Another volley came from the shore, the bullets tearing past with cracking sounds that almost froze Kira's heartbeat. She faced the shore and yelled as loudly as she could. "I'm not worth anything to you dead!"

She knew that wasn't true, but she also knew that the Imperials would only pay for her alive, and plenty of her parents' enemies would want her alive for their own reasons, like those of the rider way back north of the Glenca. As she had hoped, her words made the shooters hesitate.

Jason had finally mastered the oarlocks and was rowing, grunting with the effort as the wooden oars bit into the water, the boat very slowly gathering speed again.

Two men grabbed on, one on each side, pulling themselves aboard too fast for Kira to stop. "Keep rowing no matter what!" she yelled at Jason while she planted a boot in one man's stomach and propelled him back overboard.

The second man grabbed her from behind before she could turn. Kira struggled to break free, but he was bigger and stronger and she couldn't find any point of leverage with his body bearing down against her. He had one hand gripping her pistol arm so she couldn't bring it around. As the man's other arm across her neck started to choke her, Kira took a moment to identify where the man's groin was, behind and just to her left side. Stiffening her arm, she rammed her elbow into it as hard as she could.

The man emitted a squeal of pain. Kira gave him another elbow in the groin and his grip loosened. Breaking free, she pivoted and stiff-armed the man over the side.

Breathing heavily, Kira saw another hand reaching for the boat and drove the heel of her boot into the face that came up beside it. Part of her was horrified to be doing such things, but the rest of Kira knew she didn't have any choice at the moment.

They were definitely moving now, pulling away from the shore and the attackers struggling in the water. Kira couldn't see anyone else close enough to climb aboard. Jason was red-faced with effort as he pulled at the oars. Holstering her weapon, Kira dropped onto the bench beside Jason, shoving him to one side, and grabbed one of the oars, trying to pull in rhythm with Jason. Belatedly, more shots began sounding from the shore as it became apparent the quarry was escaping.

They kept pulling until they could neither hear nor see their attackers, then slumped with exhaustion over the oars, the boat drifting on the dark surface of the water. The lights of Kelsi glittered off to the east. The ships at anchor looked like they were on holiday, so many lanterns had been lit. Kira squinted, seeing other lights moving low on the water. "The harbor police are out. Maybe some of the Free Cities navy, too. Can you row some more?"