“I might be able to manage something.”  Cronos said, frowning slightly.  “It’s not my specialty, but I could possibly reverse one of my spells and create cold instead of fire.”

“If you could freeze the surface of the river, we could just run to the boat.”  Reed said excitedly, “How long would it last?”

“I have no idea.”  Cronos said uncertainly, “I’ve never tried it before.”

“If it works though, it would also incapacitate the creatures in the water, keeping them from raising any kind of alarm until we are long gone with our river boat.”  Callindra said, smiling at the thought. “I think it’s a good idea.”

“Give me a minute to focus.”  Cronos said, clearly uncomfortable with such an important task being his direct responsibility.

“Take all the time you need.”  She said, giving him a quick, fierce hug.  “I know you can do it.”

They sat in the darkness, listening to Cronos chanting a barely audible mantra.  After a quarter candlemark, he stood slowly and stretched.  “I think I am ready.”  He said, leading the way toward the river.  When they arrived, he incanted a spell in a low voice and a tiny ball of blue light began to gather in his palm.

After it had swelled to the size of an apple, he exhaled sharply and tossed it into the water.  At first nothing seemed to happen, but then the water in a rough sphere twenty paces wide became ice with a shockingly loud report of cracking ice.

“Run!”  Callindra said, even though the others were already on the move.  They slipped and slid over the surface of the smooth surface that was already melting in the summer’s heat.

To her intense surprise and relief, they reached the side of the dock and clambered up a ladder without falling and without anything trying to stop them.  Once they had gained the dock, a howl of hunger and rage went up from the shore and dozens of Taken immediately began running down the dock with reckless speed towards them.

Arrows began whistling over her shoulder to hammer into their foes, sometimes hitting hard enough to pierce through two, but it wasn’t enough to stop the rush.  Callindra whirled Shadowsliver and prepared herself for a last stand, but Reed darted forward and hurled something down hard on the dock in front of them.

With a roar, a sheet of flame hot enough to hurt her face erupted, rapidly consuming the worm eaten planks of the dock.  He grabbed her arm and tugged hard.  “Quit staring and RUN!”

“How did you do that?”  She asked, grinning at him as they leaped into the ship.

“Alchemist’s fire.”  He said with a mournful look on his face.  “It was the only vial of it I managed to pilfer.  Better to lose it than die I suppose.”

Behind them the Taken had run into the fire and fallen through the weakened planking.  Some tried to leap over the gap and a few even succeeded but they had already deployed the oars and boat was making its way into the current and downstream.  It was a narrow escape, and that thought sobered her as the euphoria of the night wore off.

“God’s balls.” She swore, “I left almost all my gear back in the inn.”