Chapter 52
Alas! I pity him. Without a friend,
Without a fellow-sufferer, left alone,
Deprived of all the mutual joys that flow
From sweet society- distempered too!
How can he bear it? O unhappy race
Of mortal man! doomed to an endless round
Of sorrows, and immeasurable woe!
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—Sophocles, Philoctetes
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MIKHAIL
I dive into the Hiddekel River like an eagle going after a fish. A few curiosity seekers line up along the hastily-patched mud-brick wall, but none of them are Pareesa. Not a single person waves to me. I don't care, really. Much. Pareesa is the only one who matters. She's the one whose loss of faith hurts me the most.
My lungs burn as I feel my way blindly through the murky river. The swollen current tears at my wings and tries to carry me downstream, but the waters have
