twenty-seven days after being brought back to muat-riya, near a moon of laying in silent coma, in the month of Hathor, khusobek came awake with a roar and a gasp.

he remembered only pain, only the slow stripping of hide from his body and the tacky feel of clotting blood as it poured down his side. the crocodile recalled the woman's flesh tearing and tearing beneath his teeth, the shouts.

but all the remainder was blackened space.

attempts to roll seethed the captain with agonized groans. his shoulders were a mass of fire.

at the door, tavina whispered in a stuporous monotone; "tell pharaoh @Toula and semer-wati @Rashepses that khusobek has awakened."

when they arrived, her thinned and filthy spine would be bent over the soldier, wiping his mouth and feeding him water with herbs; any entry would see tavina fade to one side, head turning so they did not see her hatred.