Contents
14. The Dead and the Dry
Overview
Kinch and Galva, parched on the Giantlands plain, avoid true giants and gamble on unknown berries that sicken them and trigger hallucinations. Kinch briefly communes with Norrigal through a dead medium before Bully Boy steers him back. Rain the next morning saves them, but slavers arrive, shifting peril from thirst to captivity.
Summary
At daybreak, Kinch and Galva traverse a barren stretch and spot three true giants. Kinch signals Galva to hide, and they lie low until the giants pass, conserving strength as thirst worsens. Twice they pursue mirage-like signs of water and fail, realizing death by dehydration is possible.
Near a dry riverbed, they find bushes heavy with unfamiliar bluish berries. With no water left and no tools to dig effectively, Kinch taste-tests a berry and, emboldened, they both eat. They camp low in the riverbed without a fire, lying on their sides in case of poisoning.
Night brings violent illness and delirium. Kinch and Galva retch, hallucinate stars and flames, and run naked across the grass. In a vision, Kinch enters a cold, emptier plain, where a voice like Norrigal’s speaks through a dead woman, offering no remedy but seeking a last look at him. The encounter fractures into crude dead-speech, and Bully Boy’s rao leads Kinch back toward waking.
Kinch and Galva recover their scattered clothes by starlight, swearing off the berries. At dawn, rain finally falls and saves them from death by thirst. As the relief begins, slavers arrive, transforming their survival into a new and immediate threat.
Who Appears
- Kinch Na ShannackNarrator; leads stealth to avoid giants, eats toxic berries, hallucinates, speaks with Norrigal via a dead conduit, survives with rain.
- GalvaShares water, resists teasing, eats berries, suffers hallucinations with Kinch, survives the night and the saving rain.
- NorrigalAppears through a dead woman to speak with Kinch; bittersweet, offers no rescue, then fades amid the dead’s crude voice.
- Bully BoyKinch’s cat-spirit tattoo; its call guides Kinch out of the deathlike vision and back toward waking.
- GiantsThree true giants crossing the plain; avoided by Kinch and Galva to prevent discovery.
- SlaversArrive with the morning rain, turning the pair’s rescue from thirst into a new imminent danger.
- Dead woman (conduit)Corpse-spirit Norrigal borrows to speak; shifts to lewd, mindless dead-speech before Kinch departs.