But they did their duty at the Swift Water, because they were needed, and then Xessa visited Otek and told him Kime was dead – again and again – and waited until his friends arrived to sit with him – and tell him, again and again, that Kime was dead. And then, when rage and grief climbed her throat until she choked on them, she came here. Came to watch her captive struggle to live, throwing chunks of meat at it, refilling the pool as water seeped slowly through the stone, keeping it alive. Mustn’t die. Not yet. Couldn’t die yet. Xessa hadn’t learnt enough from it yet. Xessa hadn’t hurt it enough yet.

Of course she hadn’t learnt from it. How could she, with Tika and Kime and Tayan and Vaqix all gone? They were the clever ones, the ones who would have known what to look for, what to think or do. Xessa wasn’t clever; she was a killer. She hadn’t been fast enough to save Kime. She hadn’t thought he might need her and so he’d died. She hadn’t been clever enough to see through Ilandeh’s ruse, fuck what the other Xentib were still saying about her innocence. Hadn’t suspected Dakto, and by now he’d probably killed Lilla.

Xessa jabbed the Drowned’s foot with her spear, her movement so sudden and unexpected that Ossa leapt and barked, and she could feel the vibrations of his challenge swirling around her. She hesitated, concentrating. She could feel vibrations. And so could the Drowned. It moved. Finally. It had done little more than twitch when she poked it, but now its head rose and it blinked those round, black eyes and it cocked its head as if listening.

Xessa snapped her fingers and the dog quietened. She studied the Drowned. It reached out a long-taloned hand and caressed the wall of the womb and the eja was suddenly sickened. Their most holy place, befouled by this creature. The Drowned opened its mouth and began to sing, its throat sac bulging and emptying. The vibrations returned, stronger than before, fluttering in Xessa’s bones, but this time they seemed to grow in intensity, as if the womb itself was reacting to the song of the Drowned.

Ossa began to bark again and then stopped. His ears pricked and his head cocked to one side just as the Drowned’s had done. And then, tentatively, his tail wagged.

A fresh, poisonous rush of fury swept through Xessa and she jabbed its foot again, this time hard enough to pierce. Its body jerked and perhaps it made some squeal or sound of pain, and the womb echoed that back too, and suddenly Ossa threw back his head, his legs straight and stiff as he howled.