Gilded Serpent by Danielle Jensen (top 10 novels txt) 📕

“If we get turned over, I’ll try to get to the far side of the rapids to deal with the wildmen. You stick with Baird and the boat.”

“You think they’ll be there?” she whispered.

“I know they will.” He pointed, and she looked into the trees to see a bearded face staring back at her. The wildman lifted his bow to the sky, but before he could shoot a signal arrow, he dropped, a black-fletched arrow protruding from his throat.

Killian lowered his bow, his expression grim as he slipped onto the bench next to her. “Spectacles.”

She pulled them from her face, shoving them deep into the pocket of her skirt and fastening the button to close it. The world turned to a blur around her, but the growing noise of the rapids filled her ears. Fear flooded her gut as she caught hold of the rope fastened to the edge of the boat, and Killian did the same.

The turbid water hurtled them toward the gap in the cliffs, the boat bucking across the rapids like a wild horse. Water pooled around her legs, and at Agrippa’s shouted instructions, she caught hold of a bucket with her free hand, bailing it out as best she could.

Then there were cliff walls to either side.

The roar was deafening, the boat surging over water more violent than she’d seen in all her life, waves washing over the sides. Agrippa screamed at them to bail, but Lydia could barely keep her seat, her body tossed left and then right as the boat plunged forward.

The boat lurched sideways, and she slid into Killian, screaming as they nearly tipped, but Baird hauled on the oars, dragging the boat out of the backward flow of the current and sending them hurtling forward.

Down and down they flew, and there was nothing but dark frothing water and threatening rocks, her ears filled with shouts and screams and Baird’s curses as he fought to keep them from smashing into the cliff walls.

They rolled over a monstrous wave, then the boat shuddered and slipped backward, water pouring over her and Killian, dragging the boat beneath the flow.

Killian caught her around the waist, hauling her forward in the boat as Agrippa howled at everyone to move, to bail, to listen, but it was chaos.

The boat spun, somehow leaping free of the backflow. Except now they were traveling backward down the river, Baird barely in control as they bounced from wave to wave.

Recovering her bucket, Lydia bailed, heeding Agrippa’s shouts that if they didn’t, the boat would sink. The water was up to her knees, the vessel sitting deep in the water and scraping over submerged rocks.

Next to her, Killian twisted, and she glanced up to see him peering downstream. Then his body tensed, and he shouted, “Agrippa! They’re going to try to flip us!”

Heart in her throat, Lydia tried to see what he was seeing, but to her it was only a blur of river and rock.

And then her eyes caught motion: a rope looped just above the surging river.

“Hold on!” Killian shouted.

The loud slap of rope hitting wood filled the air, and the back of the boat lifted up, spilling the passengers on top of one another. Killian lunged, knife in hand. But the rope slid along the hull and he missed, Baird barely managing to get the oars out of the way before it caught on them.

The opposite end of the boat lurched upward, and Lydia somersaulted, barely catching herself on the sides of the vessel, her legs dangling in the water. Someone fell past her as she dragged herself in and her breath caught until she saw Killian hanging from a bench, one of the children clutched in his arm.

The travelers were screaming, barely holding on to the boat as it dangled, the rope having snagged on the prow, the stern bouncing on the waves. But above the noise, Lydia heard a woman scream, “My girl! My little girl!”

It was a child that had fallen in.

“Shit!” Agrippa shouted, then he dived into the water, swimming hard downstream.

“Hold him!” Killian shouted, pushing the little boy into the arms of one of the men, then he reached down and caught hold of the back of Lydia’s dress. “Wait until I’m up, then count to a hundred and cut the rope!”

Up?

But before she could ask questions, he was climbing the side of the bouncing boat. Balancing on the prow, he jumped, caught hold of the rope, and climbed, knife gripped between his teeth.

Clenching her own teeth, Lydia started climbing the benches, struggling to get around the other passengers. “You are insane!” she hissed as Killian reached the top of the cliff. But instead of rolling over the edge, he caught hold of the rocks and went sideways, keeping out of sight. There was nothing she could do but follow his lead. “One,” she said, freeing her belt knife, frozen fingers clutching the hilt. “Two…”

 85KILLIAN

It was hard to grip the rocks, his hands were so numb from the freezing water, but Killian ground his teeth and ignored the pain as he worked his way farther along the lip of the cliff, keeping a count in his head as he went.

Lifting himself up, he peeked over the edge and saw a dozen wildmen holding the end of the rope, their faces tight with strain and focus as they fought to flip the boat over.

But they weren’t his concern.

He rolled over the edge and kept low until he was into the brush, then pulled his sword and clambered over the rocks and through the trees, his boots sliding in the slush as he raced downstream.

Reaching the end of the ravine where the river widened, he grimaced at the sight. Agrippa had caught the little girl, but he was clinging to a rock in the middle of the river, his eyes fixed on the wildmen standing on the banks with bows in hand. If he tried to reach the edge, he and the child would be shot, but