Chương 38

Sid stared at Fritz angrily in accusation. Bert laughed, raising his hands and clenching them into fists as he turned to face the low growl echoing through the stone tunnel. Over the noise of the growling Fritz could hear the scrapes of claws against rock. Kneeling Fritz rooted through his pack, seizing upon his amber glowstone and pulling it and its swirling yellow light out into the open, banishing the black of the cave around them.

The deep, low sound intensified as its source was illuminated by the amber stone's light. Standing before them on four powerful shaggy legs was something that could only be described as a bear. Though it was unlike many of the other bears Fritz had seen illustrations of in the multitude of monster manuals and animal almanacs he had read. It did however match the description of the Bone-mould Bear, with its head, front paws and shoulders protected by bony plates.

Protruding from between the seams of bone and beyond the armoured, yellowed-white crest of its upper back was a carpet of shaggy black fur. Its face was like a bear's skull and in its deep eye sockets he could see a glistening red glare. The growl stopped suddenly and the monster opened its terrible jaws wide and let loose a deafening roar of rage. It charged the intruders, its claws scratching against the rock as it thudded forward. It would be on them in moments.

One of Sid's wind-imbued arrows streaked over Fritz' s shoulder before he had time to react. It glanced off of the bone-mould bear's armoured hide, leaving only a small scratch on the bony plate and shattering on the stone wall beside it. Bert rushed at the creature to meet its advance with his fists and a sudden Corrosive Spray. The bear flinched slightly from the sudden gout of misting spray Bert shot from his outstretched palm. It splashed and sizzled over its yellowed-white face, shoulders and crest.

Bert also flinched as he ran yelling curses through his acid's searing wake. The idiot isn't immune to his own Ability, Fritz concluded quickly as Bert's pale skin brightened into red. Still, the fool persisted, meeting the bear's charge and roar with one of his own, dodging its snapping jaws by a hair and swinging up in a mighty uppercut. His fist rippled with force and rocked the beast's skull-like head upwards, c l acking its fangs together as they were slammed closed and cutting off its thunderous roar.

Bert had no time to gloat however as a huge paw swatted him to the side, its claws tearing three long rents in his tough skin and throwing him into the wall with a crunch. Fritz winced at the sigh t but began to sprint, knowing he had to get to the bear's back where it was less armoured and his fish blade would only have to contend with its thick hide rather than it's seemingly-impervious plate. He ducked past its front leg and slipped around the side of the musty bear.

He didn't trust himself enough to not get hit by an errant swipe of a paw or some hidden ability so he activated his barrier ring as he rushed besides the bear's formidable length. He suffused his fish blade with cold, shadowy magic, activating Gloom Strike as he slashed across the monster's furred flank. His weapon scored the thick hide but didn't draw more than a few drops of blood and le ft behind only a thin line of red instead of splitting it open as he'd hoped.

Monsters are getting tougher, but that's to be expected the higher you climb, Fritz observed as he reached the creature's back end and turned to see something jaw-dropping. Sid leapt into the air, and at the apex of her jump stepped onto a burst of wind, pushing her even higher and above the bear's head. The monster swung a claw at her, but she again stepped on a gust of air, kicking herself to the side, blurring and speeding up as she did so.

She dodg ed the paw's strike by inches and land ed sinuously on the bear's furred back. Sid stumbled for a moment from the unstable footing and was about to fall w hen the belt of the moon serpent shed a soft light. S he gracefully adjusted her stance and feet, keeping her balance and twisting as she stretched her bowstring taut and conjured an arrow into place. She loosed the newly-summoned, glass-like arrow into the bear's left shoulder joint, right into a seam between its bone plating.

The monster opened its fanged mouth and roared in pain, it shook and shrugged its mighty shoulders, snapping the stuck arrow in to glittering splinters. Sid lost her footing and fell forward onto the bear's back, her breastplate sounding with a dull clang. S he cast away her bow and held onto the shifting plates a s the monster tried and failed to throw her off.

I have to distract it, Fritz thought just as Bert seemed to have the same idea, and saw him picking himself up from the cave floor and staggering in to rain empowered blows on the beast's skull. The bone plating where Bert had sprayed his acid seemed surprisingly brittle as it broke under his fists and fell away in flaky chunks, revealing the bear's pale skin beneath. Fritz joined in the efforts to distract the beast from Sid, pinpointing a spot in the bear's back leg that probably housed an important tendon.

He wreathed his fish blade in cold, dark energies and thrust its shadowed point through the back of the bear's knee. It took some doing but by pushing with all his might he felt the tip pierce through the tough hide and into the meat of the leg. The leg kicked out after a small delay, seemingly only once it could feel the pain through its shadow-deadened nerves did it react. The blow caught Fritz right in the chest, popping his barrier and bowling him over.

Fritz fell hard, hitting the back of his head on a loose stone. He lay there groaning, spinning for a moment, and then a minute more. Another roar startled him out of his stupor and he sat up searching for the source of the terrible noise. It wasn't hard to miss, the hairy backside of the bear stumbled forward, its back leg slipping due to the still protruding fish blade stuck in its knee joint. Fritz scrambled to his feet, patting his belt and looking around for his bone dagger, he found it wasn't there.

I must have dropped it when I got hit, his swimming mind a ssumed. Abandoning his bone dagger for now he ran to grab a hold of his fish blade while trying to piece together what had happened during the time he spent dazed on the ground. He couldn't quite see the front of the bear, or Bert, but he could still hear the sounds of heavy punches thudding against dense flesh and cracking against bone. Sid still clung to the beast's back holding onto her fin sword that she must have stabbed into its furred back.

The short blade of the fin seemed to drip with green-black venom and the bear shuddered and shook trying to wrench the determined woman off of its body. Grabbing the rough cloth hilt of his sword Fritz pushed the fish blade forward and activated Gloom Strike again, pouring the roiling darkness over his weapon, hoping to dull the sensation of his attack s as much as possible.

When the shadows dissipated sinking into the bear's flesh he cast his spell again, and pulled back on the sword, shaping the dark, whispering power along the edges to cover and numb the agonising grinding of bone and the painful snapping of ligaments and tendons his sawing motions caused. Once more the darkness enveloped the blade, once more he pushed. The bear's huge leg buckled and bent sideways at the knee. The beast toppled and Fritz heard a man's loud cry.

He peered around the fallen beast and he saw Bert take advantage of the bear's stumble and slam his pulsing fist down like a hammer. It crashed into the bear's bare head with a crack, bashing in its skull and smashing into the rocky ground with a dull thud. Not trusting his fist to have finished the job Bert swung in with a kick rippling with force and shattered the top of its skull, caving it in with his descending heel. The bear slumped to the stone hard enough that a tremor went through the cave.

B lood bubbled, leaking slowly from its crushed head. Sid finally let go of the beast, sliding off and landing in to a sitting position with her back lying against its shaggy side. She was panting and looking around wide-eyed, Bert fell onto his back and lay there heaving. He's laughing, the insane idiot is laughing, Fritz realised not even astonished at the man's madness after the snail diving.

There was also another higher-pitched rumble then Fritz found he was laughing too, both of them were mad then, he concluded.

"Why, in the Last Spire's name, are you both cackling? Is something funny?" Sid grumbled darkly through their low, uncontrollable laughter.

"I didn't say it was empty! Too funny, Fritz," Bert said gasping for air.

"I didn't know there'd be bone-mould bears here," Fritz said panting as his laughter died out and the seriousness of their danger was re-impressed on him.

"This place has got the most variety of all the other floors. They only had one or two at most."

"We never did get to see those big rats on the snail floor did we," Bert mused as he also sobered up from his outburst. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

"No, and I've seen and eaten enough rats not to care about that," Sid interjected.

"Speaking of eating, do we know if bear is edible?" Bert asked. Fritz turned to the knowledgeable Sid, who answered, "Yes."

"Well, we have food enough to outlast the storm it seems, just need wood," Fritz pointed out.

"Bert, take Quicksilver and saw down a few trees would you?"

"Quicksilver? Oh your fish blade," Bert chuckled.

"Why?"

"It's got a good edge for those sort of things. Just ask the bear. And we'll need a fire so as not to freeze to death. Or have you got a better idea?" Fritz said.

"I thought we could all just huddle together, share the warmth you know?" Bert suggested lazily as he activated his self mending clothes, rapidly repairing the rents the bear had clawed into them.

"I think not, your tossing and turning would keep everyone awake, plus I'm not too sure how keen Sid is on bundling up with us. Even if the alternative is freezing," Fritz said broaching the subject as delicately as he knew how. Sid just stared at the two of them inscrutably then coughed and buried her face in her scarlet scarf.

"Not keen at all," she grumbled out through the wool.

"Fair enough," Bert said sitting up with a wheeze and striding over to the ruined leg of the bear, he gave a low whistle as he pulled the fish blade free saying, "Whoa, Fritz, you really did a number on this leg… I can bear-ly recognise it." Fritz groaned but Sid chuckled, then burst out into full belly laughter that cascaded into a shriek of unsuppressed mirth. It died down quickly and Sid looked away embarrassed, mumbling something to herself.

Bert stared at her then turned to Fritz in wide-eyed surprise, he seemed to have been shaken by her admittedly startling reaction. Fritz shrugged assuming it was a similar phenomenon to his and Bert's own bursts of mad laughter. Just a product of the great pressure they were under. Hefting the fish blade easily, much more easily than himself Fritz observed enviously, Bert strode out into the now-howling winds outside the cave.

He returned within minutes hauling one of the thin trees behind him then left again as soon as it was safe within the stone tunnel. Snow started to fall in earnest but he persisted in the biting cold as Fritz and Sid prepared a fire. Bert hauled in three more trees and was about to go for another when they stopped him. His bare feet were turning blue and he was shivering violently.

He pretended to protest their demands that he stop but gave in easily after the sparks took to the kindling and caught aflame, scorching the too-green wood of the thin trees. After much care and attention the fire was burning merrily, but smoking horribly from their choice of fuel. They coughed and spluttered as the smoke rose to the roof of the cave and hung there like another storm.

Fritz used his Stone Pit, calling on the rock to move into the general shape of a chimney, it took him a couple of casts, then a couple more to allow for more airflow. Then he was lying on the ground aching and groaning from fatigue. He was also still a little dizzy from his head injury that was just starting to swell. Fortunately, with his new stamina reserves and recovery, it wasn't as terrible as the last time he overused his magic and depleted his stores of energy.

As he 'built' the chimney, Sid got started on carving up the bear, again using Fritz's bone dagger which was discovered lying near where he had been knocked down. I t seemed it was the only blade that could cut through its hide with any precision. Sid got Bert to carry away any offal or organs they were unlikely to need and throw them out into the rising snow. When they weren't helping Sid with the bear or keeping the fire burning they watched the snow cover the ground outside, growing taller by the minute.

It was a novel thing, as they had never seen snow before, the closest they got in Rain City was torrential storms, and even then they never veered into hail or snow territory. It was cool in Rain City, not freezing. Fritz knew you'd have to head northwest towards the Major Spire of Ice to see anything of the sort. Not that you didn't have to be careful in Rain City, being cool and wet was a sure way to slip into a cold sleep and never wake again. Fritz reached out his hand, letting snow fall in his open palm.

He then crunched it into a small ball and promptly threw it at the side of Bert's dumb head just as Bert scooped up some snow and flung it in his direction. They both laughed as they continued throwing handfuls of the ice-white powder at each other, much to Sid's annoyance.

"Are you two kids? Cut it out!" She demanded turning to face them with bloodied hands and a dripping dagger. They spun on her, immediately throwing snowballs at her glowering expression. As the balls of ice soared through the air between them she smirked and wind whipped around her empty fist. She stuck out with a palm strike bursting their snowballs and blowing back what remained of a gust of air and splattering them with slush.

They spluttered while wiping the snow from their faces and clothes then they booed her.

"Cheater!" Bert proclaimed.

"Spoilsport!" Fritz accused. Sid just poked her tongue out at them and turned back to her task, basking in the glow of her easy and total victory. Bert's belly growled so loudly that it seemed to be doing an impression of the bear. Fritz raised an eyebrow asking, "Hungry?"

"So hungry I could eat a bear," Bert confessed with a greedy grin.

"Well, Sid's still working on the bear, how about the…. other meat," Fritz offered, but not willing to give name to the cat.

"I won't say no to that," Bert said amiably.

"Shall I spit it or build the frame?"

"Spit it, I'll build the frame," Fritz said. After Bert nodded his assent Fritz shivered and walked away from the cave entrance, noticing the temperature in the cave was steadily dropping even with their small fire, he decided to throw on another cut length of wood. It sizzled and spat as its sap escaped and evaporated. Coughing from the new steam and smoke, Fritz wandered over to the spare trees Bert had cut down, he began to trim one down to make a spit to cook the monster meat on.

After sawing away its branches and length to a suitable degree he threw it over to Bert who caught it deftly and meandered over to the great cat's carcass. Fritz looked away, focusing on cutting some lengths of wood for a frame to hold the spit. It took them about twenty minutes of trial and error to set everything up. They had never needed a frame or spit this big as the largest thing they had ever roasted was probably one of the water rats that plagued the Sunken Ring, they were large but not so large as this.

They were able to heave the enormous monster onto the frame and over the smoking, spitting fire where it sat slowly cooking. The meat began to brown and thankfully without its fur and head it looked nothing like it had before. He felt less guilty and more hungry as he watched the slow, delectable cooking process. Bert and Fritz took turns rotating the succulent flesh as it crisped up and trickles of fat dripped into the flames.

They weren't sure if the meat was fully ready to eat but after some hours watching the roast they didn't care anymore. Especially after some of the things they ate in their time in the gutter, they reasoned if that rancid stuff didn't kill them then monster meat couldn't do much worse. Fritz cut sections off and shared the meat around serving Bert twice before he got to serve himself.

He wobbled a little on unsteady legs but he felt that serving the beast up was the least he could do, since the other two had been far more instrumental both in the fight and in the preparation of the much needed meal. Once he did bite into the hot flesh, he found it was stringy, greasy and tough. It was gamy, but definitely not the worst thing he had eaten, it wasn't even metallic like the fish, as he feared it would be.

In fact due to the sheer warmth it filled him with he would've rated it as one of his better meals since he was exiled from the orphanage. He ate as much as he could through his nausea and dizziness he had been feeling since he was knocked down by the bear. He kept it down and felt strength return to his trembling limbs.

"Not bad, definitely better than gutter cats," Sid stated as she stripped the meat off of a leg bone with her teeth, wiping at the dribbling fat as it ran down to her chin.

"It's a little burnt and needs some seasoning. A small amount of salt or Gods willing some pepper would really elevate this dish," Fritz suggested knowing they had no such things to use but saying it anyway, mostly to annoy Bert.

"Maybe you should get a cooking T echnique then," Bert groused between mouthfuls of meat.

"Fill one of my precious Technique Channels with a chef Technique?" Fritz said in exaggerated offence.

"Yeah, would come in handy. A guide who cooks would be much more welcome than one who whines," Bert riposted.

"Oh, don't mention wines! What I would do for a good wine!" Fritz near wailed, putting the back of his hand to his forehead in imitation of a wilting maiden on the edge of fainting. Sid choked on her mouthful of food, spitting it into the fire and coughing. She pounded on her chest, only succeeding in clanging on her breastplate, but eventually cleared her throat. She glared at Fritz with wet eyes.

"Sorry," Fritz said abashed. Sid looked away and wiped her eyes with her scarf. Breaking the awkward silence Bert said, "Forget a cook, we need a leather worker. These pelts are just gonna go to rot. What a waste." Sid croaked something that might have been an agreement and Fritz sighed looking out towards the building wall of snow at the cave's entrance.

"I'm worried about the supply of wood," Fritz said, looking meaningfully at Bert. Bert frowned but after glancing at the remaining supply of thin trees nodded and stood.

"Wait," Sid croaked, then pulled out her blanket of oilcloth from where it was rolled and strapped on her pack. She handed the bundle to him and mimed wrapping it around herself when he stared blandly at her. He nodded seriously then pulled out his own oilcloth and wrapped the both of them over his shoulders, tying their corners together to make a makeshift cloak.

Fritz handed him his fish blade, telling the weapon, "Don't look at me like that Quicksilver, just stick it out with that Brute for a small while, we'll be reunited soon." Bert put on a false scowl and Sid rolled her blue eyes. He turned and began to leave, whispering sweet nothings to the fish blade.

"Stop seducing my sword!" Fritz cried, much to Bert's amusement as he grinned at him over his shoulder and waded into the snow and wailing winds. Sid watched him leave and said, "You two are so strange."

"Thank you," Fritz responded with a wink and a smile. Sid shook her head slightly but smiled back easily, her eyes glinted in the flickering firelight. The wind picked up, and Fritz looked out the cave worriedly. Hoping the storm wouldn't be too bad, a hope that he felt had very little promise.