Miri Greymantle's Arc

Chapter 3 of 8

Rothe went still. His form dimmed, the blue light fading to a bare outline. Miri waited, her breath shallow. The bear spirit loomed in the bark, claws pressed into the wood. The dog whimpered and paced. Then Rothe spoke, his voice quieter than before. "The bear isn't the captor. Something beneath the roots is feeding it." Miri stepped closer to the largest tree. The ground near the trunk was uneven, disturbed. A pile of stones and branches rose in a careful pattern, arranged like a marker. She crouched and brushed dirt from the base. The roots twisted around something buried deep, wrapped tight like fingers gripping a stone. The bear's outline pulsed red where the roots met the cairn. Whatever lay beneath wasn't just trapped. It was still hungry. She stood and looked past the trees. A den sat half-hidden in the undergrowth, empty except for claw marks scraped into the dirt at its entrance. Fresh boot prints circled the opening. A hunter had been here, tracking something. The bear spirit wasn't protecting this place out of rage. It was guarding what remained. Miri turned back to Rothe. "If we remove what's buried, the bear loses what's holding it here. The dog goes free." Rothe's glow brightened just enough to see his face. "And the bear might fade entirely. Or turn on you." Miri picked up a thick branch and wedged it under the edge of the cairn. The stones shifted. The bear spirit roared, its form tearing free from the bark and lunging toward her. She didn't flinch. The branch held. One stone rolled away, then another. The bear stopped mid-lunge, its claws dissolving into mist. The red glow in its eyes flickered and went dark. The dog bolted forward, its shimmer bright and clear, no longer bound. It circled Miri once and disappeared into the trees. She dropped the branch and looked at her hands. They weren't shaking anymore.