Page 11 of Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear

More and more of it emerged, until it seemed the boat must be never-ending, until so much of it was out of the water that she could see a man standing on the deck, a net in his hands, waiting for the moment when gravity would run the right direction. More of the boat emerged. The weight of it was finally more above the river than beneath, and it fell forward, hitting the water with a mighty splash. The man cheered. So did the other four people who had appeared along with the boat.

Nadya blinked.

“Well?” demanded Artyom. “Don’t you want to speak with them? They’re the reason that I brought you here.”

Nadya snapped out of her stillness and ran toward the river, waving her arms above her head.

Artyom laughed and watched her go.

PART IIIUNDERWATER

7PEOPLE OF THE RIVER, PEOPLE OF THE LAKE

THIS WAS WHAT THE PEOPLEon the water saw, as their boat settled into the current and began to drift along the River Wild, carrying them with it: a small, brown-haired girl in muddy clothes, waving her arms in the air as she ran toward them. One arm ended at the elbow, but there was no blood, and it didn’t seem to cause her any pain. One of the wood foxes sat on the ground behind her, laughing as she ran.

It was an unusual sight, even for the River Wild, which had seen many an unusual sight in its time. The man at the front of the boat pointed at Nadya, not throwing his net into the water. He said something, but the rushing of the river took it away as all the others turned to watch her running along the bank, their eyes wide and their mouths open in surprise.

Nadya couldn’t see, from her place on the shore, how the boat was steered; they seemed to have no oars or pole. But one of the women leaned over the side, long, impossibly dry braids nearly touching the surface of the water, and appeared to say something to the river itself, and the boat began to turn deliberately against the current and move toward the shore.

Nadya stopped running as it became clear that the boat was sailing toward her. She smoothed her hair with her hand and stood up straighter, trying to look less like she had been washed up on a riverbank, chased by a giant frog, and lost in the woods. It was unclear how well she succeeded.

The boat drew closer, and she got a clearer view of the people. There were four of them: two men and two women. The men had short, bushy beards, and the women had long braids, and all of them dressed like they had come out of a picture book about life from centuries before. Their clothing was brightly colored and rich with complicated embroidery, most of it showing fish and waterweeds and ornately shelled turtles.

Nadya relaxed a bit. People who decorated themselves with representations of turtles, but not with actual turtleshellsthe way she’d seen some people do, couldn’t be all bad.

The boat drew closer to the shore. The man at the prow leaned toward her, calling, “Hello, girl on the shore! What are you doing here? Did you lose your crew?”

Nadya blinked. “I came through the forest from the River Winsome,” she said, pointing behind herself to the trees. “I don’t know how I got there.”

The man looked at her, expression twisting oddly, and said, “This is not an age of heroes, but doors will open where and when they will. Was there a door?”

Nadya paused. “I thought I saw one in the pond, but that was a shape and shadow, not a door.”

“Shadows can be thresholds, under the right conditions. Were you sure?”

“What?”

“When you came through your door, were you sure?”

“Sure of what?” Nadya bit her lip, trying not to let her uncertainty show. “I didn’t come through a door. I fell into a shadow in the pond, and then I was on the riverbank. I’m sorry. I don’t know how I got here or where ‘here’ even is, but I’m not sure ofanything.”

That wasn’t quite true. She was sure that her name was Nadya, and that Artyom the fox was her friend, and that thesepeople, with their clothes embroidered in turtles, didn’t mean her any harm. Their faces were too open and friendly, and their bearing too carefully unthreatening, for that.

The women exchanged a look as the men frowned. “It certainlysoundslike you were door-swept,” said the man at the prow. “But the warning should have been given, if you were. The warning is always given, to guarantee the swept will be willing. We don’t want unwilling children.”

Nadya blinked slowly, fear growing in the pit of her stomach like a slow and dreadful weed. “Someone had carved ‘be sure’ into the back of one of the turtles at the pond,” she said, finally. “It was cruel and wrong. Turtles are our friends, and even if they don’t like you, they’re alive things, not toys! So I was trying to reach the turtle, to be sure it was all right, when I fell into the pond. I was sure the turtle needed me.”

The man looked to his companions. One of the women nodded encouragingly and said, “It sounds like she may not have been sure, but Belyyreka was sure enough for both of them. She belongs here.”

The man turned back to Nadya. Gentling his expression, he asked, “Child… what happened to your arm?”

“I was born without it,” said Nadya. “I never needed a second arm to do any of the things I wanted to do, but I had one, made of plastic, from my parents. A big frog came out of the other river and took it.” She was getting tired of explaining what had happened to her missing arm. She resolved to start telling glorious lies whenever someone asked her, until they got tired of it and stopped, and let her be.

“Ah,” said the man. “This is where we invite you aboard to do the day’s fishing with us, and promise to take you to the city when the work is done. Your fox may come as well.” He raised his voice, calling, “Fox! Do you want to see the city?”

Artyom yawned enormously and stood, flicking his tail as he trotted over to Nadya. “No, man,” he said. “The city is yours and the forest is mine. Human children are yours and have no place with me. I have returned her to you.” Then he looked at Nadya, brown eyes grave. “Nadezhda, these people will take you to the human city, where you can better learn the laws of this land. They will not harm you, but I will not be there. If you have need of me, or decide you miss my forest, only call my name, and I will come for you. But be sure before you do, for the river passage is dangerous to my kind, and I cannot come every time you call me.”

“I will be sure, Artyom,” said Nadya solemnly. The small fox flicked his tail and raced away, a tawny streak heading into the shadows of the trees. Nadya watched him go, and when he was no longer in sight, turned back to the boat, where the man was holding out his hand.

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