Except Kiaria and Diala, everyone who had survived the swamp had already reached a safe location.
The place they halted at was not truly safe–no place near the swamp ever was–but compared to the suffocating mire behind them, it felt like another world. The ground was firmer, the air thinner, less tainted by decay and Yin residue. Even so, silence dominated. Not the peaceful kind, but the kind that settled after catastrophe, heavy and unwilling to disperse.
Princess Lainsa lay on a cloak spread hastily over the ground.
Her breathing was even, but her mind was far from calm.
