The half-dried mud clung to the goat skin in a
curious pattern of broken and layered ridges that were partly crushed
together wherever their broken edges collided and overran one-another
as a result of the escape of water beneath the muddy leather, which
Si'Wren had taken to quench her thirst.
The water skin forgotten, she rubbed her hands lightly to brush the
coating of mud off her palms and turned to her work, while unheeded
behind her, some of the water skin's encrusted mud crumbled and dropped
to the ground behind her bare feet in little broken clods that
contained the tiny seeds of plants, and the remains of a few dead
insects.
Even as there was but one race of man, which included the giants and
the six-fingered ones, there was also but one breed, likewise, of the
dog.
Hardly a noble creature to look upon, the common camp dog was a
different breed altogether from the huge and fearsome dire wolves that
stood as tall as a man at the shoulder and roamed the farthest and
deepest wilds in savage packs.
The dogs of men more resembled the small wild plains dogs.
Yet, like the wolves, which ran in packs, this hardy domesticated breed
retained a strong pack instinct. It was used as a guard dog and camp
scavenger, but could, like any wolf, become dangerous if starved too
long or unduly provoked, as by the tauntings of foolish children.
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