by Sam Ferguson
Jonathan reached for an arrow and shot it at the bear, but it did nothing to slow the beast.
“Come on then!” Ziegler shouted. “You think I fear you?”
Jonathan came around the trees to see his brother still lying at the base of a tree off to one side of the camp. Ziegler was standing with a knife in one hand and a burning stick in the other. Embers and sparks were falling from his pants, and from the look of the smoke and the scattered logs, the man must have landed in the waning fire. The bear stood on its hind legs and bellowed once more, but Ziegler didn’t back down. He yelled back at the bear and then rushed in. The burning stick was thrust straight at the bear’s face, while the knife was used to slice at the incoming paw the bear used to counter Ziegler’s attack. The large man danced around the bear as the animal lashed out with claws and fangs. The burning log kept the face at bay and Ziegler deftly dodged the menacing claws, slicing the front and back of the bear’s forelegs as the opportunity arose.
This continued only for a few moments, but the fighting was so fierce that it seemed to last minutes, as if time had slowed and each move took ages to execute. Ziegler scored a solid whack on the bear’s face with the burning log, but Jonathan couldn’t tell if it managed to put out the bear’s eye or not, for the bear lunged forward once more, angrier than ever. A swipe of the sharp claws tore the front of Ziegler’s shirt off and gashed the man across the chest. A swipe of the other paw came an instant later and knocked the burning log away.
The bear lunged in, but Ziegler wasn’t beaten yet. He leapt to the side, and then used a large tree to leap off of, turning his momentum and flipping over the bear as it lunged to where he had just been. Ziegler came down with his knife first, driving it deep into the side of the bear’s neck. With his other arm, Ziegler reached around and tried to choke the bear. The animal went into a fit of rage, spinning and snarling as Ziegler did his best to hang on. The bear tumbled back into the camp, rolling over Ziegler once and then spinning and trying to claw at Ziegler with its paws. After a few turns, the bear managed to catch a flap of Ziegler’s shirt and that was enough to rip Ziegler off. The large man went tumbling into Jason and was now without any weapon at all.
Jonathan fired three arrows in rapid succession as the bear slowly stalked toward Ziegler. All three hit their marks, but the bear seemed not to notice them.
The animal came within an inch of Ziegler’s face and then roared before rearing up again and raising a paw. That was when Ziegler snatched out and grabbed Jason’s sword. He came back at the paw and severed the bear’s right foreleg just below the elbow joint as the paw came down.
Jonathan heard the heavy thud as the severed foreleg hit the ground.
Ziegler then gave a mighty yell as the bear dropped down in pain. The sword sliced clean through the bear’s neck, and the bear’s body slumped to the ground.
“No more!” Ziegler shouted. For emphasis he flipped the bloody sword upside down and drove the point through the bear’s back. Then, he backed away and took off what was left of his shirt. “No more casualties!” Ziegler shouted. He pointed to one of his tattoos and then kicked the bear’s head as hard as he could. “This is for Bear!” The dismembered head rolled away. Ziegler walked around the side of the bear and kicked the body. “This is for Bull!”
Jonathan closed his right hand into a fist and then bit his knuckles as he watched Captain Ziegler beat the dead bear as he continued to call out names.
“This is for Moose, you son-of-a—” Ziegler’s words stopped and he sank to his knees beside the bear’s body. He slumped forward, fists ranting against the bear’s side as he started to cry.
Jonathan watched helplessly, not knowing what, if anything, he should do. Then something peculiar happened. The fur on the bear’s body fell off as easily as a dandelion shedding its seeds in the wind. Ziegler noticed it too, for he leaned back from the bear and stopped hitting the carcass. The thick hide turned softer, and the form began to shrink. The muscles withered and the limbs grew thin. The body shrank down to the size of a normal man. The claws disappeared, replaced by bony fingers.
“No,” Ziegler said.
Jonathan stepped in closer to inspect the phenomenon.
“No!” Ziegler said again as he shook his head.
Jonathan looked past the body and saw that the bear’s head had also become a human’s head. The hair was long and gray, the nose narrow and a bit hawkish. The young archer didn’t need to go any closer to recognize the body. The bear Ziegler had just killed was in fact the very person they had come to rescue. Raven was now lying dead in the camp, with his head and right arm severed from his body and a sword plunged deep into his back.
“NOOOO!” Ziegler screamed as he arched his head back to yell at the heavens. “No more! I said no more!”
Jonathan moved to him and tried to comfort him, but Ziegler shot up from the ground and pushed Jonathan away so roughly that the young archer fell to his back and nearly had the wind knocked out of him. Ziegler ran off into the night.
CHAPTER 12
Jason didn’t wake until a bit after the sun had risen. Jonathan had bandaged his brother’s head where he found a small abrasion, and helped him lie down to sleep the injuries off after he had failed to wake him. Fortunately, he had found Griff as well, and except for a few cuts from the bear’s claws, Griff was all right, though it had taken a bit to wake the large lizard after finding him upside down at the base of a tree.
Jonathan had spent the rest of the night on watch, hoping that Ziegler would return, and that nothing else would find them before that time. Unfortunately, Ziegler did not come back. The young archer did manage to cover Raven’s body with a pair of blankets, but he had not the time nor the strength to bury the poor man.
Once Jason was fully awake, it didn’t take him long to realize that something was terribly wrong.
“Is Ziegler dead?” he asked, staring at the blanket covering Raven.
Jonathan shook his head. “No, at least he wasn’t when he left.”
“He left?” Jason asked. “Then who’s that? And where is that giant bear that attacked us?”
Jonathan took a deep breath and moved to the blanket. “You won’t believe me, but this is…” the name wouldn’t come out. Instead, Jonathan could only recall Ziegler’s reaction last night. The very reason they had come to Tanglewood Forest was now dead before them. Worse than that, Ziegler had dealt the killing blow. The young archer pulled the blanket back to reveal Raven’s face.
“By the gods,” Jason said. “It’s Raven!” Jason looked to Jonathan with his mouth open. “Well, tell me what happened. Did Raven come and help with the bear? Is the bear still out there? Did Ziegler chase it down to avenge Raven?”
Jonathan shook his head and tears came to his face. “Raven was the bear,” Jonathan said softly. “Somehow, something turned him into the bear.” Jonathan pulled back the blanket more to reveal the wounds on the body. “These are the places where I shot him, and Ziegler is the one who…”
“Who took his arm and head,” Jason said soberly.
Jonathan dropped the blanket and began to cry openly.
Jason moved in quickly and scooped his younger brother into a great hug. “Don’t you blame yourself, don’t you dare!”
Jonathan couldn’t speak. Only half-words mingled with sobs came out as he buried his face in Jason’s hug.
“It’s not your fault. It’s not. Whoever did this, it’s their fault, you hear?”
Jonathan nodded, and sniffled like a blubbering child.
“Where’s Griff?” Jason asked. The large animal came up and nuzzled Jonathan’s side as soon as Jason spoke the cavedog’s name. “Good, then we can finish this.” Jason shook Jonathan and forced the young warrior to open his eyes and look at him. “Jonathan, you and me, we are going to finish this. Do you understand?” Jason looked around the camp and then shook his head before looking back to Jonathan. “That wasn’t Raven. Whoever cursed him and changed him into a bear already
killed him. It’s their fault, not yours. Do you hear me?”
Jonathan nodded and pulled back to wipe his eyes. “What do we tell Miranda?” Jonathan asked. “She was depending on us.”
“It wasn’t our fault,” Jason repeated. “Now, let’s get up and go make those curs pay for what they have done. Come on, for Moose, and Bull, and Ruben, and everyone else we have lost along the way.”
“For Sami, and Rourke, Bear, and Raven,” Jonathan said with a nod. “And for Miranda.”
Jason stood and lifted his brother up. “You, me, and Griff, we’ll take Brykith down, and we’ll do what Reshem wanted us to do.”
“I told you,” Jonathan said with a smile.
“Told me what?” Jason asked.
“You’ll always be the big brother.” The two hugged and held each other for a few moments, and then they piled wood around Raven’s body. They had not the time to bury him, but neither would they leave his body to be desecrated by animals. They lit the fire and then they continued their journey. They trekked north. Jason tried to track Ziegler, but his trail went cold near a river about ten miles from the camp site. They tried calling out for him, but after an hour of unsuccessfully trying to pick up Captain Ziegler’s trail, they continued on without him.
“There are some wars a man must fight on his own,” Jason said as they put the river behind them. “Each of us has our demons.”
The brothers walked north for another thirty miles before they finally found what they were looking for. A great spire of gray stone jutted up from the forest floor like a jagged spear of granite. The point rose high above the trees, and seemed poised to pierce the very clouds. From a window in the top, streams of yellow light pulsed out into the air, dissipating a few hundred yards away from the tower.
“Well, they aren’t trying too hard to hide if they built that monstrosity and let it shine like a lighthouse,” Jason commented.
Jonathan nodded. “They probably figure they have enough guards to protect it from any invaders stupid enough to come after them.”
“Well, then they never planned on fighting the pair of us,” Jason said. He held his fist out to Jonathan and the younger brother made a fist and slammed it down on Jason’s. “We wait until night, and then the three of us knock on their door and we have a chat with Brykith.”
Griff snarled and flicked his tongue out. His body went rigid.
Jason and Jonathan crouched low to the ground.
“What is it, Griff?” Jonathan asked.
The lizard stalked slowly to the right and then began furiously digging downward. In moments, only his tail could be seen above the surface, wagging and twitching as hunks of dirt flew up and out of the hole.
“What’s he doing?” Jason asked.
“He hasn’t been wrong yet,” Jonathan said. “I say we follow him.”
Jason huffed. “Great, now I have to take orders from a lizard and his pet.”
“You mean your little brother and his pet,” Jonathan quipped.
“Oh no, I think I had it right the way I said it,” Jason said with a smirk.
The two crept over to the hole just as Griff broke through into a tunnel below the surface. The cavedog ran off in the direction toward the tower. Jason and Jonathan jumped in quickly to follow. A few moments later they heard muffled snarls and the crunching of bone accompanied by the quiet moans of a dying creature. The brothers stole through the tunnel, softly padding along as they let their eyes adjust to the dim light. They found Griff happily dragging the body of a troll and placing it atop two more dead trolls. The cavedog didn’t bother eating the creatures though, he just left them and triumphantly trotted deeper into the tunnel. Jason bent down to inspect them and shook his head with a laugh.
“Griff killed them the right way, he disabled them by biting their necks and then killed them for good by ripping out their hearts.
“Good ol’ Griff,” Jonathan replied.
“I’m so glad you cut that lizard loose and saved its life,” Jason said as he stood back up. “We could have used a few hundred like him in the Murkle Quags.”
Jonathan grinned proudly and they rushed to keep up with Griff. They went through the tunnel until it veered off to the left, and then Griff stopped. The animal turned and slowly walked along the northern wall of the tunnel, pacing back and forth several times before finally turning to the dirt and digging straight through it. A few minutes later, the cavedog connected them to a nearby tunnel that was headed the right direction.
The trio continued on until they came to a network of side rooms and intersections with other tunnels. They ducked into a room on the left when a sizeable troop of trolls crossed an intersection ahead of them and waited for the group to pass.
“Just make sure Griff doesn’t go after all of them,” Jason whispered.
They waited for a long time until Griff seemed to relax and the noise of the passing troop faded, and then they came out of the room and into the main tunnel.
Unfortunately, they ran head-first into a group of seven trolls.
Jason wasted no time pulling his sword and slicing across the first troll’s throat before plunging the blade into the creature’s heart. Griff tore into two trolls at the same time, using his sharp, long claws to rip their hearts out. Jonathan had to jump back a few steps to use his bow, but once he had the right distance, he dropped two more with quick shots to their hearts. Jason killed one more and then Griff got the last. It was a quick battle, but the sounds of shouting and clanking weapons echoed down the halls.
“Come on, we’ll have to run for it now,” Jason said.
The three ran down the tunnels as angry shouts erupted down every corridor.
A troll emerged from a side room, holding a mug in one hand and a club in the other. Jason cut off the troll’s head with one swipe of his sword and Jonathan rushed up with an arrow in hand, plunging the point deep into the troll’s chest and stopping the creature’s heart. Griff ran into the side room and a pair of trolls shouted and hollered until the cavedog had dispatched them as well.
“Faster!” Jason said. They all ran down the corridor as trolls poured in from the intersections behind them. An arrow whizzed past Jonathan’s head from behind.
The young archer turned and fired an arrow back, killing the troll archer. In that brief instant, he counted at least twenty trolls chasing them.
“So much for surprise,” Jonathan said.
An elf came into the tunnel in front of them then. He was tall and lean, wearing gold robes that matched the color of his hair perfectly. He waved his hands in front of him and called forth a large sphere of fire. The fire grew until it filled the tunnel, and then it shot forward with incredible speed.
“In here!” Jonathan said as he yanked his brother through a door on the right. Griff leapt in a moment later and Jonathan threw the door closed.
The fire rushed past them and then the sound of dying trolls filled the air.
“Is the elf on our side?” Jason asked.
“I doubt it,” Jonathan said. He looked around the room and realized it was a bed chamber. There were three rows of three cots in the room. There were no wardrobes or other pieces of furniture though, and the cots would not be enough to stop a magic-wielding elf from getting to them.
Griff dashed to the northern wall and began digging.
“Good boy, Griff, good boy!” Jonathan said.
“I’ll watch the door,” Jason offered.
Jason ran up to hide against the wall with his sword at the ready. Jonathan went to the far end of the room and prepared to use his bow until Griff finished making their escape tunnel. The door flew open and in came a troll. Jonathan fired an arrow and dropped the beast in the doorway.
A second troll stepped in its place, but Jason ran his sword through that one.
A third knocked Jason aside with a heavy club, but Jonathan was able to put that one down with an arrow as well. Jonathan then killed two more. The corpses clogged the entryway, but there were no oth
ers coming anyway. Jonathan reached for another arrow and set it to the string, watching the opening and waiting.
He saw only a flash of the elf’s hand, and then another sphere of fire appeared and hovered into the room. It grew to fill the doorway, consuming the troll bodies and blocking the exit.
“You made it farther than most, but this is where your adventures end,” a voice called from outside the room. “The fire will grow to fill the room you are in. If you are lucky, you will die from lack of air before the flame starts to rip at your flesh.”
“Come in here and fight,” Jason said as beads of sweat became visible on his forehead.
“Humans,” the voice said disdainfully from the tunnel. “Your twisted senses of honor and pride mean nothing to me. You will die here.”
Then there was silence.
The fire grew slowly, crackling and popping with sparks that shot out into the room and scorched the earth they fell upon. Streaks of lightning shot across the sphere occasionally, sometimes spitting out into small, silvery tendrils that sizzled against the walls of the room.
Jonathan moved to the tunnel Griff was digging and looked in. He was joined a moment later by Jason. He couldn’t see far into it, but they were running out of time. The brothers crawled in after Griff. They crawled through the tight space for about twenty yards, glancing back occasionally at the fire that was now stretching into the tunnel, and then the shaft dropped into a steep slope that came up on them without warning. Jonathan tumbled down and found himself sliding deeper and deeper into the earth. Jason was right behind him. They slid down for a long time, and then they fell out into open space.
It was entirely dark, with no source of light whatsoever. Jonathan had no idea if he was falling toward solid stones, or if he would descend forever into some chasm that tore through the bottom of the world. He shouted out for his brother, but the darkness was so thick that it muffled his voice. There wasn’t even an echo. He fell for a long time, and then he slammed hard into something at the bottom. At first he thought his legs had shattered, for his knees came up and hit him in the chin, but then he realized he must have been wrong, because he was being enveloped by something cold and wet.
