He woke with a start to one hell of a headache, saltwater in his mouth, and a crab climbing his tail and getting waaay too familiar with his nether regio-

   Yeah, no. No. Nononono. No.

   Meridoc surged to his hooves with a grunt and a curse, his left hind leg kicking furiously to try and dislodge the stubborn crustacean from his tail. When that failed, he swung his head around, lifted his leg, and nearly fell down in the surf trying to tear the little shit off with his teeth. Unfortunately, it saw the danger coming and let go to fall to the ground.

   Unfortunate, because then Meridoc bit down with force on his tailbone.

   Lovely fucking morning.

---

   Once he had gotten himself set to rights, he finally trudged out of the shallow surf, stinging in annoyance and genuine pain, the rugged stallion looked around, scowling. It was awfully quiet-

   'About time you noticed I was missing. Having fun with the local wildlife, Meridoc?'

   Yep. There it was.

   "Yeah, well, I hope you're drowning in the bottom of the ocean."

   'I am a sword, Meridoc, I can't drown.'

   "Well, just fuckin' rust then."

   It was easy enough to spot the sword; Veritas stood in the sand, pristine and perfect, and the amusement he felt rolling off of the sword as he made it rise from the sand was enough that he idly considered throwing it out in the ocean and seeing how far he could make it go-

   'I wouldn't suggest that.'

   He glowered at the steel, as if it had eyes to look into. Well, it did, but they were his in the reflection of the metal. "It's gettin' tempting."The blade tilted, then, a sheen flickering across it, giving Meridoc a glimpse behind him... and at the giant hellish beast galloping it's way towards him, some bastard mix of a lion, goat and snake.

   'Still want to throw me into the ocean, Meridoc? I could go if you want to... handle this foe. Surely it won't be as difficult as the Lord of Crabs you just fought.'

   "Shut up." What a lovely way to start the day. Meridoc wasted no time... in running like hell, taking off as fast as he could down the beach, Veritas floating effortlessly beside him. 'It's catching up, Meridoc.' "I can hear that!" 'It looks quite upset, did your stench offend it?' "SHUT. UP."

let our eyes show the 
fire in our hearts tonight