Cries sounded across the water as sailors keeping watch on ships called out warnings that something was happening ashore. At least one of those ships would be part of the Free Cities navy, and she had no desire to get too close to them.
She glanced at the inside of the dinghy and saw the owner was huddled on the bottom with his head buried in his hands. Jason had taken the tiller and was steering the boat away from the pier. "Good job, sailor."
Jason grinned, his smile slightly frantic. "They make you a second mate and you're drunk with power, aren't you? Is there any chance our ship is still here?"
Kira shook her head. "They would have sailed well before sunset." She crouched down to where the owner was huddled on the deck. "Listen up. The sooner we're gone the sooner you'll be safe. Tell us where to go so we can land safely outside the city walls. We don't want to go out into the harbor. I promise we will pay you and not hurt you if you drop us off safely." The man didn't respond. Her temper flared. "Give us a course to steer, you—" adding a string of curses which had been the favorites of the first mate on The Son of Taris.
Hearing a sixteen-year-old girl swear like a sailor got the man's attention, shocking him out of his fear. He sat up slowly, looking around, then pointed a shaking hand. "That way."
"Two points to starboard," Kira ordered Jason.
"Aye," he responded, once again seemingly amused by something.
"What's so funny?"
"I was just imagining you talking like that in front of your parents."
Kira shivered at the thought. "That's not going to happen."
"They've probably heard worse."
"Not from me!" There weren't any more shots chasing them, and no other boats had left the pier in pursuit of them. She wondered why. A lot of lights on other piers warned that the harbor police might be getting ready to investigate the shooting, but as of yet there were no lights low on the water that would have shown police craft underway. Many more lanterns were visible on the anchored ships out in the harbor as awakened crews watched for trouble, but those were far enough off not to be a problem.
It seemed too easy, but for the moment the chase seemed to have let up. Kira straightened, holding to the mast again to steady herself as she searched the water for signs of trouble. "If my parents heard me talking like that they'd probably ship me off to be completely reeducated on proper behavior."
Jason grinned. "You've got better behavior than most adults I know."
"You must have low standards. You know, my parents were pirates at one time, so they must have heard worse language than that. That never really occurred to me before."
"They don't swear around the house, huh?"
"No. It's funny how much you don't realize about the people you've spent your whole life with, isn't it?" Kira reloaded again, trusting that Jason could handle the boat's owner if he tried anything, then holstered the weapon. She leaned forward to address the owner. "How far do we have to go?" The man shrugged. "I'm going to ask you again, and if I don't get an answer I'm going to get angry."
She had apparently impressed the man enough already for that threat to work. He stared into the night, thinking. "It's not far, but there are rocks along that shore. My boat could get badly banged up."
"Is there a better place along the water in this direction?"
"No. Not unless you want to climb a short cliff."
"Then steer us to the best place," Kira directed. "If you mess up, it's your boat that will suffer."
The man got up and grudgingly took the tiller from Jason. Kira and Jason moved forward a bit where they could talk privately. "I was just thinking something," Jason murmured. "If I was chasing some people and knew they'd taken a boat, I'd send someone to the best place to land nearby."
Kira grimaced. "How did you think of that?"
"It's what would happen in a game."
"A game?" But it made sense. It made way too much sense.
"Whoever they are," Jason added, "they seem to have a lot of people." He glanced back at the boat's owner. "I don't trust that guy. I think he'd do or say whatever it took to get us off his boat as soon as possible."
"We did hijack his boat," Kira pointed out.
"I thought we borrowed it."
"That was before we hijacked it." Kira glanced at the boat owner, who had the look of someone who was nervous for the wrong reasons. "Take it a point to port," she ordered the owner.
The owner glared back at her. "I know this harbor."
"Take the boat a point to port and hold it there." The man didn't move. "Do it now or you're going over the side."
He nudged the tiller as directed, his fear obvious. Jason was standing as far forward as he could get, peering into the darkness. He looked back at her briefly. "Why didn't they steal some boats, too?"
"I don't know. They didn't—" Because they're watching this boat on the water and they've got people waiting just like Jason guessed and we're heading for the ambush.
She rounded on the boat's owner. "Two more points to port." He hesitated. Kira whipped out her pistol and pointed it at him. "Now."
The boat had barely begun to turn when Jason cried an alarm from the bow. "Hey, there's a beach real close."
"Get back here, Jason!" She didn't need foresight to know what was about to happen.
He'd just started to move when lights flashed on the shore, so close that Kira realized they would've run up on the land by now if she hadn't made the boat turn. The roar of the shots merged into one sound as splinters flew around the owner at the tiller. The owner, having apparently had all that he could take, leaped overboard without a word.
"Take the helm!" Kira ordered Jason, crouching and looking for targets. The rifles fired again, old-style Mechanics Guild repeaters by the sound of them. The same weapons which had once almost killed her mother. Fortunately, many of the surviving models were old and not very accurate. The muzzle flashes illuminated perhaps ten figures rushing into the water and splashing toward them as the bullets tore more splinters from the hull of the small boat. "Get us away from here!"
Chapter 14
Jason dove to the tiller, grabbing it and swinging it hard to port. The sail fluttered as the boat swung, losing speed in the turn. It caught again, the boat moving away from the shore.
Then most of the boom disappeared, leaving the sail fluttering uselessly.
Kira searched for the Mage responsible, but couldn't see anything in the dark. She wasn't sure why, but she felt reluctant to strain too much to spot the Mage's spell as she had at the entrance to the sally port.
More shots thundered from the shore, ripping holes in the side of the boat. Two hands grasped the edge of the boat and a man reared up, a dagger clutched in his teeth. Kira kept her balance as the boat rocked, aiming a kick at his face that knocked the man back into the water. Another hand grasped at the stern sheet. Jason picked up the owner's dropped knife and jabbed at the hand, drawing a howl of pain. The hand fell away.
"Jason! Have you ever rowed a boat?"
"Uh, no. Not for real. But I watched them rowing earlier today, and I was a galley slave a few times in the Roma Imperia historical immersive massive group simulation so I think I remember how it's supposed to be done."
"What? Never mind! We're slowing down. Just get the oars in place and start rowing! If we don't get out of here they'll swamp us." On the heels of her words a woman rolled up over the side of the boat, coming to a crouch on the deck just in time to catch Kira's boot on her jaw. Kira followed up with a punch that hurled the woman out of the boat. "Move it, Jason!"
"I'm moving! I'm moving!"
She caught glimpses of Jason fumbling with the oars as he set them into the oarlocks, then Kira spun and fired at another hand grasping the bow. Splinters flew near it and the hand dropped away.
The boom finally reappeared, but the bottom of the sail was no longer attached and continued to flap uselessly.
A man heaved himself up near Jason, who was trying to set the second oar in pla
ce. Jason twisted, swinging one end of the oar to slam into the man's chest and knock him back overboard. A pair of hands was gripping the bow again, but Jason kept the oar swinging, bringing its broad end down on the hands. There was a howl of pain and they dropped away.
Another volley came from the shore, the bullets tearing past with cracking sounds that almost froze Kira's heartbeat. She faced the shore and yelled as loudly as she could. "I'm not worth anything to you dead!"
She knew that wasn't true, but she also knew that the Imperials would only pay for her alive, and plenty of her parents' enemies would want her alive for their own reasons, like those of the rider way back north of the Glenca. As she had hoped, her words made the shooters hesitate.
Jason had finally mastered the oarlocks and was rowing, grunting with the effort as the wooden oars bit into the water, the boat very slowly gathering speed again.
Two men grabbed on, one on each side, pulling themselves aboard too fast for Kira to stop. "Keep rowing no matter what!" she yelled at Jason while she planted a boot in one man's stomach and propelled him back overboard.
The second man grabbed her from behind before she could turn. Kira struggled to break free, but he was bigger and stronger and she couldn't find any point of leverage with his body bearing down against her. He had one hand gripping her pistol arm so she couldn't bring it around. As the man's other arm across her neck started to choke her, Kira took a moment to identify where the man's groin was, behind and just to her left side. Stiffening her arm, she rammed her elbow into it as hard as she could.
The man emitted a squeal of pain. Kira gave him another elbow in the groin and his grip loosened. Breaking free, she pivoted and stiff-armed the man over the side.
Breathing heavily, Kira saw another hand reaching for the boat and drove the heel of her boot into the face that came up beside it. Part of her was horrified to be doing such things, but the rest of Kira knew she didn't have any choice at the moment.
They were definitely moving now, pulling away from the shore and the attackers struggling in the water. Kira couldn't see anyone else close enough to climb aboard. Jason was red-faced with effort as he pulled at the oars. Holstering her weapon, Kira dropped onto the bench beside Jason, shoving him to one side, and grabbed one of the oars, trying to pull in rhythm with Jason. Belatedly, more shots began sounding from the shore as it became apparent the quarry was escaping.
They kept pulling until they could neither hear nor see their attackers, then slumped with exhaustion over the oars, the boat drifting on the dark surface of the water. The lights of Kelsi glittered off to the east. The ships at anchor looked like they were on holiday, so many lanterns had been lit. Kira squinted, seeing other lights moving low on the water. "The harbor police are out. Maybe some of the Free Cities navy, too. Can you row some more?"
"The engines cannae take no more, Captain," Jason muttered in an accent stranger than his usual one, then turned a grin on her. "That's another ancient joke."
She returned an exasperated look. "What's it supposed to mean?"
"I don't know. It's just something you say when you're tired."
"Is every Urth joke really strange?"
"Not all of them. There's one about a Euro, a Martian, and an Ionion who walk into a bar and—"
"I don't want to hear it." Kira breathed deeply, staring toward the lights on the water. "I can't believe we survived that."
"I can't believe how you can fight."
"I was scared to death. I hardly knew what I was doing."
Jason shook his head. "I'd hate to fight you when you did know what you were doing."
Kira grinned. "You did good, Jason. What a fighter! Where did you get the idea to use the oar that way?"
"Robin Hood. Quarterstaffs, you know."
"Quarterstaffs? Is that what you call oars on Urth?"
Jason smiled and shook his head. "No, we call them oars. Quarterstaffs are big sticks that you beat other people with. They were used as weapons a long time ago."
"Maybe you can teach me some fighting tricks." Kira grabbed his hand for a moment. "We make a good team."
"Yeah. We do, don't we?" Jason hesitated, looking at her. "Um…I guess we should row again."
Kira looked away from the city and the boats on the water behind them, spotting off to the northwest an irregular line of white that came and went but stayed in roughly the same place. "That must be waves breaking on a beach. It's way to the west of where we got attacked. Let's head there."
By the time they reached the beach, where swells from the harbor rolled onto a long patch of gravel, Kira's back and arms ached. She looked up at the stars, seeing that most of the night had gone. Some distance to the east, but still too close for comfort, they could see lights on the shore and hear occasional gunshots, probably the city militia and police investigating the site of the ambush and running down the people Kira and Jason had narrowly escaped.
They grounded the boat on the gravel, both Kira and Jason leaning on the bow as they caught their breath again. She dug out some money and tossed it into the boat, hoping it would be enough to cover the cost of the damage.
"We're still paying him?" Jason asked.
"It is his boat. But, yeah, if he hadn't tried to run his boat aground we might not have run into that ambush. Ready for a hike?"
"No."
"Neither am I," Kira said. "Let's see how far we can get before we both collapse."
"Most people sleep at night, you know," Jason grumbled as they scrambled up a line of cliffs about two lances high that fronted on the gravel.
"Are you complaining again?" Kira gasped, painfully pulling herself over the top of the last vertical stretch. She helped Jason up as well, then dropped to her knees, breathing heavily, while he lay nearby. "We have to keep moving," she finally got out.
Jason groaned, but rolled to his front and got up, staggering a little.
It was still full dark, but the looming shape of the mountains to the west were easy to spot. "That way," Kira said. "There's a long stretch of open land west of Kelsi that slopes up to meet the pass leading to Ihris." She made a major effort and managed to get her feet moving.
Jason trod beside her, slumping as he walked. "Slopes up," he repeated. "We have to go uphill."
"Yeah. All the way to the pass."
"I can't believe it, but I'm wishing for a train."
They fell silent, struggling through the coastal grasses, high enough to reach their waists in places, the stalks and leaves tough. Pushing through that made the walk up the slope even harder. "This entire planet is trying to make me miserable," Jason said. "Demeter hates me."
"It's Dematr," Kira said.
"No, it's Demeter."
"It's my world, not yours. Dematr."
"Okay."
"Don't say okay."
She heard him laughing under his breath and wondered what could possibly be funny.
Neither one talked again for a while, concentrating on staying on their feet. Kira did her best to think of nothing except walking, but recent memories and emotions began to rise to the surface, things she had felt but hadn't dealt with yet.
Kira found herself stumbling, her eyes fixed ahead but not focusing. She suddenly stopped, breathing heavily.
Jason stopped walking as well, staring back at her with concern. "You never fall behind me. Kira? Are you shaking?"
She was, Kira realized. She was trembling.
"What's the matter?" Jason asked, frantic.
"Jason, I…I…shot that man. And a guy…trying to get in the boat. I might…I might have shot other people. I…I…I…might have…killed one of them."
Aunt Alli had warned her. So had her mother. It seemed so easy, shooting at targets. But a real person, that was very different.
"Kira," Jason said, sounding sad and helpless. "You didn't want to do that, did you? You had to. They attacked us. Attacked you."
"I know. I know. It's still…"
"I stuck a knife in a guy's hand,"
Jason said. "That was nothing like one of the games where you stab some opponent with a sword and you know it's all fake no matter how real it looks. I…I know how you feel. A little."
Kira's legs finally gave out. She dropped down into the high grass, Jason sitting beside her. The weight of the pistol under her coat reminded her of what she had done, of what she might have to do again. "I guess sometimes the way Urth sees things might be a lot easier. Just another form of life."
He shook his head. "It shouldn't be easier, should it?"
"No. It shouldn't." Kira covered her face with her hands. "I'll be all right, Jason. It's just really hard to talk about."
It's just really hard to talk about. How many times had her mother said something like that? And how many times had Kira pressed her anyway, demanding to know why her mother wouldn't share important things with her? If those things hurt, wouldn't talking make it better? And why couldn't Mari talk to her own daughter about them? I made it about me. Mother was hurting so bad inside and couldn't tell me why and I made it about me.
I have to survive this. I have to see her again. So I can tell her how sorry I am.
She inhaled deeply again. "We need to keep moving."
"Kira, if we try to get up, both of us are going to turn into jelly."
She made an attempt to rise and realized that Jason was right. "We'll rest a little while. Then we'll move again."
Kira didn't remember falling asleep. When she awoke, the sun was high in the sky. Jason lay beside her, still dead to the world.
She struggled up, worried about how much time must have passed.
There were riders visible down the slope toward the city. They were riding this way, spread out in a search line.
And beyond them, gliding in over the sea from the south, were some of the flying things that Jason called drones.