Something large and solid struck Vix in the back. She was wrenched from Caine, and flipped end over end. A moment later, she crashed into something else, and was sent careening off in another direction. She fell through the total, tumbling dark, bruising her shoulders, her back, her arms, never knowing from where she would be struck next.

Vix tucked herself into a ball and prayed for it to end.

She rolled on her side down a steep slope. Trying to stop herself did no good; the ...