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He wasn’t quite sure why either of them hadn’t moved on yet For himself, he suspected whatever divine entity had turned hiht to inspire so the sea
Huiously productive use of their tiet lucky and starve to death
That seeood a plan as any
The Akaneed’s uess at Surely, he reasoned, colossal sea snakes couldn’t subsist purely on angry glowers and snarls from the deep Perhaps, then, it was simply a battle of wills: his will to die and the snake’s will to eat hih those two see …
By that reasoning, it would be easy to walk fifteen paces into the surf until the sea touched his neck It would be easy to close his eyes, take three deep breaths as he felt the water shift beneath him It would be easy to feel the creature’s titanic jaws clamp around him, feel the needles merciful on his flesh and watch his blood seep out on blosso clouds as the beast carried his corpse to an afterlife beneath the waves
The Akaneed’s eye eh it sensed this train of thought and thoroughly approved
‘No,’ he assured it ‘If I do that, then you’ll have an easy meal and I’ll have an easy death Neither of us will have worked for it and neither of us will be happy’
It shot Gariath another look, conveying its agreement in the twitch of its blue eyelid Then, in the flash of its stare before it disappeared beneath the waves, it seeest that it could wait
Gariath lay upon his back and closed his eyes The gnawing in his belly was growing sharper, but not swiftly enough Sitting still, never , he reasoned he had about three days before he died of thirst and his husk drifted out on the tide The Akaneed illing to earn itsto settle for this bitter coht as well be comfortable
The sounds of the shore would be a fitting elegy: nothing but the s of beach ver, perhaps, that he should go out in such a way, shoulders heavy with death and finally bowed by the weight of his owneyes of crabs to watch the noblest of people disappear and leave this world to its weakling pink-skinned diseases
The Akaneed hu up onto the shore and scattering the skittering things The waves drew in a sharp inhale, retreating back to the open sea and holding its frothy breath as it went calm and placid Sound died, sea died and Gariath resolved to die with it
In the silence, the sound was deafening
He recognised i upon the sand The pace was slow, casual, utterly without care or concern for the dragon to die
An old enemy, perhaps, one of the many faceless bodies he had torn and crushed and failed to kill, coeance at the tip of a sword Or maybe a new one, some terrified creature with a slow and hesitant pace, ready to i hands
Or, if gods were truly intent on proving their existence, it ht have survived, he reasoned, and coeance He listened intently to the sound
Too heavy to be the pointy-eared human, he reasoned; she wouldn’t attack him until his back was turned anyway And likewise, the feet were too deliberate to be the bu, skinny human with the fiery hands That one would just kill him from a distance
He dearly hoped it wasn’t the tall, brown-haired human wo explanations in sobbing tones while righteously insisting that the others hadn’t deserved to die If that were the case, he would have ive him a quick knife in the throat; surely that would kill even a Rhega suffering from a severe case of irony
It pained hi to Lenk The death he so richly deserved then would never co man’s hands
The others kne to kill Lenk alone kne to hurt
The feet stopped just above his head Gariath held his breath
No blow, no steel, no vengeance The shadow that fell over hi sun, the heat was distinctly faently around him
He hadn’t felt such warmth since …
Almost afraid to, he opened his nostrils, drew in a deep breath His body jolted at once, his eyes snapping wide open at a scent that instantly overwhelmed his senses and the stink of the sea alike He opened hisit impossible that it filled his body
Rivers and rocks
He looked up and saw black eyes staring down at hied break The snout that they stared down from rinkled and scarred, but taut, each twisted line a point of pride and wisdom The frills at either side fanned out unenthused, cri flower that had not seen rain in a long tie, that seized Gariath’s gaze They were softer than his own black stare, but that softness only made their depth all thedoors of obsidian, the eyes that stared down at hiht
The elderly Rhega s teeth orn
‘You know,’ he ruue deep and hard as a rock in his chest, ‘for someone who has such reverence for et up to talk to es raised half a hair ‘You read thoughts?’
‘I don’t get much conversation otherwise’ The elder returned the raised ridge ‘Not is, Grandfather,’ Gariath replied
The elder considered hihtfully for a moment, then nodded
‘So you have, Wisest’
The elder scanned the beach, finding a nearby piece of driftwood half buried in the sand Lifting his limp tail up behind hi sun The light e as beaure
‘You’re dead, Grandfather,’ Gariath grunted
‘I hear that a lot,’ the elder replied
Gariath looked up and down the empty beach, bereft of even a hint of any other life
‘I find that hard to believe’
‘You would,’ the elder snorted ‘The fact remains that you are the only one who has come by; you’re the only one who noticed My point stands’
‘Why aren’t you at your elder stone?’
‘I got bored’
‘Grahta never left his stone’
‘Why would he? Grahta was a pup He would get lost’
‘Ah’
Gariath settled hie-painted sky above After a moment, he looked back to the elder
‘Grahta,’ he said softly ‘Is he …?’
‘Sleeping, Wisest,’ the elder replied
‘Good’
Another silence descended between the keen rising up froain looked up
‘Aren’t you going to ask ?’
‘See his brow
‘Then aren’t you going to ask ging ‘You have a good reason’
‘So, you won’t try to stop ht have a hard tiht, grinning as it vanished ‘What with being dead and all’
‘Then why are you here?’
‘I thought you ht like some company while you waited to die’
‘I don’t’