The boat was overloaded. Camilla knew this because she watched the water rise to within a hairs breath of the freeboards. There were just too many people crammed onto it. Fortunately Gilbrecht was a true river man. He kept the bow pointed as straight up river as he could, minimizing the rivers ability to push up over the edge. In some ways the low freeboard was an advantage. One of the pirate fishing smacks was underway, visible by the glow of lanterns aboard her. The pirates evidently assumed that their prey would take the easy way down river and the ship moved steadily away from them, silent and invisible a few scant inches above the darkened Talabec.

In the distance the line of burning ships still glowed. It was a sullen red light now, the heat of the earlier blazes cooled to the few parts of the ships that could remain above the waterline.

[b]"Well,"[/b] Camilla said and the entire compliment of the boat seemed to jump. Everyone had been holding their tongues for fear of giving away their position it seemed. Her words seemed to break some spell as people finally realized they had managed to escape afterall.

[b]"All that and we still cant get back to the Pride." [/b] Suddenly everyone was talking at once.

[@POOHEAD189]