Sagiri's consciousness returned in fragments. First came the sound of wind rushing past him.
Then the steady rhythm of enormous movements shaking the earth beneath him. Everything else felt distant, as though he were trapped beneath an endless sea, struggling toward a surface that refused to come closer.
His eyelids fluttered open, only to close again as the world spun violently.
His vision was nothing but shifting blurs of light and shadow. He tried to breathe, but even that felt heavy. His chest burned with every breath, and the poison still gnawed at him from within.
Slowly, painfully, his sight began to clear. Beneath him was not stone. It was warm and alive.
He could hear the strong heartbeat and another beneath it.
Black scales stretched in every direction beneath his body. He was lying across the broad head of Zaira.
