“There!” Reiner had shouted over the flow of the river, albeit a quieter flow at this low point in the Yera. He was pointing to a spot where the water did not run so ferociously. The water still spat forth in a violent manner, but not so violent that it could not be crossed. The five men approached and spent the better part of an hour finding the easiest point of the river to cross. Eventually, they found just that, a peak in the earth under her where a man could ride across and barely have the water reach his feet. It was a miracle such a spot could even exist in a river like this, ferocious as it was. Yet there it was, in all of its reality defying glory, just before their eyes. There were several large grey boulders sat there, protruding from the waters themselves sharing the defiant nature of the ford by defying the flow of the river, standing tall and proud amidst the onslaught. The flow spat and sputtered around those great boulders, kicking up and flying off like rain to rejoin the mass of water marching to the ocean, and one of the boulders was particularly grand. She was huge, a mountain in her own right, and she was pale white with red streaks. So grand it was that it even had flies swarming it… no, that’s not right.
“It’s a bloody horse.” Feanias said in disbelief, his tone empathetic. The horse was saddled, half rotted and caught on a great boulder beneath it, its blood long gone yet every now and again a bit of water would be colored red when flowing by it. It was a terrible sight, yet David had to wonder…
“That’s just not right.” David said in disbelief, his voice raised a touch louder than usual to not be drowned out by the river. “These are experienced men, one and all! Even the dregs, drilled to a fault! None would be so foolish as to lose a horse. How in the hells…?” He asked to no one in particular, wondering aloud.
David looked at Reiner who sat stoic atop his horse. “It is not for why, such a question will not do.” Reiner said as he stared coldly at the corpse of the beast. “It is from what they were running that, in such a rush, one of a group of hardened scouts lost their steed in the crossing.” David’s blood ran as cold as the Yera herself as the men began to ford it themselves, them and their steeds.
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And so the squad forded the great river, coming to the otherside well enough. Reiner shook the water from his boot, sat on a stump from a long fallen tree. David stood next to him, about to do the same. When Reiner saw Feanias beginning to follow suit, Reiner spoke up. “Don’t bother putting them back on. Marcus tells me you’re the best swimmer there is… go check it out.” Reiner ordered in his quiet yet coldly domineering tone. Feanias looked back and forth between the young Captain and the corpse, and sighed in resignation. He threw his boots down, throwing his uniform in a pile next to it as he stripped nearly bare.
David watched as he swam out, managing the flow of the river with a strength and grace David did not expect from the man. He seemed to recall that Feanias was from the coast, and had a family with a strong naval tradition, but not much else. Still, it was enough to explain his skill. While Feanias checked the corpse, David looked to Reiner. “I’m… sure he’s okay.” David said in his quiet voice.
Reiner looked at him blankly, as if not sure how to respond. “Perhaps he is. Or perhaps we’ll join him.” Reiner said. At first, David thought him referred to Reiner’s brother, Lance, but then he realized that Reiner was staring at the caught steed as Feanias rummaged through what was left of the saddlebags. David didn’t respond.
Quickly enough, Feanias rejoined them. “Broken leg.” He said, “Nothing denoting an officer, must have been one of the dregs.” He added as he began drying off his naked and wet body.
“And to whom did the beast belong?” Reiner asked, the beast referring to the dreg, not the horse, Reiners patience and sanity drawn thin. Feineas tossed him some small package that Reiner caught deftly. Reiner sensed the question on the air and spake in a deadly voice. “The insignia of Squadron Three.” He said. The implication was obvious, Sergeant Lance Kron was the first to cross the Yera, across it went Squads Five and Seven, and now they followed in the trail of missing men.
“The sword then… was it-” Lyial began to say quietly to David. David shushed him with a serious glance. Of course it was David thought. It seemed there would be no rest for these weary men, for Reiner quickly ordered them all to mount up and set chase after ghosts who left no trail to follow.
