The plan had seemed so easy on Miriam's map. The direct water path along the winding channels of the delta to Fish-Hook Village, skirting the slow, winding land paths. It was the fastest way. Speed was the only advantage they had over the River Fever's moving hand.
But the map had not conveyed the living, raw power of the river. The canoe, purchased with their remaining local DP from an unwilling riverside trader, was a long, narrow dugout, unbalanced and cumbersome. It floated low in the water, burdened with their precious cargo: a light diagnostic kit, a locked case of broad-spectrum antivirals and antibiotics, rehydration salts, and the basic, powerful water-testing equipment that was Reuben's frontline defense.
Reuben at the bow, his System interfaces a low-level hum of tension, the
