The sudden, crippling cold forced me back into my body, and I awoke with a gasp. Sweat streaked my body, yet I was racked with chills, shivering so violently that I'd already exhausted what little strength I'd managed to recover from resting. It felt as though I was back in the slave wagon in the middle of a snowstorm, frost coating my hair and fingers turning numb with frostbite.
The fact that I'd regained consciousness at all was surprising. I'd half expected myself to drift deeper into the darkness, perhaps never to wake up. But the thought brought less fear than I expected, my heart so filled with sorrow that there wasn't room for much else.
