* * *
Ves, a dozen hands away, saw Mann hit the water and bob up a moment later, struggling with his hand, which had something jutting out of it. Pasha came down a few seconds later, flailing, and hit with one foot extended. Ves saw his leg collapse. Mann was treading water nearby, a pained look on his face. The old man gave a vague wave, and Ves saw the crossbow head glint in the unnatural light of Fom reflected from the clouds.
Ves swam over to where Pasha had disappeared and groped around where the splash still rippled outward, until he felt him floundering ten hands below the surface. He grabbed him and dragged him upwards.
Pasha murmured something. The young man’s leg floated out to the side at a sickening angle. The glint of bone jutted from his knee, and the water around it bloom
