Paying the Price (11 page)

"It's just the collar."

I sighed. "Believe what you want."

She took a deep breath. "Will you agree to work on the boat and then accept the amulet and collar when next I ask?"

"Yes."

She removed them both then backed out of the small space. I followed after her, avoiding touching her.

It was late afternoon. I had slept for an hour or two. I stretched then looked at the tree I had cut down. The men had removed the smallest branches, but the larger ones had proven to be too much. I turned to Dareena. "Do I need to take down a second tree, or can we use two pieces from this one?"

"We have a second tree picked out, and we have marked where you should cut this one."

"May I have some water?"

She nodded and said something to one of the men. He poured water for me and gave me the mug. I looked at it. There wasn't a lot of water. I drank what he had given me and didn't ask for more.

I walked over to the big tree. Dareena followed me. "Can you give me an approximate shape to cut? It will reduce the shaping I need to do later."

"Any angle is fine. It's going to be a poor boat no matter what we do."

I knelt down and then envisioned the smallest amounts of energy I could. I began cutting the trunk of the tree at an angle, working my way from the part nearest the ground. It took me ten minutes, but I felt less drained than I had after cutting it down to begin with.

"I will feed you more magic now."

I looked at her. "I'm not wearing the collar."

She smiled. "No, you're not. May I?"

I nodded. She approached and began stroking my arms. It felt nice, but without the collar helping, it was just normal nice. Still, she was lovely and I found my body responding to her.
"You realize I am probably in love with you, Dareena," I said very quietly.

"I know," she said. "I am sorry.
It was not my intention.
"

"Why is that excuse acceptable for you but not for me?"

"Because I haven't killed anyone. And because my trial won't make peace." She continued to pet me for a while before she said, "How is that?"

"Good." I moved down the tree, removing the limbs that were in the way. Then Dareena led me to the other tree they wanted me to cut. She had me well filled with magic, and I was able to take it down fairly easily.

"More?"

"How much more do you have?"

"I can fill you three or four more times." I leaned against the downed trunk, and Dareena began stroking my arms. I tried to ignore how close she was, and how much I wanted her.

"You have a lot to answer for with me," I told her.

"Is loving me that horrible?"

"Unrequited love, so much fun," I said. "And knowing you are the architect of my demise. That makes it especially sweet. Knowing you don't care about me as anything other than someone to lead to her execution, well, that just adds additional spice. The ultimate in dangerous sex play."

She didn't say anything. Once I was full, I cut the trunk to length, trying to match the other one as much as I could, then removed the branches from the section we were going to use.

I looked around. "Tide is coming in."

"This will be wet
in another ten minutes," she said.

I looked at the trunk, then began hollowing it out, using little slivers of magic, as best I could. Still, I hadn't gotten very far when I turned to Dareena. "Got more for me?"

She nodded and filled me up. She had to do it twice more before I had the trunk hollow. One more trunk to go.

"How are you doing?" I asked her.

"Once, maybe twice more, and I'm out," she said. She was holding her head.

"Keep going or go replenish? We won't finish without rest."

"Do as much as we can," she said. She topped me up, but I could tell it was an effort for her.

I got a start on the second trunk, but it was just a start, before we were both too low on magic to go further. Together we stumbled back to the beach. Dareena gave her men some orders. I collapsed in the sand.

"They have more fish," she said. One of the men brought us both plates and the mug with several swallows of water each.

We ate, drank, and collapsed together inside the lean to. She didn't remember the collar. I didn't remind her. We fell asleep.

When I woke next, it was dusk. I held Dareena in my arms. I let go of her, rolled over, and went back to sleep. I woke again later with Dareena shaking me gently. It was full dark.

"What? Sleep."

"I forgot the amulet and collar."

"And I didn't run off."

She slipped the amulet over my neck anyway, then attached the collar in place. I sighed. She recited what she wanted me to say, I repeated it, and the magic settled in. Then she repeated all the orders designed to keep me her docile prisoner.

"I hate you," I told her.

"No you don't. I am sorry."

"It was nice holding you while we slept. One of us needs to sleep somewhere else now. I vote for it to be you."

She crawled out of the shelter. I rolled over and went to sleep.

I didn't wake again until the morning. Dareena was shaking me gently. I rolled over and was amazingly stiff. My neck creaked.

"It's daylight," she said. "Please get up."

I crawled out of the shelter. The sun wasn't even up yet. "Will you accept the amulet and collar when you are done?"

"Yes."

She stepped up to me and removed them both, then pointed to the tree trunk.

"A little water first, please." She nodded, poured from the jug, and gave me a few swallows. I drank it then turned to the tree trunk. I stepped up to it and began hollowing it out further. Dareena came over and watched. When I started to lag, she stepped up to me and replenished my magic.

"Are you full?"

"No. I hope you don't need more than two more refills."

I looked into the tree. "I'll do my best."

It was rough, but when I was done, the trunk was hollowed out. It probably wasn't remotely as thin as it could have been, but it was as thin as I could make it without punching all the way through.

"Anything else?" I asked Dareena.

"Yes, but not much. Just a few timbers cut to proper lengths. We have them marked."

She showed me. I ran out of magic just as I finished. She was out as well. "I guess that was good timing.
I am going back to sleep."

"Collar."

I sighed. "Do you have enough magic left to bind my legs?"

"You want me to bind your legs?"

"No collar until I've had a few more hours of sleep. Then switch."

She thought about it and nodded. We walked back to the shelter. She slipped the amulet over my head, but not the collar, then let me crawl into the shelter. She found something to wrap around my legs, then did something, and the bonds became tight.

"Thank you," I said. I crawled into the shelter and fell asleep.

I woke a few times, but each time I rolled over and went back to sleep.

It was mid afternoon when Dareena knelt over me, shaking me lightly. I rolled over and looked at her.

"It's done. Collar."

I nodded. She slipped the collar on me, I repeated what she told me to say, and then she gave me her standard orders. After that she released my legs.

"
Meorie
, thank you."

"Does it even float?"

"Yes. We tested it. It's a bitch to sail, but it works." She paused. "There isn't room for everyone."

I stared at her. "What are you going to do? It would take another two days to make a second one."

"Four men volunteered to be left behind."

"They will die."

"They are going to try heading to Norinia. Swimming."

"Ten, maybe twenty miles?"

"They can take advantage of the tide. They might make it."

"Brave men."

"Everyone knows what is at stake." She paused. "Everyone knows you could have escaped. They saw your magic."

"I promised. I keep my promises."

"So do I."

"Not all of them."

"I am sorry. I have human weaknesses." She paused. "Please come now. We're going to leave."

"Not going to wait until morning?"

"We're almost out of water."

I nodded and crawled from the shelter.

The boat
was pulled up on the beach a few yards away. It
looked terrible. It was truly ugly. I had done a poor job shaping the logs. I told Dareena that.

"You were rushed, and you did something no one else could have. You didn't have to offer."

"Make sure you have the treaty."

She patted her chest. "Right here."

We walked together to the boat.
There were two hulls with timbers dropped across them and lashed into place. Across the timbers was a pile of gear, including my chest. There was a sail and I saw they had fashioned dagger boards and crude rudders.

I stared at it dubiously. "It really floats? I was working off bravado when I suggested it."

"It floats. It actually sails in the direction pointed. We can even steer it."

I looked at her. "All right, tell me what you want me to do."

Dareena called to the men. She hugged four of them, the ones who would be staying behind, and talked briefly. Then she gave orders to the others. They started pushing the boat into the water. It was clearly heavy, and the light surf coming in didn't help. The men got the boat fully floated. It did indeed float. Dareena turned to me. "I want you in the front left. I will be in the front right. Lie as low as you can and hang on. Please forgive the contact with anyone else in the boat with you."

I nodded then took off my boots and waded out to the boat. A wave splashed over me, soaking me to my breasts. I tossed the boots into the boat then tried to climb aboard. One of the men came over and helped me get in. He was kind and gentle about it.

I settled into the bottom of the boat. It was lumpy and not at all comfortable. I felt the boat rocking too and fro as other people climbed in. Then we were moving.

I poked my nose over the edge and watched the beach go slowly past. Dareena looked over at me from her hull and grinned.
Our camp site retreated behind us with four men watching us as we slowly sailed away from them.

I made myself as comfortable as I could. The seas were gentle here, but still I occasionally got wet. I looked over to Dareena. "Will you find a way for me to clean up before you deliver me to my final doom?"

"Yes," she said. "I promise."

"I would prefer arriving at the palace looking like a princess, not a drowned rat."

She laughed. "So would I."

"Do you know where we are?"

"The coast along here looks all the same. No. And we're slow.
We're only doing about three knots.
"

"Sail all night or pull up in a few hours."

"Pull up when we see somewhere."

I nodded and wondered if I could nap. A wave slapped me letting me know the answer.

We sailed that way for about four hours before Dareena pointed to a narrow slip of sand. The men grounded the front of the boat on the beach, everyone jumped out, and we pulled the boat up onto the shore.

The men set up a camp. I collapsed and was soon asleep.

Dareena woke me sometime later. A fire was going. There was a small amount of fish and she gave me a little water.

I found myself clutching at her, hating myself for it. She settled down next to me and let me hold her.

"Meorie," she said after a while. "It's not entirely unrequited."

"So that's like saying you're fond of me?"

"That's like saying I will do what I can to help you."

I let go of her and moved away from her. We all stared at the fire for a while. The men appeared to be telling stories to each other. I didn't bother asking for translations.

After a while I moved away from the fire and settled back into my nest to sleep. Dareena left me alone.

* * *

In the morning, we were out of water. The men tied everything back aboard o
u
r boat. Together we launched the boat and climbed aboard.

The weather was fair. The wind had shifted, and it was choppier, but the boat behaved properly and we continued southward along the coast.

We didn't stop for any breaks. The water grew rougher, and the men and Dareena consulted with each other. I didn't ask for an explanation. We kept sailing south.

I tried to settle into the bottom of the boat and sleep. I kept getting splashed, which was hard to ignore, especially as I was lying in a puddle of water. After a while I gave up and poked my nose over the edge of the hull. "Dareena," I said. She turned to look at me. "You sure do show a girl a good time."