The Feast:
The rise in the land was the far side of the Great Swamp, as Jinx took to calling it. They rested on the bank after Adriana’s makeshift float got him across the soft part of the bottom. Only half of Jinx’s flask remained, but he shared it with Adriana nonetheless.
Jinx had lost track of the river traffic as the slog through the marsh took his total concentration. Now, lying on his side, he saw a great many boats of all shapes and sizes on the river. Most with differing contraptions rigged for pulling food out of the water.
“Are you two all right?” a man standing in a long boat shouted from offshore.
Jinx answered back, “Yes, we recently crossed the Great Swamp and lived to tell about it!” He puffed his chest out with pride.
“Swamp? That’s just a little wetland. You could’ve
