Chapter 29

Shock, more than anything, dominated Netya’s thoughts as Fern and Caspian helped her up the slope, the male and female taking charge of one of her arms each. Her face throbbed with a hot ache, her nose and right eye already swelling up where Vaya had hit her.

Growing up under a protective mother who had already lost much, Netya had never been exposed to the rough and tumble play that had occasionally left the other youngsters with cracked bones and deep bruises, and she was having trouble dealing with the pain that now gripped her.

She swayed giddily every few steps, her head dipping forward as if dragged down by the weight of her swelling face. Blood dripped freely from her nose, and every time she winced it only made the discomfort worse.

“Why would she do that?” Netya said numbly, her words slurred by the intense weight that seemed to press down on her nose. “What... What did I do?”

Fern looked to Caspian anxiously, and he sighed.

“I am sure she had