As we push into the middle of the river, I hold a loose line with my right hand, and run the fingers of my left over the surface of the water, my body nearly horizontal off the port bow. The cool breeze off the river fills my lungs. When I open my eyes, I catch my reflection in the still water, and grimace.
Blood spatters my shirt, from collar to cuffs, and cakes my vest through on the left side. Aside from the filth, my favorite (only) jacket is in tatters below the waist, burned and slashed and stained with more things than blood. I resolve to cut it off below the waist and use the salvageable material to patch the trousers. Beyond that, I haven't bathed since the innkeepers' kindness, and nearly died twice since. My own blood and that of others stains my neck and wrists and hands, and the black ichor seems to have given me a black eye and split eyebrow.
I look like hell.
"You look like shit."
I can hear the smile in Rhiv's voice. He's on a quest, one he knows to be just, and may have never known such happiness as he does today. For once, I know the same truth as him. But the taste is bitter for me now.
I pull myself onto the deck, and go to my satchel, taking out a pinch of soapsand and a palm-sized tin, containing my own mix of duck fat, tobacco oil, and vanilla. I strip down to nothing, leave the tin on my pile of clothes, and jump into the river with a rope tied around my ankle. The cool water shocks my senses, but I keep my breath and dive down to the bottom, using my hands to find some sand, or sandy mud, and a stone. I mix the soapsand with the mud, and rub rigorously all over before returning to the surface. Rhiv is nervously watching the spot where I entered the water, and I call out through the mud on my face:
"Now how do I look?"
"Like you're covered in shit."
"Shit's a natural exfoliant."
"Shit's a natural excrement."
I give him a wan smile and return underwater a few more times, scouring with the stone, swimming strongly from the back of the boat to the front each time, stretching the muscles that stiffened overnight. The cool water eases the burn of pumice on my bruises and wounds. Two taught tugs on the line, and Rhiv hauls me out like a codfish. I shake the water from my hair onto him, gratefully. He rolls his eyes, and walks back to Moses, presumably to use this sequence as a thin segue into his tale of how he once saved my life.
At that thought, the brightened spirit brought on by the river leaves. I have just the energy to pull on my trousers and sit on the prow, the tin of oils untouched.
I should have died that day. Saved him the trouble.
Last edited August 28, 2017 2:09 pm