Tavi studied the man quietly for a moment. Then he shrugged. "How much?"
"Five hundred eagles," Demos replied. "That's just the transport fee. The bribes are an extra expense. So is the food. You pay me half up front, half on completion."
Tavi glanced aside at Ehren, who nodded once.
"Done," Tavi said.
Demos looked between the two of them, then at the others. "Get this straight. You might be hiring me, but I'm the captain on my ship. I don't take orders. I give them. If I give you an order, I expect you to obey it, or you'll swim the rest of the way."
"I understand," Tavi said.
"Still want to do business?"
Tavi held out his hand to Ehren. The Cursor slapped the heavy purse into it. Tavi tossed the purse to Demos, who plucked it out of the air with a lazy movement of his arm.
Demos bounced the purse on his palm once and nodded. His face twitched with an expression that, if it had not been murdered in its birth, might have grown into a smile. "Very well, sir. Welcome aboard the Slive. We'll cast off in half an hour." He turned and went back up onto his ship and started calling out commands. Men began moving around the deck, readying ropes and sails.
Tavi grimaced at the ship. "Ehren."
The young Cursor nodded and raised his hand, while a frown of concentration came over his face. The air pressed suddenly against Tavi's ears, more uncomfortable than painful.
"All right," Ehren said. "That's as much as I can do."
Tavi nodded. "How long will it take us to get there by ship?"
"Three weeks, give or take," Ehren said quietly.
"Too long," Tavi said.
"I don't think you thought this through very well," Ehren said. "Let's say we had a coach right now. What did you plan on doing? Telling them to fly up to the Grey Tower, wait until you got back with a nine-foot-tall furry prisoner, then to come back here? Every Knight Aeris who can get off the ground will come after the coach to get him back."
"What?" Kitai demanded.
"What?" Isana said, alarmed.
Araris made a choking noise, but he didn't turn around.
Tavi grimaced. "We couldn't outrun them on horseback, either."
"Right," Ehren said. "If only we knew some way to sneak a high-profile Cane out of the capital without being caught."
Tavi gave him a sidelong glance. Ehren's face was creased into a grin. Tavi frowned for a moment, then struck his own forehead lightly with the heel of his hand. "It's already been done. Someone managed to slip Sari out of the capital and all the way back to the Canim homelands."
"Exactly," Ehren said.
"And you found out how they did it?"
Ehren smirked. "Better. I found out who."
Tavi looked up at the ship. "I see."
"Aleran," Kitai said. "Perhaps it would be wise to tell all of us what we are doing."
Tavi chewed on his lip for a moment, then nodded. "We're going to Alera Imperia. We're going to break Ambassador Varg out of the Grey Tower, smuggle him back to Nasaug, and exchange him as a token of good faith for a cessation of hostilities in the Vale."
Araris made another choking sound.
Kitai nodded. "Ah."
Isana folded her arms beneath her cloak. "Is... is that altogether wise?"
Kitai rolled her eyes. "Why should he start now?"
"The security has been tightened there," Ehren said. "I read a report on it somewhere, three or four years ago."
"I know," Tavi said. "I wrote it. Gaius had it redesigned based on some of my recommendations."
Ehren pursed his lips thoughtfully. "Oh. That does raise some interesting possibilities, then."
Tavi nodded. "But I need each of you there. That's why I've asked you along."
"That," Kitai said, "is the least unwise thing you have said tonight." She peered up at the Slive, her eyes tracing the dim shapes of the ropes and the sailors moving nimbly among them. "I have never been on a ship."
"Nor have I," Tavi said. "Ehren, what-"
"Down!" barked Araris, even as his blade cleared its sheath. He swept it in a single, smooth cut, and there was a snapping sound as it cleaved an arrow streaking down the length of the dock.
Tavi crouched as Araris shattered two more arrows with as many sweeps of his blade and looked around them wildly. There were figures out there at the riverbank end of the dock, crouching in thick shadow.
"The ship," Tavi snapped. "Everyone aboard! Move!"
Another arrow hissed, and Kitai let out a breathless cry. Tavi felt a sudden, vague shock of pain run through the left side of his body. The Marat girl staggered.
"Go, go!" shouted Araris.
Tavi seized Kitai, tossed her unceremoniously over a shoulder, and dashed up the gangplank. Isana followed him, but stumbled. Ehren was there at once, supporting her. Tavi made the deck of the ship and hurried to get out of sight of the archer's shooting position. Araris came up the gangplank last, sword still in hand.
Demos took one look, saw what was happening, and began barking orders to cast off. His crew, evidently men who were familiar with the procedures for precipitous departures, leapt into action, and within a minute the ship was being warped away from the dock and out into the slow current of the Tiber.
"Light!" Tavi called, laying Kitai down on the deck. "I need a light here!"
Demos appeared a few moments later, bearing a covered lantern. He handed it to Tavi without a word and went back to calling orders.
Tavi opened the lantern and found a plain candle burning inside. It gave him enough light to see Kitai's injury. The arrow had pierced her left arm, on an angle through the biceps muscle. Her teeth were clenched, though there was more outrage than pain in her face.
"Doesn't look bad," Tavi said.
Isana knelt beside him, and examined the Marat girl's wound. "The head isn't poisoned or barbed, but it's sharp. It's close to the artery. If we try to draw it back through, we could open it ourselves."
Tavi nodded. "Break the arrow?"
"Let me get a proper tub of water first," Isana said. "It's possible that the arrow itself is staunching the wound. I can make sure it isn't a problem."
"Araris?" Tavi asked.
"I'll find a tub," the singulare said, sheathing his weapon.
Tavi leaned down and kissed Kitai's hair again. "Give us just a minute," he said quietly. "Then we'll get it out of you."
Kitai set her jaw, nodded once, and closed her eyes.