I feel the movements of its mouth. Every time its teeth close around me, the hot agony pulses from my shoulders to my toes. It’s rhythmic and steady and endless. It grunts. “Stars, you’re heavy.” My eyes snap open, but I’m surrounded by darkness. I’m curled into a ball, imprisoned in a cocoon of scratchy material that reeks of blood and animal musk. I squirm feebly against its stiff walls. My damp gown is bunched about my legs. My cloak is gone. My hair is tangled around my neck and face. My left side is mashed against something hard and cool and unyielding, and I’m held in place by a tight binding that presses against my hips and shoulders. I try to raise my head, but I’m completely enclosed. I try to tear at the fabric, but a grinding wave of searing heat scorches its way down my arm. I scream. Pain stops chewing. And then he curses. The binding around my hips loosens, followed by the release of the tension at my shoulders. The world spins and I’m falling, but my collision with the ground is surprisingly gentle.
