"Ah."Ah..." Jess mused, deliberately trying to frighten the princess further, "the sound of imperial forces at play..." The princess stared wide-eyed at her cellmate, then shut her eyes tightly and covered her ears. Brianna, far from home and frightened by the events of the day, as well as the new information she had received from this strange and hateful woman, curled up in a ball. She was determined not to let the slaver see her cry. The next morning came and the prisoners could hear the troops on the deck above. Brianna got more and more fractious as the day wore on. Boredom was not a thing she was familiar with. The first half hour had been a change of pace, but now she was well and truly bored and was roundly cursing the slaver, the ship, the captain, her guards, Agnes, the gods and her fate. She kept her voice low, knowing that Jess would not appreciate being awakened. She was afraid of the woman, but was not letting it show. The slaver had awakened, and eaten the porridge that had been given to the prisoners. She had thrown the empty iron bowl at Brianna when the princess declared herself unable to eat it without honey. After that she had lain back down and gone to sleep. Now Brianna was bored, hungry and had to be quiet about her irritation for her own safety. In truth, Jess was not asleep. She was in the half-dream phase where her mind made its most fruitful connections. She could hear Brianna cursing, but it came from a long way off. The escape plan was not forming. She was confident that her papers would be discovered and they would be on their way by that night. She only hoped Janesse was being sensible enough to sleep in preparation for travel. At some point during the night, the ship had off-loaded its cargo of soldiers on the shore of Tavect and had put back out onto the river, where it had clashed in an number of engagements with other vessels. Jess had heard the sound of bodies hitting the deck above and not getting up again more than a few times, and had listened with the princess as the dying screamed their last. |