“For the spear,” Tanith said. “Want to give it to me? I’m trying my very best not to look down. The least you can do is give me the spear.”

“The spear is not for sale,” said Crab.

“I wasn’t planning on buying it.” She took out her sword.

“I see,” said Crab. “And if I do not gift you with it?”

“I’ll take it from you and you won’t enjoy it. Seriously, old man, take the easy way out here.”

“The spear is mine.”

“Now you’re being childish.”

“It is too powerful a weapon to let fall into the hands of one so young and impetuous. You should go home. You will find only death upon this beach. I take no pleasure in killing, though I do it so well.”

“I like the way you talk,” Tanith said.

“If you like my words, take them and run. Don’t make me kill one as young as you.”

“I’m older than I look,” Tanith said, and sprang. Crab thrust his spear towards her and she batted it away with her blade, but he was already moving out of range as she landed. She stalked him as he moved away from the cave.

“I have seen a thousand years,” said Crab. “I have seen empires rise and fall. I have seen the patterns in which men live, the ebb and flow of the tide of history. Each wave that breaks upon the shore thinks itself the first, but there have been many before it, and there will be many long after it has broken, and drawn back to the sea. I am an old man.”

“And I have lifetimes inside me,” said Tanith. “I’m the girl you see standing here, and I’m a cranky old professor, and I’m a peace-loving man, and I’m a killer and a maid and a king and a peasant. I am a dozen more. You think you’re old?” Tanith let her lips turn black and her veins show. “You got nothing on me.”

She lunged, but the spear rose to meet her. She dodged left, trying to get around it, but Crab was nimble and the spear tip whispered by her face. She stumbled back.

“Then I am sorry,” Crab said. “Whoever you once were, you are no longer. You are now a Remnant, and as such you are undeserving of my mercy. You will die here, on this beach. That is as much as I can give you.”

He took a sudden step forward, and his spear came at Tanith’s head so fast she let out a curse as she knocked it away. It didn’t go far, however, and nearly sliced her throat open on the return swing. It darted at her like a snake – it was all she could do to keep it from drawing blood. The sand wasn’t helping matters. She hated fighting on sand. Always had.