Day 8: 5235, 82650 total

A slow couple days, at least by my standards for the first week of NaNo, but I'm not really complaining.

Here is a snippet:

Beth leaned forward and stilled the curse that came to her lips. She'd picked up quite a few from Darva lately, and knew that she'd have to get that tendency under control before she went back to Sondra -- well, at least in public. Sondra had a far better vocabulary than many people thought, though she kept it mostly to herself -- and to her human shadow.

She smiled a little at that thought, but it passed quickly as they drew closer to the stream. She could see debris built up at the right side of the bridge. Obviously there had been a flood sometime before winter hit in full force, and no one had come to clear it. The pile of brush, limbs, and even an entire tree, had pushed up against the bridge and set it slightly a kilter.

Darva brought them to a stop and stared.

"It's too much of an angle," she said, frowning. "The wagon will fall over."

"We looked over the map. You know there's no other way across for at least twenty miles," Beth said. "It would add days to our journey --"

Toman had obviously been listening. He peeked his head out the door, startling them both, and stared at the problem.

"We must go across here," he said, but he sounded apologetic about it. "I think we can move many things over by hand first and lighten the wagon. Then, Darva, you can lead the horses across, and Beth and I can steady the wagon so that it does not fall. Yes?"

Darva stared for a moment. Then she nodded. "Yes, I think that will work."

They drew up to the very edge of the bridge. It looked much worse up close, with bits of limbs sticking up through the bottom. There had been a few buildings on both sides, but they'd all fallen to ruin -- the reason the bridge had no repairs, Beth realized. She'd heard of villages disappearing during the fever years, but this was the first real sign she'd seen of an entire place falling to such ruin. She wondered why no one had every settled here -- except that it did seem a desolate place, with no trees within miles, and a cold, windswept land in the winter. Only the bridge and the stream would have made it worth anything, and there were much better places elsewhere, she knew.

Beth winced the first time the bridge creaked beneath her feet as she and Darva carried across one of the chests. Darva looked down at the spot and shook her head in worry, but said nothing.

Six chests -- Toman helping to carry them, though Beth thought that unwise -- and several bags of grain and food -- were moved across the bridge before Darva finally nodded.

"I think we would be wise to do this quickly," Darva said. She had walked back to the side of the wagon with them. You here, Toman, and you back at the corner, Beth. If it starts to go, both of you get out of the way! We can make it without the wagon if we have to."

Toman nodded agreement and wiped a bit of perspiration from his forehead. Fever again, Beth thought, but didn't say anything as she took her spot.

Darva took hold of the horses, gave a couple little encouraging clicks, and started trotting up over the bridge. It creaked more loudly before the wagon even hit the first boards, but she kept moving, and Beth just held her breath and pushed across the wagon with her shoulder, the way she saw Toman doing it.

She thought, after a half dozen quick heartbeats, that they were going to make it.

Then she heard not a creak, but a snap and felt the wagon shutter. She yelped and leaned against it -- and looked to see the front wagon wheel slip into a newly made crevice.

A moment later more of the bridge gave way... and Toman fell with it.

Darva screamed and seemed to literally yank the horses forward so that the wagon bounced, leapt forward and off the bridge. Beth had lost her hold on it, but she didn't care. She ran to the broken edge and saw Toman holding on to a piece of wood, his head bloody. He started to let go -- she didn't think it was really by his own decision.

Beth saw the water wasn't much more than hip deep. She leapt down, hitting the icy surface that shattered under her, plunging her body into the icy water with such a shock that it drove the air from her lungs. But she saw Toman starting to drift past her, and she grabbed him and at the icy covering at the same time.

"Hold him!" Darva shouted, frantic. "Hold on! I've got a rope!"