“Ah shit,” Devin said. “Spread out, look for Shia, she didn’t come up with her bag. I'm going under to try to find her.”

He took a long breath of air and dove back under the surface. The little light from the moon and stars disappeared nearly instantly. He swam back toward the hull of the boat, which loomed into his view after a few short kicks. He twisted in the water, placing his feet on the square, wooden bottom of the cantalon and pushed hard.

He shot down, reaching the floor of the harbor quickly. Raising his hands, he caught himself, sinking to his wrists in mud before hitting the concrete floor built years and years ago. The rich should really dredge their harbor. He pulled his hands from the muck and started to twist himself around, orienting his body and looking for Shia.

His vision was sorely limited, with his twisting and paddling kicking up some of the grime and mud at the bottom of the bay. He started to stroke furiously, swimming in a larger and larger circle, looking for any flash of color or sign of the girl in this world of black and brown and green.

His lungs started to burn, calling out for him to surface and refill them with air. He ignored them, pushing his screaming muscles harder, kicking and stroking through the water, eyes looking around wildly for something, anything.

His heart caught in his throat as he thrashed around desperately. They couldn’t get this far in their escape just to lose their fifth member to fucking water. She’d dodged Bronn’s goons, tortuous men in the dank dungeon, and even the Argenti! It could not end this way for her, she had been through too much.

Devin's eyes burned in the water, whether it was from the muck and depth or tears trying to leak out he couldn't tell. His lungs felt like they were being squeezed by two flaming hands, screeching in their agony. He stopped spinning around and placed his feet along the muck, despair setting in. She wasn't here. It was too murky to find her. She could have swam the wrong way, been sucked somewhere by a freak current, or any number of things. His best bet now was to get back to the surface and hope she’d managed to pop up above water with them.

With a final look around, he crouched down and prepared to kick off, back to the surface. Then, in the corner of his eye, he saw something. A flash of gold in the muck. Trying desperately to keep his lungs from sucking in water in their mad desire to gasp, he pulled himself toward the gold. There, floating along the bottom of the bay, was Shia.

Devin grabbed the prone girl and prayed to whatever gods were listening that she was still alive. She had only been underwater a little longer than he had, but he had the liberty of a few breaths in between his dives. He kicked off the ground, hard, feeling his feet sink into mud before connecting with the solid concrete and propelling him upwards. The small woman provided little drag as he kept kicking, holding her with his right arm while he paddled furiously with the left.

After the initial velocity of his push started to wear off, the weight of Shia started to tug at him. His muscles fought every pull through the water, but he forced on them as his lungs seemed to cave in on themselves. His vision started to swim, fading around the edges. Just a little bit longer. He kicked again and saw a glimmer above him. There! The surface! With a final kick and pull, Devin pushed himself above the surface and broke into the frigid air.

He had never been so glad to feel the chill of autumn in his life. Before anyone could ask anything he called out, “I need the bag! Teryn, get over here! She's unconscious and I don't know how long she's been out.”

Griff pushed the floating bag over with a sweep of his gorilla-like arms while Teryn paddled toward him. With Griff’s help, he hoisted Shia onto the bag. Her face was pale and her eyes closed. Putting his head to her chest he heard a very slight beat of her heart.

Teryn slid up alongside them as they held her on the bag, keeping her head and chest above water. Teryn came alongside them and pulled herself up above Shia. She bent down and started to push air into her lungs, attempting to resuscitate her. Murton and Daisy had paddled over and watched with somber faces, trying to mask their shivering.

“Come on,” Devin mumbled, “Come on gods dammit.”

Teryn pulled her mouth back and listened to Shia’s chest. She shook her head and placed her mouth over Shia’s again, pushing more air in. With a start, Shia coughed, spewing sea water into Teryn's open mouth. Teryn jerked back, coughing as well. Shia tried to sit up, rocking the bag and causing her to slip.

Griff grabbed her and held her up on the bag. “Don’t worry little one, I have you,” he said softly. She coughed some more and took giant gasps of air in. Her eyes flicked around wildly before she realized she wasn’t underwater anymore. As she stopped flailing, the cold seeped in and the shivers started.

“Will you be able to help her?” Devin asked Griff. He turned to Devin and gave a single nod. Devin swam over to Shia and said, “Just rest on the bag for now. We are going to get out of the water as soon as we can and up onto dry land, sound good?” She nodded weakly, still coughing up water between gasps.

“Lets move out everyone, fast as we can manage so we can get out of this shitty icebox they call a harbor,” Devin said to everyone as he started kicking. They followed suit and were back under the moonlight in the middle of the harbor.

The group kicked and swam, passing under many more piers that got progressively smaller after each group of five. They did not have to submerge anymore by the time they reached the thirtieth, and last pier, in the harbor of Mossglenn Depot.

Before them spread open water, lapping at the gently sloped sandy shore until it reached the outcropping of coastal cliffs that formed the natural bay Mossglenn had been originally built in. In the pale moonlight, ruined towers and shells of buildings, products of the first attempt at colonization of this wild continent, sat atop the white marble cliffs.

They continued to swim parallel to the shore. The harbor ended with a wall surrounding the town. Beyond that wall was white sand, untouched save for the occasional fishing vessel brought up for the night. Once they were well out of reach of the probing torches lit along the watchtowers, Devin turned landward. He was silently thankful the tide was pushing in, rather than working against them and making the last stretch of their waterlogged journey that much more difficult.

As he swam, his fingertips brushed the sandy bottom of the bay and he brought his feet down. He attempted to stand, letting the soft push of the waves carry him forward as he did. As the wave broke, he fell to his knees and found himself in water only a few inches deep. He put one foot up and rested his good hand on his knee. With a supreme push, he managed to stand and hobble toward the shore.

Turning back, he saw the rest of the group struggling to their feet, splashing and falling in the shallow waters. Coughing and sniffling sounded across the bay as they walked, and for Teryn and Daisy, crawled their way onto the dry, sandy beach.

Devin let his knees buckle and fell to the sand. He twisted around and flopped onto his back, staring up at the cloudless night sky. The sun had long since set and darkness took its place eagerly. The stars twinkled above, less malevolently it seemed than when he was in the water. The quarter crescent moon hung in the sky, glowing like a cold beacon.

Cold. It reminded him he was still soaked, laying on sand during an autumn night. His muscles still screamed at him as they shivered, desperately trying to give him some semblance of warmth. He rubbed his hands across himself, trying to squeeze any water out of his ruined armor at the same time as trying to warm himself. The shivers slowed down, only to be set off again by a slight breeze that felt like fingers of ice, trailing across any exposed skin.

Against every grain of his being, with every fiber fighting him, Devin pushed himself up into a sitting position and looked over the group. They had all made it to the sand and were either lying or sitting, panting in the cold air. All four packs had made it. Now they just had to make sure no water had managed to trickle in and ruin their food or soak their, hopefully, dry clothes.

Devin pulled himself onto his knees and dragged the bag in front of him. With numb hands, he fumbled in the darkness with the tied and locked bag, cursing as he tried to open it. After several moments, he was able to get the string untied and started unfolding the bag. He reached in, praying silently to whoever was listening, and felt the clothes.

Dry. They were dry, dry and warm! At least, compared to the stuff they had on now.

“Oh thank the gods above, thank these bags,” he said quietly. He sat the bag upright, making sure it wouldn't fall over into the sand, and pushed himself to his feet. Wobbling over, he found the other clothes bag with Daisy. She was working at the same ties that had given him such a struggle, her face contorted into a furious focus. As he reached down she managed to work the knots and unfold the bag, letting out a triumphant snort.

As she reached in, Devin waited with bated breath while she shuffled around in the bag.

“How was your bag,” she asked, elbow deep in the sack.

“Dry,” Devin responded. “Dry as a bone. How are the clothes in that one doing?”

His heart dropped as she shook her head, pulling her arm back out of the bag.

“I’m sorry Devin,” she said quietly. “These clothes are… completely and utterly dry!” Daisy threw a wadded up shirt at him, face split by a broad grin. Devin caught the shirt as it fell after it hit him in the face.

“Damn you, orc woman,” he said, savoring the dry cloth in his hands. “Let's get these divvied up and we can change. We can look at the food and divvy up the weight once we are dry and warm.”

“Er,” she said.

“Huh?”

Warm-er. We won't be warm in this shitty cold weather, but we can get warmer than we are now.”

Devin rolled his eyes and called out softly to the others. “Get over here everyone. We are going to change and get dry. Best do this quickly so we can start moving again. Any time near Mossglenn Depot is risky time.”

The group came over as he and Daisy handed out clothes. He brought Murton and Griff over to his bag, where he had kept the clothes for them.

After handing them each a change of clothes, along with a thick shirt for drying purposes, he told them “Keep your backs to the ladies. Just because we are on the lam doesn't mean we can't show them a bit of respect. I expect they will do the same for us.”

They quickly stripped down and used the oversized shirts to dry themselves off. Once they put on the fresh dry clothes, it was like being in a new world. The bite of the cold abated severely, and for a moment, Devin could almost remember what warmth felt like.

“Everyone good over there?” he called back over his shoulder as loudly as he dared.

“Good and ready to go!” Teryn called back softly. The men turned toward the rest of their group, bringing their clothes packs with them.

“All right,” Devin started, “We have at least one more change of clothes for everyone in the packs. Let's divide up some of the food, so we can distribute the weight to more fair proportions. Any volunteers for carrying the bags? I will carry one, obviously.”

Griff grunted and lifted the food sack he had.

“I can do one,” Teryn said.

“Me too,” Daisy piped up.

Shia shot Daisy a sideways look, then said, “I don't mind carrying it instead.”

Devin shook his head, “No, you nearly drowned out there. Your body needs to recover a bit, and this walk north will be strenuous enough. Daisy can take it.”

Shia shot another odd glance to the orc woman, seemingly unnoticed by Daisy. Devin frowned, he’d have to talk to her about what was going on between her and orcs. They’d only met two, but she seemed to have issues with both.

The groups set their packs in the middle of their circle and began redistributing food into the clothing packs. Griff took on more than the rest of them. When Devin tried to take some from him, the large man growled and Devin acquiesced. Griff was a lot larger than them and this likely wouldn't be a problem. He’d just have to trust Griff would mention it if it became too much of a load for him. Unfortunately, their packs would become lighter as they travelled as well. It seemed a small blessing, but the lightness would be due to their food supplies dwindling.

Devin shook his head as he strapped the bag onto his back. They would have plenty of time to worry about their supplies running out later. Right now they needed to get away from Mossglenn Depot and head for the Orcish city of Grinnish.

Daisy stood by Murton on his right, strapping the bag onto her back as well. She caught his gaze and offered him a small smile before turning away from the ocean and looking north. Could he really trust this woman, one he’d met maybe a day ago in the dungeon of Bronn? He didn’t really see any other choice at the moment. With a deep breath and long sigh, he started walking through the sand, the first steps on their journey north.