She yelped in alarm, though it seemed to be slowing.
“The city, eh? Well, it’s just your luck, my dear, that’s where we are going!”
“I wonder, then, if perhaps you would be so god as to give me a ride?”
“I should think so, why don’t you come aboard?” The fat man waved back at some unseen crewperson, and as he did so a hatch cranked open, forming a platform a foot or so above the water level. As they moved back through the boat she saw other pawns, some tending to work of various kinds, some just standing.
