Bearclaw Valley viridis

ty!

the girl, moving away. the man staring at him. his gut dropped, but still he maintained himself, if only for the sake of appearances. and the serpentine voice lilting toward his ears; it made the guard wish to drop to the earth, to scrub the sound from the inside of his mind. sibilant and greased like fatted lamb.

"no." nothing, nothing at all; he wished to get away, and turned at once to pace off along the red-stone with a gait he refused to turn into a gallop. the sun turned to ash in his mouth; heartbeat flailed as germanicus thought desperately of ico and where he might have gone.