Checkers jumped around her and carried me up the north bank. I slipped off and ran back into the water toward Gwyn. She was facing me, eyes blazing. The increasingly swift waters swirled about her legs.As I slashed up to her, she lashed out with the leather quirt, one she had borrowed with the rest of my things. A leather loop secured it to her wrist.I'd have to take it away from her, or I'd be cut to ribbons. The first blow had laid open my cheek.We closed and went down.With our footing gone, we began to wash downstream. We were fighting each other and the water. We tumbled intothe bank where the creek bends, and from there into a quieter area in the backwash.