The Kingdom of the Bears

by Michael Wallace

  Aaron woke to find Brumbles standing over him, shaking him gently. “Aaron. Wake up.”

  He sat up, startled. There had been a dream. Something about wild bears. It faded quickly. “What is it?”

  “Will you keep watch?” Brumbles asked. “I’m going to scout ahead with Jarr. We’ll be back in an hour or two at the most.”

  Aaron nodded as he blinked sleep from his eyes. “What do you want me to do?”

  “Absolutely nothing. I just checked on the wolverine now, and he’s quiet. Sleeping, it would appear. If there is a commotion, yell for help, but whatever you do, don’t go any closer to the cage.”

  Brumbles disappeared and he was left with the cage. It sat dark and sullen in the shadows some twenty feet distant. Aaron wondered if the wolverine really was sleeping or if instead it was lying there awake, plotting some dark mischief. Aaron could see badgers among the trees on the edges of the camp, keeping their own watch. It made him feel somewhat safer and he found himself slipping into his own thoughts. For the first time in days, he found himself falling into some of that self-pitying thought that he sometimes indulged in, and had ever since the accident.

  And then, while he was dredging up unpleasant memories, it was natural that his thoughts found their way back to his cousin Brad. Good ol’ B.B. Name eight fruits. Name ten fruits.

  Familiar feelings of rage washed over him. If he could see me now, he wouldn’t think he was so hot, Aaron told himself. I’d turn into a bear. One growl and Brad would pee his pants. The thought made him chuckle. Brad on the ground, screaming in terror, while a bear tapped him on the forehead with a paw. “Who’s going to name ten fruits now?”

  “You, boy,” came a low voice. It startled Aaron from his thoughts. He sat up and looked around him, realizing only then where the voice had come from. It was the wolverine.

  Aaron felt instantly wary. He stayed quiet. No way was he going to answer. He could tell just by its voice that it was up to some evil scheme to escape. Well, let him try. If there was one thing that Aaron had learned it was that you don’t try to bargain with a bully.

  “Please, boy,” Mudruss said. His voice sounded more earnest this time; or was that just an illusion? “Please, I need your help.” A moment later, when Aaron gave no reply, he tried again. “If you could just loosen these ropes a little bit. My forearms have gone completely numb. Look, they’ve already removed the muzzle, and I haven’t caused any more trouble, have I?”

  “What do you want your forearms loosened for?” Aaron asked. He hadn’t meant to say anything, but the words just came out of his mouth.

  “Because they hurt. Why else?”

  “I thought you said they were numb. How can they be hurting and numb at the same time?” How dumb did Mudruss think he was, anyway?

  “It’s not the arms that hurt, but my shoulders. The blood is pinched off from my arms, and they’re twisted around, and my shoulders and back muscles feel like they’re on fire.” The wolverine let out a low growl, but it sounded more self-pitying than angry. “It’s my own fault. I shouldn’t have struggled. If I hadn’t, they never would have tied the ropes so tight.”

  “That’s right,” Aaron said. “And there’s nothing to be done about it now. Maybe if you are quiet and cause no more problems, Brumbles will loosen your ropes in the morning.” To be honest, he felt sorry for the creature, but not so sorry that he was going to go anywhere near the cage. And certainly he would never do something so foolish as to actually loosen its ropes.

  It was as if the wolverine hadn’t heard him. “The problem is, I never should have listened to those weasels. I knew they were liars. They always have been. And they said you would kill us for certain if we fell into your paws. I believed it. And why not? It’s the sort of thing Garmley does. He kills you or he enslaves you, or he throws you in a dungeon to rot and die. Like King Greatclaw and Captain Brownia.”

  The words brought a sick feeling to Aaron’s stomach. “You’ve seen them? Where are they?”

  “I don’t know. Somewhere in the dungeons. It doesn’t matter.” Aaron thought it very much did matter, but the wolverine was too caught up in his own problems to be dissuaded. He continued, “Really, what choice did I have?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I didn’t want to follow Garmley. I really didn’t. None of us did. None of us weasel-kind who lived here before Garmley and Half-Paw and Snark and their kind arrived.”

  Aaron was disbelieving. “So you’re out fighting and killing and enslaving others because you were afraid to stand up to the weasel lord?”

  What a lame excuse. And yet...and yet Aaron knew how hard it was to stand up to a bully. Easier to cringe and take your lumps. He hadn’t seen it at first, but as Mudruss kept talking, justifying his actions, and alternately apologizing, it all began to come into view. Mudruss may have been physically powerful, yes, but he was just as afraid of Garmley as anyone else.

  His heart had begun to change as soon as he’d heard the pleading tone in Mudruss’ voice; it sounded entirely earnest to him. Now, he acted impulsively, before his mind could argue him down. He stepped through the darkness and up to the bars. He couldn’t see the wolverine well in the darkness, but he could smell his heavy, musky odor. His hands touched the fur, courser and more long and matted than a bear’s. He groped for the ropes, found them in his hand.

  “I’ll loosen these. That’s all I can–”

  A sudden paw at the throat choked the last words out of his mouth. He had the ropes in hand, all right. They had been dangling at the bottom of the cage where the wolverine had discarded them. The treacherous beast had freed himself long ago, and had somehow lured Aaron–so wary he had been–into coming closer. Fool! he silently cried at himself as he struggled for air. None came. The wolverine looped another paw through the bars and hugged him up against the cage. Aaron’s feet did a dance in the dirt. His arms flailed, but they could find nothing to grab hold of; the wolverine had him from behind. Lights began popping in his head, like the flash on a camera.

  “Now listen here,” the wolverine said after several long moments.

  Aaron’s need for air was so strong that he was screaming inside. He stopped struggling, but that was his strength failing, and nothing else.

  “Good,” the wolverine said in a slow voice, as if he had all the time in the world. “Now, I’m going to let you breathe. If you scream, I will choke you again, and this time I won’t let go.”

  And then, mercifully, just when Aaron thought he was on the verge of death, the paw released its hold. He drew in a long, ragged gasp of air. Sweet air, into his lungs. It hissed out again, and he drew in another, sharply, having been in fear from his first breath that there would be no second.

  “Good. Now you will help me escape.” The breath was hot on his ear, coming from just behind his shoulder.

  “I don’t have the keys,” Aaron said, still gasping and breathless.

  “I don’t need the keys. I can break down these flimsy bars, just like I broke the ropes. But I don’t know where the badgers keep their sentinels. I need you to lead me past. If they catch me, they’ll kill me.”

  Aaron felt the paw around his chest and the second on his neck. He was afraid, but not terrified. Mostly, he was angry with himself for having been so easily fooled. “You lied to me. I trusted you and you lied to me.”

  The wolverine was angry. “I didn’t lie to you. Well yes, about the ropes. But not where a lie would matter. Garmley is an evil master, but I am still his servant, for good or ill. And that, my young fool of a human, has marked me for death among your friends.”

  “They wouldn’t kill you,” Aaron said.

  “What a naive young fool you are.”

  “If they meant to kill you, they’d have done it already,” was Aaron’s retort.

  Mudruss paused. “A slave then. Revenge for all the bears enslaved by the weasel lord. They’ll work me until I die.”

  Aaron choked out a laugh. “What possible need would t
hey have for slaves. Or revenge, for that matter. We’re just fighting for our freedom. Can’t you see that? Or are you too busy answering orders to think for yourself?”

  The grip relaxed on his throat and around his chest. It was just a slight feeling, but it was enough. Aaron jammed his elbow backwards, through the bars. It connected with the wolverine’s gut and he let out an “oomph!” Aaron ducked down and squirmed free, scrambling away on all fours.

  As Aaron scrambled back to his feet, he opened his mouth to cry out for help. He could see a pair of badgers standing guard, backs turned to him, some distance up the hill. Instead, he hesitated. He put a hand to his throat. It throbbed from the violence of the wolverine’s attack. This animal was dangerous. It could kill again, or strike for freedom, perhaps at any time.

  But Mudruss sat quietly, not trying to escape as he’d said he could.

  “Go ahead, then,” Aaron said. “What are you waiting for? Or was your bragging about how you could tear down these bars just that...bragging.”

  After a long moment of silence, the wolverine said in a low voice. “It wasn’t bragging. But tell me, boy. If I break these bars, what will you do? Will you let me go in peace?”

  Aaron was dumbfounded. “What? Let you escape? No, I most certainly will not. I will call for those badgers. They will hunt you down before you escape the camp.”

  “I’m just fighting for my freedom. Isn’t that what you said? Or is freedom only good for you and your friends.”

  “Freedom?” Aaron scoffed. “Freedom to run back to Garmley and help him enslave more animals, right?”

  “I’m done with Garmley,” Mudruss said with a shake of the head. “I’ll never lift a paw to help him again. I swear it on my life.”

  This gave Aaron pause. “I can’t just let you escape.”

  Mudruss sank back on his haunches. “Then your words were meaningless. Your bragging about fighting for freedom was just that...bragging.”

  Aaron had nothing to say in reply. For several minutes, they sat there in silence, wolverine and boy, as the darkness gathered around them and there was no sound but cricket song. The boy was torn. The wolverine had almost strangled him, but then he’d let him go. And if Mudruss were truly capable of breaking down the cage, he could easily do so and attack and perhaps kill Aaron before making his escape attempt. Yet he was waiting for Aaron to give him permission.

  At last, against his better judgement, he told the animal, “You want freedom? Fine. Break down these bars and make your escape. I won’t cry out. But remember your promise to never help Garmley again.”

  The wolverine sprang to his feet. He attacked the bars of the cage. And then Aaron saw what the beast had been speaking of. It wasn’t that the badger cage was too weak, that the wolverine could just break them apart as if they were toothpicks. But the wolverine claws slashed and gouged at the green wood of the bars with those long, curved claws. Soon, bars and bindings alike were in shreds. And then, mustering all his strength, Mudruss broke apart the bars and weaseled his way free.

  Aaron shrank back into the shadows in fear. Almost, he opened his mouth to cry out, sure that his actions had been folly. Mudruss turned to him and said, “Thanks, boy.” And then he was gone. Aaron sat down on the ground and groaned. What had he just done?

  It was with shame that Aaron confessed to Brumbles when the bear returned with Jarr the Stout from their scouting mission. The two listened in silence. When he finished, Jarr held up his torch and examined the broken and empty cage. He was sputtering with rage. “And you didn’t shout for help? What were you thinking, boy?”

  Aaron hung his head. He was glad that his sister was asleep and not here to witness his shame. Some leader he was proving to be. He looked to Brumbles, bracing himself for the Sheriff’s condemnation. But Brumbles said nothing as he lit his pipe and took a couple of thoughtful puffs. At last, he shrugged. “Who can say?”

  Jarr gave him a bewildered look. “Come again?”

  “Something has happened here. Maybe all it means is that one enemy has slipped our grasp and returned to serve his evil master. Maybe he’s fled into the wilderness, and has left the war for good. In that case, we’ve simply rid ourselves of an unwanted guest. But maybe–well, never mind.” He said to Aaron in a kindly voice. “Go to bed, Aaron. Get some sleep. I’m sure everything will work out for the best, eh?”

  But sleep came slowly for Aaron. Soon, they would face the full might and fury of the weasel lord. Had he just added one more beast to the enemy’s army?

  Chapter Twenty-Two: The Tides of War

  The army continued to grow in modest ways throughout the morning. First, came several rabbits and a raccoon, run away from the slave-master weasels when they heard that the badgers were nearby. A pair of muskrats appeared out of a marsh at the base of Grass Mountain, where they had been hiding. Finally, two opossums came scuttling onto the road as they passed through a wooded stretch of the highway, offering their services to the armies. Aaron took a closer look, having only seen opossums at night and in the shadows in Vermont. These were much larger, but had the same shambling gait. They were strange looking beasts, not particularly attractive, and nothing like the cute, cuddly things imagined in a typical Disney-style movie. Didn’t stop Bethany from fussing over them, but Aaron’s sister would have found a blind, tail-less rat, ‘simply adorable!’ truth be told.

  The military worth of these newcomers was suspect. Nevertheless, it was heartening to see their forces grow. Opossums and raccoons might not add much–let alone rabbits and muskrats–but if even the smaller creatures joined, surely the bears would not hesitate. And they had passed into the Kingdom. Surely that time would not be far off.

  Later in the afternoon, they found their way blocked by two weasels armed with spears. They were hardly enough to mount a threat to the army, swollen as it was to over a hundred and fifty animals. Nevertheless, Brumbles and Jarr stopped up short when they saw the enemy blocking the road.

  Aaron pushed his way up to where the bear and the badger were discussing the situation. The weasels stood atop a bridge crossing a creek. Brumbles turned to him as he approached. “I don’t like the looks of this.”

  “How do you mean?” Aaron asked. “There are only two of them.”

  “That’s exactly what I’m talking about. If there were a dozen, maybe we’d need to brace ourselves for a fight. But with two? Even positioned on the bridge, they can’t hold us back for more than a minute or two.

  “An ambush, maybe? We attack the weasels, and...”

  His voice trailed off while Brumbles gave a nod that meant, “Yes, exactly.” The bridge was surrounded by meadows on both sides of the stream, with a handful of trees scattered here and there. No place to hide an ambush here. Aaron scratched at his nose while he wondered what this was all about.

  “You, there!” one of the weasels shouted. “Are you going to come up here, or sit down there picking your noses?”

  Aaron’s finger was actually extended when the weasel said this, as if he were just removing it from his left nostril. The others turned to look at him. He whipped down his hand with a sheepish grin. They turned back to the weasels.

  “What do you want?” Brumbles called back.

  “To talk, you fools. What do you think?”

  “Put the spears down, then,” Jarr urged.

  The weasel gave a toothy grin. “Not likely, boss. Not until we’ve had a chance to talk. Now come up here, just the two of you. No, bring the human boy, too.”

  Brumbles turned to the others. “Could be a trap, but doesn’t look like it, eh? Look sharp, and we can take those two if things turn nasty.”

  “I don’t know,” Aaron said. He didn’t see what good could come from talking to them. Look what had happened with Mudruss. He didn’t want to make the same mistake twice.

  Jarr rubbed his hairy face for a long and thoughtful moment. At last, he nodded. “It’s a risk, all right. But what isn’t?”

  Without waiting for the others t
o make up their minds, the badger, suddenly decided, shouted instructions for his badgers to wait, then strode off alone toward the bridge and the weasels. Brumbles and Aaron hurried to catch up.

  “Now then, you weasels. What do you possibly have to offer?” Jarr asked as they approached. He hefted his paw, as if unable to decide whether to set it down or bash one of these two on the noggin.

  The taller of the two weasels said, “Our spears. Our teeth, our claws. Same thing as anyone else.”

  “You’re saying you want to join us?” Brumbles asked. His voice was incredulous.

  “That’s right. And all that we ask in return is our freedom when this is over. We’re sick of Garmley and his friends lording it over us. We just want to go home, live our lives in peace.” They explained how Garmley and the other weasels from down south had taken control of their people over the last few years, how many of the weasels wanted nothing to do with this war. Even the greedy, violent ones who enjoyed the slaves and the plunder resented the weasel lord and his harsh rule.

  Sounded mighty suspicious to Aaron, but he wanted to hear what the others had to say. Jarr gestured to Brumbles and Aaron to pull back from the bridge and out of earshot. “Well?” he said in a gruff voice. “Should we just run them through? Shouldn’t be much more than a skirmish.”

  “You don’t believe them, then?” Aaron asked the badger chieftain.

  “Don’t know if I do. Don’t know if I don’t. I was willing to hear what they had to say. Well, now it sounds rather messy to me. The easiest thing to do would be to just finish them off and be done with it. Get back on our way.”

  “And if we take them on?” Brumbles asked. He stroked his chin thoughtfully with his claw. “What could happen?”

  Aaron thought again of Mudruss and thought it best to withhold judgement. He just shrugged when Brumbles gave him a quizzical look, as if to ask what he thought. Brumbles didn’t let that shrug stand. “Well, out with it.”

  “It could be the worst of all possible decisions, to let weasels infiltrate our army, only to pass information to the enemy. And then, suppose they start fighting for the other side in the middle of the battle. That will be the end.”