Free Paying the Price by Julia P. Lynde

It was a small, narrow strip of sand. I imagined in the highest tides, it might be completely underwater. I pulled Dareena clear of the water and collapsed in the sand next to her. I checked her breathing and she seemed okay.
    I lied next to her for a time. A few of the sailors were already lying exhausted in the sand around us, and two more emerged from the water a short while after Dareena and I had reached shore.
    Darkness fell, and none of us was moving.
    There was a three quarters moon offering some light. I sat up and check ed on Dareena. She was unchanged.
    I looked at the moon, and I looked at the waves crashing against the shore. I decided the tide was going out but was near low tied. I couldn't tell how high the water would come, so I dragged Dareena higher from the water. No one offered to help me.
    The Marsh of Neebo is a section of land along the coast between Norinia and Tendaria. It is only about fifty miles wide along the coast and forty miles deep, but it is all marsh. Beaches like this were rare. It was impossible to travel by land through the marsh, only by boat.
    The coastline of the Marsh of Neebo w as dominated by mangrove swamps. The beach we were on was a rare occurrence. I walked up the bea ch and discovered we were on a little spit of land, but everywhere I looked was either the open sea or a mangrove swamp.
    I walked up and down the beach, collecting any of the wreckage that looked useful. I even threw any driftwood I found further up the sand; we may want firewood. I didn't find much that was useful, but there were three jugs that turned out to contain fresh water. Those I carried back and set next to Dareena.
    Some of the men perked up at sight of the water. "Do any of you speak Norinian?" I asked.
    They all looked at me blankly.
    I crouched down near Dareena and said clearly, "Captain," pointing to her. Then "Princess," pointing to her, then "Princess" again, pointing to me. I set the jugs leaning against Dareena and said again, "Captain."
    I hoped they understood. She was in charge. If she woke up. And if they drank the water, I would tell her.
    I continued to prowl the beach, pulling things from the water, discarding almost all of them, checking on Dareena periodically. She didn't wake up. On the other hand, the men left the water alone. I wondered how long that would last.
    I wondered if there was any way to make a fire. I wondered if we wanted one.
    I found a wooden mug. I took it back to Dareena.
    The men were watching me. I wondered if they had seen me pull her from the water. They had certainly seen me drag her further up the beach. I checked on her. No change. I grabbed one of the jugs of water, used a tiny amount to rinse out the mug, then gave myself a small drink. After that I went around to the men, giving each of them a small drink.
    Several of them used a word. I didn't recognize it. I presumed it meant thank you.
    When everyone on the beach had had a drink, I set the jug back next to Dareena and settled down next to her.
    I grew tired. I collected the jugs and set them against Dareena's ba ck, then I curled up and cuddled the combination of small captain and water jugs. I was asleep almost instantly.
    Sometime in the early morning, she woke. I woke with her. I checked. No one had stolen any of the water jugs. I checked on Dareena.
    "Good morning," I told her. "Did you have a nice nap?"
    She rolled over to look at me, bumping against the jugs. She said something in Tendarian.
    "I hope you remember Norinian, Dareena, or we are going to have a difficult time negotiating my release."
    She blinked and looked at me. "Meorie?" She sat up and looked around, holding her head.
    "I recognize that look," I said.
    "What did you do to me?"
    "Me? Why are you blaming me?"
    "What are all these between us?"
    "Water jugs. I put them there so I would wake up if anyone tried to steal them."
    She looked around. The men were all asleep. It was just growing light in the east. The moon had set some time