I ran down the hill after signaling Shia to keep splashing. I took hold of the rope with Goar, and we waited. Veagon tied the rope up the tree and stuck the blade in the ground. Mia climbed across first. She was silent and nimble. The rope was rather light, so I gestured for the falconites cross with her. They squawked a bit as they crossed, and Mia reached back with a foot kicking one in the stomach. Hand over hand they made their way across the river.

The two old goats didn’t even wait for me to tell them. Agatha just climbed up on the rope. Millie shot me a look that said I better not drop her. They made their way grunting and groaning. Then each of them dropped down on the other side.

The three dwarves were surprisingly heavy for their size. They were much slower than the rest of the party. Their arms were short and their bodies heavy. They inched across sweating and cursing. Thurnar stopped to catch his breath. Dredge slipped and dropped into the water.

“Dredge!” Thurnar yelled. I made a loud shushing and Dredge came up splashing and screaming.

“Get across.” I hissed trying to keep my voice low. “Be quiet.”

Dredge was in full panic, “I can’t swim.” He thrust himself upward and smacked the water with both hands in unison. Thurnar dropped down into the water to save his son and Mido crept across. Then there were two splashing screaming dwarves in the water. I saw the swishing tails coming out of the tall grass and around the curve of the river. Within seconds the screaming stopped. The already dark water pooled up warm blood.

Mido dropped down on the other side of the river and crawled back from the bank to a tree. I nodded to Elrindel. He looked out at the frenzied crocs then back at me. He sprang on the rope causing Goar and me to shift sideways to recatch our balance. He wrapped his legs around the rope and hung with his back to the water. He pulled himself across hand over hand letting his boots slide on the rope. The crocs jumped up from the water snapping at him with wet maws. From him grabbing the rope to reaching the other side was only seconds. I figured part of his motivation came from thinking Goar might shake him off the rope into the open mouths.

We let the rope go slack and the tribe began pulling it over to the other bank. “Ready for this?” I looked at Goar then across at the respawn blade shining in the blue moonlight on the other bank.

Goar pulled one of the tent rafts over to the shore. “Just say when.” I tugged my raft over to the edge of the bank. I listened as Shia splashed on the other end of the river. We slowed our breath and waited for the crocs to lose interest in the crossing. Then we slipped into the cold dark water easing in to dampen the sound.

The water crept up to my chest, then the cold wrapped around my neck as I pulled the raft behind me. Goar turned his head from side to side watching for any sign of the ravaging water beasts. My heart pounded in my chest, and I wondered if they could even hear that. The water made a rippling noise as we crept across. Something swam past my feet, and I went stiff. After several heartbeats and no bite, I began kicking my legs again. We nosed forward eyes wide, shallow breathing. Shia went silent down river, and we froze again. Something swam past my stomach.

I tensed again and wondered why Shia had stopped. Had she assumed we had already made it across? I leaned forward and kicked harder. Goar did the same. The tribe stood silent on the bank rubbing their hands together and pacing. I turned my head to look downriver. A pair of nostrils popped up out of the water, kissing distance from my face.

Furious Feline

I let go of the raft and clamped both hands on the mouth of the croc as fast as a cat could stick to a ceiling. It twisted in the water trying to shake me off, but I wrapped my legs around his neck. I held my breath as he dove deep into the cold black nothing. My back slammed into the river bottom. I let out half a breath at impact and his jaw started opening. I clutched his mouth shut harder between both hands.

Drowning 13,12,11

The croc must have dug his feet into the river bottom because he began to furiously shake his head from side to side and it took all my strength not to be flung off. I tried to break his jaw with my grip but his face was like digging into the bark of an oak tree.

10,9,8

My back hit the mud as the croc plunged his head down. With my legs still locked around the back of his neck, I thrust both arms upward and tensed all the muscles in my back to bounce off the bottom. I curled my legs up tighter and snapped his neck back over my ankles. Then I hooked my fingertips behind his jaw and pulled his head off his shoulders. I scrambled back from the warm blood that oozed out into the cold black river bottom.

King Croc Killed exp. 1249

Level up

Soul Points 25

7,6,5

I squatted down on the river bottom. My head was spinning, and my lungs were about to burst in my chest. I wanted to open my mouth and gulp in a breath. My eyes felt as if they were about to pop out. I jumped up off the ground and thrust my arms and legs. I was jutting upward but I still couldn’t see light leaking down.

4,3,2

Something brushed past me diving down. Then I felt the water stir as something else rushed past behind me. They could smell the blood. More of them swarmed around me in the darkness. I wanted to scream but I only had a second left. The water grew lighter.

1

I shot up out of the water coming out up to my waist and sucked in a loud gulp of air. Everyone on the bank began screaming. Goar was dragging the two rafts up on shore. I sucked in another gulp. The rope slapped me in the shoulder and I grabbed on. Goar grabbed the other end with Mia and the falconites. With one hard tug, I was jerked to the shore as the sounds of snapping jaws surrounded me. They tugged again and I crashed into the mud. Goar grabbed me under the arms and helped me run from the bank as a dozed crocs scrambled out onto dry land.

I sat in the wet mud collecting myself as everyone helped bring the gear further from shore. Hissing crocs slithered over each other on the lower bank.

“Tootsie, what attribute governs being able to hold your breath longer?”

“Constitution.” She sounded disappointed.

“What now?”

“I thought for sure it had you,” she sighed.