Chapter 45 Washed Away

Chapter 45 Washed Away
Chunks of wood behind James snapped off the dam into the growing waterfall, but he didn’t notice. My eyes locked with his, my grip tightening on the rope swinging in my hand. All of my focus was fixed on him.
This man is a threat to my family. It’s either him or my loved ones. He must die. 
He can’t have a second chance.
“If you have a death wish that badly, then I’ll gut you like a fish!” he roared and charged me. 
My wrist ached from relentlessly twisting it, and the rope became heavier as water drenched the fabric. Still, I wrapped it around my heel and kicked it at his thigh with the speed of an arrow. The force sliced his pants and slashed a laceration through his flesh.
He cried out and staggered, halting his charge. The blood heavily flowed down his leg. If the bleeding wasn’t stopped soon, he’d faint from blood loss. Slipping into the water would have been a death sentence. 
Yet he still glared at me with a ferocious fire in his eyes. “You think your tricks will save you?” he grunted.
“Your right-hand was far more formidable than you are,” I said. 
James noticed the slowed speed of my swinging rope dart from weight and fatigue. He smirked, growling, “And you’re a naive little girl; you and your ideas of mercy. Instantly reaching out a defenseless hand, thinking that it won’t meet someone’s blade. Pah! Either you’ve read too many fairy tale stories or you idolize Princess Liliana too much. That foolish girl did the same exact thing, and look what happened to her! Six feet under—her corpse is feedin’ lilies now.” 
My hand froze as my mouth dropped, eyes flying wide. There’s no way. My voice trembled as I said, “How do you know that…?” His smirk stretched. Something in me snapped, and I furiously screamed, “I asked you a fucking question! Where the hell did you hear that?! That is not public information! You—”
The rage boiling in my blood turned cold as ice as the realization dawned on me. My hands dropped to my sides as a heavy rock sunk through my stomach.
Jackson was right. My murderer was someone close to me…
Very close.
Distracted and consumed with turmoil, I didn’t notice James rush me with a battle cry until he was a foot away. I shrieked and stepped to the side, barely dodging his cutlass. It sliced off a lock of my bright ginger hair, nicking my ear.
My body moved on its own, kicking out one of my legs and tripping the bandit leader. He gasped and tumbled onto the cracking wood. More chunks chipped off, falling down the waterfall. It increased in size with each second. 
Without thinking, I leapt onto his back, shoving him back onto the wood and straddling his waist. I wrapped my weapon’s soaked rope around his neck and squeezed tightly. James grunted and choked, squirming beneath me and clawing at the rope, but it was futile. I used all of my strength, squeezing it tight enough that his skin became raw.
He has to die. If this woman was close enough to kill my past life, then she’s close enough to kill my parents. He has to die. He has to die. He has to die!
He has to die! He has to.. has to…
James’ squirming became weaker as his lips turned blue and his bloodshot eyes rolled back. His tears beaded at the corners of his eyes. My chest twisted and my arms gave out, releasing the bandit leader. He gasped for air, going limp beneath me as he struggled to recover. 
I panted, ground my teeth, and slapped my forehead. “Damn it… I can’t kill him… damn it…!” I cursed myself. I still couldn’t bring myself to kill someone. Even if it were for my loved ones. 
James’ groans snapped me back to reality. My eyes traveled his body until they rested on his unharmed leg. With a final swing of my rope dart, it wrapped around his ankle and I yanked it up before stomping down onto his kneecap until I heard a snap. He screamed in pain.
“AGH! Motherfucker! Guh…” he groaned in agony, peeking at his broken leg but too weak to do anything more. I stood up.
“You can’t climb to safety with broken and wounded legs. You’ll be swept away by this river… Whether or not you perish is in your hands now.”
James croaked a weak chuckle, “You idiot… if I survive this, I’m coming straight for your ass! I’ll chop off your head and mount it on my wall!”
I gripped my dart’s hilt tightly, my green gaze narrowed. “Then I will not show you mercy a third time.”
We gasped as the wood beneath us cracked and groaned, swaying towards the waterfall. James cursed up a storm as I spun around and sprinted back to the knights, only to freeze in my path. The broken path was far larger. Jumping it was impossible, and the current had become powerful. Jackson shouted my name again, trying to jump after me, but Cedric held him back.
I spun around and sprinted the other way. Even if it was where the bandits had retreated, it was my only option. James protested as I leapt over him, rushing to the rocky cliff side. Before I could get closer, the wood snapped and gave way, forcing me to jump backwards. It fell apart like thin ice. I slowly backed up as the gap became too wide to jump across.
I’m trapped.
“Shit! Fuck! FUCK!” James grunted, dragging himself toward where the bandits went. 
“It’s pointless. You can’t even stand,” I said.
“You don’t fucking say?!” James snarled.
The wood nearly shattered beneath our feet as the water rose up our shins. James continued to curse in his panic as I glanced around. As the river’s current sped up, more logs and debris were dragged into the water. A massive tree among them. Heading for us.
“Shit…” James breathed, his eyes wide.
I turned back to the knighthood. The gap has grown even wider now, and the current stronger. There’s no way I’d be able to swim against it. And if I did, I knew Jackson would come after me.
He’d just meet his demise with me.
I can’t let that happen!
With only one place to turn, I glanced down the dam. The shallow puddle had grown deep and became a roaring, brown river rippling through the barren riverbed. I couldn’t tell how deep the water was.
I spotted a large log hooked on the pieces of broken wood from the dam. The log stretched long enough to the side where the bandits were. The drop was halfway down the dam, and the bark was sleek from water, but I saw no other options.
“H—hey! What’re you doing?!” James yelled when he saw me walk closer to the crumbling edge. 
“ROBIN!” Jackson shouted, restrained by Cedric and Russel. “Get away from the edge!”
My heart thumped in my chest, but my knees didn’t shake. Adrenaline pumped through my veins, and then I jumped.