"Trouble of the sort I don't need to hear about later, I know." She looked off toward the airship, a dark shape suspended over the water. "All I want is a look around."
The Wing Rider followed her gaze, but didn't say anything. He hunched his shoulders and studied the darkness with an intensity that surprised her.
"How do you plan to get out there?" he asked finally.
"Swim."
He nodded. "I thought as much. Of course, now that someone has escaped by jumping overboard and the rets have shoved off on the rafts in pursuit, I don't suppose those men left aboard will waste their time keeping an eye on the bay." He looked back at her. "Will they?"
He kept the sarcasm from his voice, but his point was well taken. A watch of some sort would be keeping a close eye on the surrounding waters for anything suspicious. She could approach by swimming underwater, but it was a long way and she was not as strong as she needed to be to try that. Nor could she count on the moon staying hidden behind the cloudbank. If it emerged at the wrong time, she would be silhouetted in the water as clearly as if by daylight.
"On the other hand," he continued quietly, "they won't be expecting anyone to fly in."
She stared at him. "On Obsidian? Can you do that? Can you drop me into the rigging?"
He shrugged. "It's still too dangerous. What do you think you can accomplish?"
"Have a look around, see if anyone else aboard is one of us." He held her gaze in an owlish, accusing look, and she grinned in spite of herself. "You don't believe me?"
"I believe you're telling me what you think I want to hear. But I read faces better than most, and I see something more in yours than what you're saying." He cocked his head. "Anyway, I'm going aboard with you."
"No."
He laughed softly. "No? I admire your spirit, but not your good sense. You can't get from here to there without me, and I won't take you unless I go, as well. So let's not debate the matter any further, Little Red. You need someone to watch your back, and if this matter turns sour, I need to be able to tell your brother that I did everything I could to protect you."
She gave him a rueful look. "I don't like it that you can see so clearly what I'm thinking."
He nodded. "Well, it might be that it will help me save your life somewhere down the road. You never know."
"Just get me on and off that ship in one piece," she said. "That's enough for me."
They waited a long time, giving the ship and crew time to quiet and settle back into a routine, keeping watch over the shoreline for the return of the Mwellrets. Rue Meridian believed they would be gone all night, trying to track whoever they were chasing, unable to see clearly enough in the darkness, forced to wait for daybreak. She was wondering about the Ilse Witch. There had been no sign of her, no indication of her presence. If she was not aboard ship, she was probably somewhere inland hunting for the magic that had brought them all to Castledown. Who had possession of that magic now? Had Walker found and claimed it yet? Was it what he had been expecting to find? There was no way of knowing without making contact with a member of the shore party, another good reason for finding out if any of them had been made prisoner by the witch and her rets.
"We should go, if we're going," Hunter Predd said finally.
Shedding his cloak and checking his weapons and clothing, he explained to her that Obsidian had been trained, as all Rocs were trained, to lower their Wing Riders to aid in a rescue. Using a harness and pickup rope, they would ride the Roc out to the airship and lower themselves into the rigging. When they were ready to leave, Obsidian would pick them up again.
"This is the key," Hunter Predd advised, producing a small silver implement. "A whistle, but only Rocs can hear it, not humans. Stealth and silence are the rest of it, Little Red." He grunted. "And luck, of course. That, most of all."
When they were ready, he used the whistle to summon the Roc. Obsidian appeared from the bluff, sweeping down over the bay to perch on the overhang they had passed on the way down the shoreline. It was dark by then, the moon having disappeared with most of the stars behind the cloudbank. They would have to hurry if they were to gain Black Mo-dips before their cover broke.