Tool wondered if the girl was going mad. It happened to people. Sometimes they saw too much and their minds went away. They lost the will to survive. They curled up and surrendered to madness.

Tool decided there was nothing he could do for the girl, but he wouldn’t leave good meat to feral dogs. He left the girl standing by the grave and headed for the goat.

The new dog lowered its head and bared its teeth. Growled as Tool approached.

Tool’s own lips peeled back.

Oh? You think to challenge me, brother?

He snarled, and the dog fled, cowering. Tool almost laughed at the pathetic mongrel. He gathered up the goat, feeling increasing satisfaction. He was healing, and he would eat well. Soon, he would be himself again.

It had been a mistake to drift close to the Drowned Cities, to think that there would be a place for him in its chaos.

But now he was healing, and soon he would be gone.

Mahlia watched Tool stalk the dog. The half-man’s snarl echoed in the ruins, full of blood and challenge.

The dog fled, its tail between its legs, looking back in fear to see if it was being followed. Beyond the half-man, Mahlia caught sight of something else: a person scuttling through the ruins. Hiding.

For a second Mahlia hoped it was Mouse, and then she was afraid it was soldiers returning, and then she realized it was neither.

A woman emerged into the open and stopped short, staring at them. Amaya. Her clothes were torn. She was nearly naked. Bloody streaks marked her body. Beatings or forest scratches, Mahlia couldn’t tell. She froze at the sight of Mahlia and Tool.

“Amaya?” Mahlia whispered.

Horror filled Amaya’s expression. To Mahlia, she looked like a dog that had been beaten. Amaya’s frightened eyes flicked to Tool, then back to Mahlia.

“You,” she whispered. “You did this.”

Mahlia took a step toward the woman, wanting to help, or apologize, to do anything at all. “What happened?”

“You did this,” Amaya said again. And then, with hatred. “You did this!”

Mahlia took another step toward her, but at her approach the woman’s face filled with fear, and she fled.

Mahlia stared after the ragged woman stumbling away. Was she supposed to go after her? Amaya wouldn’t stand a chance on her own. Did she owe Amaya something for everything she’d lost?

“You cannot help her,” Tool said as the woman disappeared into the jungle greenery.

“She won’t make it on her own,” Mahlia said.

“No. But there are a few other villagers who escaped. More like her. They are returning.”

“If I hadn’t riled the soldiers, none of this would have happened.”

Tool snorted. “Do not overestimate your own importance.”

“But it’s true. If I hadn’t set the coywolv on them, the soldiers wouldn’t have done this!”