Garibaldi sat up in bed. Sunlight shone around the edges of the curtains. He and Sallina had kept one another company until late the night before. He was tired, but he did not mind.
"It's late," he said.
Sallina looked up at him. "I know."
He lay down. The bag of gold was in the bed between them. Sallina pushed it up underneath the pillows and moved close to him. "I knew it was a good idea running away with you."
Garibaldi smiled. Even with the Duke's soldiers chasing them, and their family left far behind, he felt happier and more excited to be alive than he could ever remember. He kissed Sallina on the nose.
Sallina raised herself on one elbow. "I don't think the soldiers followed us into the forest at all."
"You don't?"
"No, I don't. Their horses would not be able to follow us up the hill. The soldiers would have to dismount and go on foot. They would not be able to run as fast as us with their chain mail shirts on, and carrying their swords and spears. Only the man with the bow would be able to follow us, and I think he would be scared to do so, because you still have your axe."
"Ha!" Garibaldi said.
"Well, you scared off those three young men back home."
"They were cowards," Garibaldi said.
"Either way," Sallina said, "I don't think the man with the bow would follow us on his own."
"So what did they do, go home?"
"No, I think they would guess that we were coming here to Godiva, and they would turn around and ride here by the roads as quickly as they could."
Garibaldi lay on his back looking up at the ceiling. It seemed to him that she must be right, and if she was, the soldiers could reach Godiva at any time. They might be in the town already.
"When did you figure this out?" Garibaldi said.
"When I woke up."
"Why didn't you say anything?"
Sallina tilted her head and smiled. "I was watching you sleep."
Garibaldi pulled the comforter off his body and stepped out of bed. There was a pitcher of water on a table, with a large bowl next to it. He poured water into the bowl and washed his face. He dried himself with a white towel and began to pull on his dirty clothes. "I think we should get out of here."
"I suppose you're right," Sallina said. She got out of bed. The air of the room was cold against her skin. She pulled on the underpants, blue trousers and white shirt the innkeeper's wife had brought her the evening before. She wondered when she and Garibaldi would get a chance to share such a comfortable bed again. She picked up her sandals. "My sandals are wearing out"
Garibaldi crossed the room and looked at the sandals while he tightened his belt. "Perhaps we can buy some shoes for you before we get a ride on a ship."
"If we have time," Sallina said. She tied the sandals to her feet. "I'll go downstairs and ask the innkeeper to bring us some breakfast."
"Good idea," Garibaldi said.
Sallina unlocked the door, opened it, and stepped into the corridor. "Back in a minute." She closed the door behind her.
Garibaldi looked around the room. Sallina's old skirt and shirt were lying on the floor. They would be fine after some washing and stitching. He picked them up and put them in the saddle bag with the gold. He made sure the clothes wrapped around the gold so that the bag would be softer when he carried it. He opened the curtains and looked out the window. The clouds of the day before had cleared and it looked like it was going to be a sunny day.
Sallina opened the door. "They're here!" She closed the door behind her and locked it.
"Who?"
"The soldiers! They're downstairs, talking to the innkeeper. I heard them as I came down. They were asking him if we were staying here."
Garibaldi picked up his axe.
Sallina ran to the window and opened it. Below the window was the roof of another part of the inn. "Quick, out here." She climbed out of the window and onto the roof below. Garibaldi passed her the bag of gold and his axe, and climbed out himself. They stood on the roof, trying to decide how to get down. Behind them, through the window, they heard a man shouting from the other side of the door of their room.
"Open up," he said, "In the name of Duke Marcus!"
Garibaldi looked down at the alley below. "Can you jump that far down?"
Sallina sat down on the edge of the roof, pushed herself off, and dropped to the alley. She fell as she landed, but she stood up right away. She held her hands up for the bag. Garibaldi dropped it to her. The back was so heavy that she could not catch it. It landed on the ground with a crunch. She picked it up as quickly as she could.
Garibaldi sat on the edge of the roof, holding his axe in one hand. There was a crash from the room behind them. The soldiers had broken down the door. Garibaldi dropped to the alley and landed on his feet. He took the bag of gold from Sallina.
"Let's go," she said.
"Which way?" he said.
Sallina looked up and down the alley. Above them, they heard the soldiers shouting. One of them said, "Get out there!"
"They're climbing out the window," Garibaldi said.
Two men in blue coats came around the corner. There were ten or twenty towns-people behind them. Sallina guessed that the men in blue coats were policemen.
"There they are!" the policemen said.
The policemen ran forwards. The towns-people followed close behind.
Sallina ran down the alley away from the policemen. Garibaldi followed her. She looked back over her shoulder. The policemen were not fast runners. Some of the people were getting ahead of them. The alley was narrow. The crowd were pressed tight between it's walls.
"Throw some of the gold!" Sallina said.
"What?"
"Throw some of the gold, it will slow them down."
Garibaldi reached into the bag and took a handful of coins from among Sallina's dirty clothes. He threw them over his shoulder. When the gold landed in the alley, the people ran past the policemen and kneeled down to pick up the coins. Garibaldi threw another handful.
"Stop!" the policemen said to the people picking up the coins. "That gold does not belong to you."
Sallina and Garibaldi kept running. Sallina turned one corner and another. They ran out from between two large buildings next to the sea. There were walk-ways built out over the water, held up by long wooden posts. Five large ships and many smaller ones were tied up next to the walk-ways. Sailors were walking onto the nearest ship along a long plank of wood, carrying heavy sacks.
Sallina and Garibaldi stood in the middle of the street that ran along the edge of the water, breathing deeply.
"The docks," she said.
"Shall we try to get a ship?" Garibaldi said.
"We don't have time. They will find us soon."
"What else can we do?"
Sallina bit her lip. She was thinking. Garibaldi tried to think too, but all he could do was look back the way they had come and watch for the policemen. He held his axe firmly in one hand and the bag of gold in the other. Should he fight with the police? No, he did not want to hurt anyone.
"If we walk down one of the docks," Sallina said, "and the soldiers catch up with us, we will be trapped."
Sallina looked at the ship in front of them. It must be leaving soon because the sailors were loading it with sacks and boxes. The name of the ship was painted on its front side in large red letters. It's name was Reliant. Nearby, a fat man in a silk jacket and fine wool trousers was talking to three sailors. The sailors stood next to a large wooden box on the dock. The box was so large that it came up to the fat man's tummy. Sallina thought her kitchen table would fit right into it.
"How are we going to lift this here crate onto the ship without a crane, Captain?" one of the sailors said.
"It's full of silk, my lad, light as a feather," the fat man said. He lifted up the lid of the box. "See for yourself."
The sailors looked in the crate until the fat man lowered the lid. "Run and get hammers and nails, and make this lid fast. I don't want it coming off on the way. This silk is going to make us a tidy profit."
"Aye, aye, Captain," the sailors said. They turned and set off towards the Reliant, leaving the Captain behind.
The fat man patted the crate once and began to cross the street. When he saw Sallina and Garibaldi he slowed down. He stared at Sallina. He stopped. Sallina smiled at him. Why was he looking at her? She tried not to breath so hard.
The fat man smiled. He touched his hat. "Good day to you," he said. He continued across the street.
"Good day, Captain," Sallina said.
The fat man walked into nearest of the large buildings.
Sallina looked at the crate. Everyone around them was busy. No one was looking.
"Quick. They'll nail it shut, but you can cut your way out with your axe, let's get in the crate."
"What?" Garibaldi said.
Sallina walked slowly towards the crate. She looked around to see if anyone was watching. Garibaldi followed her.
"You're crazy," he said, "We won't have enough air to breath. What are we going to eat?"
They stood by the crate.
"Quickly," Sallina said. She slid the lid over, so that a corner of the box was open. She looked around one more time, and climbed quickly in. Garibaldi crouched down and looked around. Even though there were so many people around, nobody was paying any attention to them.
"Come on!" Sallina said from inside the box. "Hurry!"
Garibaldi put his axe and the bag of gold in the crate and climbed in himself. As soon as he was inside, Sallina slid the lid back into place so that it covered them up.
Inside the crate, it was too dark to see at first, but some light came in through cracks in the lid and the sides. After a little while, they could see well enough. They were pressed up against one another, lying upon rolls of cloth.
"Let's get down under the silk so they won't see us if they lift the lid," Sallina said.
They moved the rolls up from under them and laid them on top. When they were satisfied that no sailor would see them if they opened the crate and looked inside, they both lay there panting, with the weight of the silk pressing upon their tummies, and their faces close together.
"Sallina," Garibaldi said, "This is crazy. We'll be trapped in here. I don't like small spaces."
"Do you have a better idea?"
"No," he said, "I don't."
"We can get out any time with your axe."
"Unless they put a dozen sacks of grain on top of the lid," Garibaldi said.
They heard the sailors coming back to the crate. They tried to breath quietly so that the sailors would not hear them. They were worried that the sailors would open the crate and check the silk, but as it happened, they did not have to worry, because the sailors did not lift the lid at all. They moved it over a little bit, so it was in just the right place, and went to work hammering nails through the lid and into the walls. In no time at all, the sailors were finished. The lid was nailed in place, with Garibaldi and Sallina inside.
The sailors walked away. Sallina and Garibaldi heard the sound of many people running and shouting. The soldiers, the policemen, and the crowd had reached the docks.
"Where are they?" one of the soldiers said, "Has anyone seen a young man and a young woman?"
A sailor laughed. "Oh yes, I've seen a few young women, and far too many young men."
"This is serious, they're thieves."
"I ain't seen nothing, sir knight, I swears it."
The crowd moved away along the street.
"Phew," Sallina said.
Garibaldi and Sallina pulled the rolls of silk off them until they were lying on top again, which was much more comfortable. There was enough space on top of the silk for them to lie on their sides and face one another.
The sailors returned to the crate. They tried to pick it up, but put it down again. "I say, I thought the Captain said the crate was light as a feather."
"Come on, lads, try harder," another sailor said, "All together now."
They lifted the crate. Garibaldi and Sallina felt themselves being carried down the dock. When they reached the plank that led up on to the ship, the sailors put the crate down and talked for some time about how they were going to get the crate up the plank and onto the ship. They did not want to take the time to borrow a crane to do the job. The Captain had told them to get the crate on the ship quickly, and the crane would take an hour to set up. But the plank between the dock and the ship was too narrow for all the sailors carrying the crate to walk up at the same time. In the end, the sailors put a second plank next to the first, and walked up along both planks at the same time, with the crate between them. As they carried the crate up the planks, they breathed hard and shouted to one another.
"Harry, you idiot, mind your foot!"
"I'm minding my foot. You mind your tongue. And watch your end of the crate. You're holding it too low!"
"I'm too old for this, I am."
"This here's some special silk, it is, it's made by silk worms that eat rocks."
Sallina and Garibaldi heard the voice of the fat man. "What's all the fuss about, gentlemen?"
"This here crate is heavy enough to sink a sloop, Captain."
"Nonsense," the Captain said, "You're all getting fat and lazy from a week of lounging around. It's time we were out to sea again. Put your backs into it."
"You're a fine one to talk Captain."
"Watch your mouth, Harry, or you'll be scrubbing the deck tomorrow."
"I'm not afraid of hard work, Captain."
"I see," the Captain said, "So the grumbling is just a way of passing the time, is it?
Harry grunted and the crate shook. "Would you rather I sang, sir?"
"You can wail like a siren for all I care, just get the crate on the deck and lash it before the tide turns."
And so the sailors carried the crate up to the top of the planks and onto the deck of the ship.
"Where do you want it, Captain?" Harry said.
"Tie it down right there and cover it with sail cloth. I want it wrapped double in the hold, but we're supposed to be off this pier in an hour, so leave it there for now."
The inside of the crate went dark. Garibaldi groaned.
"Are you okay?" Sallina said.
"I don't like small spaces. It's always, always a bad idea to get into a box and have someone close it on you. It's a very bad idea. Nobody should ever get into a box like this."
"Don't worry," Sallina said. "We knew before we got in that we could get out, because we have your axe."
"I can't swing the axe in here, there's not enough space. I might chop your arm off."
Sallina frowned. He was right. How could he swing his axe in here? Well, at least they had escaped from the police.
"I'm sure you could make a hole with your axe in this crate anyway, given enough time."
The sailors carried things onto the ship for another hour. Sallina and Garibaldi listened to them shouting at one another. Sometimes the things the sailors said to one another made Sallina and Garibaldi giggle. The sailors laughed too, and complained, and argued with their captain. But mostly they laughed.
Eventually, the sailors all came aboard, pulled up the planks, and untied the ship from the dock. Sallina and Garibaldi heard sailors calling down from above them.
"They're climbing on those tall wooden poles that hold up the sails," Garibaldi said.
"The masts," Sallina said, because she knew what the tall wooden poles were called.
"Look lively on the main mast, Sharpy!" Harry said. "Unfurl the top main-sail!"
The ship began to move. It rocked slowly. They heard the sounds of the docks growing quieter as the Reliant slid out of the harbor and left the town behind. After a while, Garibaldi started to think that they were quite safe in the crate. They made themselves more comfortable by moving some of the rolls of silk into better places. They were both tired.
Before long, they were fast asleep.