Paying the Price (9 page)

I truly didn't know how I wanted this battle to end. I would have liked
Dareena
to surrender, but it was clear if she had any way of getting me to her home, she was going to do it. Surrender didn't seem in the cards unless it was her last choice.

Then there was a loud groaning noise, and the ship heeled dramatically to starboard. After a moment, the grinding stopped, and we popped back to level.

But something had changed. I couldn't tell what it was, but our motion in the water was different.

When we were hit by a broadside of cannon, the sounds were obvious. Then our motion resumed, although sluggishly.

We were hit twice more. I wondered who was still alive.

There was another grinding sound, and all our motion stopped. The ship began listing heavily to starboard again, and the grinding sound came and went. I heard surf smashing into the ship, and it felt like perhaps we were being beaten against a large rock.

The locker door opened. It was Dareena. "Meorie, thank
the
god
s
. Come quickly."

Obediently I followed her.

Due to the list of the ship, it was difficult walking. I had to brace myself on the sides of the passageway. Dareena led me to the main deck of the ship, offering me a hand to steady myself. I looked around.

The masts were down and fouled. I saw a dozen dead or dying sailors. To the
right, I saw the railing of the ship buried below the surging seawater. Lookin
g
across the water in
the distance I saw land, perhaps a half mile away.

Everything was chaos.

"Hurry, Princess! They're coming back."

"They would fire on us?"

"Of course. We make good target practice now."

"That's barbaric!"

"That's war. A war you started."

"I do not accept responsibility for the choices of others."

"Now is not the time to argue." She grabbed my arm and pulled me along the deck. "Can you swim?"

"Yes."

"Jump!"

We jumped together landing with a pair of splashes in the water. I was immediately pulled under for a moment, but bobbed to the surface. I thought about kicking off my boots, but I was sure I was going to want them.

Dareena grabbed some flotsam and pushed it to me, keeping some for herself. I hung on, bobbing in the water. She clutched at me. "You will swim for that bit of beach. If you get there before I do, you will wait for me. If I do not make it, you will head to the palace in Rendarin. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

It was a long swim. We stayed together. Other crewmen swam with us, some faster, some slower. Dareena helped none of them. Her only focus was on getting the two of us to land.

"Shouldn't we help them?"

"There are others to offer help," she said. "Keep swimming."

Behind us, the Norinian ships sent several more broadsides into the hull of the
Ysura Martani
. Twice we were peppered with shrapnel, but neither of us was hurt. Our safety improved as we swam further away.

"Will they send long boats to rescue us?"

"I wouldn't," she said.

"Will they send marines to kill us?"

"Why bother? The swamp will do it for them."

Then something exploded on the dying ship behind us. Something -- I didn't see what -- flew through the air and glanced off Dareena's head. She slumped and began to slip under the water.

I grabbed for her. I got a hand twisted in her clothes and pulled her above the water, then I grabbed the flotsam she'd been hanging onto and pulled it under her.

"Dareena!" I yelled, shaking her. "Dareena!"

There was no response. But when I checked, she was breathing.

I thought about letting her sink. None of my orders involved saving her life. I could let her sink. I looked around, and none of the sailors was close. No one would see if I let her go.

I held onto her and tugged her to the beach with me.

We made it to the beach. It was a small, narrow strip of sand. I imagined in the highest tides, it might be completely underwater. I pulled Dareena clear of the water and collapsed in the sand next to her. I checked her breathing and she seemed okay.

I lied next to her for a time. A few of the sailors were already lying exhausted in the sand around us, and two more emerged from the water a short while after Dareena and I had reached shore.

Darkness fell, and none of us was moving.

There was a three quarters moon offering some light. I sat up and check
ed on Dareena. She was unchanged.

I looked at the moon, and I looked at the waves crashing against the shore. I decided the tide was going out but was near low tied. I couldn't tell how high the water would come, so I dragged Dareena higher from the water. No one offered to help me.

The Marsh of Neebo is a section of land along the coast between Norinia and Tendaria. It is only about fifty miles wide along the coast and forty miles deep, but it is all marsh. Beaches like this were rare. It was impossible to travel by land through the marsh, only by boat.

The coastline of the Marsh of Neebo
w
as dominated by mangrove swamps. The beach we were on was a rare
occurrence. I walked up the bea
ch and discovered we were on a little spit of land, but everywhere I looked was either the open sea or a mangrove swamp.

I walked up and down the beach, collecting any of the wreckage that looked useful. I even threw any driftwood I found further up the sand; we may want firewood. I didn't find much that was useful, but there were three jugs that turned out to contain fresh water. Those I carried back and set next to Dareena.

Some of the men perked up at sight of the water. "Do any of you speak Norinian?" I asked.

They all looked at me blankly.

I crouched down near Dareena and said clearly, "Captain," pointing to her. Then "Princess," pointing to her, then "Princess" again, pointing to me. I set the jugs leaning against Dareena and said again, "Captain."

I hoped they understood. She was in charge. If she woke up. And if they drank the water, I would tell her.

I continued to prowl the beach, pulling things from the water, discarding almost all of them, checking on Dareena periodically. She didn't wake up. On the other hand, the men left the water alone. I wondered how long that would last.

I wondered if there was any way to make a fire. I wondered if we wanted one.

I found a wooden mug. I took it back to Dareena.

The men were watching me. I wondered if they had seen me pull her from the water. They had certainly seen me drag her further up the beach. I checked on her. No change. I grabbed one of the jugs of water, used a tiny amount to rinse out the mug, then gave myself a small drink. After that I went around to the men, giving each of them a small drink.

Several of them used a word. I didn't recognize it. I presumed it meant thank you.

When everyone on the beach had had a drink, I set the jug back next to Dareena and settled down next to her.

I grew tired. I collected the jugs and set them against Dareena's ba
ck, then I curled up and cuddled
the combination of small captain and water jugs. I was asleep almost instantly.

Sometime in the early morning, she woke. I woke with her. I checked. No one had stolen any of the water jugs. I checked on Dareena.

"Good morning," I told her. "Did you have a nice nap?"

She rolled over to look at me, bumping against the jugs. She said something in Tendarian.

"I hope you remember Norinian, Dareena, or we are going to have a difficult time negotiating my release."

She blinked and looked at me. "Meorie?" She sat up and looked around, holding her head.

"I recognize that look," I said.

"What did you do to me?"

"Me? Why are you blaming me?"

"What are all these between us?"

"Water jugs. I put them there so I would wake up if anyone tried to steal them."

She looked around. The men were all asleep. It was just growing light in the east. The moon had set some time ago. "What happened?"

"You got knocked out. I dragged you to shore." I gave her a summary.

"You could have let me drown."

"I could. I didn't. I will be heading north."

She looked at me sadly. "Do you still have the satchel?"

I thumped my chest. "Yes."

"Please give it to me."

I pulled it out of my tunic and handed the satchel to her. She looked it over. I hadn't disturbed it, but it had been in the water a long time. I had no idea if it had remained water tight. She looked at it dubiously.

"Not my fault," I told her. "You told me to jump."

"My head hurts," she said.

"Welcome to my world," I told her. I gave her a drink of water.

She sat quietly for a while. Then she turned to me. "I'm sorry."

"I don't blame you for the shipwreck. Tendaria is that way." I pointed south. "Norinia is that way." I pointed north. "If you'll remove this collar and amulet, I will be on my way as soon as I can figure out how to build a boat. If you ask nicely, I'll help you build one, too. I just want one jug of the water."

"Meorie, I am sorry."

"You're not going to let me go."

"I'm sorry."

"You owe me. I saved your life. I could have let you drown, but I didn't. The collar would have released me. I was bound to you, not to anyone else. I would be free now."

"I know. I'm sorry."

I stared at her. "You are an honorless, evil bitch. I hope your soul rots."

I left her there on the beach and stormed off, finding a spot as far away as the collar would allow, then sat down with my back to her.

I watched as she organized the remaining men to collect everything they could from the wreckage. Miraculously, my chest of clothes was found. I imagined everything in it was ruined, but Dareena walked over to sit next to me.

"Unless you have an order I am to follow, leave me alone."

"I wouldn't have guessed it," she said. "But the contents of your chest are dry. You can have dry clothes if you want them."

I didn't answer her. She sat quietly next to me, then she reached out to stroke me, but I moved away from her as fast as I could. She got up and left me alone.

One of the men stopped by after a while and offered me water. I ignored him.

Some of the men swam out to what was left of the wreck. They came back pushing a large clump of stuff, all tied together into some sort of raft. I didn't pay attention to whatever they had.

Of the ship's boats there was no sign. I didn't know if they had been used earlier, destroyed in the wreckage, or taken by some of the men. There were no boats, no ship, and nothing but mangrove swap and ocean in sight.

I didn't see how, but they got a fire going, and some of the men figured out how to catch fish. Dareena walked over and sat down. She had two plates and the mug with a few swallows of water. I wondered how salty the fish was and how long the water would last.

She tried to hand me one of the plates, but I ignored her.

"If you make me order you, I will also start to treat you as a puppet again. If you cooperate, I will offer you as much dignity as I can."

I ignored her.

"Damn it, Meorie!"

"What do you want from me? Do you expect me to be cheerful? Well, at least when you stab me, you stab me in the front. For that I should be cheerful and cooperative? Is that even remotely a reasonable expectation?"

"Eat your fish, drink your share of the water, and I am going to show you the treaty."

It was an order. I ate the fish sullenly and drank half the water. I glared at her the entire time.

I was still thirsty. I imagined it was going to get a lot worse.

She ate her fish and finished the water. Then she stood up and said, "Follow."

I again had no choice. I followed her back to camp. She hadn't told me to bring my plate, so I left it on the sand. She turned around and noticed my empty hands. She looked pained. "Bring the plate with you," she said. I went back and got it.

She drew me back to the camp and ordered me to sit. I sat. She handed the plates and mug to someone then pulled the satchel out from inside her tunic. She opened it very carefully. "It stayed dry," she said. "Thank you for preserving it."

She pulled the treaty out. Before she gave it to me, she ordered me, "You will treat this with the most care possible."

I nodded. If it were a real treaty, she wouldn't have had to order me.

She handed it to me. It was a single sheet of parchment paper. "There are
addendums," she said. "But that is the basic agreement."

I looked at it. It was written in Tendarian. "I can't read it."