Bait and Switch

They left Ostbridge before the mills had fully woken, and the pale winter light hit their eyes. The road up north was clear and Valerrie led the way. She talked most of the walk, telling them stories from her adventures and humming from time to time.

Later, she started complaining that she should have brought a thicker coat and swore that whatever god had invented the frost and winter should apologize to her. After a few moments, she tripped over a bulging root and screamed.

“Uwah! That scared me!”

Cain offered her a hand and jokingly said that it was the answer to her throwing a fit, to which Valerrie got up right away and started bowing and apologizing to the same god she had offended. Mira and Cain just laughed and Valerrie did the same after scolding them that it was rude.

They kept on, and then trees that wore ice like armor started surrounding them. It took them half a day to reach the Forest of Tantrel.

“Maybe it was a bad idea to come here just before the deep winter is about to start. But we’re already here. Let’s get this over with!” Valerrie said, shivering.

They stopped near a large tree with thick bark.

Valerrie clapped her gloves together.

“Normally, I’d say that we should just go in, but I don’t want us to freeze to death, so the faster we catch one, the better.”

Mira nodded. “So what do we do?”

“Let’s see.” Valerrie closed her eyes and started rubbing her chin and after a few seconds, she jolted and said, “I got it! So, according to some locals I asked about this creature, Rhynnes don’t live in the heart of the forest and they are normally seen at the rim, near where we came in, which helps us. And according to my research before I came here, Rhynnes love deer. So I say we take a deer, drag it somewhere a bit open, and sit tight. When the Rhynne comes out for supper, that’s when we move. Easy!”

“Sounds simple. We cover you while you tame it?” Cain asked.

“Exactly! We don’t need flashy spells at all. We don’t want to disturb the fauna and attract monsters, so we keep this quiet, and you just hold here and cover me.”

She pulled her spear from her back. “I’ll take care of the deer. You two keep near me.”

Cain was a little surprised. “Are you sure?”

Valerrie gave him a smug look. “What is this? Are you doubting me, Kell? Just so you know, before you become a monster tamer, you need to become good at this too!”

“Alright. Tell me if you need a hand.”

“Not at all. Stay back and watch as the mighty Valerrie will show you how it’s done, hehe.”

“Take care. Don’t push yourself,” Mira said.

They kept to the rim and found a near-frozen stream. A young deer stood on the far bank.

Valerrie wasn’t lying when she said she could hunt. It happened very fast and she made it look easy. The spear hit the deer near the neck, and it was only able to run for a few feet until it collapsed.

They didn’t need to trail it anymore, so Cain rushed to drag the body to the open spot Valerrie picked.

The full Whitefall moonlight made the snow bright and the blood that he was staring at on the deer’s underside had no red left in it.

Valerrie drove a short iron peg into the frozen dirt with two neat hits, looped the cord through it, and set the bait.

“There! That should do it. All we need now is patience,” she said.

They found a nearby bush that would hide them, and Valerrie sat down against a root with her spear across her knees and her eyes on the trail. Cain and Mira joined her.

Whitefall dark came early and a stretch of night passed. The forest made small sounds that they ignored and the deer lay still in the cold.

Cain looked at Mira and Valerrie.

Valerrie had slid down the root that she was sitting on a little, with her chin tucked into her scarf. Her eyes were closed and she was breathing softly with her mouth slightly open.

The spear had tipped sideways against her shoulder. For someone who had laid a snare like she’d done it all her life, she looked like a kid who had fallen asleep at home.

Mira stared. “Is she—”

He chuckled and let out a sigh.

“Should we wake her?” Mira asked.

“It’s fine. Let her sleep. I’ll get her up when it comes.”

They held still.

The carcass stayed where they had left it for the Rhynne. Mira watched the path and Cain watched the dark, where more trees lined up in the distance.

Then something moved.

Not the deer, but what had found it.

It came out of the trees on the far side where they had put the body. It was a bear, a big one. Cain saw its hide under the moonlight, dull white, the color of old bone. Its claws were all black and shiny like glass. Each of its steps left a print that stayed.

Pale Ursa

It didn’t sense their presence yet and went straight for the carcass.

Cain leaned over and tapped Valerrie’s shoulder once. She didn’t respond.

He shook her harder.

Valerrie’s eyes snapped open. She came up so hard the spear almost hit her head.

“Hwah!”

The shriek went out into the trees before he even realized that she was up. Mira flinched and she instantly went for her bag and gripped her prism.

On the far side, the Ursa’s gaze left the freezing body and turned toward the sound.

They stayed still for a long moment. Cain could hear his heart starting to beat faster.

Valerrie blinked at both of them with her cheeks pink. “I’m sor—”

She never finished it.

The Ursa had already left the deer and it was coming straight for them.

Cain’s hand was already on his sword.

He did not think, and the looted steel tore free of his belt. His boots bit the packed snow just feet away from them and he closed the gap in a hard straight line. His coat snapped once in the cold and Valerrie’s unfinished sorry still hung behind him.

Valerrie saw him go. One blink he was just beside them, and the next he was already halfway to the Ursa.

Mira saw the rest.

He reached it. Under the full moon, every detail of the fight was visible to the two of them.

He went in low and put a heavy diagonal cut across its near shoulder. His blade met the hide and skated across its body. The bear grunted, but it answered with a horizontal swipe aimed at his head. Cain was aiming for a parry, but the blow hit his brow hard enough that he dropped. That was better than meeting the razor-sharp claws of the Ursa.

He recovered at once and picked up his sword and drove forward, aiming for the front legs of the bear. This time the sword went into its flesh. The bear jerked and roared and in response came at him with its head. He took it and shielded himself with both his arms and went over backwards, his back now in the snow.

The bear was still groaning in pain and tried to claw at his chest, but Cain rolled to the side and got up before it came at him again.

Behind him, Mira had not moved a single inch. But the look on her face was obvious, watching him too hard, and Valerrie caught it and snapped her fingers in front of Mira’s eyes.

“Hey, Mira. Mira! Eyes here, not on the tall boy.”

Mira was startled like someone had woken her up. “I—”

“Heh, am I seeing this right? Do you like him?” Valerrie whispered, grinning despite the threat ahead of them.

“No,” Mira said too quickly, the words clumsy. “I… I don’t, I was just watching the fight. I’m worried.”

“I’m just kidding! Alright, alright.” Valerrie’s smile softened without vanishing. “But to me, it looks like it.”

She tipped her chin at the battlefield.

“Is he like this?”

Out in the cold, the Ursa rushed Cain again, and he sidestepped and sliced the right leg, making it groan once more.

Mira watched him refuse to break.

“Yes,” she said.

His cuts were landing, but the bear was still standing. His shoulders had started to shake and his grip was loosening a bit. The bandage that Mira had placed on his torso started to feel wet again.

The prism was still in her hand.

“Valerrie, I’ll help Kell. Shut your eyes when I say so. I’ve only done it once, but I’ll throw something to blind it.”

Valerrie blinked, then nodded hard. “Looks like we don’t have a choice.”

Mira drew mana from her body. A fist-sized light formed in her palms, faint yellow. She threw it once it was ready and it hung in the air just above the bear’s skull. It was distracted and turned to the orb.

“Kell!” she shouted. “Close your eyes!”

He didn’t hesitate.

Valerrie squeezed hers closed too.

Mira shut her eyes and popped it. The orb burst into a blinding white that none of them saw, only the bear, whose eyes were still on it. The flash was soundless.

The bear staggered and started swinging its claws in a panic.

Cain opened his eyes once he knew the light was over and stepped in and moved to its side. He put everything he had left into one drive of the sword using both of his hands, all the way through the bear’s ribs.

The steel punched cleanly into the bear until the hilt stopped him. Hot blood hit the snow and the bear made a wet sound and came down heavy.

He pulled free and almost went down with it under the weight.

Then Valerrie opened one eye, then the other. She looked at the dead Ursa and looked at Cain.

For a long breath nobody talked.

“Okay,” she said, soft. “So that was definitely not a Rhynne.”