Brisbois snorted and turned back to his own horse. Karleah and Dayin stood nearby, the boy supporting the old woman. Jo stood and looked at the wizardess. Karleah’s face was pale and strained with fatigue, and she held one arm close to her side.
“Karleah … ?” Jo began.
The crone held up a hand and shook her head. “I’ll be all right. I’m just not used to witnessing such trials of nature anymore,” Karleah said wryly. She threw a quick glance at Dayin and added, “Though I don’t mind a good rabbit hunt now and again ” She and the boy broke into laughter, and Jo smiled in return, though she didn’t know why they were laughing.
Jo grabbed Carsig’s reins and said, “The river’s just beyond those trees. I think Carsig can make it. We’ll ford the river and see how much farther we can get tonight.” Jo paused and added thoughtfully, meeting the eyes of everyone but Brisbois, “It’s up to us to stop that box from reaching Armstead, my friends.”
The squire turned and led Carsig the remaining distance to the river, and the others fell in behind her. They were approaching the marsh edge, where the ground sloped farther to the river. As they moved forward, wading into the water, cattails and saw grass snapped and bit at them, cutting their legs. Hillocks of grass rose up from the murky water, which grew progressively deeper. Jo grimaced. The water was up to her waist already, and still the river was a long stone’s throw ahead. The expanse of marsh they were traversing had seemed such a short distance before they entered it. Jo looked ahead, trying to ignore the increasing grumbles of discontent behind her. Sunlight twinkled brightly off the water and almost blinded her. In the midst of the shimmering rays, though, Jo could see a sudden cloud of darkness rise up from the water.
Jo’s eyes grew wide as she watched the cloud lift from the water and move with frightening speed toward her. “Mosquitoes!” she shouted, only moments before the horde descended on her and Carsig.
The air turned to night. Jo swatted left and right, splashing water on herself and the gelding; the insects stung and bit at Jo’s exposed skin and even through her clothing. She flung about furiously, trying to shake the stinging beasts. Beside her, Carsig flung his head back and forth and swung his tail. His sharp teeth snapped at the insects biting his hide.
“Jo! Jo!” Someone reached through the curtain of insects.
“Jo!” It was Karleah, behind her in the marsh. Jo swatted her tormentors and looked toward the old wizardess. She was waving her hands forward. “Go, go! The rivers slow enough! Keep moving!”
The squire grabbed Carsig’s reins and threw an arm over her face, then stepped forward. All around her buzzed the mosquitoes, stinging her ears, crawling through her hair, and biting her lips and eyelids. Jo couldn’t take it any more. She bolted forward and began a sort of swimming stroke by using the saw grass and cattails to pull herself along. Carsig, beside her, was floundering, but the gelding had the same intention as Jo.
Jo saw that only three more hillocks of saw grass stood between her and the open river, and the sky above her lightened as she reached the edge of the mosquito swarm. Jo floundered a few more steps, then caught the side of her saddle. With supreme effort, she hauled herself up out of the water and into the saddle. Carsig struck out in a slow paddle across the wide, smooth waters.
Jo called back to Karleah, who was just entering the river on her gray mare, “Keep going! The river’s clear!” She looked ahead of her at the wide expanse of river. The waters here were sluggish, despite the spring rains, and by some miracle, the insects were not following.
Suddenly Jo’s flesh crawled. The squire’s eyes grew wide with horror and disgust. Her free hand crept beneath the hem of her chemise. She slid her hand along her skin toward the faint, tickling sensation at her side. Her fingers touched something soft and slimy, and she jerked them away reflexively Steeling herself, Jo reached back into her clothing and pulled loose a six-inch-long leech before it could firmly latch onto her.
Shuddering deeply, Jo threw the thing as far downstream as she could. She heard the leech land with a plop, and an instant later another gulp announced that a fish had found a meal. Jo smiled in vengeful disgust. Then her smile turned to a painful scowl. She felt a second leech, then a third, move inside her clothing. There was no way she could remove them now, not in midriver. Jo shuddered again and lay close to Carsig, seeking solace in the gelding’s strong back and trying desperately to ignore the crawling of her skin.
The Hillfollow was bright and wide and slow. The big gelding swam with sure strokes, heading always for the opposite bank. Jo looked down at Carsig’s surging forehooves and saw a leech streaming away from the horse’s side. She wanted to pull the thing away immediately, but held back. The head would likely detach and infest the horse. No, they’d have to wait until they reached the shore before Jo could rid her and Carsig of the bloodsuckers.
Jo looked behind her. She smiled. Her comrades were spread out behind her like a small flotilla. She waved encouragingly at Karleah, who didn’t return the gesture. Jo didn’t blame her. They must think I’m pretty stupid, Jo thought, to bring them across the river in such an awful place. Mud, stuck horse, saw grass, mosquitoes, and now leeches! What next? Jo shook her head and turned her attention back to the approaching shore.
The far side of the river sloped gently and was quite rocky. Past the band of rock, the ground sloped steeply upward. A stand of trees lined the bank, giving way to the rapidly rising Wulfholde hills.
Carsig struck bottom and gladly made for shore. When the creature reached shallow water, Jo slid off the gelding and let him continue on his own. She ran behind a tree and pulled off her clothes as quickly as possible, dropping them to the rocky shore. The others were approaching, but she didn’t care. The leeches had to come off. Modesty didn’t matter at a time like this.
Jo used her knife to flick off the leeches that hadn’t yet attached themselves to her skin. She shuddered as she looked down at the six still remaining on her body. Little tendrils of blood trickled out of the leeches’ mouths and spread across her still-wet skin.
Desperation welling in her eyes, Jo turned to the rest of the party. They had already landed, stripped, and begun plucking their own leeches. Jo picked up her knife from the pile of clothes at her feet. Shuddering one last time, she began digging the leeches off her body. If I die, I die, she thought fatalistically. Better that than feed these bloodsuckers any more. Jo flicked the last one away, stabbed it with her knife, then turned to her clothing.
Beside the pile, a naked Brisbois stood looking at her. Jo felt herself flush with embarrassment, then anger. She picked up her tunic and bridled at the dishonored knight. Brisbois merely arched an eyebrow and then held out a small, wet pouch. He said, “At least rub the salt in your wounds.” He turned on his heel and walked over to his own pile of clothing. Jo caught herself looking at the man’s blood-and-salt-pasted body and turned away. She pulled out a handful of wet salt and rubbed her wounds, wincing. Jo inspected her clothing, found five more leeches, which she destroyed, and then dressed.
As the others finished tending their leech bites, Jo hurried to Carsig. The gelding’s head hung low, and spasms rippled across his hide. Quickly Jo applied salt to the horse’s bloodsuckers; she crushed them beneath the heels of her boots after they fell to the stony ground. She stroked Carsig’s velvety nose and whispered, “Don’t give out on me, boy. I need you. We can’t stop now.” The gelding pricked his ears, then began snuffling the ground for edible grasses. Jo began tending the other animals.
Nearly half an hour passed before the leeches were all removed and wounds attended. Jo squinted at the sun lowering in the west, then picked up Carsig’s rein from the ground and turned to the others. “We’ve got a good three hours before nightfall. Let’s head out.”