(no subject)
[The story begins where Wizard and Glass ends: the boys stand successfully against Farson's men (three against fifty) and head home to Gilead. Roland, mourning Susan, is made vulnerable by his grief and finds himself at the mercy of the wizard's glass, which incapacitates him. Over the next few days and nights, Alain and Bert are pursued by the townsfolk of Hambry and the remaining harriers, carrying an out-of-commission Roland through acres of forest and marshland when they find themselves cut off by a river.]
"We've no time for 'maybe'."
Bert walked to the edge of the river, his fingers unfastening his belt and sliding off the holster and gun. He loosed the stays on his gunna, tucked the gun inside, re-tied it and looped the straps about his arms before turning again to face the water. His eyes flitted from the huge, mossy plinths standing in the current to the opposite bank, to the hank of rope on his saddle horn, and finally, to Alain's patient, evaluating (infuriating) gaze. The other boy was still standing by the horses, his arms crossed, unmoving. Slowly, thoughtfully, he shook his head no and opened his mouth to speak- but Bert cut in with an exasperated tone.
"Face facts, Alain: with Roland a victim of his own folly, we have to make the decisions now. And I say the river is our best bet."
Alain sighed and stepped forward, following Bert down the hill and leading Rusher (with Roland slumped forward on the beast's neck; their travois had snapped miles back) with him. His eyes regarded the river carefully, estimating the strength of the current, the speed... and the irritated, anxious look in Bert's eyes, particularly when he set eyes on their abeyant dinh. Again, he shook his head no, and again, Bert beat him to speaking. Like a match burning low brought to kerosene, Bert's temper flared. "Your problem is that you're daunted by strenuous activities," he said, and a low, petty, filthy-feeling satisfaction settled on him.
Alain started, flinching slightly- only Bert or Roland would have noticed the change in his posture. He shrugged. "Am I? And are you planning to jump in and demonstrate your physical superiority?"
"That, Alain, is exactly what I intend to do."
Bert stepped into the water, wading out to where it was waist-deep. The water was cold and very, very dark, but the river's bottom was sand and silt, and Bert moved through the water easily. He was able to get almost to the middle without much difficulty, but when he reached what he judged to be the middle, he hesitated and stepped sideways to grip one of the plinths. In an instant, the situation had changed- the pull of the current was no longer just downriver, but under, and he found that here the floor was studded with large rocks and slimy planks, some of which jutted out of the water like rotting teeth.
Feigning confidence and refusing to look over his shoulder at Alain, (who was still saying nothing), Cuthbert's hands gripped the rough juts of the stone and he traversed around the edge of it, his heart sinking while his ire rose. Ever since Mejis, it felt like the well of their ka-tet had been poisoned. Constant arguments and irritations had been plaguing the tet, and even idiotic, burden-borne scuffles like these felt like ka-shume coming home to roost. Not to mention the bastards on their trail, or the fact that they were running out of food and the only thing to shoot was mutie lizards and nasty, skeletal looking birds. The current was fast, but it wasn't too fast, and what did Alain want to do? Make a fire on the river's edge and play at cards 'til the Hambry homespuns caught up and blew their brains out the sides of the heads? Fine, fine. Let him find me up the river where it's nice and calm. Let him take a nice long walk full of all those important thoughts he's got to consider.
The water was still not much higher than his waist, but the pull was ferocious. Bert knew by now there was no chance that the horses would willingly pass this way. Still burning with vexation and stubborn pride, he moved forward, thinking Alain really could keep traveling on the other side until they found a crossing place. Over the riotous sounds of the river churning in his ears, he could barely make out Alain yelling something. Bert frowned and turned his ear to it, and in his next step, his foot felt for the next rock and found none, nothing, and he panicked. Relief shot through him as his heel found the crook of a tree branch on the bottom, and he stretched for the closest boulder, but he slipped and went under like a stone.
The current swept over him, black, heavy and at a speed that Bert couldn't judge as the river pummeled him. He shot up for air, took a mouthful of water instead and screamed, seeing nothing but an instant of bruise-colored sky, dark water and foam.
He fell for a long time. It was probably only seconds, but it felt like minutes. He had time to think a few things- that he would die grossly waterlogged, and they would not be able to find his body. What was left of it. Alain would be alone until (if) Roland awoke. He remembered his mother had been crying the day that he left for Mejis, and it occurred to him that he hadn't tested for his guns; wasn't yet a man. Then, on the heels of this thought, fast and stupid and darkly hilarious to him: he had died a virgin.
Bert saw faint stars starting to come out of the gloom in front of his unmoving eyes. He felt his chest heave as if to burst, a crushing asphyxiation that had become comfortable, like a cold blanket wrapped too-tightly around him, numbing him. Dead, dead, dead, Bert thought, madly-merry, thinking of Rook. Thinking it was strange to be conscious right up until the end. Wondering if he would end in some dark grotto, where unspeakable fish would eat his eyeballs and nest in his brain-pan.
And caught in a nightmarish unwaking (not unlike Roland Deschain's enchantment), he was deposited onto the shores of the island. Entangled in the more familiar detritus of the sea, lay a strange, unconscious, and besodden pilgrim from a world that had moved on.
[Slowtime to maximize character meetings and interactions. It's basically a free-for-all, bring your pup up to the K.O.'d cowboy and we'll get started. :D
ETA: Thread closed- he can't possibly puke any more. XD ]