Katsa was not sure whether the vice grip that immediately pressed on her at contact was a person or the earth from above: it all felt very much the same, and she struggled without a second thought. Rock or man, it was strong, stronger than Katsa, and she could not immediately break herself free. That was no problem. She would simply have to find a different method.

She could begin to hear breaths heavy and hot near her ears, and the arms and chest pressing down around her clearly belonged to a man. That was better than rock or any other beast that might have been down here in this cave. Her back hit something solid, and Katsa used that as leverage, trying to twist them around and trap him instead, so that she could wriggle free.

It all happened in seconds—too quickly, with as focused as Katsa was in getting the use of her arms back to focus on the situation of rock and water and whether light still remained in the tunnel.