Colonel Rotti stripped off his pack and tossed it on the ground. He stuck the small grappling hook in his belt next to his knife and then picked up the coil of rope. He took a section of rope and wrapped one end around the general, tying it securely across his chest and under his arms.
“What are you doing, Rotti?” balked the general.
“Saving your life, General,” the colonel answered as he passed the other end of the rope under his own arms. “Tie this for me. Make it as tight as you can.”
The general hesitated as the passing soldiers started laughing loudly enough to hear.
“General,” the colonel said with a sense of urgency, “that crude dam is about to come tumbling down. Tie the rope, or I will not be around to save you.”
The general froze and his hands started trembling.
“Tie it, General,” snapped the colonel. “I can do it myself, but I will never get it as tight as you can.”
General Somma nodded and began tying the rope, but he also started gasping for breath. Colonel Rotti knew that the general was going to be worthless in just a few moments. As soon as the knot was tied, Rotti took the general’s hand and dragged him through the column, away from the small stream that would soon become a torrent. He knew that they could not outrun the flood, and that was not what he had in mind. Once through the column, he halted and looked at the closest trees. He immediately dismissed all of the younger trees as being too flimsy and concentrated on the mature ones. He also did not look deep in the woods. He wanted a tree on the very edge of the road, but he particularly wanted a dead tree, or one that had uncovered roots, something that would fall rather easily, but still be sturdy enough to avoid being splintered by another tree. About one-hundred paces away, he saw the perfect tree. It stood out from the rest so that those trees upstream would not crush them while they waited. He pulled the general in a run to the dead tree and placed the general up against it.
“Stand right there and hug the tree,” instructed the colonel as he ran around the tree once and then passed the general to stand beside him. He pulled the general away from the tree just enough to let the rope pass between Somma and the tree. “Listen carefully to me now, General. What I have to say are the most important words you will ever hear. Pay attention to them.”
The general nodded nervously, unable to find his voice.
“When you hear a crack split the air, that will be the sound of the dam breaking. Do not be alarmed. Everyone else is going to panic, but we will not. We are going to stand right here and let the flood carry us downstream. You will have to hold your breath for a very long time, so try to get a hold of your breathing now while you can. Start taking deep breaths and holding them for a bit before letting them out. When the time comes, I will tell you when to take a big breath and hold it. Do you understand?”
“I understand that we are all going to die,” quaked the general.
“No, we aren’t,” the colonel replied with a confidence in his voice that was totally contrived. “You must have faith in me, Somma. Trust me.”
The general nodded, and the colonel felt guilty for his deception. Rotti did not think his ploy had much chance of success, but it was far better than running and screaming like the rest of the soldiers were about to do. He pulled the hook from his belt and forcefully slammed it into the tree between him and the general. He then adjusted the rope so that it set in the curvature of the hook
The crack boomed through the valley like a clap of thunder directly overhead. Somma started sobbing fearfully, and the colonel stretched his hand and gently patted the general’s shoulder. Shouts and screams roared from the road as the soldiers turned and saw the dam crumbing and the water breaking through. For a few moments, the only danger was a huge torrent of water streaming through a hole in the dam. Soldiers started running in every direction, but none of them could outrun what was about to happen. Not even the fastest horse could outrun the deluge that was soon to be upon them.
With another series of loud cracks, the dam ruptured with an explosive force. The huge trees that had made up the dam flew through the air as a solid wall of water burst into the valley. The water roared as it smashed into the ground and swept downstream, tumultuous waves destroying everything they touched. Rotti watched carefully as the flood headed downstream. The center of the riverbed was the first to fill, and the deluge carried some of the huge trees downstream like giant battering rams. Anything in their path would be instantly crushed. The colonel was not concerned with them. He was more concerned with the huge trees that had been thrown to the sides of the stream by the dam explosion. Those trees were not yet in the stream of flowing water, but they would be as soon as the flood widened a little bit more. They were the missiles that would kill the soldiers still on the road.
He watched as the flood widened at an alarming pace. He knew that the entire valley would be underwater long before the lake was empty, but he was unprepared for the swiftness with which the valley filled. Within mere moments, a solid wall of water stretched across the entire valley. The colonel watched it coming towards him with a sense of dread.
“Give me your hand,” Rotti said to the general, “and grab the tree with your other hand. What ever you do, do not panic. It will be scary, but trust in me. We will survive.”
The colonel glanced over his shoulder and saw the wall of water about to hit. He turned his face away from the flood and shouted for the general to hold his breath. The water hit like a solid brick wall, and the colonel felt himself get lightheaded as he smashed against the tree that he was tied to. Within an eye blink, he had gone from standing next to the road to being entirely underwater. The force of the water tore at him, trying to sweep him downstream, but the rope held him fast, so fast that it felt as if the rope would rip right through his chest and split him in two. He wanted to scream in agony, but he could not. Objects began striking his back with increasing regularity, and Rotti suddenly felt like a fool. The tree he had chosen was sturdier than he had anticipated. Instead of falling easily as he had hoped, it held firm, and showed every intention of continuing to do so. That meant that he and the general were tied at the bottom of the flood with no chance to escape.
Suddenly, Rotti felt the dead tree lean into the flow of the water, but his lungs were already screaming for air. He did not think he would survive even long enough to reach the surface, and he thought about the poor general who had put his faith in him. It was then that he realized that he no longer held Somma’s hand. Rotti’s world started to go dark just as the tree was ripped from the soil. The dead tree shot through the water like an arrow and burst into the air before slamming back into the tumultuous foam. Rotti’s eyes rolled back in his head as he gasped for air. His lungs screamed for more air, and all the colonel could think about was breathing. Waves crested over his body, and water flowed into his mouth. He coughed and gasped as some of the water found its way into his lungs. The colonel lost all sense of time.
When his breathing was somewhat under control, he opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was the wild, raging water. What had been a peaceful river the previous fall now had massive confused waves like the sea in the midst of a terrible storm. Everywhere he looked, people and horses were thrashing in the water, and hundreds of trees were floating downstream. The water itself was murky brown, and huge waves rose unbidden with little sense of direction or purpose. He glanced to his right and saw the general. Somma appeared dead, but Rotti had to be sure. He reached out and grabbed the general’s wrist. He felt life still flowing through the general’s body, and his lips curled upward in a slight smile. They had both survived the first challenge.
Colonel Rotti pulled himself to the general to make sure that he was breathing. The back of General Somma’s uniform was shredded, and his forehead had a nasty cut, but the colonel could detect no other damage. He raised his head up and looked around to get his bearings. The dead tree that they were using for a raft had found its way to the center of the channel. While the whole river was racing towards the sea, the center channel was moving much faster than the edges. The colonel turned to look behind him. The root structure of the dead tree appeared intact, and it gave the colonel an idea. He pulled on the rope in an attempt to reach the roots, but there was not enough play in the rope. He pulled the knife from his sheath and cut the rope. Working frantically in case the dead tree rammed some other debris and threw him into the water, he pulled the rope from Somma’s end until he had retrieved the entire coil. He then retied the free end of the coil to the rope tied around his chest.
Colonel Rotti slowly dragged the general’s body to the root cluster and leaned him against the roots to keep his head up and away from the surface of the water. He then positioned himself next to the general and began to think of how the wild ride was going to end. The river was now much wider than it had been the previous fall and there were steep banks on both sides. Leaving their raft and swimming to the riverbank was not an option, and not just because of the general’s fear of water. Swimming in the river right now was a dangerous gambit. The hundreds of floating bodies nearby attested to that. The current was far too strong, and the flow was littered with trees and other deadly debris. He wondered if he could in some way maneuver the tree as if it were a raft. It was fairly steady in the water, not pitching or rolling as it might have. The colonel turned and stared at the roots, looking for something he would use as an oar or tiller, but the roots were thick and massive. With just a knife, he was not going to be able to cut through any of them. He sighed and returned his gaze forward.
“We are alive,” General Somma said with a sense of wonder.
“So far,” Colonel Rotti said with a grin. Despite the precarious situation that they were in, he was thrilled to hear the general’s voice. “The next trick will be getting back to dry land.”
“How did you know that the dam would burst?”
“I saw the oxen pulling it apart,” answered the colonel.
“I don’t understand,” frowned the general. “The Alceans destroyed their own dam just to flood us?”
“It is worse than that, General,” sighed Colonel Rotti. “The Alceans built that dam just to destroy us. That is why it was built so crudely. It was never meant to last. I should have suspected the truth when I first saw that chain attached to it.”
For several moments, neither of the soldiers spoke, then the general looked the colonel in the eye with shock on his face.
“That means that the Alceans knew that we were coming this way.”
Colonel Rotti nodded. “And they have known for a long time. Even such a crude dam would take a long time to build. They must have started that dam just after Kerk and I passed through here last fall.”
The dead tree shuddered and screams rang out nearby. The colonel stuck his head up to see what was going on, but he could not see the front end of their raft. Moments later, fresh-killed bodies floated by on both sides in swirls of blood, and Rotti understood the screams. Some soldiers had been unfortunate enough to get in the path of the racing dead tree. The incident caused the colonel to ponder about the stability of the tree. When he had run the rope around it before the dam burst, he had noticed a large branch on the opposite side, and he assumed that the branch was now acting like a keel, giving the raft some sense of stability, but what would happen when men tried to scramble aboard, especially if they all chose to climb up the same side? The colonel decided to prepare for such an event. He gathered the slack coil of rope between the general and himself and pulled his knife again.
“What are you doing?” the general asked fearfully.
“We needed a lot of rope before so that we could wrap it around this big tree,” explained the colonel, “but we don’t need quite so much now. I still want to keep you tied to me just in case one of us gets thrown in the water, but we have far more rope than we need. I am going to cut out a large portion of it and use it to help other survivors get aboard our raft. If I don’t, they might capsize us in their haste to get on.”
The general merely nodded as Rotti cut the rope and retied himself to the general. The colonel then tied one of the ends of the long rope to a thick root in the center of the root structure. He neatly coiled the rest of rope and placed it in front of him where it would be handy to throw to a survivor. Moments later, the tree shuddered again, and another chorus of screams rose from in front of them. Colonel Rotti grimaced thinking of the poor men struck by the giant tree. He stared carefully at the water on his side of the tree, hoping to spot a survivor that he could throw the rope to, but he saw none. Only bodies floated by.
Unexpectedly, the tree suddenly rolled to the right. Colonel Rotti instinctively reached and grabbed the general before he slid off into the water. The colonel frowned as he saw a pair of hands pulling on the roots on the other side of the general. It was someone trying to climb aboard, and their method would surely spin the tree and dump everyone into the water.
“Wait!” shouted the colonel. “I have a rope I can throw you. Do not try to climb up the side, you will toss us into the water. Get behind us, and I will throw you the rope.”
The man paid no attention to the colonel’s words. He frantically clawed at the roots, trying to scramble up them. Colonel Rotti took the coil of rope and tossed it high into the air, letting the wind carry it over the root structure so that it was now trailing behind the tree.
“There is a rope trailing behind us,” shouted Colonel Rotti. “Grab onto it, and I will pull you aboard.”
“Stop playing around, Rotti, and throw me the rope. That is an order.”
The colonel’s eyes grew wide as he recognized the voice of General Franz. General Somma immediately reached for the knife on Rotti’s belt, but the colonel stayed his hand.
“This is my duty, General,” Rotti said softly, ignoring the continued angry shouts of General Franz.
“No, Colonel,” Somma said with determination as he pushed away the colonel’s hand and took the knife from its sheath. “If this is the last thing I do with my life, it is something that I must do. I will not allow him to survive this and live to torment other soldiers under him. He must be removed from command, and I am the person to do it.”
The colonel frowned as General Somma moved to cut the rope tying the two of them together. “What are you doing?”
“I will not drag you to your death after all you have done for me,” answered Somma. “You are as fine a man as I have ever known, Rotti. Farewell.”
Colonel Rotti gasped. He finally understood what the Spinoan general had in mind. Somma was going to throw himself into the water so that he could get close enough to kill Franz. Somma would, of course, die in the process. Rotti reached out and seized the general’s wrist before he could sever the rope. General Somma stared at the colonel with confusion. The colonel smiled thinly.
“If you have the guts to throw yourself into the water,” stated the colonel, “I have the guts to hang onto one of these roots and haul you back up. Leave us tied together.”
The Spinoan general hesitated only a moment before nodding in agreement. Rotti rose, helped the general to his feet, and then wrapped his arms around the biggest root he could reach.
“You are in command,” Rotti said softly.
General Somma nodded and walked forward as far as the rope allowed. When he could go no further, he turned to the right and walked until he slipped off the tree and into the water. The tree immediately lurched to the right as the weight of both generals pulled it over. Colonel Rotti hung onto the root, his arms aching from the effort. After a moment, the tree pitched back a bit. He bit his lips anxiously as he waited for some sign of the outcome.
“Pull me up if you can,” said the voice of General Somma.
Rotti pulled the general onto the tree, and they both sat down exhausted. Neither of them spoke. A moment later a voice spoke to them.
“Hail soldiers of the Federation. Those of you who have survived the flood will be given a chance to surrender. There are chains stretched across the river up ahead. If you wish to surrender, drop your weapons in the river and use the chains to get to the left bank. You will not be harmed. Should you choose to stay in the river, or try to flee via the right bank, you will be killed.”
The two Federation officers looked at each other with questioning expressions. They could not tell where the voice was coming from.
Finally, Somma shouted and pointed up. “There! It is a tiny creature!”
Rotti looked up and saw a tiny, winged woman with blue skin. She started repeating the same message. The colonel also heard echoes of the message coming from every direction. “What are you?” he shouted.
The tiny woman gazed down at him and said, “There is no time to talk now. Make your choice quickly. The first of the chains is coming up.”
The tiny woman flew overhead and disappeared. Rotti turned to look for her, but the sight of the roots distracted him. He frowned deeply. If there was a chain across the river, it would either be too high for them to reach or it would be low enough for the tree to get stuck. Either way, they would not be able to simply reach up and grab the chain as they passed under it.
“The Alceans are serious,” gasped General Somma. “Look at the right bank. There are archers there ready to kill anyone coming that way. This trap is well planned.”
Colonel Rotti glanced at the right bank and saw the archers. He frowned and began pulling in the trailing rope. When he had it all coiled up, he cut the rope binding him to the general. He moved forward and frantically worked the hook out of the tree and carried it back to his place near the roots as fast as he could. He tied the free end of the rope to the hook and then untied the other end from the roots.
“What are you planning?” asked the general.
“I am not sure yet,” answered the colonel. “The little woman said the first of the chains is coming up. That means there is more than one chain across the river. I am thinking of using the grappling hook to snare one of the chains off to the left side of our raft. If I can do that, I will pass the end of the rope to you so that you can climb it to safety.”
“What about you?” asked the general.
“I will think up something else for myself,” answered the colonel. “I will figure out a way to snare the second chain.”
“You had better hurry then,” the general replied with a sense of urgency as he pointed forward.
Rotti turned toward the front of the raft and saw the chain ahead of them. Strands of chain hung down from the main chain at intervals to enable men in the water to grab onto, but the main chain was so low that the tree would not be able to pass under it.
“Get ready to ram that chain,” shouted Rotti as he grabbed the nearest root and clung to it. “We are going to stop rather abruptly.”
Both men braced for the collision, but nothing happened. The colonel frowned in confusion and looked forward. His eyes widened as he saw the chain high in the air. Just above it was a tiny green man. He looked up at the creature as the tree sailed under the chain.
“They are using magic,” remarked the general. “That little man is raising the chain without touching it. Unbelievable!”
Rotti agreed, but he was more concerned with getting to land. He shouted up at the little green man. “How are we to get to shore if you raise the chain out of reach?”
“Get off the tree,” replied the tiny creature. “I cannot let the chain be snagged. There is another chain coming up soon.”
“We can’t get off the tree,” Rotti shouted back. “The general cannot swim.”
The chain passed overhead and then it was magically lowered. Rotti shook his head in frustration. The creature had not bothered to answer him. A moment later, the little green man darted down from the sky and hovered before the colonel.
“Did you say general?” asked the green man. “Is he General Franz or General Somma?”
“I am General Somma,” stated the Spinoan general. The disappointment showed on the little creature’s face. “General Franz is dead.”
“He is dead?” brightened the little creature. “Then you are in charge?”
General Somma raised an eyebrow. He had not actually thought about it, but he was indeed in charge now. He nodded.
“If you are willing to surrender,” the little man said excitedly, “I will take you to shore.”
“I am willing to surrender,” replied the general, “but I am not leaving without Colonel Rotti. You will take us both to shore.”
The creature frowned. “I can only do one at a time. I will have to come back for the colonel.”
“I can get off by myself, General,” stated Rotti. “If this creature can get you to shore without drowning you, take him up on his offer.”
“The general will not drown,” promised the little man. “I will levitate him to shore. I will come back for you, but If you wish to meet with him on shore, you must grab the third chain. I am not sure if I can return that quickly.”
Colonel Rotti nodded. “Take the general to shore, and do not mistreat him. I will get the third chain.”
The little man nodded enthusiastically and darted directly over the general. As the colonel watched, General Somma rose off the dead tree and floated towards the left bank. Before he was out of sight, another green man appeared in front of the colonel.
“I was told to bring you to shore,” stated the little man. “Are you surrendering?”
“I am,” answered the colonel. “Please take me to shore.”