The River Travelers

The River Travelers

Dawn was breaking through on the horizon. At first only a small corner of light was peeking over the hills early in the morning, but then that corner became something more. It rose, until a bright golden ball had arisen into the sky, bathing the earth in light and color.
In a small riverside cottage something stirred. A small, sandy-headed, shaggy haired, bleary eyed head rose up from its bed and took a look around his surroundings, attempting to pierce the fog of sleep that had taken hold of him through the night. But soon the fog cleared and Willem, for that was the young boys name, realized that today was a big day. Will jumped out of bed and hurriedly got dressed, then headed to the kitchen to get breakfast. Farmers got up at the crack of dawn to greet the morning, river-traders were no different. Willem reached the kitchen and saw without surprise that everyone else was already awake and were sitting down to eat.
“Good morning, mother and father.” Will said as he sat down to breakfast. His father looked up at him and smiled heartily.
“Hello Will, did you sleep well last night, for today is a big day?”
“Yes father I slept well. Good morning Jude, Swift.” Will said to his two older brothers, they both nodded in return at him. Will saw that his mother had prepared fresh bread, eggs, and newly squeezed orange juice for the occasion. He quickly gathered a piece of bread, eggs and a mug of orange juice, all of which were gone in a few minutes of course.
His father finally broke the silence that had hung over the table.
“Is the raft loaded up and ready for you to set off this morning?” He had directed the question at Jude, who was the older of the two him being sixteen and Swift being fourteen, Will was only twelve.
“Yes father, me and Swift loaded up the raft with the goods last night so that we could get an early start this morning. When would you like us to cast off?” Jude asked father.
“After breakfast, since your already loaded up and the raft is good to go.”
Father answered.

After everyone finished eating Will walked out onto the dock with Jude and Swift, and stepped aboard the raft. The raft was only a flouting square of logs strapped together with two covered shelters at on one side of the raft for the occupants to stay in overnight and in foul weather. In the center of the deck there lay a mound of trade goods covered with a thick woven rush mat. There was also a steering oar with a handle in between the two sleeping shelters. For the raft had to stay in the middle of the current of the river, or else they would spin out of control, while they were riding down the river to the town of Whitby. Whitby was about a four day journey from Wills house, and today his brothers were going to take him with them for the first time!
“Safe journeys Jude, May fortune by with you Swift, and take care of your brother for me.” mother said as she quickly embraced each one of them. She now turned to Will with a serious look on her face
“Listen to whatever your brothers tell you and be sure to help out when needed, alright?”
“Yes mother, don’t worry I will pay attention to them.” He told his mother, and seeing the confident look on his face seemed to calm her down a little.
“Oh, wait my things, I forgot my things in my room!” Will jumped down from the raft and ran to his room. He returned to the dock a few moments later, this time with a woolen sack slung over his shoulder. His father has waiting for him on the dock, just as Will was about to step up back up onto the raft when his father stopped him and looked him straight in the eye.
“Will, I have a something to give to you.” Wills eyes lit up and looked down from his fathers eyes and saw that his hands were behind his back, hiding something. His father continued.
“I figured, that you would have a lot of time open on your trip so I thought you would enjoy something to do.” Father showed Will what he had behind his back, and Will was filled with excitement. In the palm of his fathers hand was a thick leather thong about two feet long with a small pouch nestled in the center. In the other hand he held a bag, though smaller then Wills own it was considerably heavier.
“I made the sling myself and instead of going hunting yesterday, I waded out into the river and found lots of smooth river stones for you to practice with. Do you like it?” He asked with a hopeful look at Will.
Will couldn’t believe his eyes, his very own sling.
“Father I don't know what to say, thank you so much for this gift I promise to take good care of it.” He said taking the sling and sack from his father.
“I’m sure that you will, use it well.”
“Yes father.” Will then embraced his father and stepped aboard the raft, still smiling at his beloved parents.
“Cast off jude.” his father told his brother
“Yes sir” Replied Jude and untied the knot on the cleat of the boat. The raft then fell into the current of the river toward the town of Whitby. Mother and father stood on the dock next to the cottage on the riverside waving their farewell to their sons. The boys on the raft waved to, they waved until the cottage, the dock, and their parents were lost from sight as they traveled down the the winding river.

The raft drifted soundlessly down the river, that was actually called the Lone River, and that was why Wills family made a good profit, because the town of Whitby was isolated from the other towns and was only open the trade that came down the Lone River, or more to the point the trade that Wills family had to offer. For loaded onto the raft was a thing that Whitby needed the most of, papyrus for making paper. For along the stretch of river that Wills family lived papyrus grew in plentiful amounts, and when his family weren't trading, hunting, or fishing, they were harvesting the papyrus to send down the river, for Whitby had the ability to make paper just not the papyrus that was needed for the process. Bundles of cut papyrus lay under the rush mat that lay in the middle of the deck.
It was the middle of the afternoon, when Jude and Swift looked up to hear a strange sound, like a loud humming noise that seemed to come from all over, but then would stop abruptly, and a few seconds later a sharp crack resonated over the Lone River. Jude, who was manning the steering oar at the time, tensed his muscles while he searched for the source of the sound. Then he relaxed as he saw that it was only Will practicing with his sling on the side of the raft.
Will thought that he had been getting rather good with the sling, for he had been practicing for only a small amount of time, but could frequently hit a target from twenty yards away, a target such as a a small tree or boulder. The land beyond the shallow riverbanks were lightly forested and provided many targets to try to hit. After hours of practice through the afternoon, Wills arm ached, but he knew that if he was going to get any better with his new weapon he needed to push his limits.
Will saw another target, a large stone, about the size of a human head, and zoned in on it so that it was only him, the sling, and the target. Will reached into the sack of rocks and drew out a smooth round river stone, he then loaded it into the pouch of the sling, then grabbed both ends of the leather thong to create a tall U shape, with the pouch in the middle. He then started to swing it around and around slowly at first but then gaining speed and intensity as he swung it faster and faster a low deep throated sound started to emanate from the sling, then, when he judged the time was right Will released one end of the sling sending the river stone flying forward with the power of Wills whole arm behind it. He could only follow the stone for a moment but in that moments he saw that the throw was right. A split-second later he heard a loud crack that echoed through the forest, Will peered at the rock he had hit and saw that there was a deep crack through the middle of the stone. Will smiled at his work and decided that he had done enough for one day.
He picked up the sack of river stones that lay by his side and walked across the deck to stash his things in his room. Will opened the door and walked in, the room was small about the size of a small bathroom, but had enough room for two people to sleep in. But because this was Wills first trade trip he got the room all to himself, while his brothers shared the other. He set his sack down by his blanket that he would sleep in for the journey and carefully placed his sling in his bag of food that he would eat for the journey to Whitby, then they would use some of the money that they earned from the papyrus to restock on food for the rest of the way back. Will stepped out of his room and walked over to Swift who was fishing over the side of the raft, he sat down and dangled his bare feet into the clear cool water.
“Have you caught anything yet Swift?” Will asked indicating the covered bucket that sat next to him. Swift looked up with a startled look on his face.
“Oh sorry Will, I didn't hear you come over.” Then he handed the bucket Will with a mischievous look and told him “See for yourself.” Will took the bucket and pried open the lid to look inside, but was blinded by a wave of water that came from the bucket smashed into his face.
“Ahh!” He yelled and instinctively reeled back from the unexpected splash, but somehow managed to keep the fish in the bucket contained. Wiping the water away from his face he saw that Swift and Jude, who was manning the steering oar, were both doubled over laughing at Wills response. After a moment Will joined in laughing with a large smile on his face. When things had calmed down a little bit Will looked into the the bucket and saw that there was a large angry Tilapia swimming around in the bucket sending up furious waves of water splashing up from the bucket. Swift looked down at it with obvious pride in his eye.
“Wow, that thing is a monster, are we going to eat it tonight!? Will asked Swift looking up hopefully at his big brother.
“No we can’t have a fire on the raft to cook the meat, so we’ll have to wait until we get to Whitby to eat him, we will be staying there for a day or so to trade and to rest for a while.” and with that Swift turned back to fishing and Will was left with his thoughts. He then walked back to his room to eat and turn in for the night, because the sun was setting just then and with nothing else to do Will thought that sleep was the best option.

Will awoke in the middle of the night, thinking that had heard something climb up onto the raft. But then dismissing the thought Will lie down for the rest of the night, sure that he had been mistaken, but still a worm of worry worked itself into his resolve.
When Will rose up in the morning he had forgotten all about the strange noise he had heard during the night, for now he was only focused on food for the day and practicing his sling on the river. Will, got dressed, opened his door and walked out onto the deck, and was greeted by a loud hiss-ing sound that was thrown across the deck by a huge fresh water crocodile. Its massive body was coated in large heavy scales that were draped across it like a suit of armor. Its jaws, which were open, were full of rows of razor sharp teeth that were meant to tear the flesh off of its prey. Will screamed in terror at the huge beast and ran inside if his room for cover. A few seconds later he heard a harsh raking sound from outside as the crocodile tried to barge into his room.
Will looked around for a weapon to use against the monster when his eyes fell on his sling that was peeking out of his food bag, he hurriedly grabbed it and thrust his hand into the bag of stones and jammed them into his pocket. Will wasn't sure of what to do next, for he felt so helpless against that huge crocodile that was still pounding on his door and seemed to be making progress for the door shuddered every time the animal slammed into it. Will found himself looking up at the roof of his room and thinking that the roof would be the perfect place to ambush the crocodile with his sling. But he shrugged the thought away as impossible, unless… Will reached down and picked up an axe that had been in his room before he had moved in, he hefted it and looked up and thought, “here goes nothing” and slammed the axe up into the roof of the room. Splinters showered down on him and for a moment he was blinded by the deadly hail, but he looked up and saw that he had opened up the room into the light of the sun for a small pinprick of light streamed onto his face.
Will filled with new hope slammed the axe up again and again twice in rapid succession, and saw that he had opened up a hole large enough for him to squeeze through. He looked at the door that was still being hammered by the crocodile and saw a glowing red eye peeking through the crack in the door by the hinges. Will shoved the doors onslaught out of his mind for the time being, jammed his sling into his pocket and hoisted himself up onto the roof, for the room was not very tall and he could pull himself up onto it without much strain. After gaining his feet Will looked down at the huge animal below him, who was still focused on hammering down the door and reaching his so such wanted prey. Will took a deep breath and yelled at the top of his lungs at the room where his brothers were still sleeping. “Jude Swift, help!” A few seconds later Jude and Swift rammed open the door of their room and looked about taking in the huge beast that was now intent on them. The two boys stepped back a pace as the crocodile turned around to face its new prey as it eyed them hungrily. They quickly drew their dirks, long fighting knives almost a short sword, and brandished them at the monster. Slowly the crocodile started to inch forward eyes still focused on Jude and Swift, so focused that it didn't even here that deep sound that resonated from behind it until it was to late. The beast suddenly remembered the boy on top of the building and snapped its head back around to see what was happening, but instead of seeing what the boy was doing, he felt a shot of pain surge through his armored body, pain that he had never felt before in his entire life, for Will had been aiming for the monsters long neck but when its head turned unexpectedly the stone that would have only bounced harmlessly off its armor, hit the crocodile in one of the only unprotected parts of its body, its eye. The beast howled in pain in a harsh grating sound that came from its throat, as its rolled over convulsing wildly in agony as it ineffectively tried to stop the pain, and that was when Jude and Swift struck. They ran over to the thrashing crocodile and plunged their dirks deep in its unprotected underbelly, the wild movements suddenly slowed and then after a moment, stopped as the huge beast that had roamed the Lone River for years was dead, killed by three boys with two dirks and a sling. Will jumped down from the roof of his room dumbstruck with horror staring at the huge beast that had almost ended him. But then all thought of the Crocodile were gone in a flash when he felt like he was being crushed and his ribs were fracturing as his brothers embraced him in a huge bear hug. And whispering into his ear, “you did little man,’ you did it.”

After the excitement of the second day the rest of the journey seemed plain and uneventful. Jude figured that they could make quite a penny for the crocodile hide and so they all skinned the monster and pushed the remains into the river. When they pulled into the Whitby harbor, Will was dumbfounded by all of the exotic smells and new sights that met him at the harbor. After paying for their harbor fees the three boys walked into the town of Whitby, Will stared at all of the other people some were black, some white, some were even colored like a light shade of rust. But all were carrying things for the weekly market today, animals, fruit, clothing, and small household items were all ready to by sold at the market. The three brothers headed for the market which was taking place in the town square and sat down on the cobblestone with their cut papyrus laid out in front of them. The square was filed with loud voices pierced every now and then by a short bark of laughter from one of the bargainers as someone told them a high price, and then the haggling starts.
The other stall owners my have needed to haggle for a good price but all of the boys trade goods were snatched up by one man, the paper merchant, at a very high price. But the crocodile hide was a thing of awe for the people of Whitby, not even the hardened river folk had seen a crocodile this large in their lives, and soon a crowd had gathered around the monstrous hide. Many people were making offers on the hide and held out money to try and buy the trophy, but a large bulky hunter offered a substantial amount for the hide and walked away with it rolled up on his shoulder.
Because all of their produce was sold Will decided to take a look around the market, he asked Jude for some money to buy things and he had complied giving a small amount of money and warned him not to squander it. Will came back munching on a sweet new fruit that he had never tried before that the seller had called mango, and Will found it much to his liking. He had bought several for his brothers and they thanked him for the fruit and said that they liked it very much.
They spent that night in an inn at were they gave Swifts tilapia to the cook and had it cooked and cut up for a small price. Will loved the bed and he could feel all of his cramped and tired muscles suddenly felt relaxed and loose, and he quickly fell asleep.
In the morning after a lovely breakfast at the inn the trio set for home rowing up the Lone River through the day with Will at the steering oar and Jude and Swift rowing, taking breaks every hour or so. At night they tied the boat to the riverside so that they wouldn't drift down river. They made slower progress but they were getting there.
On the final day of the journey when a little cottage by the riverside came into sight around that bend the boys heart kept for joy as they saw there mother and father on the dock waving them home.