The River Toll

A broken bridge, a swollen river, and a toll you can pay in silver, in sweat, or in someone else's blood. As a plague-country prince you meet a ferrywoman who sells passage a soul at a time and a penniless boy racing to reach his dying father — and every way across the water costs something different. A short, hand-written choice vignette where the numbers are honest and the river always takes its toll.