56th of Ash, 120
As he exhaled, a bee landed upon his snout on his sighted side, then drove its stinger into his tough, dried scales without mercy. Arkash curled his nose, then flicked the creature away. Its stinger remained lodged in his scales, but it hadn't penetrated deep enough to inject its venom. Arkash sheathed his dagger, then reached forward to pull the appendage from his form. As he peered at the stinger, he briefly wondered what a wasp was doing out when it was so cold, but it would be typical of him to encounter the one wasp deviant in the woods.
Then again, he'd heard the ambiance of a buzzing hive for a while. Curious, Arkash peered upward and saw the bulbous mass of a beehive as it hung overhead. The gods had elected to save him! he could drop the beehive on the bears, and the bees would kill them! Arkash pushed up from his laying position, then drew his serrated short sword. The two bears got up in tandem, then looked the rathari over. As Arkash turned his form to face the hive, he began to saw at the stem with his shortsword. It was much too cold for the bees to come out, but that didn't mean that Arkash was safe from the odd deviant's sting, which he received a few of.
Before long, however, the hive fell, and Arkash leaned back to grip the tree as the mass hit the ground between the bears, and a swarm of angry bees erupted. The buzzing was loud and invoked a sense of primal fear in the young rath, but they weren't interested in him. The bees were attacking the bears and lacing with their thick fur, but it didn't phase them. Arkash had thought himself so smart, but as it turned out, bears were immune to bees because of their thick fur and hide. The rathari bared his teeth as he began to formulate a new plan, but it wasn't necessary.
While his eye watched the bears, he noticed one dip to collect the honeycomb that had been exposed in the rubble of the hive, but the other roared at them. The bear collected the honeycomb regardless; what came next surprised him. The honey-less bear attacked the first with a swipe of its claws to the head. Arkash stared in disbelief for a moment, then readied his dagger once he stowed his shortsword, then crawled along the branch he laid on.
Would they kill each other? Could it be so easy? The two ursine had erupted into a battle of heavy swipes and bites in which they both aimed to blind or otherwise maim one another. Arkash found himself grinning while he watched the beasts; they were so simple in the fact that they fought over something like food. Humans were rarely so blatant about what they wanted or needed; they just attacked and yelled at him on whims.
Finally, one of the bears conceded with a bloodied eye and a limp. The other bear collected the mangled honeycomb and began to chew it with quick dives of its muzzle. That was Arkash's time to strike.
he leaped up to his feet on the tree, then jumped off with his sights locked on the healthy bear. He landed atop its back with a nigh-disorienting thud and sank his claws into its pelt. The creature stank, but Arkash didn't pause for that fact. The beast flailed and kicked about in an effort to dislodge him, but Arkash bit into the disgusting pelt and clamped with his jaws. As he'd suspected, the beast's hide was too thick to pierce, as he didn't taste blood when he pinched the thick skin beneath, but he didn't need to, not with his teeth. A slam of his fist pushed the blade of his knife into the creature's hide. It roared and flailed, but there was nothing it could do to dislodge him.
At some point, a sudden jerk saw one of his foot claws fall off, and Arkash's eye widened as he scrambled to climb back atop the bear and scrambled with his foot claws in a way that he imagined would leave a mark on the pelt, but given how thick it was, it wasn't guaranteed. Like the tree he climbed, whenever the beast paused, Arkash pulled himself up and bit harder into its fur to hold himself in place, then moved another point of contact as he clawed his way to its head.
The bear's stamina could put an argent knight to shame, or so the rath thought. The beast had chased Arkash across the woodland, fought one of its own into a bloody pulp, then struggled with nearly enough force to throw Arkash from its body. As he closed into the creature's neck, he came to learn that it wasn't just nearly enough, as the beast lowered Arkash to the side of its shoulder, then ran its body into the tree he'd fallen from. Arkash tried hard to contort his body to put his feet on the bark when he realized what was happening, but it was no use. His back crashed into the tree and shocked his whole system; his nerves lit up like the starry night sky, and he fell into a daze, but he didn't let go, not immediately.
In his hazy, blurry state, the bear widened its stance and shook its pelt wildly, and flung Arkash from its form. Arkash paused as he tumbled, then broke into a roll that saw him land on his feet just in time to weave out of the way of the bear's charge. His dagger was gone, but he still had his short sword. With a deep breath and a strain on his torso, Arkash gripped the jastai steel blade by the handle, then drew it in time to duck beneath the swipe of the bear's claws. Dodging and evading was almost second nature, and he did so flawlessly. From his duck, Arkash stumbled forward, then rolled across the floor only to handspring and propel himself to his feet with a dizzied stumble.
Arkash couldn't take a hit, and the bear had landed a good one on him. He had to end it quickly; he couldn't keep up the fight. So, he lifted his sword as the bear charged at him again. It wasn't the sort of situation that he could duck and dive around. He couldn't bleed the bear out as he did with humans. He had to kill it himself, with his own claws. With his stump arm as a level, he aimed the point of his short sword at the charging bear, then drove the blade forward as the bear collided with him Arkash fell to the ground as the massive weight of the beast crashed atop him, then stillness and quiet fell upon the woodland.
Foor a moment or two, Arkash couldn't breathe, and he lowered his gaze to the bear. The wound on his chest was ablaze with pain, but the bear was still. Its head laid atop him, motionless. With his teeth bared, Arkash pulled enough of his light form out from under the stinky weight of the bear to open his lungs, and breath returned to him. He'd skewered the creature's head straight through the mouth, and the point of his shortsword poked out the back of the bear's head. his chest was wet, but nothing showed through his leathers. So, he opened the neck of his tabard and looked upon his wound, which bled slowly. He needed more stitches. With a pained groan, Arkash fell against the forest floor, limp, then looked to the right.
The wounded bear stood there, looking over the scene. With a low roar, it turned away to collect the ruined honeycomb and began to eat it. Arkash was screwed. the moment it finished, it was going to eat him. Euphoric exhaustion turned into panic as Arkash struggled to pull himself out from under the bear. Venom ran plentifully from his mangled lips and he breathed quickly as his adrenaline ran rampant. Another glance put the bear in his sights: it padded closer with its head low and its breath visible in puffs of condensation Arkash gripped the handle of his shortsword and began to pull, but the dead bear's flesh had sealed up around the serrated edge; it was stuck.
In seconds, the bear was upon him, and Arkash lifted his arm to shield his head. He was fucked; there was nothing he could do. But as he laid there, the jaws of death never fell upon him. Shakily, Arkash lowered his arm to peer at the bear with his one yellow eye from the side. It loomed there, just staring at him with its black eyes. Arkash hesitated, then as it lowered its mangled face to his, Arkash moved his hand to hold it back, as if he could. There, in his face, the bear snorted and blew a wave of rancid air over the lizard's features. Arkash winced in reflex and pulled away, only to gasp as the beast's tongue dragged along the length of his muzzle Arkash bared his teeth in discomfort and uncertainty, and pressed his hand more firmly against the bear's pelt, but the teeth never came. Instead, Arkash saw the creature lumbering away while the stink of honey clung to his scales.
Finally, he breathed, and shook with his frayed nerves. Did the bear just thank him? On the off chance that it was tasting him for later, Arkash pulled hard on his trapped legs and wormed out from under the fallen bear. His pants ran with streaks of red, which was the blood that ran from his re-opened chest wound. With a sigh, Arkash gripped the handle of his blade and pressed his foot claws to the dead bear's shoulder, and pulled hard. After a moment or two of struggle, the weapon came free. With labored breaths, Arkash looked in the direction that the wounded bear had left, then sighed. That bear wouldn't come back after him if it knew what was good for it.
With a low sigh, he looked to the creature's front leg, then fell to his knee, where he began to saw through the limb. The shortsword's serrated edge made short work of the skin, muscle, and tendons in the area. Once it was ready, Arkash popped the joint free, then tucked his blade into its sheath as bloody and raw as it was. With something of a struggle, he hefted the leg close to his chest, then proceeded to the cave.
It was the cave that he found both the bears in, but it wasn't the destination of the wounded bear. With a huff, he put the leg on the ground, and like a sort of morbid paint bucket, he smeared the creature's life force over his claws and began to paint the insignia of the bloodied eye on the wall. It took a few scoops, but it was soon done. With a deep exhale, Arkash slumped his back against the wall and sighed with exhaustion. The whole job was far more dangerous than he'd initially thought, and it took a lot out of him.
A moment or two was spent there, clutching the burn of his opened chest wound. When he was emotionally prepared, he stepped away from the wall, then peered across the forest floor, where the ratty man stood some twenty feet or so from the cave. Arkash startled, but the man approached. "You-" Arkash called while he caught his breath.
"Aye ser, it's me," he replied, then turned over his bruised, dirty hand with another purse of gold. Arkash stared.
"Was 'ew nearby this 'ole time?" he asked with a furrow to his brow. How else would the human know when the job was done?
The human nodded, then produced a spyglass with his free hand. "I must observe, ensure the task is done-"
"-For youer masta', rite." Arkash interrupted with a roll of his eyes; he wasn't in the mood for riddles or games. The human smiled, then jingled the purse again, Arkash accepted it after a glance. "Thanks," he offered as he leaned back against the wall.
"We'll meet again, young rath," spoke the ratty man cryptically. For a moment, Arkash could have sworn he felt the human's rancid breath wash over him, but when he looked, the human was gone. With a sigh, he gathered his wits, then began to walk back to the city. part-way through the journey, he realized he'd lost his knife, so he backtracked to collect it before he proceeded back to the Sawtoothed's headquarters.
Image source.
