Chapter 22
Twenty-Two
Ayla
A fter a few hours in the woods, Zasen had managed to down a bird, but that was all we'd harvested tonight. With the cookout coming up, we both wanted to make sure we brought something back, so decided to keep going. After all, we'd seen the two deer earlier.
Yet the forest was unnaturally empty, which made Zasen tense and overly vigilant. I kept catching him looking around, often behind us, but when I asked, he said it was nothing. But as twilight took over, we found out why the animals had vanished. I was trailing behind Zasen, trying to be silent, when he turned around a collection of trees - and we came face-to-face with the largest thing I had ever seen.
Big.
Brown.
Massive.
All three of us froze for a moment, then the bear reared up on its haunches and roared. Huge. That was the only word I had to describe it. I'd thought the deer were big, but this thing may as well have been a walking mountain!
Its dark brown fur looked almost silvery in the fading light, but I could see every one of its sharp white teeth. It felt like the world paused as I tried to take in what was happening, and every hard, intense beat of my heart in my chest felt like I was being hit with a sledgehammer.
"Run," Zasen hissed, pushing me back the way we'd come.
I obeyed, my feet digging into the decaying leaves, crunching sticks without care. I ran, the sounds of pursuit right behind me. Jerking to the side, I changed directions around a rock, and saw Zasen go the other way.
The bear chose to follow me.
Zasen yelled and raced after us. I changed direction again, my lungs starting to burn, but I couldn't stop. I grabbed a tree, my grip spinning me around it, but the bear was gaining ground. Reaching over my shoulder, I managed to pull out an arrow and nock it to my bow without slowing my feet. When I turned again, I took a shot, and the shaft actually hit the animal's shoulder.
From the side, Zasen rushed it. His krael were in his hands, and his tail was up. As soon as he cut its skin, the bear spun to face him, so I grabbed another arrow, screaming in some vain attempt to get the animal's attention. Zasen cut again, but his weapons could barely slice through the thick hide. His tail, however, hit it hard. Every chance he got, he stung, and the bear was getting angry.
But as soon as Zasen was out of the way, I loosed. The targets I'd practiced on were no bigger than this creature's head, so hitting its side was very easy. The arrow slammed into the beast with a wet sound, and the bear was back on me, but the wound made it slower. I grabbed for another arrow as I scrambled backwards, while Zasen moved in again.
The bear swatted at him, its paws larger than Zasen's head. He fell, rolling over the leaves just to jump up and sting it again. Unfortunately, that put him in my way, making it impossible to shoot.
"Move!" I screamed.
Zasen moved, but I wasn't sure he'd heard me. Thankfully, he still shifted around, likely trying to get behind it. Once he was out of my way, I shot the beast. That made it turn to roar at me. Zasen rushed in to sting it yet again, and the bear lunged at him.
Each time it turned its attention on him, I shot it. Every time it went for me, Zasen moved in to sting it. Back and forth, we attacked it, scrambling over the uneven ground as we tried to stay out of its reach. My heart was pounding and I felt like I couldn't catch my breath, but I refused to leave him to face this thing alone.
This bear was so much bigger than any pictures I'd ever seen. When it stood up, Zasen only reached midway up its torso. It had to be over fifteen feet tall! Then it roared and rushed at Zasen, its shoulders rippling with each thunderous step, so I shot it again, screaming as loud as I could in the hopes my voice would get its attention. The arrow hit its neck.
The bear snapped his head around and charged at me. I ran, dodging around another tree, but I was too slow. I turned right into its arm, and a paw slapped my shoulder and back, knocking me to the ground. Rolling, I tried hard not to stop my forward momentum, which was when Zasen jumped on its back. Over and over, he stung with his tail and stabbed with his krael, the sharpened end of those blades doing little more than making it mad.
"Ayla!" he yelled.
"Move," I screamed, finding another arrow.
He jumped away from the thing, seeking a little distance, and I loosed. By sheer chance, the bear turned towards me and roared - and the arrow impacted right into its open mouth. The beast tried to roar again, but began to whine in pain instead while Zasen and I hurried to back away.
Shaking its head, the bear staggered, but it still managed to claw its mouth, frantic to dislodge the arrow in its tongue and jaw. The creature stumbled again and groaned, then tried to take a step. Before our eyes, it was shutting down, the Dragon venom finally doing its job.
Zasen grabbed me and guided me further back, looking between both me and the bear. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah. I think it just got my shoulder."
The bear tried to move again, but could barely shift its leg. When Zasen spun me around, I saw the beast groan and flop down, limp. Each breath was a grunt of suffering, but Zasen's attention was locked on me. He pulled at my leathers, inspecting the skin behind my arm.
"It's not deep," he said thankfully, letting out a heavy breath that sounded like it was filled with leftover fear. "Can you move your arm?"
I nodded and demonstrated, turning to face him again. "Are you okay? Did it get you?"
"No worse than you," he admitted, gesturing to scratches across his ribs. "But I won't be funny colors tomorrow."
I couldn't help it, a giggle slipped out as the shock began to fade. "You're always funny colors."
"But that's normal," he teased, moving in to cup the side of my face. "Ayla, I was sure it had you."
"I thought it was going to kill you ."
"That's why you stayed? I told you to run, but you fought it. A bear, Ayla." He thrust his hand at the dying animal. "I told you to run, but you stayed." Yet he didn't sound angry. He sounded like I'd done something amazing.
"I had to help," I explained. "The arrows didn't do much, but it made it look away."
"You were perfect," he breathed, pulling me up against his chest in a tight hug. "Like we were meant to work together."
"I'm supposed to be your gold."
I expected him to laugh at that, but he didn't. His face softened, and his eyes dropped to my lips. "No, you're yours, Ayla. Not mine. No one's but your own."
Relaxing, I leaned into him. The feel of his arms around me wasn't intimidating. The grip of his hold felt comforting, nothing more. My hands were still trembling from the fear and anxiety coursing through my body, but having him shield me like this made it better.
It made me feel safe.
"Zasen…"
"I'm not going to kiss you," he promised. "I just wanted to hug you, to be sure you're actually okay."
I looked up, lifting my chin. "You saved me."
"And you saved me," he agreed. "Ayla, this is okay."
My eyes dropped to his mouth, remembering the way it had felt when he'd kissed me. I'd been overwhelmed by everything that had happened that night, but his mouth had made it feel easier to handle. Now, his hug was doing the same, almost like something to lean on.
"It doesn't hurt," I said softly.
Smiling down at me, Zasen pulled away. "No, it doesn't, but I hope you don't have a fork," he joked.
I shook my head. "But - "
"Shh." He smoothed my hair back. "It's okay. We're okay."
"No." I looked over to the very still form in the leaves. "The bear…" I breathed, aware it had stopped moving.
He chuckled, then shifted to stand at my side, both of us facing the thing. "It's dead."
"How are we going to get it back?"
He laughed again. "We aren't. It's too heavy. A shame, because that could earn you a fortune."
"You killed it."
"I killed half of it." He smiled at me so sweetly. "Dragging it would be too hard for you."
"I'm getting stronger!"
My vehemence made him laugh. "Yes, I've noticed. But if we try to move this thing, you could hurt your shoulder more. Never mind that your muscles will hurt afterwards."
"Okay," I said, thinking that sounded like a risk I was willing to take. "So can we take it back?"
"Ayla... It's huge."
"But I don't want to waste it," I insisted.
So he turned to face me again. "I'll help, but I have one condition."
"Okay?"
"You let me help you with your wounds. It will be embarrassing, and probably improper, but you just saved my life."
"You saved mine," I reminded him.
He chuckled once. "Okay, we saved each other, but to me, that means something."
"What thing?"
Those orange eyes of his slipped down to my mouth again. "That we're friends, Ayla. Good friends. The kind who can trust each other, right?"
I nodded quickly, more than willing to agree to that.
"Maybe even the kind of friends who can stop being afraid of each other?"
I glanced away, knowing he wasn't scared of me. He was talking about how many times I'd worried about things, or pushed him - and the other guys - away because I didn't want to make a mistake. Because I kept thinking I had to or they'd take advantage of me.
But he was right. He'd just saved my life. He'd risked his own to help me, and that did mean something. He didn't laugh at me for helping, or chide me for not being good enough with the bow. Instead, he'd held me so protectively. He'd taken care of me.
He also hadn't tried to do more.
Part of me wanted him to. Standing there, looking up at him, I realized how stupid all those rules were. Yes, Zasen pushed me. Most times, he made me braver because of it, but wasn't that what friends did? So many times, he'd had the chance to force himself on me, but he never had.
Instead, he'd fought for me. It didn't matter if that was the man in the street who'd thought I was a Mole, the people in town who'd been scared of my pale sun-sheltered skin, or the hunters when they came to Lorsa. This time, it had been against the bear.
He always helped me - and it felt good. Nice. Safe. Maybe even warm, although that didn't make sense. That had to be from the exertion.
"I trust you," I finally said. "I don't even mind if you kiss me again. I know you won't hurt me."
"Good to know," he said, stepping around me as he headed for the bear. "But if you want another kiss, you're going to have to be the one to do it."
"What?" I gasped, staring at his back, aware of the mark across his ribs.
He ignored me, saying instead, "You're going to owe me for this, you know. Ayla, where's your rope?"
Among the gear we carried into the forest was always a length of rope. It wasn't much, no more than six feet, but it let us tie up the game too large to carry until we could retrieve it. He'd shown me how to use mine to hang the carcasses from my body the last time we went hunting. So when I passed it over, Zasen taught me how to tie a knot, then moved towards the bear's hind legs.
Kicking at the creature once to be sure it was dead, he slipped the noose over its ankle, hooking it on the protrusion of its hock, then showed me how to do the same on the other leg. When both legs were secure, we leaned into it. The bear had to weigh a ton, maybe more, yet the forest was covered in leaves. It was enough, barely, to let the body slide a few inches.
Each step was a challenge, each foot towards town was progress, and we pulled, side-by-side, in our self-made harness. One step, then another, we kept moving. The night around us grew cool, broken by the sound of our panting breath, but we still kept going. The moon rose and the moon set while we pulled some more. When the sky turned that strange shade of blue that preceded dawn, we still didn't stop.
I had never worked so hard in my life. No one had told me I'd need to be strong to hunt; I'd hoped being fast would be enough. The bear proved me wrong. Step by trudging step, we returned to Lorsa with our prize. The sun was leaking over the trees when we finally emerged from the forest, well away from Zasen's house. Before us were a few small shops, and on the other side was the market area. People were only just starting to gather.
Up ahead, something began making a racket. The sound was loud, sharp, and repetitive. I looked, trying to find it. The noise reminded me of that beast on the day Meri had arrived, but the moment we were out of the tree line, Zasen dropped his rope.
"We got a bear!" he yelled.
People turned, shocked looks on their faces, then rushed over. Flapping his hand at me, Zasen let them take over and simply dropped onto his rump in the grass. I joined him, then lay back, sucking for air. A moment later, he copied me, but his tail stretched out to twine around my ankle.
"I think you picked the right career. Ayla, you're an amazing hunter, and today? You're going to make your first wages."
Grinning, I opened my mouth to say something, but a brown streak rushed up the hill, not stopping until it was able to lick Zasen across the face and neck furiously. I tensed, but he just laughed, pushing the creature back a bit.
"Lansin!" he bellowed. "Your dog's loose!"
So I sat up, refusing to jump away. "That's a dog?"
Zasen ruffled the creature's neck. "Yep. You should pet it."
Since I'd already survived a bear, I decided I had nothing left to lose. Reaching out, I ran my hand over the thing's head - but jerked back when it moved. Surprisingly, the creature was soft. Very soft. Timidly, I reached out to pet it again, and the dog liked it enough to leave Zasen and come press against me.