Everything hurt. Yet, he was dimly aware of lying somewhere fairly soft and much cooler than the heat of the Burning. Slowly, he opened his eyes. He was inside a building. Obviously. There was a roof, and he suspected he lay on some kind of a bed. It took a long moment of mental scrambling to recall what happened after collapsing on the sand in the Burning and assuming he was going to die there. He’d been rescued by a man, well, two men in truth.
Scraps of conversation between the two floated back. One was definitely dubious about Nev’s value, the other one…the other one was kind, offering water, holding him securely on the horse during the ride, holding him tighter yet when the firestorm was drawing close.
Cramps tore through his lower belly, turning an ache into a nauseating knot of pa
