Outside, the stair dropped into black water. Stones slick with moss. A rope rail no one had trusted in years.
Men shouted down on the quay "Move!" "Lines free!" "Gods damn your eyes, move!"Nobody looked twice at a girl streaked with soot and a small bird on her shoulder. Everyone was too busy saving themselves. As it should be.
Rhaenys clung to the wall and edged down sideways, toes searching for grip. I stayed just ahead, keeping the descent in check. Twice she slipped, twice she caught herself. Her breath rasped like a cracked bell, but she kept moving.
A lantern swung below. A city guard squinted past us, eyes red and streaming."We should've asked for more," he grumbled to his mate."Don't open your foul mouth," the other said, and they staggered off.
We took the last steps on hands and feet. The stone scraped knuckles raw.The river met us with a cold wind. Piers shifted, ropes creaked, a barge groaned. Somewhere, a sailor swore at the rope that wouldn't yield.
We stayed under the stair until the postern door closed heavy behind us. Outside was noise and motion- uncaring, somehow right.
"Under," I tell her with a tilt of my head.
She crawled beneath the nearest pier, dragging her small bundle without realizing she still had it. Water traced the timbers. Rats argued over ownership in voices that never changed: mine.
We bellied along a tar-thick beam. Her dress soaked at the hem. She flinched, then forced herself not to care. She was shaking. Fear, cold, exhaustion- it didn't matter which.
On the far side, a little cog kicked against its lines. Crewmen shoved and shouted, all eyes on the city, none on us.
"Cast off! Tide'll take us if you give it leave!""Leave the crate!""Who's the buyer?""Doesn't matter, he'll find another crate!"
We waited for that moment when counting stopped and moving began.
When it came, I darted first, low through the shadows, up to the lip of the quay. Rhaenys crawled, stumbled upright, then ran the last few steps because her body wanted warmth more than safety. She hit the quay, palms down, pushed up, and we moved toward the cog like it's our only choice now.
No one called out. No one wanted the burden of a child while the city burned.
A sailor swung a coil of rope, nearly caught her head. He didn't see her, his eyes fixed on the capstan."Heave!" he shouted, and the men obeyed.
We slid aft, where a net hung half over the side. I hopped onto the rope and tore at the knot until it gave.
"Climb," I thought. She couldn't hear thoughts, but she felt urgency and that was enough.
She grabbed the net. Soft hands, wrong hands for climbing, but she did it anyway. One hand, one foot, haul, shake, repeat. I stayed beneath, ready to push her heel if she slipped. Symbolic, maybe, but I did it all the same.
She hauled a knee over the gunwale and spilled onto the deck. I landed beside her, selfishly pressing against her shoulder just so she'd know I was still there.
A man turned, mouth open to shout at stowaways, then stopped when he saw the soot-black girl. His face was carved by the sea- lined, weary, eyes that learned long ago not to meet trouble."Off with you," he started, then looked at the city, then back at her. "Stay low," he muttered instead, and took up a line as if he'd said nothing.
Bless cowardice when it comes dressed as mercy.
Rhaenys crawled behind a stack of coiled hawser and a tar-stinking tarp. I pressed into her neck and felt the fever of her skin through the grime.
The cog jerked. Lines fell. Men pushed with poles. Someone cursed the tide, then bribed it with prayer.
Two Lannisters clattered along the pier, helmets bright even in the smoke."You there! Seen a girl?Dark hair. Violet eyes." one barked.
A man came forward, fat and sweating, threw up his hands. "I seen whores, ser. No girls. You want cargo, pay coin. You want people, find your own."He spat without caring where it landed.
The Lannister looked at the smoke rolling down from the Keep and decided he had other orders. He waved his partner on. Their boots faded.
The cog eased into the channel. Oars dipped and lifted. The city made new noises as distance grew. Fire had a voice of its own. It said what the rats said. Mine.
Rhaenys curled small behind the coils. Her hands shook. Her mouth moved without sound. When words finally came, they were barely air. "Mother."
I rested my head against her cheek.
I didn't tell her it would be fine, it might not. I didn't tell her we'd live, it wasn't certain. I told her only this: I'm here.
Men stomped near us-"Lines clear!" "Oars in!" "Mind the rudder!"-but no one lifted the tarp. No one asked who paid our passage. Tonight, the river was the only authority.
The current took hold, pulling us out from under the last shadow of the pier. The cog turned south, sliding between the fire's glow and the pale smear of moonlight.
No helpers. No saints.
Just a girl in soot, a bird with a tiny plan, and water beneath us that owed no one anything.
We made the stern our hollow. She tucked her knees close. I settled in the space between shoulder and neck.
The city shrank behind us. Bells still swung, softer now.
I looked back once, couldn't help it. Red stone. Rising smoke. The high shape of the Red Keep reaching its own sky. Somewhere inside, Elia might still stand. Aegon might still breathe. The world didn't care either way.
I turned because she needed someone facing forward.
The crew kept their heads down, hands steady. One muttered "Seven save us" without conviction. Another said nothing, just watched the river.
A gull cried once and veered away. Sensible bird.
The wind picked up, cool and damp, sliding beneath the tarp. It traced the sweat on her neck. She shivered, then went still, too tired for dreams.
I scanned the deck, noting where the shadows ran and where the tarp might give us cover. I traced the spaces we could slip into if someone came too close.
I wanted to breathe like a living thing. I didn't. Not yet.
We were on a small cog that served no lord, on a river that bowed to no king, moving away from a fate nobody wanted.
Not victory, just distance.
I would take it.