The Scribe(43)
They continued walking until Althar noticed the fixation that Satan had for Theresa’s crotch. He noticed that, despite the girl’s efforts, the mutt kept sniffing her as though she were hiding something under her skirts. Curious, he asked her whether she had stolen some food.
“No, sir,” she responded awkwardly.
“So what the devil is the dog smelling?”
“I don’t know,” she answered, blushing.
“Well, you can start talking, because if the dog can smell it, the beast will, too.”
Theresa didn’t know what to say, not wanting to confess that it was that time of the month, but in the end there was no need, for Althar guessed it.
“Pox on you! The one day we go out hunting, you have to be bleeding,” he said, but he didn’t look as if he was ready to turn back.
Before long they arrived at the area where the bear was taking shelter. Althar indicated the location of the bear cave, which was at the top of a steep slope. Theresa noticed that a ditch below the entrance would make the approach difficult.
“We’ll position the net over the mouth of the cave. Then I’ll set fire to some branches and Satan will bark. With the smoke and the noise, the bear will wake and try to escape, but he’ll run straight into the net. Once it’s trapped, I’ll bring it down with the bow. You wait somewhere it won’t smell you. Up there, above the entrance, just in case.”
“Just in case?”
“If I get in trouble, shoot the beast. And for the love of God, make sure you hit the target this time.”
He stayed to gather branches, while Theresa climbed toward the mouth of the cave. Halfway there, the young woman stumbled, making several stones roll down the slope. Althar cursed her, gesturing to be silent. When Theresa had scrambled to the top of the entrance, she signaled to Althar, who by then had piled all manner of brushwood by the cave’s mouth. Then he quickly covered the entrance with the net. After securing it in place, he stepped back to light the fire, retrieving one burning branch.
Theresa watched him take up position behind a rock and signal to her to be on the alert. The smell of burning wood soon told her that it was nearly time, so she took a deep breath and lay down. Suddenly, Satan started barking like a dog possessed, scratching about among the stones and spinning round several times. She thought the hound had lost its senses, but promptly a roar could be heard from inside the cave.
Her heart missed a beat. She held the crossbow as firmly as she could and aimed it at the entrance, but even lying down the weapon was unsteady. A few moments of quiet passed by until suddenly a gigantic mass of fur appeared from nowhere, snorting as it exited the cave and ran straight into the net. Finding himself trapped, the animal bellowed with fury, swiping and biting at the mesh. Satan howled excitedly, barking and attacking the beast with a complete disregard for the bear’s snapping jaws.
Unexpectedly, the fire spread to the net and then to the bear’s belly, making the animal howl in pain and try to free itself by rearing onto its hind legs. For a moment Theresa thought the beast would scale the rock face to reach her, but it slipped and fell back into the cave. The bear then turned and let out a terrifying roar, exposing its great jaws. Theresa closed her eyes, but another bellow made her open them again, just as Althar took his shot. The arrow cleaved through the air, embedding itself in the sole of the bear’s hind foot. Althar knew he had to hurry before the fire could ruin the beast’s pelt. He drew the bow and fired once more. The second arrow disappeared into the animal’s belly. The bear howled in pain, twisted round and then clumsily reared up, before finally crashing to the ground like a mountain collapsing.
Theresa waited a few seconds and then stood up. She was still trembling, but at least she was breathing. She looked at the motionless bear, lying flat out on the ground. It was an imposing animal, its fur glossy and its claws sharp. She was about to go down, but Althar stopped her.
“Wait there till I say,” he told her sharply. “They’re dangerous even after they’ve been flayed.”
He approached the animal with an axe in one hand and a long stick in the other. Three paces away, he stopped. He prodded the bear with the stick, but it didn’t move. Then he raised the axe with both hands and let it fall with all his strength onto the beast’s neck. Afterward, he just stood admiring the dead bear for a while.
Fortunately, the flames had barely damaged the hindquarters. The neck, furthermore, had been cut cleanly, and the marks from the arrows were almost imperceptible. He told Theresa she could come down and help him skin the animal. In the end the hunt had been easier than expected.
Before descending, the young woman removed the dart from the crossbow and sheathed it in a cloth as Althar had shown her. She was halfway down the slope when another roar stopped her in her tracks.
For a moment she couldn’t believe her ears. She had watched the animal die, and yet another bellow was thundering around the mountain. With all the speed she could muster she ran toward the promontory where she had been positioned. She watched in horror as another bear came out of the cave and attacked Althar. The old man stepped back. Gripping the axe with two hands, he lashed out—but the animal kept coming. In his desperation, Althar backed up all the way to the precipice. He was trapped. The bear seemed to understand this, and it paused before launching its final attack. Althar tried to escape to one side, but he slipped and the axe tumbled to the bottom of the ravine.