Apart from all the bits that had come before and everything that would come after, landing the boat was the most dangerous part of the escape.
It came down to a choice between acting innocent and natural, or trying not to be seen. The simple fact was that there was no way to do the latter without being seen in a way that it wouldn’t be transparently obvious that this was what they were trying to do if somebody happened to see them anyway… but there was no real way they could accomplish the former when neither Jace nor Sheiral were all that proficient with the oars.
In the end, they blundered their way to a dock a good ways away from the harbor master’s office, scampered out of the boat without bothering to tie it up, and disappeared from the scene before they attracted any more attention.
“I can’t believe that nobody raised an alarm,” Sheiral said as they made their way quickly along the edge of town. They’d attracted curious and bemused stares from sailors on watch on the decks of many of the ships they’d passed on the way in.
“Sailors mind their own business,” Jace said. “Mostly. Kind of. They’re curious, and they’ll talk about anything when they’ve got an audience, but they won’t call attention to what somebody else is doing at the moment unless they’re sure they won’t get in trouble for it themselves.”
“But don’t they realize how important I am?” Sheiral asked. She sounded offended, or possibly disappointed.
“I really hope they don’t,” Jace said. “Come on! We’re a little exposed here.”
He led Sheiral up the sloping ground, towards the trees which would conceal their progress from any curious eyes which might have happened to be watching. He was making rough plans as they went. They were headed in a direction that was sort of parallel to the coast line, when what he really wanted to do was head inland. He figured changing directions a couple times beat moving in a straight line, though.
Anybody who’d marked their progress so far would probably assume they were a couple of seamen jumping ship. It happened often enough, even in a place like Keeper’s Cove where there were few prospects that didn’t involve taking ship again.
Once word got out about the escape, though, people would suddenly ascribe new importance to every little thing they’d observed in the night. Those who’d happened to see a pair of figures rowing ashore in the small boat, or running up the hills away from town,
“Come on,” Jace said again when they got to the tree line, taking Sheiral’s hand without thinking and pulling her along. “There’s an old goat path up this way…”
“I’m not using a path meant for goats,” Sheiral said, offended.
“Do you want to get caught?” Jace asked. “We’ll make better time than we would blundering through the forest. We can take it until we get to the stream, then follow that up into the mountains.”
“And then?”
“You’ll see,” Jace said, hoping that he saw it for himself before she asked again.
Ongoing support is especially appreciated.
Note: I'm trying out a new comment system. It's new and subject to jiggerypokery. It's moderated. Detailed guidelines to come but follow the general rule: be excellent to each other.
If you enjoy reading, please consider a financial contribution.
« « 21: A Row Between Friends 23: Cold Pursuit » »