Sasha waited for what seemed like forever with no sight of the crow, feet dangling over the docks. She patted at the water with her heel and tried to calm the urge to pace. It wouldn't help anyway, it just made that feeling like she was going to crawl out of her skin even worse. She looked over her shoulder to make sure no one was coming.

It had taken some gumption to come out of the woods, but she'd eventually left the tree cover after a few hours had passed and it had become clear no one was actually coming to look for her. The fact that she was alone again didn't help her anxiety, either. 

She blinked in surprise when she looked up and realized there was a boat heading her way down the river. It wasn't the same boat that had taken Rannok, she didn't think. Even from this far away it looked smaller, and less hooked on its ends. She glanced back toward the woods. There was always the chance to run for it before anyone saw her. 

She concentrated hard, hoping to hear the crow's voice before the boat drew any closer, but the only sound was the wind blowing in the trees. Sasha grabbed the pier and heaved herself to her feet. Her knees rattled like fish pulled out of the water, and her eyes locked on the ship as it approached.

It really wasn't a ship so much as a big raft driven by oars that poked out the top, like an oversized rowboat. The top was almost completely flat, save for the men that sat toward the front. The oars lapped the water with a frantic amount of speed. 

Sasha jumped backwards as the boat got closer to the dock, ducking behind a tree for cover as the men tied up and started pulling down a gangplank. Sasha stepped back. She'd never seen anything like it in her life. She remembered the sailboats with their billowy white sails that flapped softly in the breeze, and the boats that rocked back and forth on the harbor on stormy days. This was more a toy than a sailboat. She wrinkled her nose at it as the men climbed down from on board.

Talk to them.

Sasha nearly jumped out of her skin, then turned her head, but the crow was nowhere to be seen. 

"Where are you?" Her voice was a quiet hiss through her teeth as she peered at the men through the branches. Each one carried a bow and arrow, and they chattered to each other in voices that were too far away to hear. Sasha caught the sound of laughter as they came on shore.

Approach the men, they are hunting.

Sasha didn't like that the crow wouldn't answer her in regards to its location, but she swallowed down the ball of apprehension that grew in her stomach. She thought back to the look on the town guard's face, like she was a prized cow ready for butchering. Then she'd had company. Now she was alone in the woods with nothing but a too-heavy ceremony sword for protection, and no Rannok.

Have I given you a reason not to trust me?

"Plenty," Sasha ground out, hand reaching for her sword before she turned back toward the dock. Her foot reached to step over a particularly annoying scrub bush when the sharp crack of a breaking branch rang through the air. Sasha froze, heart hammering, while the mens' eyes slid in her direction.

"What was that?"

One of the men turned as if he expected an animal to come out of the woods, bowstring tense in his grasp. Sasha could see the sinew in his arms tense. He looked young--younger than her, even--and there was a patch of sunscald across his eyes. They blinked as if the light bothered them. Sasha gasped and stepped out of its range, or where she thought was out of its range anyway. 

Her face flushed as she stepped out onto the bank. The man who had talked to her was tall and hairy, with a sprinkling of grey through his hair. His eyes focused on her, going wide before they narrowed again.

"It's just a girl, Thomas." He folded his arms and looked her up and down. Sasha shrank under his gaze, remembering all the times it had been someone else gazing at her. Someone who wanted to hurt her or take her somewhere or steal her things. Her hand tensed around the handle of her sword.

"I'm looking for a friend," she said, without bothering to greet herself. The young boy had lowered his bow, and the sunscald had spread from the bridge of his nose to the rest of his face. His eyes were kind, but wouldn't meet her face. Sasha felt sorry for him.

"Is he lost?" the man asked, frowning. He folded his arms and looked back toward their boat. It bobbed in the water, and close up Sasha could see it was much, much smaller than it had looked, even cresting over the horizon. 

Tell them he went to Alleria. The crow's voice again. Sasha winced and tried not to look too uncomfortable.

"Alleria," she said. "He went to Alleria. I don't know how to get there."

The two men glanced between each other for a moment, eyes communicating silently, judging her. Sasha shrank away a half-step, ready for them to spring. Her heart pounded in her chest. She gripped the sword handle tighter to steady it.

"You mean Alegria," Thomas said. Sasha blinked and cursed the crow in her head, even though she couldn't see it. It poked back with annoyance at the inside of her head. She folded her arms and fought the urge to scowl at nothing, and instead tried to keep her face placid. Nonthreatening. Not easy to take advantage of. Her fingers trembled around the hilt.  

The older man ran a hand through his beard and winked at the younger one. "It sounds like your boyfriend ran off. Would I hazard a guess correctly? Ah, to be young..." His voice was a rich and deep baritone. "My name is Ferdinand, at any rate. We're headed back to Alegria, but not until tomorrow."

"No," Sasha said. "He's not my boyfriend."

"Sure," Ferdinand responded. He looked her up and down again. The urge to shrink away from him rose until it was nearly unbearable. 

"Father." The boy's voice was a hiss, and his eyes watched Sasha as if she expected her to turn into a bear and eat him. She looked way, toward the water. That explained a lot about why they were traveling together.

"It will be fine, Thomas," the man said, in a tone that left no room for argument. Sasha took a deep breath and tried to concentrate on the sound of the water lapping at the shore, instead of the fact that she was stuck in the middle of nowhere with two strange men.

"I just need to find a way to get there," Sasha said, trying to quell the shaking in her voice. She couldn't spend overnight with two strangers. The thought of it made her want to vomit, of laying around a campfire a few feet away from a man whose intentions she did not know. It reminded her of dark things that crawled into inn bedrooms late at night and a brother who could not always save her. 

"There are trade ships that come through here occasionally, though not in a long while," Ferdinand said, his eyes going farther up the river, in the opposite direction Rannok's boat had left and they had come from. "They tend to stop farther up the river. There isn't much here save for bear hunting and trapping. And I doubt you could afford the passage anyway."

Sasha's stomach sank. Rannok would be waiting for her weeks, possibly longer. Who knew how long it would take her to find a way onto a boat. She had no money. All her things were gone, even the horses. "I'm sorry I wasted--"

"Wait, I wasn't done," Ferdinand said. His eyes flickered to Sasha's sword. "That's a nice weapon you have. Where did you come about it?"

"I found it," Sasha said. The crow's echoing laugh richocheted inside her head. She reminded herself to cook it later. It wasn't technically a lie, after all.

"I will trade you that sword for passage," Ferdinand said. "It will take you a few days, but less than it would to find a trade ship." He raised an eyebrow at her. "Deal?"

Sasha thought for a moment before nodding and reaching out her hand for Ferdinand to shake. She would do what she could to get him back.