Queen's Gambit (Dorina Basarab 5)

And gaining.

These might not be water fey, but they almost moved like it, bulleting towards us at speeds that almost looked enhanced, as if a human-like body could not attain them unaided. But we were moving, too, with a motivated master vampire leaning into every stroke. The raft was in no way aerodynamic, but it almost seemed like it for the moment, shooting ahead as if we, too, had a motor.

In front of us, maybe a few hundred yards away, I saw another vortex. It was churning in the middle of the stream, but with nothing around it to explain why. The rest of the water on this side of the river could best be described as gentle fluctuations, or at most small wavelets. They did not even crest, yet the furious, white-edged mouth of the vortex started dragging us forward.

I looked behind us again, and the number of fey had grown. Where there had been only a few before, now there were dozens, a continuous line of divers heading toward the surface. I saw the first break through the water and sweep long, wet, silver hair out of his eyes, and thought that he would take a moment to reorient himself as I had done.

But I’d hardly had the thought when he began swimming after us. The strokes were worthy of an Olympic athlete, digging hard into the water, the light from below gleaming off his hair and water-slick muscles. And that was despite the fact that, to him, it must feel like he was swimming upside down.

But the vortex’s current had a firm hold on us now, and we were speeding ahead, so quickly that Ray no longer bothered to paddle. He glanced back at me, his face flushed and wet and strangely savage. “You don’t talk much!”

“What would you like me to say?”

“Most people would be yelling at me for an explanation!”

I thought about it. “I assume we are going back up top, because the fey are down here now?”

He laughed, and oddly considering the circumstances, it sounded genuine. “Right in one!”

And then we were falling.

The trip through the second watery escape hatch was no easier than the first, and I came no less close to drowning. But when we popped up in a deserted stream, I felt the same slightly mad smile stretch my face that had been on Ray’s. We had made it!

The world was upside down again, and despite the fact that I had expected it this time, it was still bizarre to see blue sky below us and trees above. The whitewater rush tossed us about and sounded loud in my ears. The warmth of the sun played on my face. And then the world flipped and I laughed, because Ray’s ruse had worked!

The fey had been left behind!

Well, most of them.

I spied several dark figures slinging around the vortex below us. But vampire stamina rivalled that of any fey, not to mention vampire strength. Ray started paddling and our little craft took off, almost flying down the rapids.

And this time, I knew what to look for.

“There!” I yelled, clinging to his waist with one arm, while pointing with the other. “Right there!”

“I see it!” he yelled back, looking at the tell-tale whirlpool almost hidden among the crashing waves. He made for it, just as I felt something whiz past my ear. A fey arrow quivered out of a piece of driftwood where none had been a second ago, and then a barrage followed.

I looked about, confused as to how they had gotten here so fast, and how they had shot waterlogged weapons when they did so. But then I glimpsed a fey with dry clothes on the bank, with a foot looped under a root to allow him to lean out and fire arrow after arrow at our wildly bobbing vessel. Most of the arrows missed, but several ended up tangled in the thicket around us, and one slammed into Ray’s thigh.

“Fuckers!” he yelled.

And then we were plunging down another watery conduit.

I did not know how we were supposed to get ahead of our pursuers if they were on both sides of the river now. I assumed that Ray had been right: these tunnels had to be easier for Nimue’s people to navigate. Perhaps they used them like slides, giving them a speed boost and leaving their enemies floundering in their wake. But we were not Green Fey.

We were, however, on the ride of a lifetime, because this vortex seemed stronger than the last two, or perhaps we had just entered it going at a greater speed. All I knew was that we shot out of the water on the other side of the river, sticks flying, Ray cursing, and me clinging to him with an iron grip. And trying to tell myself that we were not about to plunge to our deaths as we sailed straight into the huge open space below us.

It was still a shock when we slammed into the water again, upside down. And even more of one when the mind wrenching feeling of having the world reorient itself hit again, so abruptly that I wondered if this sort of thing led to brain damage if done often enough. I did not have time to wonder long, however.

The current was stronger here, grabbing us like a closing fist, ripping us out of the area around the vortex and all but throwing us down the river. But I did not feel like complaining. Because the fey were back, or, more likely, had never left at all.

I did not know if some had stayed behind deliberately, or if they had simply not made the transition fast enough, but dark shadows were already leaping along the “banks” behind us, finding toe holds in the almost perpendicular rock, and making themselves a pathway where none existed.

So that they could send another barrage our way.

“Damn it, get in front of me!” Ray yelled, as arrows hit the water on both sides of us.

“No! Ray—”