“You made this?” Rinka asked, trying to point to him with her bound hands.
“Ah,” he said, realizing she was still bound. He let go of the oar, and it pooled into the boat, lengthening it ever so slightly. Rinka felt dizzy watching it.
Drystan stood and climbed over the other bench to where Rinka sat on the boat’s bottom. He reached for her hands and began untying the rope.
“How did you get free?” she asked him.
“A dagger. A smaller version of the sword I used against the pirate.”
The sword, a dagger, and now the boat. All made from the old magic, somehow. All made by him.
“And why can’t you use the dagger now?”
“I’m concentrating on this,” he said, gesturing to the boat. “I can’t do both at the same time, and water won’t do much to rope.”
“Oh, I see,” said Rinka, although she didn’t, really. She spoke her thoughts out loud, hoping they didn’t sound silly. “The boat is made of water, and if you made a sword from water, it wouldn’t cut. Is that right?”
He smiled. “Exactly.”
“Then what was the sword made from?”
“Air,” he said. “And this.” He reached into his pocket with some effort (his trousers were still soaked, and he had not yet opted to remove them) and produced an ordinary silver coin.
“Incredible,” said Rinka. She took the coin from him and turned it over in her hands, but she could spot nothing unusualabout it. It was an ordinary silver emblazoned with a portrait of King Derkomai on one side and a pair of dragons, the arms of his royal house, on the reverse.
Rinka looked at Drystan. The mystery of him was so deeply appealing, even more so with each new revelation. And the magic that he wielded so effortlessly fascinated her.
And, if she was really being honest, she also simply enjoyed his company and was very glad to have met him.
And, if she was really,reallybeing honest, she found him very easy on the eyes as well.
But yet here they were, stranded in the middle of the sea. She had put her faith in him, and it had landed her overboard in the middle of the night.
And sure, they were in a boat. But it was a boat made from water, and how could they possibly take it to shore?
Was Rinka insane? She heard her mother’s voice in her head.“In the middle of the sea. The bloody sea! I told you that you were a fool. A fool’s fool.What are you going to do now, foolish girl?”
She could have died on the boat, she realized. She could die out here on the sea and no one would even know it.
“Drystan,” said Rinka quietly. “I’m scared. Why did you let them throw us overboard? They didn’t seem to know you, but why did you think they might? I’ve had so much fun with our guessing game. But my life is in your hands now. I want to trust you. Please. I want to know who you are.”
Drystan leaned back on the watery bench and drew a deep breath in. Now that Rinka’s eyes had adjusted to the moonlight, she could see the seriousness of his expression, the tension in his shoulders as the adrenaline wore off and reality set in. “Of course,” he said with a sigh. “I’ve gotten carried away. Rinka, in truth, it’s been so long since I’ve met someone—that is to say…aw, bloody hell. Let me start over.”
He shifted on the seat, a movement that would have rocked a normal boat but seemed to have no impact on this strange vessel. And then he leaned forward, looking Rinka right in the eye, and he took one of her hands in his. “I’m sorry. I was having such a good time getting to know you, and it had me in such good spirits. And maybe I was itching for a bit of excitement. I let things get out of hand with the pirates. But the elf wasn’t going to let the Halfling go, and I just—”
“You don’t have to explain that part,” said Rinka. “You did the right thing.”
He smiled weakly. “Is it right even if I was hoping for it to happen? Not for him to be hurt, of course, but hoping for the opportunity…Never mind. That doesn’t answer your question.”
He released Rinka’s hand and brushed his hair back, leaning away from her once more. “I let them throw us overboard because I knew I could get us to shore, and I was afraid of what would happen in a fight with the numbers so against us. Of what might happen to you. Not that I don’t think you could hold your own,” he said with a wink.
“Oh no, I really couldn’t,” said Rinka. “You judged that correctly. The best I could have done would have been to throw them overboard first.”
“I would have liked to have seen that.”
Rinka smiled.
“Rinka, the truth is, if they had realized who I am, it would have changed things, and not in a good way. I couldn’t take that risk. And if you truly want to know and end our game right here, I’ll tell you. No guesses. No qualifications. Only the truth. I’ll tell you anything you want. Is that what you want me to do?”
