Chapter 29 - Ursus.
Aren stood frozen with his head thrown back and his mouth open, staring at Ursus's huge body as it came down onto all six of its paws and made the ground shudder.
The beast-god moved toward them, and Aren forgot how to breathe.
When Ursus stopped and lowered its muzzle to him, its huge nostrils flared as one deep breath pulled the air in around him, and then a long one blew his hair back.
Elen stood motionless behind him; Aren looked into its blue animal eyes and understood that the next movement would be their last.
But Ursus suddenly took a step back.
Then it lowered its head slowly, until it was bowed right down to the ground.
Aren looked at it without knowing how to react, then turned his head to Elen, whose eyes moved from Ursus to him.
Turning back to the beast and trying not to make any sharp movements, he saw that Ursus was still bowed and had not lifted its muzzle from the ground, and only after several more moments did the beast-god raise its head and straighten to its full height.
Aren tilted his head to one side and was beginning to think that Ursus meant them no harm, but in that same instant the beast-god raised its paw and drew it back.
Elen threw himself forward and drove into Aren, carrying him along, as the beast-god's paw slammed with a deafening crash into the spot where Aren had just been standing.
A cloud of dust and splinters burst out on every side, Elen still hauling Aren forward by the collar.
"RUN!"
They tore through the forest, vaulting roots and swerving around trunks — behind them the heavy unstoppable thudding grew and its rhythm quickened.
The ground shook underfoot with every impact of the six paws, and a deep growl rolled between the trees.
Elen changed direction, ducked left behind a jutting root and plunged down to where a burrow opened.
"This way!"
The burrow ran under the ground at a steep angle, so they had to roll down it, losing all sense of direction, until they both jammed their elbows against the sides and stopped.
Outside, the thudding gave way to a rustling, and then the entrance was crushed shut from above.
The soil above their heads shook with the first blow when Ursus began to dig, and every new impact showered them with clods of earth and roots until it all stopped.
A long guttural roar came up through the mass of soil to where Aren and Elen were already sitting facing each other in the earth tunnel.
Aren's chest burned from the run, and his lungs struggled with every breath.
Still catching his breath, Aren looked at Elen, who kept his eyes down at first and after a few moments raised them.
"I've got this right, haven't I?... It... bowed to you?..."
Aren nodded and lowered his head.
Elen said nothing more for a time and did not take his eyes off him, and then looked away down the tunnel.
"We need to get out of here."
Elen stooped and moved off carefully along the tunnel, as Aren got up and followed him.
The passage wound on just under the surface, with roots laced tightly together overhead and hanging down to shoulder height in places, and the only thing breaking the dark was the faint light of glowing minerals that jutted from the soil.
Elen stopped, and Aren walked into his back.
"What is it?" Aren asked.
Looking over Elen's shoulder, Aren saw that the tunnel broke off above a wide cave whose walls of earth and stone were shot through with a dense network of roots.
In the cracks between the stones the minerals glowed with a cold bluish light.
They dropped down carefully, walked to the center of the cave and looked about them.
The roof was some five meters above the floor, and the cave itself ran a long way to either side.
"I never thought there could be caves like this under the forest..." Elen said.
Aren ran his eyes along the walls until they stopped at a tunnel that led away into the depths.
"Speaking of which... how did this tunnel get here?" Aren asked.
Elen stopped mid-step and turned slowly to him.
"I don't know... but that's a good question..."
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From the far side of the cave came the sound of stones sliding, and both of them turned toward it.
A creature crawled out of a hole in the far wall, and at once it began lifting its body toward the ceiling.
Its long shadow lay across the floor and stretched out while Aren and Elen raised their heads with every movement it made.
A giant centipede reared in front of them and filled half the height of the cave.
They drew their blades and watched its limbs while the insect moved its thin front legs slowly from side to side, their edges honed.
The centipede waited for its moment and hurled itself forward, so that Aren and Elen jumped in opposite directions.
It struck the ground with a crash and sent up a cloud of dust; Aren rolled, came up onto his knees and looked around to find the centipede already turning toward Elen.
Elen took a defensive stance with his sword up and kept watching the giant insect while Aren went for the tail and drove his blade in on a full swing.
A piercing shriek went through the whole cave, and the tail jerked right after it and flung Aren into the earthen wall.
He had barely got to his knees before he brought up a magical shield and took the centipede's rushing attack.
It bore down from above, its mandibles sliding across the shield and pressing Aren into the ground, so that his arms shook under the strain and his legs slowly gave way.
Elen lunged forward with a snarl and cut along its belly with his sword, opening a single unbroken gash in it, so that the centipede shrieked in pain and lashed him aside with its tail.
The pressure on the shield slackened once the centipede was distracted by Elen, and Aren broke from where he stood, climbed onto its back, punched his blade through the chitin, turned the edge inside the wound and drew it out again in a fresh cut.
The centipede's body arched, its legs scraped at the floor in every direction, and then it collapsed and went on thrashing in its death throes, as Aren and Elen pulled back at once and put distance between themselves and it so that no blow could catch them.
They circled it on opposite sides and closed on each other little by little.
"We have to keep striking in turn — one draws it, the other strikes!" Aren said.
Elen gave a short nod and kept his eyes on the centipede.
The centipede was rising slowly, with fury burning in its many eyes.
They took their stances, ready to get clear of the next attack, while the insect arched and gathered its body for the lunge.
At the very instant the centipede attacked, a huge maw broke through the stone roof with a crash, closed on its body and split it in two in a single motion, so that the severed head of the giant insect dropped straight in front of them.
Daylight poured in from the breach, but it was blotted out at once by the monstrous shadow of the beast-god that had broken through the roots and the earth.
They made for the hole the centipede had crawled out of, and behind them Ursus's paw struck the cave floor with a deafening crash.
Aren and Elen ran along the tunnel for several minutes until light showed ahead of them.
They looked out carefully and checked around them, then climbed out and moved on with only a rough bearing to guide them.
A thought flashed through Aren's mind that the worst was behind them, but the next moment destroyed that hope.
A sharp, loud roar went through the trees in a wave and paralyzed them both where they stood.
Panic mounted in a fraction of a second, and although they both tried to make sense of what was happening and regain control, their bodies refused to obey, and then the ground began to shake faster and harder.
Forcing his fear down, Aren shifted one leg with an effort, then the other, and from the rising tremor in the ground he realized that Ursus was running straight at them.
Control of his body came back slowly, and Aren turned around to see the huge body bearing straight down on him with a front paw drawn back.
He raised his hand and threw up the magical shield, and the blow from Ursus split its plane instantly, came on through the fragments, drove into his chest and flung him forward.
Aren's body traced an arc over the ground, hit the mud, rolled several times and slammed into a jutting root with a loud crack, and kicked up a cloud of dust.
Elen turned from Aren to Ursus and could not take a single step.
He realized that he was about to part with his life, and he shut his eyes, his lips trembling, as Ursus lowered its muzzle to him.
Then the beast-god turned back to Aren and started toward him, leaving Elen behind.
Aren pushed himself up on his elbows with a rasp in his throat, pain in every movement, while blood ran from the corner of his mouth, and then he forced himself onto his knees and lifted his head.
Ursus stood over him and looked down with resolve and menace, and a low growl came out of its throat.
Hopelessness and the pain of his injuries pushed the fear aside, but one thought went on troubling Aren and brought him back to a detail he refused to leave without an answer.
"Stop," Aren said, and put out a hand, palm open.
Ursus drew its paw back, but froze at once.
"You do... understand me?..." Aren asked.
Ursus lowered its raised paw a little and stayed motionless, as Aren breathed out and steadied himself for the next question.
"What... what does all this mean?..." Aren asked, not understanding why the beast-god had first bowed to him and then decided to kill him.
The answer was a dead silence that held for several long seconds.
But then Aren's eyes widened when he saw the beast-god's muzzle twist into a vicious grin.
"What the... hell..." Aren muttered under his breath.
Out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of Elen throwing himself at Ursus in spite of his fear.
"AREN! NO!"
Ursus raised its paw and swept it toward Aren, striking with a force that threw up an enormous cloud of dust and shook the ground.
And also... the sound of thunder.
Elen stopped, frozen with shock, and Ursus's eyes went wide at the sight of the fading and crackling remnants of lightning.
Aren sat more than thirty paces from the place where he had just been, understanding nothing of what had happened, and feeling someone else's hand gripping his collar.
"Are you all right?" a familiar voice said behind him.
Aren turned his head and looked up, and recognized the dark green dress, the crest at the shoulders and her hair braided into a crown.
Queen Edith Waldrich was looking at him with a remarkably calm expression; Aren stared at her in open shock.
Ursus turned to them, bared its teeth and growled.
"Can you stand?" she asked.
Aren hesitated, nodded and tried to get up, though every movement sent pain through him.
Edith took a small vial from under her cloak and put it into his hand.
"Drink it down in one, and stay behind me."
Aren opened the vial, drank it down in one swallow and saw a faint green aura spread out around his body.
Ursus pushed off the ground and threw itself at them, but in the next second more than a dozen swords buried themselves in its belly and drove it back with a growl.
The beast-god turned its head and saw several companies of the Order's knights riding at it with loud battle cries.
The knights called the swords straight back with their magic and tore them out of Ursus's hide without ceremony.
The beast-god let out a loud roar, and a sharp blow from above cut it off and made Ursus buckle.
A shockwave passed through the surrounding trees as Sir Alistair drove his sword into Ursus's back with enormous force.
He went straight on into a series of strikes at blinding speed, then pushed off and landed beside Elen before Ursus could try to throw him off its back.
"Sir Alistair!" Elen said.
"Get to the others!" Alistair answered without turning his head.
"But Aren..."
"We'll take care of him," a voice said behind him, and Elen turned around at once.
Arswald, Askir, Ray and Armund stood in front of Elen, and the sight of them froze him.
"Guys... but you..." Elen said.
Askir smirked, shifted his grip on his sword hilt and went on watching Ursus.
"Aye, we know. Lucky for us... or unlucky... our Queen decided to save your asses... and what's the good of calling yourself a warrior if we don't follow our Queen into battle?" he said, and a smile came to Elen's face.
The next moment Ursus took in the enemies gathered around it, and its muzzle set into a vicious expression, and the small wounds on its belly closed up fast.
The Order's knights fanned out around the beast-god in a wide ring, and Aren stayed behind Edith, ready for the brutal battle there was now no avoiding.