Thymara clambered down first, half sliding down the dragon’s slick shoulder. She was grateful for the sash on her wrist as Alise pulled her up short of the mat and let her select her landing spot. There was a nearby log with a branch sticking out. Thymara made the successful hop to it, and though it dipped and rocked under her weight, it did not roll and dump her in. She suspected that it had many submerged branches that were now so tangled with other debris that it could not easily shift.

“It’s good! Come down,” she called back to Alise. She glanced over to see that Tats had nearly reached the log and stepped onto it. “Stay back!” she warned him. “Let me get Alise down and onto this before you add any more weight to it.” He halted where he was, clearly displeased and anxious, but listening to her. As Alise ventured down, clinging to Sintara’s wing as she came, she heard Sylve’s voice on the other side of Sintara.

“We have to go slowly, or you’ll dump me in the river. I’ll come toward you on this log. As my weight pushes it down, you’ll try to put a front leg over it. Then, as I back up, you’ll try to edge sideways along it. So far, we’ve been able to help three dragons get some flotation this way. Are you ready to try?”

“Very ready,” the dragon replied. She sounded almost grateful and very unlike her usual self. Thymara almost smiled. Perhaps after this, she might see her keepers in a different light.

She gasped aloud as Tats caught her by the arm. “I’ve got you,” he said comfortingly. “Come this way.”

“Let go! You’re throwing me off balance.” At the hurt look that crossed his face, she added more placatingly, “We have to make room for Alise on the log. Move back, Tats.” As he obeyed her, she said in a quieter voice, “I’m so glad to see you alive that I don’t know what to say to you.”

“Besides ‘let go!’?” he asked with bitter humor.

“I’m not angry with you anymore,” she told him, a bit surprised to find it was true. “To your left, Alise!” she called as the woman, still clinging to Sintara’s wing, groped for a place to set her foot. “A little more, a little more…there. You’re right over it. Ease your weight down.”