Nyx
The water worker stopped her before the bend.
"That edge won't hold."
Nyx looked at the strip of wet ground beside his boot. Grass covered most of it. Beneath the grass, the bank had split away from the roots.
She moved uphill.
Behind her, the guard did the same.
They had waited until morning for a supported search of this stretch. Nyx had spent much of the night resenting the delay. In daylight, she could see where the river had eaten into the bank and left a thin roof of soil over empty space.
Running here in the dark would have given the clinic more work.
The worker carried a long pole. He used it before each doubtful step, showing them a route that kept away from the broken drainage mouth.
"He came out there," the guard said.
Nyx crouched beside a dark mark on a pale stone. Blood had dried along one side. A second stain lay beyond it, partly covered by leaves.
Malcris had been bleeding when he left the room. This matched the route the guard had seen him take.
