Naaghai Lowlands [m] triple dog dare

coyotes. the useless leg atrophied. coyotes, snuffling. grunting. but their teeth did not touch her. instead, fieldmice. tubers. water. cactus pulp. her pelt thinned. her bones became nothing. and the leg began to blacken. what life the coyotes restored was quickly endangered once more as infection lit her body to fire. but the coyotes had moved on after bringing her to a meadow profuse with the dying stems of summer flowers. silvertongue watched the shadows shift from evening into night. as the stars glittered in slow revelation, she lay beneath them, trying not to glance at the suppurating lines of red and oozing black which had reached now to her flank. no more. no more. let her go. silvertongue had ceased thinking of name. of faces. she had lost the luxury fierce and countless days ago.