Rene paused and slipped an arm free from one shoulder of his pack, allowing the equipment bag to hang from one side of his body. A set of combat webbing would have been much more practical but even if he had one it wouldn’t have made sense to wear. He knelt down in the dry sand, keeping his balance with one hand slightly held away from him.

“Put your arms around my neck and hang on tight,” he instructed, as gently as he could. Damaris gave Solae one more uncertain look and then crossed to the kneeling soldier putting her arms around his neck. Rene counted to three and then straightened, easily lifting the weight of the child. Dramaris put on foot on the bag to help balance and clutched his neck in a tight nervous hug.


“Alright, here we go,” Rene cautioned before striding into the water. The tide was rising rapidly and the water reached to his waist by the time he reached the rusted ladder of corrigated metal that gave access to the now freefloating barge. Unwilling to attempt climbing the ladder with Damaris on his back he instead turned so that she could step onto the ladder directly from his back. She scrambled up it with the easy grace of a child who has spent time climbing trees, disappearing over the gunnel and out of sight. Turning, Rene was relieved to find that Solae was right behind him, though her shorter stature meant that the water came halfway up her stomach. He took her hand and squeezed it affectionately.

“Your carriage awaits my lady,” he said with a smile and a slight bow. Solae gave him a smile and then clambered up the ladder with every bit as much grace as Damaris had shown. It was amazing that a woman who until a few days ago had lived her life at the pinnacle of Imperial society was handling things so well. While Rene himself came from a similar strata, he had years to make the adjustment. There was a faint pain in his chest as he considered the social ramifications of her choosing to be with him, he didn’t want to cause her any suffering or taint her with his disgrace. Not for the first time he put it out of his mind. There would be time to worry about such things once she was safe in Imperial territory. 

Once he was sure Solae and Damaris were clear he through his pack up over the gunnel and then turned and struck out for the shore once more. The waves were growing more larger as the tide approached its apogee but he made it back to shore without difficulty and loosed the cable that bound the barge to the shore. Freed from one of its tethers the vessel immediately began to swing right, following the current that ran down the beach, but not at such a rate that Rene worried. He moved as fast as he could, coiling the line into a loop from arm to elbow as he went, even so by the time he was halfway back to the barge the water level had reached his neck. Solae called something to him but he couldn’t make it out over the wind and the waves. Slipping the coil of line over his shoulder he grabbed the cable and pulled himself along it till he reached the boat and climbed up onto the ladder to the obvious relief of both women.

“Your not going to do that with the other one are you,” Solae asked in a tone that made it clear what the correct answer was. Rene, soaked to the bone, shook his head firmly before taking a drink from one of the canteens of fresh water he had bought along.

“There isn’t time before the tide crests,” he told her, not to mention he would have to dive among the waves and risk being driven against the submerged outcropping. It might be useful to have rope but it wasn’t worth risking Solae’s safety. Instead he moved to the stern of the barge and touched the activation stud for the pump they had fitted. It sputtered for a moment while the lines primed and then settled into a smooth pulsing thrum as water began to cycle through the unit.

Rene looked out to sea, the water was still choppy from the wind but there were no white caps save where the water crashed against hidden reefs and shoals. In the distance there were gathering gray clouds, normal weather rather than anything related to the hurricane, and below them a grey silver curtain of rain. He smiled confidently for the women’s benefit but he recognised how dangerous the next few hours were likely to be. Rene licked his lips and moved to the front of the barge and unhooked the line the tethered them to the island. The boat immediately began to drift down the coast, parallel to the shore. Rene ran back and turned the pump rate up to seventy five percent. The water behind them gurgled and foamed and, to his immense relief, the barge began to move forward against the last strength of the incoming tide. The turned the tiller over and, sure enough, the nose swung out towards the sea. There was an immediate thump thump thump as the blunt nose broke through the waves. An old prayer came to his mind from history class and he licked the salt from his lips. It had seemed a foolish concern at the time, after all they had ships that could sail between the stars, why would anyone ever bother with oceans? None the less he repeated a snatch of it under his breath, almost inaudible to all but himself. 

“Hear us when we cry to thee, for those in peril upon the sea.”