Dancing on Water

Chapter 11

**This chapter is dedicated to nsezsws for reminding us that we should update every once in awhile....Thanks!!  ;)

 Jasper's POV

Annette jumps into the frigid water, and my whole body freezes. My heart and my soul are broken apart. I try to jump after her but the Prince is already by the side of the ship. I grab him tightly and throw him back. I bark orders to throw him in the cell. This is his fault.

'Save her!" The prince screams. Idiot, of course I will. I grit my teeth

Annete's limbs flail and I can see the pain in each movement. The sun is hiding behind grey clouds making the water's every wave like a scalple of ice against her thin body. Yelling erupts from the deck and many of Annette's loyal friends throw ropes towards the her.

"Annette!" I scream. I'm ready to throw myself to the waves, but cannons fire and I turn. The Prince throws off a crew member and shoves me back. 

Something has changed; he looks away from Annette.

She is mine to save. I draw my sword and aim it at the prince. He points to something and I turn.

Huge boats sail twords us with an intricate design carved into the wood. Gypsies.

The captain curses. He loves Annette more than he leads on, but we stand no chance against them. Even if we managed to beat the vagrants thier caravans are tightly bound. Eyes and ears all over the country would chase us.

There are three towering boats and for a moment I think that one will crush Annest bobbing in the water. A body dives into the water and grabs a rope from the approaching ship. He drags Annette onboard. 

An explosion rips through the wood of the deck to my left. My ear takes a direct hit and I don't even hear Annettes scream. "Let me die!"

 My body moves from habit and I run.

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Annette's POV

My body is cold and stiff. I want to just give up. Each movement is so painful.

"It's ok now" A firmilar voice soothes. I grip onto something warm and soft. My eyelashes break free of sleep, and I see two lips. 

"Jasper" I moan. I hug tightly to the warm body.

I feels like hours, but I am sure it has been days since my concious has surfaced from the ice...my body aches with every movement.

Where am I?

Oh yes, I am in a house. I heard voices earlier. The warm body beside me is gone, and I sit up. The room is large compared to my room on the Captain's ship. My heart squeezes, it's not my room anymore. I look down and I see that I am in a dress.

A dress!? It's red velvet is soft, but confines my body to the smallest movements. 

I hear people talking, and I quickly lie down as if asleep.

"Poor girl." I hear a woman's voice, and a mouth watering smell of bread circles the room. 

"Shhhh" I whisper to my growling stumach, betraying my part of the sleeping girl.

"She's awake?" I hear a man's voice that is gruff and harsh. Disgust fills his voice and my heart skips a beat. I have no weapon and in this dress I won't be able to run far. Flashes of the days before I met the captain almost drive me to tears.

"Shush." The woman comes closer to me and puts her hand on my forehead. I jump up and grab her neck. She is a plump woman, and the smell of bread is from her. I twist my arm around her neck and a startled cry bubbles from her lips. 

"Oh my! We seem to have frightened her." The woman is very calm for being an impulse away from death.

The old man meets my  eyes. His skin is a dark and wrinkled, worn from the toll of life. His eyes are dark black orbs. His dress and color tell me eyerything. I know where I am, and I can't be here. I release the woman. He is a Romani. "Your a gypsy."

"Deary wait! I told you she would be frightened!" The woman yells after me when I run out of the small room. It's not a room, it is a vardo, a wagon, and I am in a huge caravan.