Northstar Vale And nobody owes you now

shardik's piggish eyes gazed ever ahead, piercing through the dark film with predatory intrepidity. in front of him the brittle form of a dog soldiered on; sometimes held full-bore in his hateful sights, other times, disappearing round the gentle curve of rock-strewn tunnel.

it was the dog's scent that shardik followed with tethered intensity, up until a ream appeared in the earth and he detected mou's passage through it. these shelves were stacked close and the ceiling of the tunnel closer; the great bear lifted his muzzle to the hardened ceiling and sniffed it in a long, disappointed draught. the narrow chasm was just wide enough for him to somehow snake his way through, but his progress was greatly halted and his quarry would doubtless gain double the ground shardik did during this time.

he growled his displeasure; a wicked, harrowing noise that thundered up the shelves and reverberated along the stony cavern in sharp report. "don't you want to rest, dog?" he heaved himself atop the first shelf, his swollen belly scraping obscenely along the protrusion of ancient stone. "i could show you sleep," a bellow of laughter gurgled from his vulgar muzzle, and leapt up the shelves in repugnant bounds, settling around the cave in shrill echoes unwilling to fade.