Gilded Bay Our boots and our clothes, boys, are all in the pawn

There is no bringing her around. She is a rock in the river, parting the current.

He drags his paw along the sand, leaving a small trail of blood in its wake. The grains in the open wound sting--

"Blood is fleeting. I could bleed and bleed and bleed until I am empty,

And yet my soul will live on."

Imtiaz peers at the woman, eyes narrowed to slits from pain almost pleasurable in its intensity.

"One day your body will die. There will be no moments left for you."

The serpent smiles once more, blinking slowly, staring out into the waves.

Up. Down. Up. Down. And so it went, on and on. Endlessly.

The ocean was endless, but wolves were not. And this girl did not know, and would likely never know.

"Enjoy your treasures."

He bends and takes a crimson-coated shard between his teeth, plucking it from the sand.

And trots away, disappearing into the mirage of a muggy coastal morning.