So this was the world Kaine was from. Cuthbert wondered at it, but how they'd got there, what it meant, what had happened... all that was subsumed by the much more important question.

"Where is she now?" As he spoke, Cuthbert was taking stock of himself. His leg still ached a little, but it wasn't broken any more, or even splinted. That was a wonder, but mostly just a relief. His ribs, likewise, didn't hurt as they had, and none of the injuries he'd borne in the fight, even the minor ones, remained. All that was left was a dull, pulsing ache in his head. He could live with that.

He could, apparently, live.