I stared at the glowing yellow dots.

They're just fireflies, I told myself. Fireflies. The soft approaching sounds are definitely not the footsteps of a predator.

That was when the canine decided to step out of the shadows into the moonlight, fangs bared.

"Grrrrrwwl!"

I swallowed.

"Um...good doggie? Nice doggie?"

"Rrrawrrrrrrrrr!"

Slowly, the beast started to advance on me. And it was a beast, no doubt about that! Shaggy, bristly, with evilly glowing eyes staring straight at me.

Or...no.

Not at me. At the ground in front of me. I glanced down—and my eyes landed on the two sticks I had tried to use to light a fire.

I blinked.

Then I looked up at the wild dog again. The dog whose tongue was lolling out, and who was still staring at the sticks expectantly.

You're frigging kidding me, right?

"You..." I picked up one of the sticks. "You want this?"

"Woof!"

The horrible, terrifying beast wagged its tail. Slowly, carefully, I raised my hand—then threw the stick.

"Um...fetch?"

"Woof!"

And, yipping happily, the dog rushed off after his new toy.

Had that really just happened?

That question was answered ten seconds later with a resounding "yes" when the stray dog came rushing back, stick in his mouth and tail wagging enthusiastically.

"Um...good boy! Excellent job of stick-fetching. And not biting my hand off."

"Woof! Woof!"

"Good boy! Good boy!"

I was saying that a bit too often, wasn't I?

"I, um...I think I'll call you Fence."

"Woof?"

"You'll understand when you meet your adopted cousins Barb and Wire."

"Woof!"

Cautiously, I reached out.

All right. Deep breaths, Lilly. Deep breaths. Just do it!

I patted his head.

Hand still attached! Arm unbitten! Yay!

Tentatively, I reached out and took hold of the stick again. Fence yipped expectantly. Drawing back my arm with what little power I had still left, I hurled the thing as hard as I could. The dog raced after it as if the hounds of hell were on his heels and also wanted to play with the stick. Hopefully, he'd spend all night out there looking for it.

Two minutes later...

"Woof! Woof!"

"Back again?"

"Woof!"

"I'm trying to bloody sleep! I need my strength for tomorrow if I want to survive! I don't have time for you!"

"Woof?"

His big ears drooped, He looked up at me with bit, innocent, literal puppy-dog eyes.

Dang it!

Taking a deep breath, as well as the stick, I hurled the thing out of the cave again. Happily, Fence raced after it, running at much higher speeds than fences had any right to. I ended up playing with the stupid mutt with the bloody irresistible puppy-dog eyes for hours upon hours. Or at least that's what it felt like. The darn dog seemed to have unending energy!

Then again, playing with the stick was probably better than the alternative. Especially when, after his latest run, the cute murder monster of a doggie looked over at Mr Rikkard Ambrose, tongue lolling and salivating. With hope shining in his big, innocent eyes, he looked up at me.

"No, you can't nibble on him," I told him. "Contrary to appearances, he isn't a chew toy."

Fence's ears drooped.

"Oh, um...don't be sad, all right?"

The ears drooped a little more.

Heck! Why am I worrying about this? I'm bloody starving and dying of thirst here, and might even freeze to death tonight! A stupid oversized puppy should be the least of my worries!

Emphasis on "should". Stupid puppy-dog eyes.

We ended up playing with that dratted stick for half the night. Again and again, he came back with that bloody thing! He just wouldn't stop! He...just...wouldn't...wouldn't...

***

In the sunshine, out on the open water, two strapping young men were indulging in some vigorous exercise. It was obvious at first glance how much they were enjoying themselves from how they were pumping their arms, rowing across the water faster than a team at an Oxbridge rowing competition. After all, it couldn't possibly be that such big, strong men were rowing so hard because someone had forced them, right?

"Um...Captain?"

The captain, who was seated opposite the two young sailors, looked up at the only member of his substantially reduced crew on his new flagship.

"Yes, McBride?"

"How long are we supposed to keep rowing this darn lifeboat?"

"That's not the question, McBride."

"It ain't?"

"No. The question is: do you want to turn around and tell Mr Karim that we haven't found anything?"

"Oh."

"Yes."

"Should we...?"

"Row faster? Definitely."

"Aye aye, Captain! Right away, Captain!"

***

Water. Cool, blissful water on my skin. Ah, that amazing feeling. I sighed. Finally, I'd found some liquid! We weren't going to die of thirst! We weren't going to—

I frowned.

Something wasn't entirely right. It was liquid, yes. Marvellous, magnificent, life-saving liquid. But...why was it all over my face?

And...

Why did it smell of dog?

"Woof!"

"Agh! Yuk! What the bloody hell...?"

Sputtering, I pushed the stupid mutt away, but not in time to avoid having my face enthusiastically licked one last time. Ducking out of the way of another lick-attack, I looked around, blinking in the morning sunlight. I...had slept? For an entire night?

And my throat felt like it. It was dry enough that for a second, just one second, I considered licking up the dog saliva.

I had to get water. Right now.

Just then, a yip from Fence interrupted my deep, philosophical thoughts. Blinking, I watched as he turned and trotted out of the cave. Did he want to play with the stick again? That bloody dog had no sense of timing! I couldn't waste my time on him right now.

I need to find water! Everyone and everything needs water to survive. I have to—

I froze.

Water.

Everyone and everything needs water to survive. Including animals. Like dogs.

My head jerked up, just in time to see Fence's tail vanishing between the trees.

Crapfriggshitcrap!

Leaping up from where I was lying beside Mr Ambrose, I dashed out of the cave at full speed. And I don't mean pregnant-starving-thirsty-lady top speed. I mean top speed, period. Yet despite this, I could hardly keep up. Ahead of me, I could hear the mutt racing through jungle.

Bloody hell, why does he have to be that fast?

Crap, crap, crap!

Somehow, some way, I managed to catch up to him. Fence glanced sideways, spotted me jogging beside him—then yipped excitedly and sped up.

"This isn't a bloody race!" I shouted after the frigging mutt. "We aren't doing this for fun!"

In response, he sped up some more.

"Slow down! Slow down, you bloody infuriating fleabag son of a bitch!"

Honestly, it felt quite good to say that without it technically being an insult.

Fence, however, did not seem to agree. He didn't slow down. He didn't come back to me to helpfully lead his new owner and designated stick-thrower to the nearest source of water. Instead he sped up again. By now, I couldn't even see him anymore.

"Stop, you stupid over-enthusiastic mutt!"

"Woof!"

My head whirled towards the sound, and instantly, I changed my direction, barrelling through the underbrush. As long as I could follow the sounds, this could still work!

"Good doggie! What a wonderful dog you are! And I'll punch anyone who says anything different!"

The good thing about pregnancy: you have the perfect excuse to change your opinion every three seconds, and no one can complain.

"Good doggie! Bark again for me again, will you?"

"Woof!"

Yes!

Panting and swaying, I followed Fence's intermittent barks, changing directions every time his signal came from up ahead. Finally, I staggered onto a clearing, filled with knee-high grass and flowers in all the colours of the rainbow. Only...

The bloody dog was nowhere to be seen!

"Fence?"

Silence.

I felt one of my eyebrows twitch. Mr Rikkard Ambrose was lying unconscious in a cave, and this mutt still managed to pick up his bad habits? I was going to have a word with my husband once he woke up.

If he wakes up.

Clenching my teeth, I strode forward into the grass. "Fence? Fence, where are you?"

"Woof!"

A happily waving tail emerged from among the tall grass, along with several more energetic barks and...splashing?

Speeding up, I dashed forward as fast as I could, until finally...

There!

The grass parted and there, right in front of me, spread a glittering, clear blue pond. Reeds rimmed the small lake, and beautiful petals swam on the surface, but all I could see was the water. The beautiful, bountiful, life-giving water. Falling to my knees, I dove forward and plunged my face into the pool. Greedily, I started lapping up the water, uncaring of the fact that I was acting altogether a little too much like the dog lapping up his drink three feet to my left. Right at that moment, I couldn't bring myself to mind. I'd found water! Water water water water water water! Wonderful, wish-fulfilling, wound-healing water. With every drop, I felt my raw throat soothed, felt my half-dead body come back to life again. I wanted nothing more than to dive head-first into the sparkling pond and not come up for air again before I'd drained it all dry.

I didn't, though. I remembered all too well reading up about dehydration back when my little sister Ella had come down with the cholera. Ravenously drinking water after being dehydrated could be just as harmful as the dehydration itself. Normally, I wouldn't care. I was so thirsty right now, I would have drunk all the water in one go. But...

Falling back into the grass, I glanced down at my stomach, panting.

I wasn't exactly in a normal situation, was I?

Gently, I caressed my bulging belly.

Please! Please don't let anything bad have happened. Please let me have been in time.

I wasn't entirely sure what those words were. A prayer? A plea to the universe? Whatever the heck they were, I hoped someone was listening.

Falling back against a tree that overshadowed the pond, I took a deep breath. For the first time in days, I was really capable of once more taking in the world around me. The sweet smell of the flowers, the singing of tropical birds...this was really quite the paradise. A deadly paradise, but still a paradise.

Reaching out, I ruffled the fur of Fence, who was still happily guzzling away. "Thanks, mate. Normally I don't admit things like this to members of the male gender, but...couldn't have done it without you."

"Woof!"

"No need to sound so self-satisfied!"

With a sigh, I closed my eyes and gave myself two minutes to relax. Just two minutes to do nothing but listen to the birds sing in the trees and let sink in the fact that I was not, in the immediate future, going to die.

Then I forced myself to open my eyes again and bent over the pond.

"All right," I muttered. "Time to bring some water to my hubby in distress. Wouldn't want that son of a bachelor to croak on me. At least not before I've had a chance to wring his neck for trying to play the hero and leaving me alone like this!"

I reached out and, dipping my hands into the water, cupped them to gather up as much as I could. Somehow, I managed to rise to my feet without spilling more than a drop or two. Then I turned towards the forest, starting forward—and froze.

Slowly, I glanced down at my new canine companion.

"Um...Fence?"

"Woof?"

"So...do you know how to get back to the cave?"

-----------------------------------------

My dear Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen,

In case you were wondering what "Oxbridge" is and what it has to do with rowing - it is a combination word made up out of "Oxford" and "Cambridge", the two most famous universities in the United Kingdom. It is often used when referring to the two universities together. Both those institutions regularly hold rowing competitions.

Yours Truly

Sir Rob