It took Adelaida, with Derzhava in her arms, what seemed like hours to navigate the onrush of warriors. Sometimes she was buoyed onward by the stream of soldiers, sometimes she and Derzhava seemed snagged, like a tree branch stuck on a boulder. If, from above, the flow of warriors toward their bloody destination had thrilled her, now, in the midst of them, she was terrified of being trampled underfoot. Every passing look, whether from warrior or engineer or physician, was tainted with annoyance at her intrusion into a world where she didn’t belong.
What was she doing, really? Derzhava was hardly in a fit state. Her terror at the coming of the giants had seemed to addle her mind, but her body was not much better. The sweating was now profuse, her hair sticking to her scalp. Worse than that
