Bart Belly's Arc

Chapter 20 of 21

Morning light filled the icy hall. The wolf cub slept by the fire, its breathing slow and even. Bart pulled the golden Speedo from his bag and set it on the bench. Today they would settle it. King Stormy waited near the frosted door, no crown, arms folded. "I owe you my life," Stormy said. "But the gold is mine. All treasures past my wilderness belong to me." His eyes fixed on the shining Speedo. The greed had not left him. It had only slept. Bart lifted the Speedo. He could put it on. He could crush the king's guards and walk out. But he had learned its secret in the wilderness. The power drained without warning. It had killed better bears than him. He would not trust his life to it again inside these walls. "You want the gold," Bart said. "Take it. It's dangerous. Wear it and you'll die like the others." He held it out. Stormy reached, then stopped. His paw hung in the air. He looked at the cub by the fire, at the copper bowl he had filled himself the night before. Something in his face shifted. "You give it up," the king said slowly. "Just like that." "I never came for gold," Bart said. "I came to prove I could survive the ice. I did. The Speedo tried to kill me the whole way. Keep it. I don't want it in my pack anymore." Stormy stared at the golden cloth. His paw closed halfway. For a long moment the greed pulled at him. Then he dropped his arm. "No," he said. "I watched you carry a dying pup through the snow. I watched you fire on a yeti to save an old fool. You earned this gold ten times over." He pushed Bart's paw back. "Keep it. I release my claim. Let it be yours by right." Bart did not move. He had braced for a fight. He had not braced for this. "You're the greediest bear I ever met," Bart said. "I was." Stormy almost smiled. "The gold made you strong. But you saved my life without it. That means more than any treasure in my cavern." He turned toward the door. "It's yours. On one condition." Bart's grip tightened. "What condition?" "Learn to master it fully," the king said. "You told me it fails. A power that fails will bury you like it buried the rest. Tame it, or it will take you the way it took the others." He left the hall. The frosted door swung shut. Bart stood alone with the sleeping cub and the golden Speedo. The king's claim was gone. The Speedo was his, free and clear. But Stormy's warning sat heavy in his chest. He knew the shiver. He could feel the power fail. But feeling it and truly ruling it were not the same. The gold was his now. Making it safe was not.