest. "I've always looked out for you! I've always stuck up for you! We got here, and I had to make sure that I could get us home! All you've done is fight me the whole time! You argue with me, and I let it go, because you were hurt and I can't let anything happen to you!" Cody paused for a second as Zack's mouth hung open. "Then you go and do this! You could have died again! This is why I'm tired, Zack. I can't keep looking after you!" Zack grimaced at Cody's words

"Is that right?" he started. "Well, what about you, Cody? You keep saying you're tired of looking after me, but you keep doting over everything I do. Nothing I do is right, and you always have to yell at me. You keep telling me we need to work together, but you're the first one to throw a fit! I want to get us home too!

"Could have fooled me," Cody yelled. "What if you'd landed on your head when you dove into the river! There was no telling how shallow it was!"

"I know that! I wanted to save her!"

"Why?"

"What do you mean why?" Zack couldn't believe what he was hearing. Cody had never lost his composure like this before. Even with all the spats they'd had since waking up in the hotel, they'd never come to blows like this before.

"It's not our job to save anybody. We need to save ourselves first."

"So, let her drown?" Zack's fists were shaking, and his teeth were chattering. He looked into this brother's eyes. Cody wore a flat expression. Zack knew where he stood on the topic. "Unbelievable," he whispered. "You would have let a little girl drown?"

"She's not my concern," he said coldly. "I care about you and I care about me. Everyone else comes second." Zack unclenched his fists.

"You can put me third," Zack said. "If you can save someone, I want you to save them before me."

"No."

"Then you can be by yourself." Zack whispered

"Don't be ridiculous."

Zack ignored Cody. He started to make his way up the riverbank toward the town.

"We're not done here!" Cody screeched after him.

"Talk to me when you figure out your priorities, Cody. Until then, I don't want anything to do with you!" Zack let loose his harshest salvo. It wasn't long before Cody had turned him around. He had his fist reared back ready to throw a punch right at his face. Cody was seething through gritted teeth. His arm was shaking as he held his fist back. Zack just gave him a sad look. "If you're going to do it," he warned. "You better not miss because I won't."

"This isn't our home, Zack. We're not here to save it!" Cody shouted, fist still at the ready. Zack didn't lift his arms.

"I know that. That doesn't mean I'll ignore someone that needs to be saved." Cody lowered his arm, and Zack turned to walk away. Cody didn't follow. Zack wasn't turned back around. He found his way to a nearby restaurant. He sat at one of the single tables in the back corner of the dining hall. The setup of this restaurant was very similar to Kara's inn back in Summerville. He picked the table because he could still see the door. He didn't want Cody to follow. Hopefully a night by himself, would allow Cody to fix his attitude, and the two would come together in the morning as they always had. Zack wasn't sure if he'd have hit Cody back, if he'd thrown a punch. He couldn't believe that their argument had gone that far. Then again, with everything that had happened, and all their spats leading up to that confrontation, it wasn't that unlikely.

"Get up quick, eh?" a woman's voice whispered in his ear. Zack turned to his immediate left, and the bandit girl from earlier was smugly reclining in the seat next to him. She noticed Zack's less than friendly face. "Easy, buddy. Not here for trouble"

"Oh yeah? Robbing me once wasn't good enough."

"Hey, I didn't know you'd come in and play hero right after that. I'm impressed," she said putting her boots on the table.

"You saw that?"

"Nah," she chuckled. "Girl you saved is my little sis. Ashe and Niko are always getting into trouble. Usually I'm the one that's gotta fish 'em outta whatever hole they fall in to. Nice to have an assistant for it." The bandit girl laughed heartily. She had an infectious laugh, and it caused her blonde hair curls to bounce. Zack looked away from her.

"Happy to help," he mumbled.

"Where's the other one?" she asked. "Other guy that looks like you?"

"What do you care?" Zack asked

"Well, I wanna reward you for saving Ashe. Figured the two of you would be together," she shrugged.

"We're not." Zack said flatly.

"Ah well, no biggie," the girl said as she threw the gold pieces and the kitchen knife on the table. "I'd give you the food we took too, but we hadn't eaten and we were hungry."

"My reward for saving your sister is the stuff you took from me?"

"I could always take it back," she threatened. "How about this," she reached into her jacket pocket and tossed another piece on the table. "I'll throw that in too, and you can buy us a round."

"I'm thirteen, I can't drink this stuff," Zack said.

"Not with that attitude," she smiled. "I'm Maxine by the way. Since you asked."

"I didn't…" Zack looked at her and she had a devilish grin on her face. Zack allowed himself to chuckle. "Zack," he gave up his name. He looked around the room at all the people partying and having a good time. "Where's the rest of your group?" he asked.

"Eh, around, I guess?" Maxine shrugged. "I gave them the night off. What they do with that is on them."

"You're the last person I thought I'd be hanging out with," Zack said.

"I figured we'd cross paths again. You two were too interesting to be a quick robbery," she laughed again. "Sorry. Probably still stings."

Zack let out a more hearty chuckle this time. He felt at ease in her presence. Even though he was fighting with Cody, even though he was still far away from home, and even though this girl had just robbed him hours earlier. He felt good. Maybe things would work out.

"Better go up and get those drinks, Zack," she said. "And while you're up there, see if you can nab some candy. I got a bit of a sweet tooth."