The carriage stopped. The door was opened by a swarthy little man who immediately started jabbering away in some foreign tongue. The men appeared to know him. The servant, Sasha? He sounded complaining, though Tanya couldn't comprehend a single word he was saying. He was also anxiously urging them to hurry, if his wild gesturing was any indication, and then he rushed ahead, probably to inform the captain that his last passengers had finally arrived.
Was the riverboat that close to departing, then? Tanya certainly hoped so, for that would definitely aid her in what she planned to do. The plan she had come up with in those past few moments before they arrived wasn't the most ingenious. Timing would be everything. But it could work, if she could be rid of Lazar and Stefan.
Vasili she didn't worry about.. He out of all of them didn't want her along and made no bones about it. So he wouldn't expend himself to try and stop her when she set off down the docks. Serge would likely give chase, but he was too stocky to be able to catch her. And the docks this time of day were crowded, another point in her favor, particularly if Serge came after her. She'd be wending her way agilely through the crowd while he'd be knocking people down trying to keep up with her. There would be no contest.
The only difficulty in the plan was getting Lazar and Stefan out of the picture, because either one of them, she was sure, could catch her with little effort. Those damn long legs would do it, not to mention the fact that they were in superb physical condition. They both had to be eliminated from the chase before it began, and there was only one way to do it. But Lord help her if it didn't work.
To her immense relief, Vasili and Serge got out of the carriage first. For the plan to work, she needed them in front of her, not behind her, when they all started up the ramp to the boat. If they went on ahead, so much the better, but she wasn't that lucky.
Serge took care of paying the driver of the carriage while Stefan lifted Tanya to the ground. Their baggage was apparently on board already, along with the servant, Sasha,
another reason they wouldn't want to risk having the boat leave without them while they chased down a troublesome captive. They would give up because of that, and she could then go home and put the whole unpleasant encounter behind her — somehow— and start carrying a pistol.
The ramp was wide, but not quite wide enough for two to walk abreast with any degree of safety, since there were no railings. Thank God for that. And Serge and Vasili did go first,
with Lazar behind them and Stefan behind Tanya, so he had to go over first. If she wasn't so nervous, she might enjoy this. But she hadn't counted on his being so close behind her that he could hold her elbow, which he did.
"Watch your step, Tatiana," Stefan said, which gave her the idea to trip.
But with strong resentment, what she replied was, "The name is Tanya, Tanya. If you call me by that foreignsounding Tatiana one more time, I will probably scream, and to hell with bargains. And furthermore, I can get up this ramp without your assistance, thank you."
She jerked her arm forward then, but he was expecting that movement, as she knew he would be, and held fast. Which gave her the excuse to turn around to take issue with him about it. This she did with her. elbow jabbing backward. There was the chance, of course, that he'd take her over the side into the river with him, but instead he let go of her when she started to turn. He had probably been anticipating that she might try jumping over the side, not that she would dare to push him over, and that assumption allowed the plan to work.
It was executed beautifully, better than she could have hoped for. And even before Tanya heard him hit the water, she had turned and was tripping into Lazar with an added little shove to the right, which sent him over the opposite side of the ramp from Stefan.
She didn't wait around for Serge's and Vasili's reactions to what she'd done. Since they hadn't been watching, all they could know, until they were told otherwise, was that two of their party were in the river, not how they got there.
Tanya leaped for the dock and took off at a full run, which lasted all of five seconds. "Noooo!" she wailed as her feet literally left the ground and the last voice she expected to hear growled into her ear, "Shut up, wench, or I will cuff you to silence.
That son of a bitch would, too. His arm around her waist was already trying mightily to squeeze her to silence as he marched her back to the boat.
Hell and high water, Vasili wasn't supposed to have come after her. He was just as tall and long-legged as Stefan and Lazar. She'd known he could catch her if he tried. But he wasn't supposed to have tried!
"Why don't you just tell them you couldn't find—"
The suggestion was cut off as her stomach made hard contact with his shoulder bone. She started struggling then, and screaming for help as soon as she caught her breath, but he managed to keep her up on his shoulder, and another hard bounce stopped her protests for a few more seconds.
Long enough for her to hear him say to someone who was probably staring openmouthed at them, "My servant's wife. She hates boats, but he refuses to leave her behind."
"I would," the stranger replied.
"So would I, but the silly man loves her, so what can you do?"
"That's a lie!" Tanya screeched, only to get another bounce on Vasili's hard shoulder.
By the time she caught her breath, she was already on the boat. Her hair had come loose again in her struggle and was trailing on the deck. She had a difficult time pushing it out of the way when she reared up, then wished she hadn't when she saw the many passengers lining the rail all watching Vasili and his squirming bundle, rather than getting a last view of Natchez. The men looked amused, some actually laughing, while the women were sternfaced, likely feeling affronted. And farther away, Serge was talking to an officiouslooking man — the captain? — and probably telling him some outrageous lie just like Vasili's, to explain why she had to be carried aboard. The passengers had no doubt been told something similar, which was why not a single one stepped forward to help her. Of Stefan and Lazar there was no sign. Maybe they'd drowned — hopefully.
Tanya still tried to get the truth out for whoever would listen, her last and only hope, but it came out a jumbled concoction of frantic words, interspersed with all her ooufs each time she was bounced into silence. Finally she just screamed in pure frustration, which was also interspersed with ooufs.
Too soon, she heard a door slam behind her and Vasili's irritated voice saying, "Come and stuff something in her damn mouth, will you, Sasha?"
And then she was pulled off his shoulder and set down jarringly on her feet. But she wasn't so jarred that she didn't immediately take a closefisted swing at her tormentor. Uselessly, however. He was as fast as Stefan was in avoiding what she could dish out. She ended up turning herself half around with the swing and was left staring at Sasha — and the cloth he had wadded in one hand.
The servant got blasted with everything Tanya was presently feeling. "Don't even think about it, you sawedoff little toady!"
Unaffected by the insult, he merely turned his black eyes on Vasili. Tanya did too, and moved out of his reach.
"Never mind, Sasha," Vasili said, having suddenly found something to be amused about. He even chuckled. "We'll leave her to deal with Stefan and his devil's temper. It's bound to be the worst we've seen in a long time."
If that was said to frighten Tanya, it worked quite well. Until that moment, she hadn't remembered Stefan's promise of unpleasant consequences. And she hadn't just caused a commotion. She'd dunked two men in the river, one of whom supposedly had the authority to do with her anything he cared to do. Her fear didn't subdue her, however, not when she didn't have to face it yet.