Age of Myth (The Legends of the First Empire #1)

Off to the southeast, they heard a bear’s distant roar. The sound was chilling in the dark wood. Three times it thundered.

Konniger glanced in the direction of the sound and chuckled. “I think you’re too late.” Then he stopped and focused on Raithe. “Thurgin, get on his left; Devon, on his right. These other two can wait; he’s the problem. Remember, he’s fast. We all need to attack at the same time. Just as if he were a bear.”

“Not exactly fair of you,” Malcolm said, holding Reglan’s shield up and clutching his spear awkwardly.

Persephone didn’t know where he found the courage to speak. She was terrified. Glancing at the dead body of Hegner, she wondered what it would feel like when Konniger pushed the sharpened stone point into her.

“Fair?” Konniger replied, and pointed to the collar around Malcolm’s neck. “Being a slave, I would’ve thought you’d be past such stupid notions as fair. Would you consider it fair for the bear when the three of you surround it? That’s all this is, killing a dangerous bear, a bear and her two cubs.”

“Don’t hesitate, Seph,” Raithe said as the men spread out. Remember to whoop like Suri would.”

She knew what he meant and also what the attempt would cost. “I won’t do it.”

“They want you, not us,” Raithe said.

“He’s right,” Malcolm told her.

Konniger closed in, clutching his spear tightly. The others took their lead from him and closed the circle around Raithe.

“Now!” Raithe shouted.

His outburst made everyone flinch except Malcolm, who despite his admission of martial ignorance stabbed with what Persephone thought was a skillful thrust. Malcolm’s spear tip cut the exposed shoulder of a man who screamed and dropped back. Malcolm followed this by running full tilt into Konniger, bowling him over with Reglan’s big shield.

The hole was opened before her. Dropping both shield and spear, she ran. The weapons would only slow her down. Maybe if she got away, they would leave Raithe and Malcolm alone. It was a hope, anyway.

Behind her, men cried out in effort and pain. She heard the crack of wood and another scream. It might have been Raithe, possibly Malcolm, but she couldn’t tell and didn’t dare look back, didn’t dare slow down. Following the moonlit trail, it led to the familiar hollow of fiddlehead ferns and the babbling stream. She splashed through it, praying she wouldn’t slip in the muck or catch a loose rock. Water sprayed, splashing her face and blurring her sight. She made it across, found firm footing again, and ran hard.

Only a few strides beyond the stream she heard someone crash through the water. “Can’t get away from me, bitch!” Konniger shouted.

Feet slapped the dirt just behind her.

She ran as fast as she could, but even with a shield and spear, Konniger was faster. The rapid beat of his strides closed on her. She could hear his breathing, great puffs of air. She expected to feel the tip of his spear in her back. Instead, she heard him curse and his feet slide.

Perhaps he fell.

He hadn’t fallen, but Konniger had stopped. They had reached the waterfall.

Persephone completely forgot to whoop as she ran off the edge.

—

Trapped against the wall of the cave, Suri panicked. She couldn’t think; she couldn’t move. The only thing in her head was the apology running over and over, I’m sorry, Tura. You were right. With her brain locked up, she watched as the huge brown bear lumbered forward. She saw it in perfect detail. Grin ran at her, lunging up and down, forepaws followed by rear. Thick fur undulated. Muscles on her shoulders rolled in waves as her claws reached out and scratched grooves into the dirt floor. Her head, which appeared small for her body, was nevertheless massive with its long snout. The bear roared, displaying four fangs, two long ones on top and two smaller ones on the bottom. All four resided in a mouth wide enough to envelop Suri’s entire head.

She held her breath and pressed against the stone of the cave’s rear wall, wondering if the bear would claw, bite, or crush her. Grin must have decided she had no desire to slam into the rocky wall and slowed.

That was when a flash of white slammed into the bear.

“Minna!” Suri shouted in shock.

The wolf launched herself onto the hindquarters of Grin and managed to hang on with a mouthful of fur. The bear pivoted sharply, and the wolf lost her tenuous hold. Minna flew across the cave, landed on her side with a cry, but scrambled up again. She lowered her head, raised her fur, planted her paws, and growled at the giant.

Grin roared back.

Suri came off the wall. “Run, Minna! Run!”

She knew Minna wouldn’t. If the wolf had broken down the door in the lodge and busted through the front gate of the dahl to get there, Minna was definitely going to die before abandoning her.

At that moment, as the wolf hunched and snarled, Suri knew that her only friend in the world would die. What hadn’t occurred to her in the prelude to her own bloody end revealed itself in her desperation to save Minna.

“How’d you do that?” Tura had asked. The old woman stared as the firelight bathed her features, flickering and dancing with the shadows that played all around their little home.

Suri had shrugged. “I asked the fire spirit to come; isn’t that right?”

Tura had nodded, but the old woman who knew everything had looked confused, apprehensive, even frightened. She hadn’t been scared of the fire. The mystic was frightened of Suri. The truth was in the old woman’s eyes as they shifted back and forth between Suri and the fire.

Why?

That singular question had lingered with Suri for many years.

If Tura couldn’t call the fire spirit without the use of sticks and string, what difference did that make? What was so frightening about making a campfire or lighting a lamp?

It had taken years; it had taken seeing Arion attacked by a goblin; it had taken the look of death in the eyes of Grin as she advanced on Minna, but Suri finally understood.

She focused on the bear, briskly rubbed her hands together, and spoke the words of the gods. She clapped as hard as she could. The impact of one palm slapping the other caused Suri to wince. The effect on Grin was far more dramatic.

The bear burst into flames.

The fire started at her feet, orange and yellow tongues rapidly licking their way up the bear’s thick furry body. Suri heard it, a sound like the single downstroke of a giant bird’s wings. She felt it, too. Air sucked from the back of the cave brushed by her as the fire took a breath, grew, and enveloped the beast in a massive plume of brilliant light and blazing heat.

Minna jerked away as Grin became a torch.

“Minna!” Suri cried. “Over here!”

The wolf darted around the flaming bear, which rolled around on the dirt floor. Minna barely cleared the distance. With most of the flames extinguished, Grin let loose a horrible wail. She jerked and raced out of the cave in desperation.

Suri caught Minna and hugged the wolf around her furry neck. “Thank you, Minna! Thank you for saving me!”

Minna pressed her weight against Suri and looked up at her with an I-am-so-glad-you-are-all-right-but-we-are-definitely-going-to-talk-about-this-later expression. The wolf wore a belt around its neck, the rest of which trailed on the ground. “Since when do you wear leather?”

Then Suri remembered Maeve.

—

All Raithe knew was that Persephone had gotten past the men and into the trees. He and Malcolm had given her the best chance they could. He felt good about that—surprisingly good—as if the accomplishment was the first truly worthwhile thing he’d done in his life. His father would have scowled at his stupidity, but he imagined his mother and sister would have been proud.