Brinejaw Shark

The Brinejaw took the mule's shadow off the ledge. The mule followed a moment later.

We'd seen two lantern glows circling under foam in a pool no bigger than a wagon bed. Then the shark came through the limestone. Salt plates rasped on its narrow flanks, and its mouth opened sideways, much too broad for the body.

We drove spikes into sunlit stone and stretched a sail between them to deny it our shadows. Half inside the reef, it thrashed and bit reflections. When the tide returned it left. The mule's bell went with it, ringing for miles somewhere under the earth.

It circles through reef or masonry and overlapping shadows, testing reflected shapes with small bites. Taking a shadow lets it follow the owner from below across dry land. While concealment is available it seldom attacks from open water.

Broad noon light discourages it. Fresh lime does too. Bells resemble the vibration of struggling cartilage; hunters sometimes lure it with a ringing buoy. Wounded animals retreat into stone and wait for pursuit. Wet salt blooms mark where they went.