Aldric Starweaver's Arc

Chapter 5 of 10

The creature paced the keep's broken wall. It moved on four legs, low and quick, and its eyes caught the last light. Faelan held the drawn arrow but did not loose it. "Too far. And it guards the box." Aldric watched it turn along the stones. If they crossed the open ground, it would see them and reach them before the keep. He needed a way past it that did not put the group between its teeth and the wall. Sylvra touched Aldric's arm and pointed the other way, up the slope behind the willows. A great white bear stood among the rocks, watching the water. Snow still clung to its shoulders. It was thin, and its ribs showed. "Hungry," Sylvra said. "That helps us." Aldric understood. Two beasts, and only one guarded the box. He knelt and unwrapped the dried meat from his pack. "We feed it. We lead it. We point it at the wall." Galahad frowned. "You mean to send a bear ahead of us." "I mean to send it first," Aldric said. "While it fights, we cross." They worked through the failing light. Aldric laid meat along the bank, one piece, then another, closer each time. The bear came down slow, wary of the twins' bows. It took the first strip and then the next. Faelan whispered the wind to Sylvra, and she read the distance to the keep. When the bear reached the flat rock, Aldric threw the last of the meat toward the open ground, past the willows, toward the wall. The bear followed. It caught the creature's scent and rose on its hind legs. The creature on the wall went still, then dropped and charged. Faelan drew again. "Now it sees the bear. Not us." The two beasts met on the open ground with a sound like breaking branches. They rolled, claw and tooth, kicking up dust in the dusk. "Run it," Galahad said. He pulled Aldric up by the arm. They broke from the willows and crossed the open ground while the beasts tore at each other. Aldric clutched the wrapped box to his chest and ran, slower than the rest, the knight at his shoulder. The twins loosed two arrows into the creature's flank as they passed. It shrieked and turned on the bear again, blood dark on the white fur. They reached the keep's broken gate. Aldric fell against the cold stone, chest heaving. Behind them the bear pinned the creature and did not let go. Faelan looked back once. "It's my creature. It dies here." His voice did not shake. Galahad pushed through the gate. Inside, on a low stone table, sat the second iron box, sealed like the first. Aldric set his own box down beside it and pressed both hands to the cold lid. The crossing was done. Now only the iron stood between him and the shard.