Aldor's muscles strained as he tugged the huntsman into the boat. Dale fell against one of the benches, hitting his head hard. He omitted a muffled grunt of pain. Jasper, frantic, collapsed by his brother.
“Dale,” Aldor gasped. He took the huntsman's arm and roughly sat him on the bench. “Are you alright?”
“No-no-no,” Dale muttered, his hands lifting to his temples to rub his sore skull. “I-I think I'll be fine.”
Turning to his brother, Dale said, “Now that was not Ace.”
“So,” said Laurence, taken aback, “now that everyone's… alive, perhaps we should—”
He never finished.
The sindies erupted from the water, fangs glistening. It suddenly got harder to breathe. One sindie leapt into the boat and lay writhing and retching on the deck. All except Gregory recoiled, who snarled and brandish
