Root systems dangled over us, and loose soil fell from the ceiling. Crawling insects and worms slithered across the floor. A large spider crept down the wall and landed on my shoulder. I inhaled to scream, but Darric threw his hand over my mouth and flicked the arachnid from my arm.
Tears welled in my eyes. I thought nothing could be more terrifying than being captured by bandits, held hostage, and poisoned. Even Darric’s sword at my throat couldn’t compare to the fury of a short-faced bear trying to tear me to shreds.
My feet sank into the moist soil of our fragile hiding hole. I couldn’t grip the wall without pulling back a handful of insect-filled dirt. We tried to keep our ragged panting quiet, denying our lungs the aching need for more air.
The bear paced outside the narrow entry. She huffed into the opening, choking us with a cloud of dirt. Her massive paw reached into the crevice. Swatting with claws as sharp as blades and long as Luken’s dagger, she scraped the floor inches from Darric’s boot. Frustrated, she shook her head and sent a spray of sand embedded in her fur into the air. She roared into the hole, and the walls vibrated from the rumble exuding from deep within her chest.
I felt faint. If Darric’s and Flint’s bodies hadn’t been smashing me between them, I would have collapsed into a heap to be dragged out and mauled to death. I gripped Darric’s shirt and leaned my head into his hand. He responded by tightening his hold around my waist and crushing me to his muscular chest.
I needed the courage to open communication with her. To listen to what she wanted. Talk to her. Reason with her. Beg her to leave us alone.
Then she was gone.
Heavy steps sauntered away from us. Darric removed his hand from my mouth and lowered his head through the opening.
This was insane. We could have been killed. What sort of maniacal thinking had caused Darric to bring his brothers into the mountains to live by hunting short-faced bears? Flint placed his hand on my shoulder, trying to help me relax, but my fitful breaths wouldn’t calm. I started hiccupping.
The tumbling of rocks over stone rattled the chamber. Darric backed away from the entrance and looked up. Something moved above us. A pound like a battering ram quaked the walls, and dirt fell in large clumps from the ceiling as the hideout began to cave in. The bear was crushing the ground above to pierce our delicate cage. Another massive bombardment cracked the shell, and beams of sunlight filtered into the crevice, followed by a loud feral growl. With one final blast of her immense frame, the bear’s paws smashed through the ceiling and swiped the air.
Darric shoved me through the narrow entry. My dress tangled in my legs, and I fell to the ground. Flint jumped over me and ran for his life. Darric jerked me to my feet. I grabbed the front of my dress and fled. Never had I run so fast. Adrenaline coursed through my body, granting me an otherwise unattainable speed.
The momentary distraction of breaking through the crevice kept the bear occupied long enough for us to gain distance. I heedlessly looked back. She was tossing boulders aside as if they were hollow and burrowing into the roof of our demolished hiding place.
Inevitably, the bear discovered we were missing and leaped from the ledge in a full charge, lips pulled back from her gums, bone-crushing canines the length of my fingers exposed, foam dripping from her mouth and wetting the fur around her caramel face.
We reached the forest edge and broke into the openness of the valley, only to be followed a second later by the thunderous boom of her paws at our heels.
“Flint!” Darric called, pushing me into his brother’s arms. “Take her to the Hovel!”
I fell into Flint’s chest. He took my hand and kept moving.
Darric came to an abrupt halt and turned to face our assailant.
“NO!” I screamed and dug my heels into the dirt.
“Aya, he can take care of himself,” Flint shouted, fighting against me.
I fell to my knees so he would have to drag me through the grass to continue.
Darric drew back on Flint’s bowstring with the one arrow left in his possession. The arrow flew at a blinding speed with more power than I had ever created and stabbed the bear in the shoulder joint. The arrow sank into the animal, leaving only the fletching sticking out of her fur. She stumbled and somersaulted, having lost control of her front limb.
Darric dropped the bow and drew his sword as the bear shook her head and righted herself. She reared onto her back legs, towering over him at double his height, and screamed a roar so loud her lips quivered and my ears popped.
Flint kept tugging at my arm, trying to pull me off the ground.
Darric remained unnervingly calm, as though he had no care whether he lived or died. Either he was selflessly sacrificing himself or he truly believed he could kill a charging short-faced-bear with a sword. Either outcome defined true insanity, brawn mixed with sheer stupidity. He held his sword low, the shining blade almost touching the grass, and waited for the bear to lunge.
I couldn’t allow this to happen. I couldn’t stand by and watch Darric be ripped to pieces. I tore my hand from Flint’s grasp and sprinted senselessly to Darric. Flint screamed my name at the same moment the bear broke her gaze and charged, running into her wound, ignoring the pain. She roared, and my eardrums rattled.
I searched for a way to read her. I had to speak to her. I had to tell her to stop. To leave. To spare Darric’s life.
“Stop!” I yelled, and our minds fused. The information poured into my brain so forcefully I thought I had taken an axe to the skull. It knocked me to my knees. Her cries were loud to the ear but blisteringly insufferable inside my head. Unmatched anger consumed her. The pain in her shoulder felt unendurable, yet she fought on in a battle to the death. She knew we were here to kill her. Worse, she recognized Darric. She had seen him hunting throughout the valley and was determined to end him.
My thoughts became befuddled, incoherent. Nothing I could say would calm her rage or reason with her. She was too irate to see us as anything other than an enemy.
Biting back tears, I gripped my bow and pulled an arrow from my quiver. Don’t overthink it. Don’t overthink that she won’t hear your pleas and doesn’t realize you’re a Fae. Don’t overthink the decision to help Darric end her life.
I yanked back on the bowstring. Where do I aim? What made the most sense? My nerves failed me, and remorse replaced my adrenaline-fueled courage at the woeful sight before me.
The bear’s colossal paw crashed towards Darric. His quick reflexes spun him out of the way, and her momentum sent her slamming face-first into his blade. The sword sliced open her muzzle. Blood poured from the wound and trailed off her nose, mixing into the foam dripping from her mouth. Red stained her fur, and her arm hung limply at her side. My heart ached as the majestic creature faltered.
Incredibly, she was no match for Darric’s agility. He moved around her injured frame with grace and ease, predicting every threat she made against him. Agitated, the bear threw all her weight forwards to barrel into him. Darric skidded across the ground on his knees to avoid her.
I was clutching my bow, unable to loose the arrow, when a brilliant shimmer of burgundy leaped from the forest and bounded towards the bear. The cat propelled herself through the air and landed on the bear’s neck. With silver talons fully exposed, she dug deep into the animal’s pelt and bit into her skin. Over and over, she ferociously clawed and chomped into the beast.
The bear fell onto all fours and shook her body, trying to rid herself of the feline. When ruffling her fur did nothing to deter the pest, she used her good arm to swat behind her head, but the cat remained, jaws clenched on a mouthful of flesh.
Darric used the distraction as an opportunity. He slid forwards on his knees, positioning himself under two thousand pounds of enraged bear, narrowly avoiding the deadly daggered paws that pounded into the ground beside him. He lay back, lost under the mass of fur, and raised his sword. Grasping the hilt with both hands, he drove the blade into the animal’s chest, burying the weapon so de
ep the metal vanished within her.
The beast instantly ceased moving, and the chaos in the valley quieted. Her gaze fell to Darric, who panted on his back between her front arms. He gripped his sword and twisted. A loud crunch flooded the silence as the blade cut through rib and breastbone. The first drops of blood streamed onto Darric’s shirt. He released the hilt and rolled out from under her just as she collapsed into a lifeless heap on the ground.
Stunned, I dropped my bow.
Darric jogged to where I sat frozen on the grass. He knelt in front of me and placed bloodied hands on my shoulders. “Are you all right?” Beads of sweat trickled down his temples, and wisps of blond hair stuck to his wet forehead.
I nodded, tears blurring my vision.
“You’re not hurt?” he confirmed, brows furrowed. His thumbs caressed the fabric of my dress.
“I’m okay.” Something inside of me cracked. “Darric, you could have been killed.” I placed my hands on his chest and fell into him. His heart raced as he breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
“I’m a bit insulted by your lack of faith in my abilities,” he said, and the slightest smile on his lips eased my panic.
The cat pranced merrily by my thigh. She had blood coating her fur and flesh stuck in her claws. “You crazy feline.” I ran my hand down her back and scratched between her ears.
“That was one hell of a distraction,” Darric praised, then suddenly jerked away from me upon seeing Flint running towards us.
“Wow.” Flint placed his hands on his knees to catch his breath. “Never done it like that before, huh?” He snickered.
A new wave of anger stiffened Darric’s shoulders. He returned to the bear carcass and yanked his sword free. Electrified, he rushed Flint, blade ready, and wrapped his hand tightly around his brother’s neck. “You fucking idiot!” he growled. “How could you stop her? She had a clear shot!”
Flint coughed and stammered. He clawed at Darric’s bracer, trying to pull the grip from his neck as his face turned bright red. Failing, he collapsed to his knees. “I was tryin’ to help,” he gargled.
“Do you really think so little of my judgment? Do you really think I wasn’t paying enough fucking attention to know exactly what she was doing?” Darric snarled.
“Fuck,” Flint squeaked as Darric squeezed harder. His cheeks changed from red to purple. “If she missed, the bear woulda charged!” He gasped uselessly for air.
“She did miss! And the bear did charge!” Darric hollered. “Because of you! Someone could have been killed. Do you want more of that shit on your conscience?”
Flint tugged at his brother’s fingers, frantically trying to pry them loose. “I can’t breathe,” he pleaded.
“Darric.” He paused at the sound of my voice. “Let him go.” My stranger’s strength had always made me feel meek and insignificant, but seeing him incapacitate his brother with a single hand opened a new level of dread somewhere between unbridled terror and respect for his lethal nature. “He was only trying to help. You said it yourself, I shouldn’t have been hunting with you. He was attempting to stop a disaster.”
Annoyed, Darric released his brother. “He did a fine fucking job.”
Flint disintegrated onto the ground and grasped his neck. He inhaled a loud gulp, coughed, and spat thick drool.
I ran my finger over the side of Flint’s neck. He would be left to wear the humiliating bruise of Darric’s hand. “Are you okay?” I whispered to him.
He nodded wearily. “I’d have a lot more to say if I didn’t promise ya I wouldn’t complain ’bout him anymore.” He cleared his throat as his red-rimmed eyes stared ruefully into the grass.
I reached under his quiver to rub my hand over his back. “I wouldn’t blame you this time if you did.” I narrowed my eyes at Darric, watching him wipe his sword clean on the bear’s fur.
“Denigrate me all you want, Flint,” Darric said. “You and I both know why you’re doing it.” Sheathing his sword, he snatched a strange arrow from Flint’s quiver. The fletching was abnormally large, and instead of a stone head, a woven ball of tinder wrapped in white cloth was attached to the shaft. He held out his hand expectantly. Flint reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a piece of flint stone, which he gave to Darric without looking up from the ground.
Darric put his thumb and forefinger into his mouth and whistled. The ear-piercing shrill made my head throb. He pulled a knife from his bracer and struck the blade against the flint, lighting the woven ball with a shower of sparks. He nocked the flaming arrow against Flint’s bow, leaned back, and shot it vertically into the sky.
Puzzled, I gazed at Flint, who still refused to make eye contact with me.
“It’s to signal Bromly,” he said in a crackling voice.
The arrow sailed above the treetops and fizzled out at its highest altitude before diving back to the ground, leaving a trail of smoke floating in the sky. The leftover burned stick landed by Darric’s feet.
A deep, foreboding bear cry captured the forest. It bellowed and echoed in a painful chorus that chilled my blood.
“Fucking hell.” Darric groaned and glared at Flint.
“What is that?” I hated to ask.
“That would be the injured male,” he replied acidly.
“He’s in pain,” I mused, listening to the heartbreaking cries.
“Your arrow went clear through his leg. He’ll be down somewhere in the woods. It’s going to be a slow death.”
A tear rolled down my cheek, and I quickly wiped it away. I had to stay strong. What was I expecting? Hunting meant killing animals. I knew people in the poorer villages would benefit from fur and meat, but sitting next to the fresh remains of a beautiful young female short-faced bear, I couldn’t see it from their perspective. I had looked inside her; I knew her thoughts as she raged. She was a beast, yes, but she wasn’t that different from us. She still thought and felt, feared and angered, perhaps even loved in her own way. I grew sick to my stomach with remorse, and the taste of vomit rose in my throat. “How long is it going to last?”
“If it stops, he’s dead. Short-faced bears don’t have any natural predators. We’ll find him tomorrow at first light and put him out of his misery.” Darric tossed the bow on the ground, disgusted by the situation.
An hour later, Bromly’s plump figure appeared on the horizon. A coiled rope was slung over his shoulder, and several large knives had replaced the spoons that normally hung from his belt. He carried an axe in one hand and a shovel in the other. I didn’t need to ask to know what he had been signaled for, nor did I want anything to do with the process.
His gleaming eyes dulled when he looked upon our sullen faces. He approached the bear and frowned. “A female?”
Darric nodded. “Don’t start.”
“But a female,” he scolded.
“I’m aware. I gave her every chance to turn away. She was determined,” Darric defended.
Bromly tugged at the arrow jutting out of the bear’s shoulder. It didn’t budge. His attention turned to her chest, where a gaping hole oozed congealing blood, then his eyes dropped to the purple finger marks on Flint’s neck. The sound of the injured male rumbled through the valley.
He hesitated. “What happened?”
Darric crossed his arms over his chest. “We experimented with hunting techniques on the first day of bear season.”
I sat in a patch of wildflowers facing away from the kill, my legs pulled into my chest and my chin resting on my knees. The noon sun offered no shade from the already exhausting day. Living deep in the mountains of Daraban was turning out to be more formidable than I’d ever imagined. Even sleep offered no escape from the mental drain.
I plucked a purple bloom and twirled it between my fingertips. The cat batted the moving flower and bit the petals. She was dauntless and amazing. Weeks ago, she had attacked bandits in the woods. Today, she assisted Darric in bringing down a short-faced-bear at close range. Six pounds of indomitable brawn. Yet I cowered away from th
e brothers as they dressed their kill.
Bromly was summoned for a specific purpose. He could skin and gut a rabbit in under a minute; behind me, he dismantled a one-ton bear. Not watching allowed my imagination to run rampant every time I heard the crunch of bone or the weighty thump of some hefty body part hitting the ground. I couldn’t watch her be cut to pieces.
Eventually, Darric noticed my distress and instructed Flint to take me back to the Hovel.
Flint trudged the entire walk, kicking a small stone, and didn’t say a word. I felt sorry for him. His neck looked unbearably sore. Still, I wondered how he could have been so oblivious on that ledge.
When we reached the cavern, he disappeared inside the Hovel and returned with his flute. “I can’t stay here with ya. I gotta go back an’ help. But if ya need us, ya can blow loudly into this. We’ll hear it.” He handed me the wooden instrument.
I nodded thankfully.
“An’ Darric told me to tell ya not to wander.”
“I don’t plan on going anywhere,” I murmured, turning the flute over in my hand.
He tried to force a smile but failed. “Don’t be angry with me. Okay?”
Before I could say another word, he left the cavern.
I couldn’t be angry with Flint. Darric had scorned him enough, and none of this would have happened if I had simply observed instead of trying to prove myself.
I unlaced the quiver off my back and sank next to the fire. My legs ached from sprinting for my life. Crossing my arms over the log, I buried my face into the sleeves of my dress. The soothing crackle of the embers helped me shed all the tears backed up behind my eyes.
In the distance, the injured male continued his strange painful bellows. I tried to drown him out by covering my ears, but to no avail—his cries pierced the barrier.
The cat jumped onto the log and kneaded her paws into the back of my head. “I can’t keep doing this,” I mumbled to her. “I can’t keep breaking down like a child every time something goes awry.” I rubbed my nose over my sleeve. “How did Grandmother ever think I was strong enough for this?”
Dreams of the Fae: Transcendence Page 23