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The cattle were part of her family’s abundant wealth, a syiven to the on the vegetation that had grown during Madagascar’s wet season

She put the cattle behind her and rounded a bend in the river It brought her to an area of natural carnage Weeks of rain had brought on heavy flooding, the worst this part of the island had ever seen

As the strea enough to scour out huge sections of the banks, undercutting the land and tearing it away in parking-lot-sized chunks Fallen trees had been swept downriver like toothpicks; those that rele, their roots upturned

Farther on, she came to a section of shoreline that had once been a peninsula sticking out into a large bend in the river It was now an island, cut off from the land and surrounded on all sides by the ar river

She checked the horse with a slight movement of the reins and paused The Moza waters stretching to the horizon Three hundred miles beyond lay the eastern shore of Africa

She’d come to this spot often over the years It was her favorite place on the island, though for reasons others would find odd Alone in this desolate place, she felt so different: a certain kind of sadness that she hid fro else she possessed It was part of her, an emotion she didn’t want to lose

Unfortunately, things were changing Events were unfolding beyond her control, and thattorn away piece by piece, like the s channel

As she watched, a section of red clay the size of a house sloughed into the water frole, like an iceberg calving froan to dissolve as it contacted the churning river

In its place she noticed so odd Not more clay but dark, blackenedwater rushed past, relentlessly scouring themore and more A seam appeared and then another She saw that the as actually great plates of riveted steel

A chill settled on her spine, a sick feeling rising in her stomach Fear and curiosity mixed in a cocktail of emotions She felt drawn to what she saw and afraid of it at the same time

An urge to cross the river and investigate ca to her, as if she were being asked to cohosts trapped beyond that metal wall

She eased the horse to the river’s edge but the ani, the footing too treacherous One step into it and she and the horse would be carried away as easily as the large trees

The horse raised its head and neighed Soht the woman to her senses She backed off and looked toward the small island once more

She didn’t knohat lay beneath the reddish soil And suddenly she didn’t want to know She only wanted to leave, to get out of there, before the truth was revealed

She turned the horse sharply, pulling its head around, and kicking her heels into its sides