YAYS!! Chapter 10, ready to be read!! Things are going pretty well, and I thank anybody who's been nice enough to follow this story along since the beginning. Without further delay, here's chapter 10.~~~~~~
The water was freezing once they hit into the river. There wasn't much time to worry about this, however. The current was strongest where the two of them had landed,and after plunging under water they had to struggle up to get a breath of air. Gasping as he came above water, Aaron arched his neck around, trying to claw against the current that pulled him back dispite his best efforts. The river tried to pull him under again, Aaron strained a good amount of time just trying to keep his head above water. Finally keeping his head high enough above the water's service, Aaron glanced around.
" Gilan!!" he hollered, his voice scratchy as water rushed down his throat. Coughing, he looked around again, desterately searching out the Ranger."Gilan!!" he tried again, panic gripping at his chest, constricting his lungs some.
There wasn't any sign of him around the service, at least, that Aaron could see. Could Gilan swim? The horror that the Ranger might not have such a skill came as a paniced, irrational thought to Aaron's head. However, he noticed his own unreasonable thought right away, pushing it off to the side for now. Aaron kicked off his shoes, and let the river claim his cloak as well. The less weight he had, the better. Then he tried to looking around again.
"GILAN!!"
"AARON!!" A reply!! Aaron spun in a circle, seeking out the voice.
"GILAN?!" Aaron tried again, still not seeing anything.
"AARON!" Turning 180 degrees Aaron finally saw Gilan's head bobbing above water. The Ranger was out in the middle of the river more then Aaron, and down river.
"GILAN! WAIT THERE!!" Aaron headed towards Gilan. Gilan was swimming, which relieved Aaron, but the current was pulling Gilan farther and farther away from Aaron. Unfortunately, Gilan wasn't an extremely strong swimmer, and so found it hard to swim against the current. He was able to get closer to the bank that Aaron was nearest to, but this cost him a good deal of energy.
"LOOK OUT!!" Aaron's cry came a little to late for Gilan. The current toyed with Gilan, throwing him against a boulder that portuded out above the water. The air was knocked from his chest, and his head hit the rock with a loud crack that was drowned out by the roar of the waters. Then it tossed him, unconsious, back fort he mercy of the waves.
The waves proved to be merciless, and he disappeared into the river before Aaron's eyes.
" DAMMIT!!" Aaron screamed to the heavens, then used all his might to dive below water. There was less under the service to look around, so finding the drifting Gilan was an easy enough task. Aaron used the current to get to Gilan faster, grabbing hold of the older man around the waist with his right arm.
Then he pulled them both above water. That was when the hard part came. Ajusting so that one of Gilan's arms was over his shoulder, Aaron had to get them both back to solid ground. That is, without slamming into rocks that the current so wanted to thrust the helpless pair against. Aaron struggled to keep above water a moment or so, then looked around, with only his head and neck above the service.
Nothing.
Crap.
No wait! They could get onto the river bank over there!
Just down the river,there was a bend. If Aaron went straight, he could head right onto the shoreline. He was glad for this, or he might have had to drift with Gilan like this for a long time if he couldn't find anywhere to head ashore.
Reaching the shore was easy for a time with it being downstream. The current pulled them along swiftly, more the Aaron could do with just swimming. That would've been slow going, because he had to care for Gilan and himself at the same time.
Then came the hard part. Getting to shore meant fighting the current that sweeped to the right. This took a great deal of time, and Aaron was as careful as he could be every step of the way. A few times the both of them almost ended up below the service again, which would once more leave them at the mercy of the unforgiving waves. Aaron had kept them above water by stopping for a mintue, then continued forwards once he'd felt stable enough to do so.
Then, at last, relief came. Aaron's foot hit the river bed!! Excitement ran though his soaking, exaughsted body, and he reached out his foot, kicking and again, hitting the muddy bottem of the river. After a short time of vaguely hitting the ground, Aaron tip toes finally caught hold of the mud. Now he felt a little bit safer, and began to walk for shore.
The water gradually fell, first below Aaron's shoulders, then his chest, and so on until Gilan's weight began to have an effect on Aaron. You see, when in water, Gilan had felt light from the help of the water, but now, the air gave no such support.
Dragging his feet, Aaron stepped onto dry land. Well, it was actually a single step. On the second one, he ended up flopping down onto the sand. His arms and legs throbbed painfully, and he panted for every breath he took.
" -H-Holy-crap-" he huffed, sand sticking to his entire wet form. There he lay, his body refused to move for a time. He could still feel the river, small waved nipping at his bare feet and ankles in a rhythem that kept up all the time that he lay. Then, his muscles screamed refusal as he pushed himself up. Ignoring it, he glanced around. It was dark still, and he couldn't see if anyone was around to see them both.
Wait, was Gilan alright? Turning, he crawled over to check if Gilan was okay. " Gilan? Hey, Gilan? You okay?" Aaron whispered at first to Gilan who remained still, eyes shut, denying Aaron's heart the relief it so desired to have.
Reaching out his hands, Aaron gave Gilan a gentle shove, then a few more forceful ones as he tried vainly to get a reply from Gilan. Anything would do. For all Aaron cared, Gilan could get up cussing and spitting, spiting him for being stupid and still be the happiest kid alive.
" Come on, Gilan, this better not be a joke." he tried again, speaking in a normal tone of voice, shaking Gilan still more then before. " Gilan?" panic pulled at his chest, strangling his lungs, and consticting his vocal cords so that it became harder for Aaron to speak.
Suddenly, his stomach twisted. Aaron turned and vomitted the water he'd ended up swallowing throughout this entire ordeal. It was more liquid then his body could take at one time. Wipping his mouth with a horrid taste in his mouth, Aaron turned back to Gilan, panting a bit.
" Gilan, Gilan . . ." he repeated this over and over again for a time. Why had he let Gilan get himself involved in this? There was no reason for involving him in all of this, and now look what happened. This was Aaron's fault, or that was how Aaron felt about the whole thing. " . . .not you too, Gilan." he murmured and was silent a moment before going on to say.
"There's no good to come from me," he whispered to himself, in misery, " and now look what you did, Aaron." Reaching out, he moved a wet tangle of Gilan's hair out of his face.
Suddenly, Gilan jolted, and started into a coughing spasm. Aaron about had a heart attack. It happened so abruptly, he leaped into the air twenty feet! Gilan covulsed in the mean time, and Aaron came to his side. He turned Gilan over, and Gilan hunched over the ground a moment, vomitting as well, and coughing up what other water had penitrated his system. Aaron stroked his back soothingly until the coughs subsided, hushing to him a bit as relief ripped through him.
Finally, the coughing ended, and Gilan only panted for breath and wipped his lips like Aaron had done as well. Then he looked around, quite confused as he had no idea what had happened since he hit his head on the rocks. In fact, it had happened so quickly, he only remembered being tossed by the waves, and made the correct assumption that he'd hit his head on some rocks, judgeing this by the fact his head was throbbing so badly he could almost feel his skull ringing from the blow.
His mind didn't comprehend the trees and sand he found himself laying on. Slowly, Gilan got into a sitting postion so he could look around a bit more easily.
Aaron grabbed his torso, hugging Gilan tightly. For a moment, Gilan just sat there staring dumbly at the boy holding on to him. Shaking his head to clear away the ringing sound, Gilan embraced him in return, smiling sadly and sighing once from his own dismay.
" Jerk, you had me worried there." Aaron cussed at him and Gilan gave a half chuckle at this. Even relieved, Aaron took to swearing his relief with fowl words.
" I'm lucky you're a strong swimmer." he replied, and getting them both to laugh at once. Aaron squeezed Gilan's torso again, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly. Gilan was fine, Aaron had to convince himself of that. However, Gilan had noticed the way Aaron shivered and grew worried for the boy.
" Are you alright?" he asked now, glancing down at Aaron. For the moment, Aaron refused to let go or look up at him. Feeling himself shivering, he supressed it as much as he could. It was difficult, and he only lessened the shiver rather then getting rid of it.
" Yeah, I'm just a little cold is all." he replied, trying to smile up at Gilan, but nervously looking away from him again. Gilan was silent for the time being. It was best not to press for answers for the time being. " Say something." Aaron told Gilan.
" Huh? Why?"
" Just say something, please?"Aaron insisted, softly.
" What should I say?"
" Anything. I don't care what it is, just talk." Gilan had to take a moment to think over something to say. Aaron wasn't making much sense, but then again, the boy had spent a good part of the night swimming up to his neck in river water, against currents and with Gilan swung over his back.
" Thank you, Aaron." Gilan finally found what he felt he should say. Aaron looked up at him like he'd somehow grown another head or something of that nature. Gilan smiled at him. " I owe you my life." Aaron's eyes grew wide. Then tears filled his eyes so that they glistened bright blue. Gilan just noted his eye color now, as a sad, relief filled face looked up at him well still clinging to him
" I was the one that put your life in danger, stupid. Don't thank me for almost getting you killed." Aaron said, hiding his face from Gilan again. Gilan tilted his head slightly to the side at this answer to his thanks.
" The waves threw me into that rock, not you. I would've drowned if you hadn't been there." he said, rather lost as to why Aaron would reply like he did. Gilan felt Aaron shake his head against his side.
" You wouldn't have been in the river at all if you hadn't met me." Aaron refused to take the thanks from Gilan.
" Do you seriously think you can pin this on yourself?" Gilan asked, shocked that Aaron was ready to take on the guilt and responsibility for his almost death.
" It's my fault you got caught up in my buisness. You were right, back then," he said, reminding Gilan of their former arguement after the first attack they'd encountered together, " I should've just told you right away what was going on." Finally Aaron had voice the guilt that had built up within him. Gilan chuckled slightly.
" Truth be told, it's my own fault for interjecting myself into all of this without asking about it. Even if I knew, I still would have tagged along. Either way you'd be stuck with me." he laughed at himself. Aaron shook his head against Gilan's side now.
" You don't know that." he muttered. That was true, Gilan knew well that if he'd known what was going on he would've acted differently. Aaron was aware he was at fault and so was Gilan for that matter. However, Gilan was too kind hearted to let Aaron sit there with his guilt building up without some sort of at least semi-comfort.
" No matter, the past is the past and that's just how it is. Point is, I'm alive now, and I'm alive because you were there, Aaron." Gilan insisted, nodding firmly at Aaron.
Aaron gave a distaneful sigh at him, and was silent. " Stupid. . ." he murmured, smiling while salty tears touched his lips and stained his cheeks. ~~~~~~~~~
Wow, that was a lot of drama throw into a single chapter. What do you suppose will happen next, children? Either way, YAY CHAPTER 10!! WHOA!! Read and Review, thanks very much for reading.