CHAPTER TWO
His movements had been anticipated. His foe awaited him. And now there was nothing to do but act and react. Springing into action, Gnak ducked the thrown spear and sprang forward into a roll. As he came to his feet, another spear lanced out of the shadows, slashing through his bicep, the impact turning him and shoving his balance off center. Still he did not retaliate. Instead he bent his knees, lowering his center of gravity, and turned to watch them close the distance, assuring himself there were not more lurking in the shadows. Cowards.
Flexing his muscles taut, it was finally time to fight. Swinging his spear overhead in a great arc as if it were a sword or club, he relaxed his grip and let the handle slide through his grasp until he held the butt end. Then tightening his grip, he swung yet another arc, lashing out with his arm at the last moment as if brandishing a whip. With perfect accuracy he slashed the forehead and scalp of the nearest foe, sending the charging Orc down upon his back, blood pouring down its face. Without hesitation, Gnak sprang upon his clansman and as he landed he drove the spear down through his opponent’s throat, watching the blood spurt and pool around the wound as it widened. Pinning the thrashing and gurgling attacker to the ground, he sprang away from the flailing limbs, leaving his spear behind. There remained yet another attacker and Gnak was prepared for him. But by all apparent sounds the secondary threat had decided to flee rather than fight. Gnak could not allow a coward to live among his clan, and as such he gave chase to the sounds of his enemy’s retreat.
It was only a mile further up the mountain when he knew he neared the other who had sought to remove him from the Catunga ceremony. He could smell the scent of her sweat, though found himself surprised that his second attacker had been a female. All Orcs were soldiers, and all Orcs were trained to fight from birth, but females rarely openly fought males, as males were bigger and stronger. Instead, females gained station by those she bred. Gnak assumed that this particular female had bred, or intended to breed the Orc he had just killed. The thought made him grin, as he broke through a line of trees to realize that the sounds ahead had stopped abruptly. So too did he stop.
A great roar sounded from just paces ahead, as a humongous beast reared back on its hind legs, caught by surprise. So close was his female attacker to the ancient bear that froth from the corners of the beast’s mouth rained down on her as the roar continued. She stood frozen for an instant, and Gnak knew that it was all the time she had before the beast even attacked. But when it did, he had not expected what he saw.
As if she were little more than a hare, the great bear, standing all of twenty feet on its hind legs, swatted the Orc female, now recognizable as Kagi, with one giant paw. So ferocious was the blow, and so great the claws upon its paw, that bits of her entrails and blood sprayed across his face as her broken carcass was flung more than forty feet from where she had stood. No scream. Nothing.
Gnak watched it, as if in slow motion, as the bear, graying from age, moved with such power it belied reality. Opening its great maw once more it roared in victory, twisting its head this way and that, as it came crashing down to the earth upon all four of its massive limbs. It was fall on the mountain and the bears were packing on as much weight as was possible, and this one was immense. The ground shook slightly at its massive weight crashing down, and with the movement Gnak met the eyes of the beast and knew the beast had the upper hand.
Having left his spear further down the mountain, he stood before the giant of a bear with naught but a torn bicep and a short sword. The bear charged.
Though it was not fear that drove him, the only viable option he could see was the one he took. Leaping aside, Gnak began to sprint down the mountainside with the great bear hot on his heels. Picking his path carefully, he dodged between trees too close together for the bear to pass, yet it kept coming, smashing trees aside as it growled and roared behind him in hatred and anger. The ground shook beneath them. Leaping through tangles of vines and brambles, he dove headfirst between two stout trees, rolling back to his feet before he turned.
Knowing the bear would be forced to squeeze between the thick trunks, he watched as it reared and jumped to find more space between the trees the higher they grew. Without a plan for retreat, Gnak sprang towards the great beast instead of away. Landing beneath the creature as it came barreling down to the soft loam beneath them, Gnak pulled his blade from his belt and thrust it straight up into the falling behemoth. Blade, hilt, hand, and arm all penetrated up into the steaming heat that was the bear’s chest cavity. Gnak felt as he severed muscle, blood vessels, and finally organs as blood rained down in a torrent upon him. The bear half roared, half screamed in pain as it batted at him, its weight crashing down upon him. He tried to extract himself, releasing the sword in an attempt to dive aside, but to no avail.
Down the beast came, trapping him beneath its great weight, a full half of his body becoming pinned beneath the creature. Fortunately for Gnak, the beast was a great deal fur and soft tissue surrounding the majority of its bulk. For even though he awaited the sounds and sensations of his bones shattering beneath the creature, he was relieved when only one snap sounded, just a finger that he had broken dozens of times before.
The bear scratched and trashed but seemed unable, momentarily, to regain its feet. Whether the beast’s inability to rise was from the damage he had done, or its own immense weight, he could not be certain, but Gnak knew he would not survive if the beast recovered.
Growling much like the bear atop him, Gnak struggled to shift himself further beneath the creature instead of free from it. Twisting and shoving, he thrust his hand into the wound his sword had made and found the weapon in absence. With no other option available to him, he reached further still into the wound and there he felt that which he sought.
Feeling through the hot and sticky blood, he brushed the pulsing of the great beast’s heart and, finding it too big for even his hand, he grasped at the huge vessels that entered the organ and tore with all his might. An unnatural moan broke free from the ancient bear’s throat as blood poured from the chest cavity, coating them both in its gore. Thrashing wildly, the bear clawed and snapped but could not reach him. Tearing more and more of the vessels in his grasp, with a final yank the bear ceased its screams. Gnak relished in the silence.
Now all he needed to do was figure out how to get free from the massive creature, and get it down from the mountain without one of his kin trying to claim it for their own.