Jason nodded. “I remember the coast around Kelsi, those mountains coming right down to the sea.”
“Yes,” Kira said. “Pretty much the same thing until you go far enough east to reach the end of the Northern Ramparts, but then you’re in the plains west of Umburan, which are Imperial territory.”
“North is still our best bet, right?”
“Absolutely. We go north?”
“Yes, Lady Kira, let’s go north.”
“There should be a compass in the chest. Yes. Thanks. Did I tell you that I love you?”
“A couple of times,” Jason said. “Are you all right?”
“Not really, but I can hold it together until you get some sleep.”
“I’d better sleep, then.” He was only silent for a moment, though. “Kira? I was so scared. Seeing you again, safe, is…”
“I know,” Kira said. “The worst is over.”
She didn’t believe that. But she could always hope.
Chapter Seven
Kira spent the rest of the night fighting off tiredness as she tried to hold the sailboat on a northerly course. She kept waking up to find that the boat had swung under the push of the wind toward the northeast. Finally she lashed the tiller, forcing herself awake at intervals to make sure she didn’t need to tack the boat or adjust course. The stars looked down at her as swell after swell rolled the boat, the motion making it even harder to stay awake.
A larger than usual passing swell slapped the boat as dawn was brightening the sky to the east, splashing spray that woke Jason. He stared around, disoriented, finally focusing on Kira. “You’re really here.”
“I think so,” Kira said, barely able to keep her eyes open.
“I thought it must have been a dream.”
“Yeah. That’s me. A dream.”
“Kira, did you really…?”
“What, Jason? Set that ship on fire and make it explode? Yes. If you’re going to be with me, you’ll just have to accept that sometimes I'll do things like that.”
“What I meant was, I thought you’d said something to me.”
“Oh,” Kira said, trying to focus on Jason. “You mean when I said I love you? Yes. I love you. I love you. I really mean that, but Jason, if you don’t take over at the tiller I am going to pass out in another minute.”
He scrambled back to the stern, sitting down next to her. “I’ve got it. I’m sorry. You said you were in bad shape, but I didn’t realize—”
“You were in worse shape,” Kira mumbled. “Compass. Here. Steer as much to the north as you can without losing too much speed. We have to reach the coast as fast as we can without going too far farther east.”
“I got it.”
“Wake me up if you need me.”
“I got it, Kira.”
“And if…” She concentrated, trying to remember what she had been going to say. “Never mind.”
Kira crawled enough forward to have room to curl up in the bottom of the boat and let sleep finally fill her.
* * *
She opened her eyes to see the side of the boat. The sight made her smile. As bad as things were, Jason was in this boat with her, and the boat represented freedom from the prison she had escaped, and a chance to reach safety. Looking up, Kira saw a bright blue sky flecked with clouds and realized how much she had missed being able to see the sky. “How long did I sleep?” she said, grimacing as she felt the taste in her mouth. What was that?
“It’s about noon,” Jason said, still seated at the tiller. He looked tired, but all right otherwise. “Some hero I am.”
“What do you mean?” Kira sat up, sticking out her tongue as she tried to clear her mouth. “What the blazes did I eat last night?”
“Hardtack,” Jason said. “But there’s something around your mouth.”
“Around my mouth?” she asked, wiping her hand roughly across it and looking. “Oh, yeah, the blood. And some coal dust.”
“That’s blood?” Jason asked, suddenly alert and staring at her.
“It’s my blood,” Kira reassured him.
“That’s supposed to make me feel better?”
“It’d be a lot worse if it was someone else’s blood around my mouth. How bad do I look?”
Jason hesitated.
“That bad?” She pulled a water bottle from the survival chest and took a drink. The water cleared out some of the muck from her mouth. “That’s better. What was that about not being a hero?”
“I was going to rescue you. Instead you rescued me.”
Kira made a derisive snort. “Jason, I thought we weren’t keeping score. Besides, knowing that you were out there somewhere kept me going. Having you here now is…you don't know how good that feels. And if you hadn’t been here to take over steering I probably would have passed out and this boat would be running aground on an Imperial beach east of here about now. And also besides, if you hadn’t been coming, Maxim wouldn’t have almost stripped that ship I was on of crew so he could sure of killing you.”
“Wait. What?” Jason asked, looking worried and baffled.
“He had a Mage who had a vision that you were coming to Caer Lyn. Maxim wanted you dead. Which gave Princess Sabrin a chance to kill those of the crew he left behind and for me to escape from the room I was imprisoned in,” Kira finished.
“Did you use your Mage powers to do that?”
“Yeah. I guess.”
“You guess?” Jason’s gaze on her sharpened again. “You don’t remember?”
Kira sighed, looking over the side at the water. “No. I was in the room, getting ready to do the spell to open the lock, and then I was outside the room with two unconscious guards at my feet and a bloody nose.”
Jason looked at her, his gaze troubled. “You can knock out guards and not even remember it?”
“Lots of girls have special talents,” Kira said, picking up a small broken-off piece of hardtack the consistency of slate rock and putting it into her mouth to soften.
“Kira—”
“Look, there's nothing we can do about it now. All right? Anyway, after I got out of the room, I met Princess Sabrin, who told me where to find my pistol…I’ve got it, see?…and left me this boat.”
“She’s an Imperial princess and she boarded Maxim’s ship to save you?”
“Actually,” Kira said, “I think she was coming to kill me so she could blame it on Maxim. Because Lady Elegant hates me. But Sabrin changed her mind and now she and I are best buds if she doesn’t change her mind a second time and try to kill me again which she isn’t sure she can do anyway because she thinks I drink blood and am the daughter of Mara.”
“I must still be really tired,” Jason said. “I’m having trouble following this.”
“The important thing is, the fact that you were coming to Caer Lyn enabled me to escape,” Kira said. “Which makes you really important, and once again my hero, and the guy I love. This thread is so amazing.”
“What thread?”
“The one running between you and me! The one that’s not there! With us so close it’s strong enough for me to see in full daylight. How cool is that?”
“Kira, please drink some more water.”
She obliged him, knowing that she would have to inventory their remaining supplies to see how much they would have to be rationed. “So, um, where was I? I love you. I was so worried that I’d never get to tell you that because I was afraid I’d never see you again, but now no matter what else happens, we’re together.”
“Right.” Jason pointed behind them. “The smoke from the burning ship was still visible for a while, but I lost sight of it some time ago. The fire must have burned out.”
“Once the ship sank to the bottom of the harbor only the parts still above water could keep burning.”
“Oh, yeah. I haven’t seen any stacksmoke that would mean they were after us.”
“I hope they think I was killed in the fire. If they can access the room I was imprisoned in they might be able to figure out
there isn’t any body in there, but the bodies of the two guards—”
“You killed those guards?”
“No!” Kira looked down. “Princess Sabrin’s people killed them. Anyway, they’ll have to figure out whether one of those bodies belongs to me. If they’re in really bad shape that might not be too easy.”
“It’s pretty easy to tell a female skeleton from a male skeleton,” Jason said.
She stared at him. “Can you do that?”
“I think so. I mean, health and science and medicine and stuff. The pelvis is the easiest place to spot the difference.”
“Just like when people are alive, huh?” She noticed that Jason had fallen silent and looked his way. “What?”
“Kira,” Jason said, his expression strained, “did they—”
“No.”
He sighed. “I’m glad you weren’t hurt.”
“Me, too.” Kira dug in the emergency chest so she could find an excuse to change the subject. “We’ve got a fishing line and a hook. We can try using hardtack for bait after we soften up a piece enough to stick the hook through it. We've also got some more hardtack crackers. Some more bottles of water. A chart of the Imperial coast that we hopefully won't have need for. And the knife. I’ve already got two. Do you want this one or the Imperial dagger?”
“I’ll take the survival knife,” Jason said.
“You still have the knife you were wearing at the banquet, right?”
“Wrong. I was asked to surrender that knife when I packed to go back to Danalee.”
“Seriously? I'm going to give my parents a hard time about that when we see them again!” She looked in the chest once more, hoping to find anything else that might help. “I guess putting a blanket in here would have strained the Imperial budget,” Kira complained. “We could have used that to make a tent during the day and…hey, why isn't your skin damaged? You spent all those days in that open boat and you don’t look like the sun hurt you at all.”
“Damage from the sun? Oh, you mean skin injury from solar radiation? The standard Universal Life Systems gene pac protects against that. No skin cancer and no burns.”
“Exposure to the sun can’t hurt you?”
“No,” Jason said. “I mean, if I spend enough time in it I’ll get dehydrated and maybe suffer heat stroke, but—”
“Let’s not talk about dehydration,” Kira said. “So, if you and I had kids—”
“Huh?” Jason stared at her. “Kids? You and me?”
“It could happen. Jason? Jason! Stars above, snap out of it! You look like every circuit breaker in your brain tripped at the same time!”
“I’m sorry, I just, um…” He gestured vaguely, looking confused. “You told me last night for the first time that you love me, and this morning you’re already talking about having kids!”
She shook her head at him, exasperated. “Do you think I want to start trying to have kids right now? No, you’re a guy, so you’re probably hoping I’ll want to do that. I know that when guys look at girls they’re just thinking about what they’d be like in bed, but believe it or not when girls look at guys they’re also thinking about what might come along nine months after the fun and whether they’d be happy that particular guy had been part of making that happen. Girls are weird that way.”
“Oh.” Jason nodded, looking down, his mouth tight. “That’s why you had to take a while with me. I understand.”
“Understand what? What did I say that made you unhappy?”
“It’s okay. You know what my parents are like, and you know that I’m the product of them, mostly anyway. I understand why you were worried about what kind of parent I’d be and—”
“No,” Kira said, giving the word force. “That never played a role in how long it took for me to decide. You have nothing in common with your parents.”
“People inherit stuff, Kira.”
“People are more than what they inherit! Each one is unique and able to be whoever they are, not who their parents were or who everyone else is! My father showed me that, my mother fought to break a Guild that claimed some people were born better than others, and I’ve seen it in the people around me. Look at me! I'm not my mother. Or my father. I'm me! And you're you! Why don’t you know that, Jason from the wonderful world of Urth?”
He looked at her for several moments before smiling. “Maybe we’ve spent so much time looking at the trees that we’ve forgotten to pay attention to the forest.”
“Is that another strange Urth saying?”
“Yes. What it means is, you’re right.”
“So we could have saved a lot of time if you’d just conceded I was right from the start?” Kira said.
“I ought to start doing that,” Jason said, grinning.
“Yes, you should. I can tell you’re joking, but you really should. How about we talk about something less stressful, like what we’re going to do if those Imperial ships show up behind us and heading our way?”
“That would be less stressful,” Jason agreed, turning to look back to the south. “What are our chances?”
“If we see them coming? Depends what time it is and how close we’ve managed to get to the coast,” Kira said. “If they spot us during daylight and we’re too far off from land, they’ll run us down easily, even if we turned and ran straight with the wind. If it’s night, each of those ships has a searchlight, but we might have a chance of not being spotted if we lower the sail and stay low.” Kira also looked south. “The biggest advantage you and I have right now is that Maxim doesn’t know I escaped in a boat. I ran your boat aground so he’d think you’d made it to Caer Lyn. If Maxim spends enough time searching the island for you we’ll be safe.”
Jason looked at Kira. “Something is worrying you, though.”
Kira made a face. “There is the problem of no body in my former room on the ship. And I’m pretty sure Lady Elegant was Princess Sabrin’s agent among Maxim’s people. Elegant did not like me. She also knows I escaped Maxim’s ship by boat. If she feeds that information back to Maxim, we’re in trouble.”
“It might take her a little while to pass that information in a way that Sabrin won’t know about,” Jason suggested.
“It might. And every hour makes a difference.” Kira sagged back against the mast, suddenly aware of how tired she still was.
“How bad was it?” Jason asked.
She hadn’t even realized that was what had hit her again. But Jason had seen it. That allowed her to smile slightly at him. “Pretty bad. I kept remembering the dinner, and how wonderful my parents looked, and how handsome you were. It had all been so beautiful, but when I got kidnapped I was surrounded by ugliness. On the outside, most of it looked nice. Like Prince Maxim. But on the inside, it was all ugly. I knew I couldn’t let the ugliness win, so I kept remembering you and Mother and Father to remind me that beauty did exist.”
“I’m glad I could help,” Jason said, smiling.
“It got harder when I wasn’t eating or drinking anything for the last few days, but even then I told myself that I was a Lancer, and no matter what I would not embarrass my fellow Lancers. I would win. Or die.”
Jason’s smile vanished. “You thought it might come to that?”
Kira shrugged, trying to pretend that it wasn’t a big deal. “I knew that if I had to risk death to escape, I would. Aunt Bev told me about that. People who want to make you weak, their captive, try to break you down, try to make you doubt yourself and fear them. And even someone as strong as Aunt Bev had trouble breaking free of that. I knew I had to get away before they did that to me.”
“That kind of mental conditioning is really hard to resist,” Jason said. “Even the strongest people can be worn down. It sounds like you were scared of that.”
“I wasn’t scared, Jason, I was—” She looked down, laughing softly at herself at the same time as she tried to fight off tears. “Yeah. I was scared. I couldn’t admit it to myself, though. Still can’t. If I stop to think about what could still
happen, what could happen to you, it’s…it’s hard.”
“You can tell me,” Jason said. “I know all about keeping things inside and letting them hurt.”
“I know. I just…” Kira looked at him, trying not to hide anything. “It’s hard being the daughter of the daughter, you know? Still is. I have to be someone that she would be proud of, and someone who people expect me to be because of who my mother is. I can’t be weak. I can’t fail. Because that would make Mother, and my father, look bad.”
Jason gazed back at her, his eyes sad. “Kira, how can you not know how proud they are of you? You’re supposed to be able to tell when someone lies to you. Can’t you see the truth in your mother when she tells you how great she thinks you are? And look what you’ve already done, dragon slayer!”
“That was almost an accident,” Kira said. “You know how terrified I was and just acting by instinct, and everybody is all ‘Wow, she slew a dragon in hand-to-claw fighting’ when all I was doing was trying to keep from having my arms bitten off.”
“It still counts,” Jason said.
She found herself smiling at him again. “It does, huh? Says who?”
“The rules say anyone who kills a dragon is a dragon slayer. Right? The rules don’t specify how. They don’t say you have to slay the dragon while making witty jokes and pausing to drink tea. So it counts.”
Kira smiled wider. “Have you heard my mother talk about her first dragon? In that warehouse in Dorcastle? How she was so scared, but my father, who wasn’t even her boyfriend then, stood with her and how much that helped her?”
“Yeah,” Jason said.
“You’d do the same thing, wouldn’t you?”
“I…hope I would.”
“I know you would.” She got up, wincing as stiff muscles protested and carefully made her way back to sit beside Jason at the stern as the boat rocked beneath them. “Maybe I’m not my mother, but I’ve got a man as good as the one she found.”
He stared back at her in disbelief. “Me?”
Blood of Dragons Page 14