Lost in salt marsh.
Hunger and thirst drove her, but she continued to follow the flow of water. A stream seemed to carve through the swampy area. In the morning she licked the collected dew off the broad leaves of plants living between the tree roots. Constantly wet from the waist down, she rested on low tree trunks to dry, but it didn’t help much. She now realized where she must be.
She looked at disgruntled Alfred. “Somehow we have wandered into the Great Salt Marsh, it can’t be anything else. This is much farther south than the Stepping Islands.” He glared at her.
The only consolation was Alfred found the going as hard as herself with none of his kind around to help. Twice, in a sudden flashing twist of movement, jaws reached for the diminutive Alfred. Only his quick agility saved him. Each time, Vesper swallowed at her own vulnerability and watched where she put each foot. She kept to the gravel lined shallows outside the tree groves, where the footing was easier. High, dry grassy hummocks gave resting space. Still, occasionally, the stream flowed through one of the tangled groves of strange trees. Once her hand, touching a branch for balance, felt it slither away from her fingers. She screamed.
A short while later she heard something large moving behind her. Keeping as quiet as she could, she moved with careful stealth. No matter which way she went, the sound followed. Alfred looked as worried as she knew she felt. Stupid, so stupid. How could she not plan her route, know the way before she started? So shortsighted. She’d die here and Drew would never know her whereabouts.
Her foot caught and twisted, tripping her. She plunged into the waist-deep water face first, in an ungainly plummet. Vesper tried turning to right herself, to get her face above water. The boot held her foot fast, locking it at an ungainly angle in the twisted roots. She thrashed in the water, unable to pull herself upright, and too deep to keep her head above water. Ominously, she heard another loud splash nearby.
Fear drove her underwater to tug at her foot. She came up gasping for air, hands flailing, and tried again. The wet laces of her boot were cinched tight. She yanked on her leg, bracing against the branch roots pulling on her foot. Burning lungs drove her to the surface. Twisting she went under and jerked again. Useless. Surfacing, she looked into huge, sharp-toothed jaws. A scream tore from her throat and she gagged, salty water filling her mouth. She went under a last time blinded by a flash of sunlight.