Astra's Escape Plan

She needed to achieve two things, she decided. First was to get ashore. Second was to find a blacksmith and somehow persuade or coerce him into removing her anklet.

The initial step would be to get out of her cabin, whose very solid door was of course kept locked. She had heard the sailors call the cabin the "brig", and gathered that it was normally used for imprisoning any crewman who was considered to have committed a crime or a serious breach of discipline.

There was also a sailor posted outside her door who would have to be dealt with. When they were at sea, the captain had not bothered taking that precaution, but now that they were in port he was taking no chances. Then she needed to get up on deck without being seen. After that she would need to launch the ship's boat and row it ashore.

The whole time she would be hampered by the shackle that joined the magic anklet to the ordinary iron one on her other ankle, and which restricted her stride to at most eighteen inches. Without that chain, she could have swum the quarter mile or so to the shore, which would have made escape far easier.

Could she perhaps somehow get hold of the key that would unlock the iron anklet and which would also allow her to detach the chain where it was fastened to the magic anklet? If she could manage that, it would make the rest of her escape far easier. Where would that key be kept? In the captain's cabin, surely? (There was also a key to the magic anklet, but Astra suspected that the captain would keep it very well hidden, so she would work on the assumption that she would not be able to find it.)

She spent the evening refining her plan. When she judged that it was close to midnight, and the great majority of the crew would be asleep, she put it into action. It relied on her assumption that the guard outside would have a key to her door. If he didn't then she wasn't going to get very far.

1. She began groaning loudly, hoping that the guard would come in to check that she was all right.
2. "Hey!" she called. "Sailor! You know the ruby pendant that I was given. Well, you can have it if you'll just do something for me." (Not that she really meant to give it to him, of course.)
3. "Hey!" she called. "Sailor! I need a man so bad. Why not come in here and help me out?" (Not very subtle, but Astra didn't have any experience of playing the seductress to call on.)
4. But just then, to her surprise she heard voices outside her door. One was the captain's, the other she recognised from earlier in the day as one of her potential purchasers.
5. But just then, to her surprise she heard voices outside her door. One was the captain's. Another was oddly familiar, although she did not know from where.

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