Cerulean Cape blood canticle

he toiled in to the east from the tall trees. days passed—he kept company with sea-birds and their shadows. far out over the sea there was a darkness, a gathering breath. he watched this from time to time, too.
it was quiet here upon the cape. drusk descended across a sandlot; he explored a copse of battered trees which somehow had not been uprooted; the scent of food lured him along a stony ledge but he didn't get far, as his feet were not used to the barnacles clinging to everything.
the stinging of his paw-pads was not new, but the subtle trailing of his ruddy cracked palms drew the attention of a pair of crows. these he chased up upon another stretch of loose sand and intermittent gravel, at least until they cackled and wheeled away across the tideline.