Jeremiah Stonepeak's Arc

Chapter 2 of 2

The bear roared under the iron net, and the mountain answered. Jeremiah heard the first wolves before he saw them. Yellow eyes slid between the trees. A big cat crouched on a rock above the stream, tail twitching. The bear's cries had called every hungry thing on the slope. Aldric grabbed his arm. "They smell weakness," the trainer said. "They'll take the bear while it can't fight. And us with it." Jeremiah drew his old knife. Against a full pack, it looked like a toothpick. "We can't hold this many." Aldric was already moving. He dropped to his heavy pack and tore it open. Inside sat a squat metal thing, all barrels and orange plating, heavier than any gun Jeremiah had seen. The trainer heaved it up and braced it against his hip. His long beard swung across the barrels. "Cover your ears, mountain man." He fired. The barrels spun and thundered. Dirt kicked up in a wall between them and the wolves. The pack scattered, yelping, back into the dark. The big cat sprang. Aldric swung the weapon and the noise drove it sideways off the rock. It landed, hissed, and fled. In ten seconds the clearing was empty of everything but them and the pinned bear. Jeremiah's ears rang. "You carried that the whole time." "I carry what the job needs." Aldric lowered the gun. Smoke leaked from the barrels. "But noise only buys minutes. They'll circle back. And that net's already loosening." He pointed. The bear had worked one paw half free. Chains groaned. "We move it now or we lose it." Jeremiah looked up the slope to the broken towers above the trees. The old fortress. Cold stone, thick walls, a gate that still stood. His home for years. "Up there. Stone walls it can't burn through." They wrapped the net's rings around a fallen log and dragged. The bear fought every foot. Fire spat from its jaws and scorched the grass. Twice the wolves crept back, and twice Aldric turned and let the gun roar until they broke. The climb took an hour. Jeremiah's hands bled on the chains. They hauled the beast through the fortress gate. Inside stood a stone chamber with one door, its hinges rusted but whole. They dragged the bear in, net and all. Jeremiah threw his weight against the heavy door. Aldric shoved beside him. The door slammed shut. Jeremiah dropped a rusted iron bar across it. Behind the wood, the bear crashed against stone. Fire flickered under the door and died against rock. The walls held. Jeremiah slid down against the door, breathing hard. He had it. The beast that burned his mountain since he was a boy sat caged in his own home. He almost laughed. Then a chain snapped inside. Loud. Sharp. Aldric met his eyes. "The net's done," the trainer said. "Now it's just you, and stone, and a bear that wants out."