A Frog, A River, A Hero, An Apple

Prompt from DailyPrompt.com

“You said you’re in a hurry.” Olga scoffed, her bulbous eyes swerving to watch both the river and Harry at once.

Harry grimaced. “I am. But that doesn’t mean I’m crazy enough to let a giant frog eat me!”

“Tsh tsh.” Olga’s throat pouch inflated in an amphibious smirk. “Go on, then. Swim. Or jump. I care not.”

‘Of course you don’t.’

Harry gritted his teeth and turned his back on the lurking offer to inspect the river once again.

This was the thinnest point. He could see the Chast Castle through the mists, perched on its lonely island surrounded by the forked water. A mile upstream, two miles down, the narrow twinned channels were a single rushing torrent.

But while the river was narrowest here, that only made it more vicious. No boat could withstand this grasping crushing pounding stream. And the wretched inhabitants of the island would never let a bridge stand.

Olga burbled smugly to herself. Waiting for the human to accept facts.

Can’t fly. Can’t walk. Can’t sail. Can’t swim. Can’t jump.

He could turn back. Plenty had. Or he could choose her offer.

Sand and stone crunched under his boots as he paced back and forth. He grumbled and muttered and glared daggers through the mist at the castle beyond.

Olga waited.

Finally Harry turned back to her and planted his feet. “You promise you won’t swallow?”

Both of Olga’s eyes rolled to fix on him. “I need the apple more than I need a scrawny meal.”

“Right. This golden apple from the inner courtyard. That’s all you want?”

“Yes.” Olga’s voice dropped into an oozing sing-song. “It sits in the tree. One hundred bronze apples and one of gold. I need the gold. So I need you alive. So I won’t swallow you.”

“Humph.” Harry rubbed his arms and eyed the hungry water. “What about the way back?”

“Way… back?” Olga squinted at him.

Harry’s eyebrows shot up. “What, you thought I’d march down to the shore to hand you an apple and then sit on the island forever?”

“Hm. Mm.” Olga slurped at nothing. “You want me to carry you back.”

“Of course I do!” Harry flung his hand towards the castle. “I signed up to fight the damned Howling King to save my neck, I want an out plan. You aren’t getting that apple until I’m back on this shore.”

“Hrrg.” Olga’s throat ballooned as she eyed the insolent scrap. Then she slowly, deliberately relaxed. “Fine. But I am not taking you back until I see the apple.”

“Fine.” Harry gritted his teeth. “Let me unpack my tarp.”

Prompt was “Write a descriptive scene about a character forced to use a unique mode of transportation.”

[I got distracted from the prompt again. Olga was too much fun to write.]