Bart Belly's Arc

Chapter 21 of 21

The gold was his now. Mastering it was not. Bart could feel the shiver when the power failed, but he still did not know what made it fail faster. Stormy's warning stuck in his chest. He remembered the one bear who might know the answer. So he wrapped the golden Speedo in his pack, checked on the sleeping cub, and set out for the white building deep in the wilderness. He found the nurse in her kitchen, one paw on her round belly, stirring a pot. Nurse Cold had kept him alive when he collapsed at her door. She had taught him the shiver because the same gold killed her husband. She turned when the door opened, and her calm eyes narrowed. "You came back," she said. "You wear the shiver like a good student. But you look scared." "The king says I have to rule the gold, not just feel it fail," Bart said. "You told me the power drains at the worst moment. I need to know why. What speeds it up?" She set down her spoon. "Put it on. Lift the pot." Bart pulled on the golden briefs and hefted the heavy iron pot. Nothing. His arms held steady. "Now hold it," she said. "On the cold floor. Bare paws." He stood on the stone. Cold crept up through his feet. Within a minute his arms buzzed. The shiver came early, hard, three breaths of warning. He set the pot down fast. "You felt it," she said. "Faster than before. The gold burns quicker when your body is cold. My husband lifted a boulder standing on bare ice. The cold ate the power in seconds. He never got his warning in time." Her paw pressed her belly. "The ice is what killed him. Not the gold alone." Bart stared at his feet. On the wilderness ice he had fought the yeti barefoot. He had been lucky. "So on the ice, the drain runs faster." "Every time," she said. "Keep your feet warm. Keep your body warm. Wear boots on the ice, even as a bear. The colder you are, the shorter your strength lasts. That is the secret my husband learned too late." Bart sat down hard on the bench. The answer was so simple. Cold sped the drain. Ice was the enemy, not just the yeti or the king. Every fight he had won on the ice had come within a breath of killing him. "Thank you," he said. "You saved me twice now." Nurse Cold almost smiled. "Then use it. Do not make me right about another fool." Bart packed the gold away. He knew the rule now. Keep warm, and the power held longer. Step onto bare ice, and the shiver came fast. He had the answer he crossed the wilderness for. But knowing the rule and surviving by it were still two different things.