Fog clung to her skin and clothes, condensing and making her damp. The light of autumn dawn seeped weak and cold and she groaned, at last able to regain some semblance of clear consciousness.

Water. Kaphri rolled weakly onto her belly and cupped her hands to scoop the lake water. She recoiled in sudden, repulsed horror.

The water floated with carrion!

Kaphri stared with uncomprehending disbelief at the bloody chunks of meat, bones, and fur that gently bobbed on the wavelets. She rolled away from the grisly sight and almost plunged into the same stuff on her other side. Horrified, she realized the putrid flesh was deteriorating right before her eyes.

As she twisted about, she discovered she was on an ovular, black object just big enough for her to lie prone, out in the middle of a lake. All about the thing floated the sickening debris.

Vague gray images flitted through her confusion. That scream of pain…

The sucking sound from her dreams, softer now, penetrated her awareness, and this time she was sick.

She felt Gemma’s gentle mindtouch. “A chassh feeding is not a pleasant sight.“