“We were carried swiftly along the bay, mostly underwater,” Gull said in answer to my question. “This place is full of strange currents. When we first surfaced, Felix managed to grab hold of me, but there was no getting to shore. We were pulled around that curve of the bay, far beyond sight of the rest of you. The current was fierce. The strongest swimmer couldn’t make headway against it. I did wonder if that thing, that creature, was somehow making it—that’s a sheltered inlet, after all, not some wild river. Eventually we were washed, not onto the shore as we’d hoped, but into a kind of tunnel, an underground passage. We thought we were dead all over again—it was dark and the place was half full of water. There was a ledge to one side, but we couldn’t get up on it. After a while the ground rose, the water grew shallower, and we stepped out onto rocks. Since there was no going back, we went on. There was an opening or two overhead—you’ll have seen what a maze of passages this place is—so we could find our way, more or less. When we came out, here we were. These fellows thought they were seeing ghosts.”

“Dagda’s britches,” said Cathal. “That’s the least plausible story I’ve heard in years, Gull.”

Felix was coughing. It hurt me to hear him. It took me back to those nights in the infirmary, when I lay awake listening to him struggle and begged the gods to let him live for one more day.

“Cathal,” said Gull, “we must get these fellows out of here as soon as we can. I don’t want them spending another night without proper attention, and I can’t give them that without my healer’s supplies. We can’t get Thorgrim here up the ravine, but we can go out through the tunnel.”

Cathal gave him a direct sort of look. “Didn’t you say part of it was underwater?”

“The fellows tell me there’s a big tidal flow here. Judging by what they’ve said, if we go soon we’ll be out before it starts to rise again. I reckon it’ll be knee deep at most when we get to the other end, and we should be able to make our way back to Liadan around the edge of the bay.” When Cathal did not immediately reply, Gull added, “Unless you want to go back the way you came, and leave us here until tomorrow.”

Felix’s coughing fit had passed. In the quiet of the cave, the wheeze of his breath was like wheat stalks rustling in the wind. Everyone could see the look on Thorgrim’s face, a naked longing to be safe again, warm and dry and tended to by kindly hands.