They made it to a boat and, with a little difficulty, figured out how to lower it to the water.
“Here, help me with the oars,” Jace said.
“Help you do what with them, precisely?” the princess asked.
“Row,” Jace said.
She gave him a withering look.
“You’re not being very helpful considering I’m saving you,” he said.
“You never would have made it out of that cabin without me,” she countered. “Anyway, I’ve never rowed a boat in my life. I wouldn’t know how to.”
“Neither have I,” Jace said. “Do you want to just flounder around here until somebody notices us? I can dive under the water and swim away. How about you?”
Sullenly, she took up an oar, and they sat side by side in the narrow boat, silently paddling in the general direction of the shore.
“You’re rowing too fast,” Jace said. “We have to pull together.”
“You’re rowing too slowly,” the princess countered. “This isn’t so difficult.”
“You said you’ve never done this before,” Jace accused.
“I haven’t, but it’s not that different from flying, really,” she said. She sighed. “If only I could, still… could fly away and leave you in this stupid leaky tub.”
“And I could swim away and go back to my old life,” Jace said. “In fact, I can, if I want. Just remember that.”
She laughed at this, and despite the cold cruelty of the sound, it was beautiful… like perfect little bells carved out of ice.
“Silly boy,” she said. “Have you forgotten that those soldiers saw you? How long do you think it would take them to get your description out? How long do you think it would take for somebody to recognize you, in a town of this size?”
Jace had forgotten… or at least, he hadn’t grasped the implications. The governor’s men did not regularly mix with the sea scum who frequented Prit’s tavern, but Jace was a common enough sight running along the streets that some or most of them would surely recognize him as “Prit’s boy.” The tavern would be one of the first places they’d canvass, looking for the boy suspected of freeing the captive the governor apparently so ardently desired.
“Let’s make for the other end of the docks,” he said, choosing to ignore the question. “We can slip along the waterfront to the edge of town and up the coast a bit before we head into the wilderness”
“You have food and water secreted nearby, I expect?” she replied, in a tone of voice that told Jace just how great her expectations truly were.
“I didn’t want to slow us down,” he said. “There’s food to be found in the forest. Water, too.”
“Well, at least you had a little foresight,” the princess said. “That’s something. What was your name again?”
“Jace.”
“I am… I’m called Sheiral,” the girl he’d previously only thought of as the princess said, surprising Jace by having a name.
“Sheiral,” he echoed. He remembered something of his manners. “I’m pleased to meet you.”
“Not half as pleased as I am to have met you,” she said. “In spite of everything.”
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