I immediately tried to call a knife to my hand and a spark burst through my fingertips and I jumped back, shaking my hands, cursing. A reprimand shield coated the weapons. So be it. They were out of my reach.
My barred cell held one blanket and a pillow, folded on the floor in a corner on matted straw. Clearly, they were accustomed to having prisoners. I moved closer to the porthole and looked out. There was no screen on one of them, having been split and punctured from its position by some happenstance. It was only about six inches across and not a means of escape, but I could at least look out it to get my bearings.
It seemed we were in the coves outside the main harbor of Bristola’s main port. I wasn’t that far from where the pirate had attacked me and knocked me out on the StarChaser. Still, if I screamed, no one but those on the ship would hear me. We were too far from shore, the ship swaying up and down with the rolling waves, but clearly at anchor here.
I looked down as well as I could. I was some ten feet above the waterline. If I called telepathically, would one of my ocean friends hear my call?
As if responding to my wish, the crowns and spiny dorsal fins of three dolgons crested the surface of the water just below my prison porthole and I had to resist a squeal of excitement. I had not communicated with any dolgons on Farian yet, and I wasn’t sure word had spread from the firefins to them, yet, so this might not work at all, but… it was worth a shot.
I reached out telepathically to the great animals and pushed my Will toward them, calling them to wait, to ask them to carry a message for me, to tell them I was a prisoner, to tell them I was a friend, that I needed their help. They kept swimming. “Please… Don’t go, yet… Wait for my message…”
The dolgons didn’t stop, didn’t register my words at all, but kept swimming by.
I groaned and watched them disappear into the darkness.
Just as I was pulling back from the porthole, a little ripple appeared below me. A scarlet firefin burst from the water in the moonlight and spun up into the air, water droplets spraying mists of moonbeams. It was Rensi! How did he know?
“Rensi! Please! Help me! I have been captured! You must find a way to tell the Prince of Bristola. Tell him where I am.”
Confusion filtered back through Rensi’s thoughts, about how he could possibly communicate with someone who lived on land, who did not easily telepath with animals, and who he didn’t know how to find.
“He will be looking for me, Rensi, I know it. Just stay close to the gazebo where you and I first met. He will be looking for me.” I sent him the image of Gorgin capturing me. “Tell him this is what happened to me.”
Rensi jumped into the air again and then fluttered away, ripping through the water back toward the harbor. I leaned against the wall and took a deep breath. Hopefully Axis would be looking for me and he would think to ask the ocean animals.
It was probably stupid. Axis had enough on his plate right now… He clearly had a pirate attack to deal with, but maybe he would have other people looking for me, too, and they could come rescue me. Come rescue me before anything worse happened than this headache that was starting to make me feel the need to hurl.
I began to scour my little prison for any type of weapon left behind haphazardly by a guard or fortuitously by a former occupant, but did not find anything of use. I would just have to hope the pirate’s plans for me were not too expedient, and that Axis would have time to plan a rescue attempt. I certainly couldn’t let the fear that had been bouncing off the sides of my head and making my insides tense into turmoil take over. I just had to be aware, on guard, and take advantage of any possible mistake to free myself.
I had bragged about my combat skills, but breaking that pirate’s arm was the first time I had really been forced to use them to defend myself. My heart beat heavily as I thought of the way I had reacted. That had been smart, tough. I had done well.
Not well enough, though, I admitted, tapping at the bar with my foot just across from me in the dim light. I was still caught, since I was stupid enough to disobey the only real command Axis had given me: to stay safe and under guard while his kingdom was at war. Why did I have to be so ornery and arrogant, sometimes?
I soothed my turquoise dress against my legs, realizing it was torn in a few places from the scuffle with the pirate and still damp from the ocean. I must not have been knocked out for long. I wondered if I should try to reach out to Axis telepathically… If I could reach the firefin, it meant I could reach Axis, right? There wasn’t a block on the room? The salt of the water wasn’t interfering?
I just don’t think
