Broken Antler Fen J'attendrai

he was not trailing nails, but he found him all the same - waste deep in murkwater, supping from the icy liquid with an alertness about him. thorn slid from the last dry rise of earth and began treading water, the splash of his passing a tell-tale sign of his advancement.

thorn's shoulders rounded as he slunk through the water; it rippled besides him, cold in a way that sparked his winter-dull senses. he waited until nails had seen him -- and then with an orcish roar, surged towards him with all the blundering force of a bull.