Jiang woke because the floor had become a river.
Brinn dragged the seal hide uphill with both hands while black water ran beneath it. His body came along wrapped in the middle, warm and useless, like cargo that had already bitten the porter.
"Stay asleep," she said. "You were easier."
Jiang lifted his head.
The beak packing had dried hard against the crack. His shoulder binding remained tight and showed no fresh red. Warmth sat deep enough in his breast for a full shiver to travel through him instead of dying halfway.
A fish tail rested beside his face.
He swallowed the little cavefish and discovered another already heavy in his stomach. Brinn had fed him when he surfaced between black stretches of exhausted sleep. She had also changed the cloth at his shoulder. The damp discarded strips lay beside the warm seam, stained rust-red rather than bright.
