Ambrose stirred in unconsciousness, a mix of panic, fear and pain swirling about his mind. He could remember reaching, reaching with all his might forward, but missing and then reaching again, but this time, reaching with…

  He felt cool water on his head and head the crackle of a fire nearby. His eyes flittered open and he could make out a figure moving around him. He went to talk, but only a pained moan left his lips.

  The figure seemed to hear and quickly made its way back over to him. "Finally, your awake, we were getting worried you wouldn't."

  As his vision returned, he made out Ros as she dipped a piece of cloth into a cup of water and squeezed it I to his mouth. "Here, drink.”

  The water hit his lips and a desperate need for more rose from within him.

  "More, please." He gasped.

  Ros moved the cup to his lips with one hand and lifted his head with the other.

  He managed a few gulps before his enthusiasm caused him to choke into a coughing fit.

  "Slowly, you have been out for quite a while."

  It took a while before Ambrose was able to sit up, by the time he did, Ros had produced a hot bowl of what smelt to him like soup.

  "Where did this come from?" He asked, as she handed it to him.

  "Well, you had a pot, water and some meat, so clearly it fell from the sky." She replied flatly.

  They both laughed at her comment, though Ambrose was the only one who grasped his head and swooned slightly as they did.

  Ros quickly moved over to help steady him. "You really did some damage to yourself. Can you remember what happened?"

  The image that had stuck in his head was little Reenie going under the water as he made missed grabbing her, and then...

  "Not really, but I think I remember Gro-Lag lifting Reenie out of the water, is she ok?"

  Ros smiled at his recollection. "She is fine, she was a but shaken, but mostly she was worried about you."

  The goblin moved and sat next to him. "When you wasn’t unable to reach her in the water I feared the worst, but you reached out your hand, and suddenly she rose up and out, just enough for Gro-lag to reach her."

  As she spoke the memory of what had happened returned to him. In desperation he had tried to grab hold of Rennie with a grasping spell. He had learnt it as part of the same entrance exam that he had the feather spell and if anything, he was worse at it. By some miracle he had managed to sense and take hold of her on his first try, at which point he had focused all of his will on simply getting her out of the water.

  "Good, I'm glad she’s safe." He said with a sigh. "But how did I end up here?"

  "Once Reenie was out and safe, Gro-lag realised he couldn't see you, he dived in and luckily was able to pull you out.” Her face grimaced as she remembered the event.” You were bleeding from your ears, noes and eyes and was completely unresponsive. In all honestly when I first saw you..." She trailed off, and let out a sigh that shook in a way that made Ambrose think she might have been holding back tears. "We carried you back here and I have tried my best to care for you." She straightened slightly and coughed. "Thankfully, it seems I did a good enough job, one more day and Gro was going to attempt to go to the city for help."

  "Day? How long was I out for?" Ambrose asked.

  "It’s been nearly three days." Ros replied, in her usual flat tone.

  Ambrose put down his soup and lent back onto his arms. "Three days?"

  He was somewhat in shock, he thought he might have been unconscious for maybe a day at most, but three? If he had given himself that bad of spell fatigue, he was lucky he hadn't died. It did however explain why he was starving.

  He shook himself of it and took a deep drink on soup. He wiped him mouth and smiled at the feeling of it filling his stomach.

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  "Well, I am surprisingly alive and more importantly Reenie is safe."

  Ros sat quietly for a moment, staring at Ambrose with a look he couldn't quite workout.

  "Are you ok?"

  "I knew before we met about magic and Gro-Lag had told me about yours, but I had never seen it myself. I didn't realize it had such a heavy price." She replied.

  "Well, it does if you're as bad at it as me." He replied with a chuckle.

  "But you still paid it." She quickly added. "And you paid it to save my daughter."

  Ros looked away from him, paused for a moment and letting out a large sigh.

  "When Gro-Lag told me about the strange human who had offered him food and asked for his help, I assumed you were either a fool or trying to take advantage of us." She looked back at him, guilt clear on her face. "I realize now I was wrong."

  Ambrose sat himself up and smiled at her. "Ros, don’t be silly, I am most definitely, a fool."

  They were both still laughing when Gro-Lag and Reenie appeared at the door to the hut. When the small girl saw Ambrose was up, she ran over and threw herself at him, wrapping him a hug. "Mr. Lord, you're ok!" She yelled as she did.

  Ambrose gave a sharp exhale as the girl ran into him, winding him slightly. "I am, and I am glad you are too."

  "Thank the ancestors." Gro-Lag said, relieved.

  Gro-Lag and Reenie were also given soup, and they all sat to update Ambrose on what they had done the last couple of days.

  "Most of the bricks we placed have dried, so we have started to stack them and make some more." Gro-Lag told him. " Ros-Ge?n-Lüg has also made some soap."

  "I was getting a bit sick of us all smelling like butchered meat and sweat." Ros added.

  "And I was just starting to get used to it." Replied Ambrose, before gesturing for Gro-Lag to continue.

  "I have been working on some more tools; I am nearly finished cutting the teeth for a bone saw."

  "Do you think it could be used to make planks out of tree trunks?" Ambrose asked.

  Gro-Lag thought for a moment. "Rough ones but possibly."

  Ambrose nodded. "The next time I am in the city I will see if I can buy some nails and a hammer and other tools, we might be able to make some storage. If you are ok with us spending the coin you made on that?"

  Gro-Lag seemed to fluster a bit, but nodded in agreement.

  "But before that there is something else I need to focus on."

  Ambrose stood and both Gro-Lag and Ros flinch in moves to steady him.

  "I'm fine, I'm fine." He insisted.

  He put on his old beat-up boots, exited the hut and started to make his way back to the river that only a few days earlier, had nearly killed him.

  Gro-Lag, Ros and Rennie followed, baby Gren-Lag babbling in the wrap that attached him to his mother as they walked.

  Once they arrive, Ambrose looked around at the area surrounding the water. "When I was first given this land, I swam across this river to check on the other side. I considered maybe building a bridge but after what happened I think I had a different idea for the moment."

  Ambrose pointed at the bank where they had started digging out clay. "If we keep digging, we can widen the river which will should slow it’s current." He then pointed slightly down stream. "If we also build a small damn there, we can really expand this section into a small lake. That should make it even safer and allow us the possibly farm fish." He had seen small fish farms in the city, and was fairly sure he could recreate them if he had some calmer water.

  He turned and looked at the family. "There is one major issue though."

  All of them seemed to look at him in anticipation of the issue, baby Gren-Lag even remaining silent.

  "I don’t know if there are any settlements that rely on this river downstream. So…"

  "So? My Lord?" Gro-Lag asked.

  "I am going to have to check."