-----"Up ahead! A hundred yards!" Sarah says sharply. "They have their sail up!" Sarah looks for some way to increase the speed of the keel. "Close to within sixty yards and I think I can stop them." She says eagerly, glancing about for some way she can help.
-----Knowing full well how Sarah can see their enemy through the darkness, Sol acknowledges her information with a nod and a grim smile. He then calls to whoever else is rowing at the time, "Come on, let's pick up th' pace."
-----Not asking how Sarah can see their enemy through the darkness Raven readies himself for the upcoming action.
-----As Sarah speaks some words to Chessie, the small owl spreads its wings and flies off into the starry sky.
-----Maybe the amount of wounds the storm priest has received calms him as Lovan surveys from the tiller the growing excitement. Before Sol can begin pulling at the oar, Lovan gets his attention. "This boat needs turned! You leave your oar in the water and when I say, start paddling with all your might!" he tells the young warrior.
-----Lovan then looks at Romney at the other oar. "Well, what are you waiting for?" Lovan suddenly admonishes the noble guard. "If you fighters from Oakwood are worth a damn, you ought to have this boat turned within one stroke!"
-----Romney, with redden face, responds with, "Now . . . see . . . here!" With each word, Romney lifts his oar from the water, moves it forward, places it back in the water and heaves backward strongly. With a motion that threatens to knock some out of the boat, the vessel quickly spins to face down river. At the same time, Lovan leans heavily on the tiller.
-----With a smile on his face, Lovan waits until the boat faces the direction that Sarah points out. As they do, Lovan yells at Sol, "Put yer back into it!"
-----With Sol and Romney pulling at the oars, the boat begins heading rapidly down the river. The two begin hitting a rhythm that keeps the boat from jerking from side to side.
-----"Not fast enough, I say!" Lovan says, once the boat seems balanced. Pointing at a long beam and large amount of cloth along the right side of the boat, Lovan yells to Raven and Garrison, "You hunters get that mast planted." He then points at a mounting fixture behind where Sol and Romney are seated.
-----Raven and Garrison quickly retrieve the long thick pole and find they can easily secure it in the hole. "As soon as you secure the sail to it and draw it up, the breeze will help carry us before the rowers wear out!"
-----After a few long moments, the two have the cloth raised and the sail begins to fill with the breeze blowing. In the meantime, Lovan moves the tiller trying to find a current in the river that can carry them faster.
-----"We heading the right way still, girl?" he asks Sarah, "If your mage eyes can really see in the dark, make sure we aren't heading for rocks or stumps sticking out of the water!"
-----Sarah glances down and notices that there are four oars that no one is using, she glances back. "It would appear they're beating us because they're trying harder." She comments airily. Sarah takes the oar in front of Sol. "Rinda!" She says, and nods in the direction of the one in front of Romney. "When you two are done with the sail get on the oars!" She calls to Garrison and Raven. Sarah keeps her eyes peeled for any sort of rock or anything sticking up out of the water, as she pulls the oars for all she's worth, trying to keep with the pattern that the others are making.
-----Sol loftily chooses to ignore Sarah's jibe. Instead he focuses only on rowing hard and matching Romney's pull, and the instructions given out by Lovan. Sol knows full well that he won't tire anytime soon.
-----Raven moves quickly to one of the free oars. Raven begins to row with all his strength, but makes sure to row in unison with rest of the group. Raven looks around the boat to see if he missed anything else that was so obvious as four more oars.
-----Rinda slides beside Sarah and takes up the opposite oar while Garrison mans the other oar beside Raven. The boat continues to lurch forward although it seems to jerk toward the right.
-----"Blast it!" Lovan yells as he looks in Garrison's direction, "Keep the pace!" He then begins yelling, "Go! Go! Go!" in rhythmic succession offering a signal for all to follow.
-----After a bit, the pacing seems a bit erratic as a few of the rowers are feeling the stress of the continual movement. Lovan says to them, "Best we take this rowing in shifts. If they have rowers, they won't be using them all at one time unless they're going a short distance." Lovan nods in the darkness ahead on the starry river.