Chapter 32
Elanora, Ash and Will broke into the prison cell from a secret passageway. Elanora smelt the familiar stench from the den and signaled to the boys to wait while she crept inside for a look. Two skeletal half cats lay on rotten hay. So they have never been released, she thought, and what about the other offspring and Buttercup? Long dead, most likely. She was about to leave when one of the mutants, an angular bag of bones in the straw, opened its eyes.
Elanora rushed to its side. “There now, friend,” she crooned, “You are all right. I’m so sorry I left you. I wish I could have taken you with me. Hold fast Izzie,” she kissed her bony muzzle. Izzie tried to lick but her tongue was shriveled to the roof of her mouth and all that came out was her putrefying breath. Elanora cradled her for the brief moment it took for her last breath to pass.
Wiping her eyes, she caught up with Ash and Will and led them out of the prison. Ash took her elbow, “Are you ok?”
She pushed her hair behind her ears and nodded, distracted by the pressure of his hand on her arm.
Beasts guarded every entrance, protecting the barricade. Only light from the burning torches illuminated the scene. Angry animals jumped about like shadow puppets and overhead, the soulings swung by their necks. Pin Pot peeked out of Elanora’s pocket, “Petsy!” he trumpeted.
“Look!” said Ash and pointed to a dozen of their animal allies, tired and torn from the initial assault, cautiously approaching through one of the tunnel mouths. The enemy stood their ground. The panther leapt onto the back of a beast to lead a charge.
The animals flung nets over the beasts but no sooner were they trapped than one of their kind freed them. Elanora’s animals soon found themselves herded underneath the dangling soulings with a ring of beasts around them.
Suddenly, from outside the ring, Jacub rose to full height, his nose sucking in an old, familial scent. He balanced on his back paws and Zsa Zsa, still attached to his collar, lifted clean off the ground, his skinny legs waving frantically at the end of the chain. The brass ring through the great bear’s nostrils dragged down and ripped out. Blood oozed down his face but he waved his head high, bellowing mightily.
Joey and Benbo stiffened at the sound. With an explosive burst of power they barreled through the enemy circle, growling and thrashing their heads as they tossed them aside like empty piñatas. The two young bears slammed against Jacub, filling the chamber with cries of joyful reunion.
“My cubs, my cubs,” Jacub moaned, swinging his head and relishing their strength at last at his side.
“Elanora!” he called into the darkness, “Elanora! Thank you, I thank you!”
The enemy encircled them, twitching. Joey and Benbo snarled.
“Why’s he thanking you?” Ashden asked.
Elanora’s heart thumped in her chest. “He saved my life and I did something to thank him. Not a difficult thing, compared to what he did for me…that was hard.” She rubbed the scar on her hand and bit the skin inside the corner of her mouth as they watched the beasts approach the bears.
Father and sons balanced on their hind legs. Blind as he was, the great bear had lost nothing of the warrior inside. And he knew his enemy well. “Bring down the panther!” he yelled.
The two bears scanned for the slinking beast but he had vanished. Jacub sniffed the air then pointed up. “Overhead,” and there was the panther, balancing on the beam over the pyre.
“Attack!” screamed the panther and the army advanced.
Panther spied his enemy below. The defeated bear, overthrown leader of the beasts, siding with the soft ones. Hatred tensed his jaw. His muscles flexed and he sprang onto Jacub’s neck while his cubs were distracted. He clung on with his claws deeply embedded and his face inches from the bear’s.
“I knew you would side with the human enemy. Your kind always does,” he snarled, biting into his throat. Jacub’s blood spilt down Panther’s chin. The taste made him bite more furiously and the great bear whirled about trying to shake him off while his sons were busy defending themselves against an onslaught of cuts and slashes from the animals whose chance had come en masse.
Will watched the panther and the bear writhing in battle with a keen eye.
“Come on!” said Elanora.
“Wait!” he yelled, “it’s not safe.”
Ash grabbed his shoulder, “Will, we have to fight.”
“I know that, I mean it’s too dangerous for her,” and he pushed Elanora hard into the wall, while he charged ahead with his sword aloft. Ash raced after him, checking over his shoulder at Elanora. She was on the ground, stunned but uninjured.
“Go help the others! I’ll get the panther,” Will commanded Ash as he fought his way to the bear.
Will slashed his weapon in every direction, cutting through a line of beasts to get closer to the bear who danced unseeing with the panther at his throat. He held back, waiting.
Ashden spied the soulings swinging over the building flames. He scrambled back to his feet, jamming the handle of his blade into the temple of an animal menacing his ankle.
“Eski!” he shouted, “I’m coming.” Ashden hobbled underneath the soulings without noticing the dancers swaying his way. “Hold still!” he cried, still looking up.
Suddenly Jacub tumbled under the black load and fell, pinning Ash’s legs under his bulk. Ash yelled and the panther leapt clear, disappearing into the smoke. Ashden pushed at the bear’s flank but it was a dead weight.
“Will, help!” he cried out, seeing his friend a short distance away. Will looked hesitantly at the bear then at Ash. He spun quickly to catch a glimpse of Elanora before he strode, sword ready, to the bear.
Ash lay at the tail end of the bear affording Will the opportunity to speak in private. He kicked the bear’s muzzle with his shoe and watched as it sagged down, torn lips trembling over dark stained teeth. The bear, in his semi consciousness, smelt another scent from the past in his nostrils. There was too much blood to be certain, but he sniffed again, trying his eyelids, out of habit, but still they refused to open.
Will put down his sword and pulled out a knife before dropping to his knees to stare into the scarred face of the once great bear.
“I’m making up for the past,” he whispered huskily into his ear. “You can’t spoil it for me. Elanora and Ashden must never know.”
The bear snorted blood. “I too am making up for the past,” he said, but his words wouldn’t pass through his damaged throat.
“I never should have sent Ashden to you, I’m only glad he wasn’t the one you needed.”
“I regret my part in that arrangement. You have nothing to fear from me,” the bear wished he could say.
“Once you’re gone they’ll never know what I did. I have to look after Elanora now. I will destroy your army. You will never threaten me again.”
“I am not their leader. Let me help you. I owe Elanora the souls of my cubs,” again, soundless.
“What are you doing there, Will? Get this bear off me!” Ash shouted.
Will glanced his way then lowered his face even closer to the bear. “What sort of beast are you not to allow a man back into the Timefold to save his sister? Instead you made me a traitor and set your beasts on me. So if I think about it, you are responsible for her death. You aren’t worthy of the soul you were granted.”
“Forgive me, brother,” the bear wheezed inaudibly. “But do not forget how willing you were to sacrifice your own kind to bring back your sister who had already been called to the Great Destination. We saved you from doing this terrible thing to her.” The bear had given up trying to talk and let the thoughts run through his head.
Will pointed the blade over the gash on the bear’s neck ready to deliver the killing thrust. “My sister was the only one who loved me,” he hissed and sunk the knife into his wound.
“Will, what have you done?” Elanora screamed over his shoulder.