Even on horseback, the Third Supply Route was nearly an hour away.
Dear didn’t say a word the entire ride. That was because, for escort purposes, she was sharing a horse with Kyle. She’d figured she could simply sit as far forward as possible, but a horse turned out to be a great deal narrower than she’d expected.
Slide her backside forward and it caught on the front edge of the saddle; shift back even a little and her spine went straight into Kyle’s body. And the instant the horse broke into a run, all those small efforts scattered to nothing.
“Mnh.”
Every stride of the horse sent the recoil through her, pressing Kyle’s hard chest flush against her back.
Through the thin cloth she could feel another person’s warmth exactly as it was. On a battlefield, no, in her entire life, she had never been this close against anyone. Dear sucked in a breath and swallowed down a groan. Kyle, meanwhile, stayed utterly unbothered atop the lurching horse, as though nothing at all were happening. If anything, he hauled the reins roughly and gave her waist a shove, shunting her back into position.
“What, are you itching to fall off and die?”
“...The horse took off all of a sudden, so what am I supposed to do about it!”
“Excuses. Your posture was wrong from the start.”
Kyle’s voice tickled the back of her ear. His body heat and the smell of his sweat washed over her from inches away, and before she realized it, Dear had gone stiff all over.
Ugh, I don’t even want to touch him...
As if he’d read exactly that off her, Kyle spoke in irritation.
“Quit making such a production of it and sit up straight. You think anybody’s enjoying this?”
“A production?”
“You’ve been having a meltdown back there this whole time just because a body’s touching yours.”
Struck dead center, Dear’s mouth clamped shut.
“When exactly did I have a meltdown?”
“I can tell just from how hard you’re holding your back. Felt like I was hauling a wooden plank around.”
“...”
“Carting wounded men around on horseback is an everyday thing out here. You think I’d actually try something just because I’ve got the likes of you sitting in front of me?”
Dear’s ears flared hot.
“That is not what I was thinking!”
“Then loosen up.”
“I’m not tensing.”
“You are.”
“I said I’m not.”
Kyle snorted. By this point, being the one getting all mortified made her feel like a fool. Dear pressed her lips together and let the tension drain out of her shoulders.
Right.
What was the big deal? Just as that man said, it was only a body touching hers.
To Kyle there was apparently no real difference between her and some blood-soaked casualty, so being the only one making a thing of it was far more absurd.
Slowly, Dear let the strength go out of her body. And regretted it the very next moment.
A hard jolt.
“...!”
The horse surged forward in one great stride and her now-slack body slid straight backward. Her entire back came to rest snug against Kyle’s chest. His stomach pressed into the small of her back, and the arms braced on either side of her left her completely caged in.
Letting go of the tension had, if anything, made every sensation sharper.
With the rhythm of the running horse, Kyle’s body shoved against her back, fell away, then met her softly again, and every last bit of it transmitted straight through her.
Kyle, though, seemed to find things finally bearable; he took up the reins, gave the horse’s flank a light kick and pressed on. There was nothing more Dear could do. Nothing but endure being pressed against him like that the whole way to the Third Supply Route.
In the end, the instant they arrived she practically toppled off the horse getting clear of him, and then had to stand there with a full-body shudder.
Arrogant as ever, Kyle sat slouched crooked in the saddle and looked down at her like she was throwing a tantrum. Then he glided off, smooth as anything, toward where the knights were gathered and disappeared into them. Since the officer in charge had told her not to leave Kyle’s side, Dear had to chase the mounted Kyle at a dead run.
A few people snickered at the sight: Kyle ambling along on horseback like some nobleman, and Dear in her elegant dress uniform jogging after him in a sweat.
But Dear had no room to spare for any of that.
The rush of water she’d been hearing for a while was growing steadily louder. The moment she broke out from between the trees, the river cutting across the Third Supply Route came into view. The current looked far more violent than she’d pictured.
Could she actually do this properly?
If the water had at least been clear, maybe, but swollen by days of rain, the river was muddy brown from bank to bank. Branches and torn-up grass roots swept down from upstream went racing across the surface, and near the water’s edge the stink of mud and rotting vegetation hung thick.
One look was enough to know this was precisely the sort of water Endairon would detest.
Sure enough. The mark below her collarbone went cold.
“...”
Dear quietly lifted a hand and pressed it over the spot.
I know. It’s filthy.
I know that too. But just for today, you’re going to have to bear with it for me.
She tried coaxing him inwardly, but no response came back. Instead the skin around the mark turned colder still. A flat, open refusal. Dear’s lips went dry.
Her heart was slamming. Whether that was from the running or from the dread that she might not pull this off, she couldn’t tell.
In the end, only one thing mattered anyway. If she failed here today, she was finished.
As it happened, the officer in charge was calling the knights together.
“All hands, assemble!”
At his shout the scattered knights converged on the riverbank. Dear took her place in among them.
The officer in charge pointed across the river.
“As you can see, the bridge is completely gone.”
Where the bridge had once stood, only a few snapped piers jutted up, hideous. The rest had evidently been carried off downriver.
“The Third Supply Route is the fastest line for moving food and weapons up to the front. If we can’t raise a temporary pier before the day is out, supplies run two days behind starting tomorrow.”
This time he looked at Dear.
“And for that, the engineers have to get across first.”
Dear swallowed dryly. This was her part.
“An advance party crosses first, carrying the lines. They’ll confirm there are no enemies on the far side and send up a signal. When that signal comes, the Elma takes hold of the current.”
“Yes, sir.”
“There’s no need to dam the river. Block it off entirely and you won’t be able to take the water pressure. Just push the flow at the crossing point out to either side and drop the level in the middle.”
Dear nodded.
“How long do I need to hold it?”
“Until every last engineer and crate of material is across.”
Dear’s fingertips twitched. She’d practiced endlessly, but she had never held this volume of water for that long. And certainly not a river swollen like this one.
The officer in charge must have caught the tension on her face, because he asked:
“Can’t you do it?”
“...No, sir.”
Dear closed her hand into a fist.
“I can do it.”
“Good.”
The officer turned away at once.
“First team, ready!”
Three knights stepped forward. They lashed thick rope around their waists and began wading into the river one by one. The current was terrifying; the water came up no higher than a grown man’s thigh, yet every step sent them lurching.
One of them lost his footing.
“Grab him!”
The knight behind him hauled on the rope. He barely caught his balance, and the line held. Without realizing it, Dear had curled her hands into tight fists.
That. I’m the one who has to hold that back.
It took a long time, but the advance team reached the far bank.
One knight scanned the area, then raised a red cloth. The signal.
“Elma!”
Dear stepped forward. As she stretched out her hand, the spirit stone set over her right glove lit with a clear glow. Slowly she dipped her feet into the shallows and felt for the water. From her toes, a brightly shining thread of water went sliding out over the river like a snake.
Before long that thread began tracing an intricate pattern, and the river heaved.
Kwaaah.
The current that had been pouring violently in one direction faltered for an instant.
“...”
Everything around her went quiet.
Dear let her breath out slowly. She moved her fingertips. The blue pattern floating on the surface split apart, stretching long to either side.
And with it, the river moved.
As though shoved aside by invisible hands, the current at the crossing point began to part left and right.
“Uh...?”
Somebody made a dumbfounded little sound.
Meanwhile the water dropped fast. Thigh-high, then knee-high, then at last down around the ankles. The river that had bucked like it wanted to swallow a man whole when the advance team crossed was suddenly, impossibly tame.
Dear spread her hands a little wider.
Chwaaahk.
The water driven to either side reared up high, then settled into brand-new channels.
“Guess she’s not completely useless after all.”
She heard muttering behind her. One of the pack of knights who’d been ignoring her all this time. Dear made a point of pretending not to hear. But she couldn’t stop the corners of her mouth from creeping up.
It’s working.
Way better than I expected.
She could feel the flow of the water through her fingertips. Where it came from and where it drained away, which points to press and which to let go. Everything she’d memorized a thousand times over at the institute, her body finally understood.
I can do this.
Dear’s eyes shone.
I really can do this.
“Engineers, move in!”
The order came down from the officer in charge. Everyone who’d been waiting moved as one. Engineers shouldered their materials and went into the river. People streamed across, and the carts followed after them.
“Keep holding it!”
“Yes, sir!”
Dear answered with force. Unlike before, there was confidence in her voice.
And that was when it happened.
She felt the faintest tremor in her fingertips.
