“How did you get here?” he greeted him. “I thought I was the only one left alive.” He began immediately to make his way toward the man.

“By water,” Jess said and laughed sourly. His voice was harsh and raspy. “And I shared your cheery thought about survival. Looks like that little quake we had a few days ago saved a second surprise for us.”

“Does something like this happen often?” Sedric asked, already feeling his anger rise that no one had warned him.

Slipping. Distress was plain in the dragon’s rumbled call and in the thought she pushed at him.

“A change in the water, yes. A flood like this, no. This is a new one for me, but not entirely ill fortune for either of us.”

“What do you mean?”

Jess grinned. “Just that fate seems to have not only saved us, but thrown us together with everything we need for a most profitable partnership. For one thing, when I finally kicked my way to the surface, I found a boat caught in the same current that I was. Not my boat, unfortunately, but one that belonged to someone sensible enough to stow his gear tightly.” He coughed harshly and then tried to clear his throat. It didn’t help his rough voice. “It has a couple of blankets, some fishing gear, even a fire-making kit and a pot. Greft’s, probably, but I’ll wager that he’ll never have need of it again. That wave hit so hard and so suddenly that it’s hard to believe any of us survived. It almost makes me believe in fate. Maybe the gods threw us together to see how smart we were. Because if you’re a clever fellow, we have everything we need for a very comfortable new life.”

As Jess had croaked out his words, he’d dismounted from the tree’s trunk and stepped onto a log. It bobbed beneath him as it took his weight. For a large man, he was graceful enough as he trod swiftly along its length. In the crook of one arm, he carried several round red fruit. Sedric wasn’t familiar with what they were, but at the sight of them, both his hunger and thirst roared.