The impact was not the end. Zeven felt the world rush into a blur of splintering wood and shrieking wind before the crushing embrace of the river claimed him. The water was icy, a biting frost that seeped through his skin and into his marrow, but it was the blunt force of the rocky riverbed that brought him back to reality. He landed hard, the breath driven from his lungs, his body folding over the slick, moss-covered stones. For several heartbeats, the only thing he knew was the roar of the rushing current and the dull, throbbing pain in his bones.
He groaned, the sound weak against the thunderous flow of the dark river. Every movement felt like dragging lead weights through mud. He lay still, staring at the blurred shapes of the vertical stone walls that rose high above him on either si
