Down the river

Marylou had no intention of going into the future, none of them did. Not far into the future. A few weeks or months, sure. Marylou, Medicine Dan, and George did that all the time, in their own way. Only ones who weren't accustomed to time travel of any length sat in the back of the boat, Herald and Alberto. They were land men. As for Sally, who knows.
That night, just as they approached the island, the Clarabelle was caught up in a swift time current and shuttled rapidly down the river, into an uncertain future.
"I plum lost it, I lost control!" cried Medicine Dan. The force of the time current was simply too strong and the crew found themselves resigned to hold tight. The stars reflecting in the black water winked on and off. Everything shone black and silver in the moonlight.
"Ole Vertigo's got us and we're going somewhere fast, in a slow sort of way. Nothing to do about it." George Conley advised. He'd done this before, been washed all the way down to 2324, and he didn't much like to talk about it. Gone a whole year, though to him it felt more like a century. He had a momento from that time, something he kept in his front pocket. Only Leroy had ever seen it directly and George wouldn't talk about that either. "Suffice to say, me and Leroy don't mix," is all he'd say.
"Herliwigs. Dag blast you, Herald. I hope to heck none of the rest of you's been dreaming. Marylou?" In fact, Marylou had dreamt something most unusual, earlier on in this interminable night. She told the others reluctantly. In her dream, one ancient tribe of people had summoned up the spirit of their enemy- a dark god. He materialized into a man, and upon his arrival, Marylou's tribe honored him by presenting Marylou as his bride. The next day, the powerful man/god would battle her tribe. Though he was the enemy, Marylou found herself falling in love with this man, who seemed not very different from the men of her tribe. She gave him all her love, and in the morning she watched him ride into battle greatly outnumbered. He fought bravely, cutting one man clean in two, and died a noble death. She mourned his demise.
Marylou told her dream to the boat occupants and they listened closely. The men could see the battle in their mind's eye. Each imagined himself as the dark god. In their minds they weighed the fortune of having all of a woman's love against the tribulations of battle, and being on the wrong side of a battle. A quiet fell over the boat, and everyone dozed until dawn.