Rosewater Oasis ivory

the water's reflection held a shadow.

zoug lunged to the side, not enough to avoid the jaws and the weight which crushed him into the oasis waters. it was only a space to throw the bite off-kilter, his shoulder rather than his nape.

twisting face to one side, he snapped for what he could find, aware in the colder recesses of himself that this was a fight to the death.

but coyotes screamed for their own kind, and zoug's screech was enough to raise the dead.