Marri's Approach (Brackish Bay) Read Online Free

Did you see the number of crocs between there and here? She's probably crocodile food by now.”
    “She was a strong swimmer, otherwise the boat would have killed her.”
    “How do you know it didn't?”
    “I saw her. She wasn't just drifting like she was unconscious; she was swimming. Purposefully.”
    “She's probably long gone, then, if she was awake and trying to get away.”
    “No, I don't think so. That swim was grueling. She's probably holed up somewhere, trying to rest.”
    “Great, so we have to poke around in all the bushes. Are you kidding me? Why does Roy care about one little stray?”
    “Because she told Charles she's a spy.”
    A sharp whistle. “Damn.”
    “Right.”
    “From where?”
    “She said Amanda Tell, and apparently Roy's heard of her and doesn't believe that's who sent the bitch.”
    “Why don't we get Rari out here? Her dogs would do a better job of finding her than we will.”
    “Roy wants someone he can trust to keep quiet. At least to start with.”
    “We're nothing if not discreet.”
    “What's this?” I tried to peer through the branches, but the leaves screened the men from me and thankfully, me from them. “It looks like Sarafina's work.”
    Ah, dammit, Fortuna.
    “So she probably did come this way. Let's see if we can find tracks.”
    They moved away from the tree. I waited, then counted to a hundred. I couldn't hear them, couldn't see them. Slowly, carefully, I unbent my limbs one at a time, biting my lips on my groans.
    Still nothing. I began to climb down, one silent step at a time. Maybe I should have waited, but I am not much for waiting. Still there was no sign of the men who'd come to find me. Maybe I could take their boat and row it up the river to our meeting spot. I came to the last branch, and there I looked around, very, very slowly. I scanned the river. There was the boat, pulled up and tied to some of the branches I'd used to pull myself out of the river. The men weren't there. I looked for them along the bank one direction, then the other. No sign. Slowly I swiveled and eyed the trees and brush.
    The forest called to me, welcomed me, and I grinned. My mother had taught me forest craft, the art of moving swiftly and silently in the woods. Despite years of living in camps or cities, my activities as a spy and guerrilla soldier had kept up my skill. So delighted was I in remembering the woods, so exhausted from my exertion of the day before, that I made a fundamental mistake. I became overconfident and leapt down to the ground before I'd scanned every single bit of the vegetation for my opponents. They burst out of the shrubbery, bows drawn.
    I grinned. I'd only heard two voices, and there they were, showing me both of them. They were too far apart. They wouldn't dare shoot at me when I passed through the middle. I let my face go slack with shock and fear.
    “Oh, gods, please don't shoot, please don't, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset anyone.”
    As I spoke I walked forward, overeager to please.
    “Stop! Don't come any farther.”
    Fortuna, you're a doll. I was close enough, so I burst into a sprint, dashing between them so that as they tracked me with their bows they ended up facing each other, and then I was gone into the woods and running like a fox.
     
     
     
     
     

Chapter 2
     
     
    Hours later, I was still running. Why was I always running? Part of the job description, I supposed. This time I wasn't allowed to double back and kill my pursuers, more's the pity.
    I'd made that foolish promise to William; strange, since he, himself, was not a citizen. He was born of a tribe of horsemen, a wanderer, not one to stay in town for long. But somehow Roy had inspired his respect, and caused him to threaten me if I so much as harmed a single citizen of Brackish Bay.
    Ridiculous rules. I tossed my head and leapt around a fallen tree, ducked under branches, and zigzagged around an animal den. My toe caught on an unseen rock, but I recovered my balance and kept