Silvertip Mountain in her arms a lamb

!!

a pack of coyotes could have roved into the glowing cave, and merrick would not have noticed them. he was riveted to the glassy eyes of the great dead thing, how the spirit appeared to linger as thin smoke near the leathered nostrils of the bleeding brute.
he dipped low his muzzle and tasted of the cooling liquid; its richness quickened the beating of his heart, and the boy marvelled as he drew closer, at the huge square paws and half-exposed fangs of the still bear. i see you, came the whisper merrick knew surely, surely, he did not merely imagine.
the ether called, but you came in its stead.
a glint of young teeth in the darkness.
perhaps i am what comes after, merrick thought fiercely back to the rumble of the bear's voice.