Darren once again found himself traveling through streets and back alleyways with Claire on his back.
Unlike the mad dash from the ship, they now had to be slow and methodical. No doubt word had gotten out to the guards to keep an eye out for three errant teenagers - teenagers who would certainly be fairly easy to spot on a island where most everybody probably knew everybody.
Getting Claire to move from the storehouse had been a challenge. She kept looking at a small iron ball in her hand and repeating "I took it from him, I took it all from him!" over and over to herself. Hida tried to get Darren to explain what had happened, but being limited to gestures for communication had made the exercise impossible.
They knew that they had to vacate the storehouse in short order. The guard did say that he would be coming back with friends. The biggest thing was that whomever investigated the storehouse would come across the bloody pulp of the former guard, and then Darren and his two companions would be the most wanted thing on the island. In an isolated community such as this, word of the death would no doubt quickly spread, and vengeance for the murder would be sought.
"That's right," Darren thought, feeling the weight of Claire draped over his back. "I'm carrying a murderer."
There was some part of him that had been outraged by Claire's actions. If it wasn't for the presence of Hida, he may had just taken off to leave Claire to her fate. She had crossed a line that could never be uncrossed.
"But then, how could a cold blooded killer be this upset?" he asked himself. If... when they had a chance, all three of them would have to have a conversation. Darren had to find an effective way to communicate with the girls at that point, he needed to ask questions.
Hida kept ahead of Darren, ducking ahead to scan intersections and then motioning to him when it was safe to proceed. With every street they passed, Darren felt his strength ebb more and more. It had been a while since they had ate, and while he had muscled through carrying Claire thus far, he was starting to reach his limit. The party was in short term survival mode at the moment and both Darren and Hida knew that they would have to stop at some point soon.
With them not knowing anyone in town that could provide them help or shelter, and the guard hot on their heels, the chance to actually escape seemed to narrow moment by moment. Darren suspected that it was only thanks to the hodgepodge layout of the dockyard area with its assortment of tightly packed colorful buildings that had kept them from being spotted so far.
Suddenly, they were at the edge of the dock district. Hida motioned to Darren to keep back as she peaked out around the edge of the building that they currently sheltered behind. Stretched out ahead of them was one of the long "arms" of the crab. With all the moving that they had done, they had reached one edge of the island.
"End of the line," Darren thought looking outwards to the long expanse of concreate that jutted out into the open ocean. "We'll be spotted for sure if we head out there. We're done."
Darren was just about to set Claire down to give himself a chance to catch his breath and to stretch his heavy and aching muscles when Hida gave a slight delighted "squee" sound and motioned for him to come forward.
He paused a moment, giving Hida the best "Are you sure?" look that he possibly could.
"Come on," she said, excitement on her lips. "There's a boat."
Darren raised an eyebrow. A boat? Was she serious? Did she intend to row out of here? This place was in the middle of nowhere. Even if they did get a vessel, surely the guard had all sorts of craft they could send out in pursuit.
Shaking his head, he moved up to the edge of the building until he was next to Hida.
Sure enough, Hida was pointing towards a small boat, or more like a skiff that bobbed up and down, attached by rope to one of the bollards that lined the arms of the crab.
His arms full, hanging on to Claire who still seemed to be in a stupor, he desperately wanted to make a "No rowing" gesture, but had no way of conveying this.
Somehow, Hida seemed to sense his frustration in not understanding.
"I recognize the design of that boat," she patiently explained.
Darren made a little, "Go on" gesture with his head.
"It's got an engine," she continued. "A small one, I think it's called a "Make and Break." It's one that a metalmancer can power."
Darren raised an eyebrow at this. He had heard of very small engines coming back to the world within the past few years. Although fuel was still a scant resource, now that metalmancers were on the scene, they could power such devices, albeit for a short time.
Not waiting for Darren to give a sign that he gave any understanding, Hida kept going with her explanation.
"With the three of us," she looked to Claire, who was still glassy eyed and mumbling to herself. "Err.. two of us, I figure we can get us at least to the other side of the island. We can ditch it there and hide in the forest going up the mountain. We might still be followed, but it should at least buy us some time. "
Darren felt a wave of relief come over him. For a moment, he believed that she intended to make for open ocean in the little craft, but getting away from the town seemed like the best option.
Darren nodded in agreement and readjusted the weight of Claire on his back. He began to follow Hida towards the small skiff.
"STOP RIGHT THERE!" he heard a stern voice shout from behind him.