They took a path straying far from the main road, weaving through the thick of the woods, until it too ended and they were left trekking over protruding roots of trees and finding skinny trails that often came to nothing. The deeper part of the forest conspired to an eerie darkness as the canopies of the older trees impeded the sun. Despite her experience in the forest of Norwain Shala was wholeheartedly lost now and she knew she wouldn’t make it back to the old road on her own. Frankl’s men grew increasingly quiet until they walked in utter silence. The trees here seemed to grow beards with nets and veils of moss hanging from the branches. They came to a halt on a grassy knoll, and Frankl gathered everyone around him.
‘A hundred yards up from here is its den, the cave in which it sleeps,’ he started their conversation in a whisper.
‘How do we know it’s there?’ asked Metrus.
‘I have men up in the trees watching the entrance.’
‘Can you strike it down with magic, Metrus?’ asked Bhask.
‘No my friend, the magic of the wild will not harm another wild creature.’
‘We’ll need to flush the thing from its den without having anyone standing nearby,’ said Frankl.
‘Smoke will be best,’ provided Metrus.
‘Agreed, and we’ll annoy it as best we can when it emerges, the deathblow is all that is in question,’ said Frankl looking at Bhask.
‘Leave that to me then. You'll need to give me a spear however,’ said Bhask.
‘Will you pierce its heart when it rears?’ suggested Frankl.
Bhask shook his head. ‘Not likely. I’ll rather blindside it on the run, if this thing is as enraged as you suggest it will not halt its charge and rear on its hind legs just for my convenience.’ Bhask looked at Kaell. ‘You will play the prey Kaell’lam.’
‘No!’ spoke Shala before she could stop herself. ‘It’s too dangerous, we don’t have to do this.’
Kaell looked in surprise at Shala and then back at Bhask again.
‘Do not worry, no man I’ve ever come across can outrun Kaell’lam, and although the bear will be faster, he’ll use the outline of the forest to elude it. When the bear is tired and passes where I wait I’ll strike it down on the side. My Lady, you'll have to wait with the horses, no further than this point. If there is commotion, don't come toward us for any reason. We'll meet you afterwards, failing that, Metrus will take care of you.’
II
Later that day smoke rose from the cave, the Highwaymen's makeshift smokebombs of stinkweed tossed inside. The archers watched the entrance sternly. A great roar preceded the bear, and it rushed a tunnel through the smoke, breaking out into the open. Several arrows struck into its back and shoulders, and others bounced from its head, one slashing through the lip. But none sunk deeply, troubling him little, and the Highwaymen had not at all exaggerated its nature. Its eyes were rabid and so were undulating saliva dripping from its mouth.
Kaell stood on the trail at the edge of the trees and he had not yet seen a bear as large and as furious as this one. It was a monster in its own right. Calmly he lifted a javelin gained from the Highwaymen and over the far stretch of tall grass he made his throw, unerringly stinging the beast in the shoulder. It made of Kaell its favoured target. It staggered only for a second and still came, the javelin only pierced skin deep, sagged, then wedged between ground and bear, snapping into pieces, the bear not bothered. It was imposing as it came near, all that fur and muscle centred around furious eyes. Kaell turned and started his run, the pounding of the paws on hard ground right behind him. Sprinting as fast as he could the bear was still upon him in moments, feeling the thing at his heels, and then Kaell ran with winged-feet, fleeing around the trees, jumping this way and that, swerving on the trail to break the straight-line speed of the bear. It crashed through little trees and growth Kaell could slip through. Kaell tested the bear as a predator, and surely the bear had not chased such a challenging prey of late. Where Kaell slipped through the bear simply tore a path, its speed not at all hindered by the limbs of the trees it broke. As far as Kaell led the creature arrows stung it from above, courtesy of the Highwaymen, but none of them could strike a fatal blow. With an intrepid lunge the bear lessened the gap momentarily and its mauling strike added to Kaell's momentum, sending him flying forward, knowing it was only fortunate that the claws had not been able to tear into his back. He rolled once, twice, and then was up to his feet and running again in an instant as the bear pursued tirelessly still. Kaell reached the dead end and turned his back against the rock, looking hard at the incoming bear as the air came painfully to his lungs by now. Kaell could not help but shake knowing the bear was going to tear him apart.
From the tree-line to his right Bhask emerged from his cover charging with a spear, and plunged it into the bear’s side, at the same time ramming his shoulder into the creature's ribs. The beast staggered in agony, its charge faltered to a standstill, but it did not fall and swiped Bhask from his feet with a backhand blow. In all its fury the bear reared and another barrage of arrows rained down on it, at least two of them striking into its chest. It roared challengingly, but as it came down again its legs collapsed underneath it and could finally do no more than wait out death. It breathed raggedly, its eyes rolling in wild panic and its tragedy became apparent. Shala hated that the Highwaymen would now misuse its carcass.
‘I hate this!’ she said.
‘Then turn away my Lady. I also don’t like it,’ said Kaell, surprised that, despite Bhask's warning, she had come quite close to danger.
Metrus approached the bear, dying where it lay, its body heaving as it tried to lift its head once more. The Druid hunched and sang softly. Shala turned to watch Metrus work, knowing he at least would not savage the creature further.
‘Be at peace now great bear, leave the madness behind. Metrus stretched out his gloved hand, and the jewel within it shone brightly. Come into my dream, live eternally.’ As Metrus sang a tiny grove grew around the bear, the blades of grass, creepers and flowers punching through thick layers of forest debris. Out of the nothing came a torrent of butterflies, white ones, like snowflakes that would rather soar than fall.
The last of the bear shuddered and was then still. The Highwaymen immediately took the creature, taking a dozen men or more to lift it onto a wide wagon.
‘Does the spirit of the bear live inside the gem now?’ asked Shala curiously, making sure that none of the Highwaymen listened in.
Metrus considered his answer and said, ‘To suggest anything can actually be contained within an Alder stone is not entirely sound or correct, but to spare you a needless lecture on twined realms; yes, that is how we perceive it, the bear can now live on in my dreams, where otherwise its feral spirit would have roamed Angaria in agony.’
‘Then it is like the eagle with which you share a bond! Will you in time blossom into a bear, if the need for it ever comes?’
‘No, Your Highness, I will never allow for it. Whatever peace the bear might find in my dream will all be lost if he surfaces in this world again. The eagle I blossom into is an intelligent and gentle and understanding creature, and so allows me to remain in control. If I become the bear, there is the very real chance I’ll lose my mind and the bear would rampage once more. I might never again return to being a man.’
‘I had not known it was such a sensitive art? Are humans ever taken up in Alder stones?’
‘It has been tried my Lady, to dire consequences,’ Metrus said darkly. ‘People have tried to save their loved ones from damnation and an afterlife of suffering, to set them in a dream where they can live out quietly. But then the human soul is far more complex and the practitioners are often unpractised. The wraith-kind and even more dire things are the spawn of such attempts. No, it is best for common men to avoid Alder stones altogether.’
‘That greenery you conjured around the bear, does it help the bear release from its body?’
‘Yes, and we Druids do it to our kind when we pass away as well, so that their so
uls do not linger and be claimed by something sinister. Furthermore, it honours the dead, it is a burial right of sorts. If the body of the dead is left there, the creepers will grow quickly and take apart the body within a day, feeding nature without lingering decay and rotting carnage.’
‘A good way to pass on then. If it comes to it Metrus, should Naceus and the others get stuck and father unable to make it in time; open his sarcophagus, lay him out somewhere peaceful and let nature take his body and release him. He needs not to be stuck unnecessarily. I already feel guilty having him sealed, even if it were for good reasons.’
‘As you wish Princess,’ said Metrus, and then was quiet as Frankl approached Bhask. ‘It's a pity the Wolves are dead, you would've made a fine one,’ he said laughingly.
‘Aye, and don't you forget that while you keep our company,’ said Bhask.
‘Never seen old friend, I am sublime at picking my battles and today you chose yours well. Freshen up as much as you can, when the bear is hoisted we set off. When you ride with us, you ride late into the night.’
Dream of Embers Book 1 Page 37