Clove & Moose 9: The Reversing River

Clove and Moose is a serial fiction story. While there is an overarching plot, each episode can be enjoyed on its own without reading what came before. However, if you want to get caught up, click one of the buttons below.

Previously, on Clove & Moose: After the mysterious Cataclysm dried up the earth and its magic, Clove left home to search for pools of corrupted magic left behind in the Cataclysm’s wake. Along with her cat Moose, Clove has been repairing these pools while travelling toward a nearby city. Shortly after her arrival in the city, she rescued a young woman named Marissa from one of the corrupted areas, and the two agreed to stick together while continuing their travels.

“Over here! Right this way!”

“Fastest rower in the city, right here!”

“Handsomest rower in the city!”

“Best singing rower in the city!”

“Sturdiest boat in the city!”

Clove looked warily at the crowd of shouting people around them. Moose clung to her, his claws hooked through her sweater, but luckily, not into her. She was feeling almost as tense herself in all the noise.

“You’re sure this is the only way across?” she asked Marissa, shouting to be heard over all the rowers clamouring for their attention.

“Unless you want to walk half a day down to the next bridge. The nearest one has been taken over by a gang. The price of a boat is cheaper than the toll there. Safer, too.”

They had travelled the length of the city and now had to cross the wide river that separated the urban core from the suburbs beyond. Clove considered the prospect of walking to the next bridge rather than dealing with a horde of shouting boatpeople. It’s not like they had a schedule to keep. But they were here now, and her pack was heavy, and it might be worth a few minutes of noise to get out of here and on their way. 

Even without the usual noise of traffic, the city was still oppressive. The tall buildings that radiated heat, the grey architecture bleached of colour, the lack of plants and trees. At least the forests had survived the Cataclysm and the farmers and country folk were trying to revive their land. In the city, no one was tending to the bit of greenery had existed here to start with.

“How do we choose?” she asked Marissa, gesturing to the crowd of rowers along the shore.

“What do you value in a rower?” Marissa asked. “Speed? Handsomeness? Serenades?”

That was an easy one. She pointed to one of the women who had been shouting for their attention. “A sturdy boat.”

Marissa grinned. “I was hoping for the handsome one, but I guess I can let you have this.”

After a quick negotiation, the rower, who introduced herself as Catrin, led them to her boat. It did look sturdy, though Clove didn’t relish the idea of crossing the river. Neither did Moose, evidently, as he drove his claws in further and pierced her skin.

“It’s okay, boy,” she soothed as she took a seat in the stern of the boat. “I’m right here. Everything will be alright.”

He didn’t retract his claws from her flesh. Clove grimaced but bore it. She was the one who had chosen to trade their comfortable home with all its cozy beds and soft blankets for life on the road. If Moose sometimes saw fit to mar her skin over the discomfort he had to endure, she probably deserved it.

Catrin pushed the boat off from the bank and climbed in, taking her place between the oar locks and starting to row. She may not have been the fastest rower of the bunch, but they seemed to make good time. The noise of the crowd fell away behind them until all they could hear was the splash of the oars. As the boat fell into a rhythm, Moose relaxed too, retracting his claws and settling on her lap.

The trip was almost peaceful when she didn’t have tiny daggers stabbing into her. The sun sparkled off the water and the wind blew her hair away from her face. She could almost imagine they were out on the water for pleasure.

They were a little over halfway across the river when the boat lurched as though it had been struck. Moose yowled. Catrin grimaced and shifted her oars to steady the boat. Clove grabbed the side of the boat with one hand and reached for Moose with the other.

“What was that?” 

Their boat was drifting in a circle now; Clove’s view was shifting from the far bank to the broad sweep of the river. 

“Don’t worry, it does this sometimes. We just need to wait it out,” Catrin said.

“What do you mean, ‘it does this sometimes’?” Marissa said from the other end of the boat.

“It reverses course. Happens a couple times a day.”

“That’s not a normal thing for rivers to do, is it?” Clove didn’t know a lot about the science of waterways, but she was pretty sure rivers only flowed in one direction.

“It is since the Cataclysm.”

Marissa caught her eye with a questioning glance, and Clove nodded glumly.

Their boat had twisted all the way around, now, and the river had steadied again. Catrin started to turn them in a tight circle to get them back on course. 

“I don’t suppose you’ve ever seen a glowing orange circle near the river, have you?” Clove asked.

Catrin nodded. “Yeah, it’s a regular tourist attraction. Down river a little ways.”

“If you can take us there, I can make it so the river doesn’t do that any more.”

Catrin considered for a moment, then nodded. “Alright. It would be worth it not to have to deal with this.”

As Catrin took them downriver, Clove was unable to relax this time. She gripped the side of the boat with one hand and held Moose’s rope with the other, knuckles white. She was waiting for the river to reverse direction again at any moment.

The moment never came, and they approached a small gathering of boats in the middle of the river. 

“That’ll be it!” Catrin said. “The funky colour of the water brings people out all the time.”

Clove relaxed her grip on the boat long enough to pull her crystal out of her pocket and clutch that in her fingers instead. Catrin guided their boat around several others, bringing them right to the place where the water glowed orange. 

It was a cool effect, and Clove could see why people wanted to see it. But when she peered over the edge of the boat to get a good look at the magic, it was clear that the source of the glow was far, far below the surface of the water.

“It’s too far down,” Marissa said, voicing Clove’s initial thought.

“I don’t know,” she said anyway, because the thought of doing nothing made her sick, “maybe I could reach it.”

“Reach what?” Catrin asked. “What do you have to do?”

“She needs to touch the glowing orange circle down there,” Marissa explained.

Catrin blanched. “It’s way too deep. A few people have tried to get down there already and see what’s causing it, but no one’s been able to get that deep. Had to mount a rescue mission to bring one of them back.”

“What if we tied a rope around me, so someone could help haul me up when I’m done?” Clove asked.

“It’s still too deep and you’d need to be down there too long. Besides, how are you going to say the spell when you’re underwater?” Marissa countered.

“Maybe if I had diving equipment…”

“Where are we going to find that?”

“Are you a trained diver?” Catrin put in. “It’s not as easy as it looks.”

Clove sighed. “I don’t know what else to do.”

“I think you need to accept that you can’t do anything,” Marissa said. “You can’t get them all.”

“It’s not so bad,” Catrin said. “So the water gets a little rough a couple times a day, big whoop.”

“It’ll be a big whoop when someone gets hurt or killed because of it,” Clove said. “Besides, if the river’s not flowing properly it’s probably doing horrible things for the water cycle.”

Catrin shrugged. “Maybe. But it’s been a few months and nothing horrible has happened yet.”

Clove didn’t subscribe to that attitude, but she didn’t have an answer. She couldn’t get down to the bottom of the river to fix this. She might come up with an idea given enough time, but after weighing her options she decided her time would be better spent looking for corrupted spots that she could fix.

“Fine. Let’s go on, then.”

“Thanks for trying, anyway.” Catrin took up the oars again and started for the opposite bank.

Before long, they had reached their destination. Clove insisted Catrin take an extra hunk of bread as additional payment for her trouble in taking them to the corrupt magic. She thanked them and waved them off before joining the crowd of rowers shouting for customers.

Clove and Marissa heaved their packs onto their backs, and with Moose leading the way, they walked out into the suburbs, leaving the city behind.

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Katie Conrad is a speculative fiction writer living in Halifax, Nova Scotia. You can find her on twitter, instagram, and tumblr.