About twenty of them set out early in the morning to hunt the dire bear. Bj?rnar brought his sons and some huskatnar; Si''gvejg came, along with To''rvaler
To''rvaler
“That''s a very fine horse.”
“Of course.” Bj?rnar replied with a proud smile, “You won''t find a swifter or a stronger stallion in Iceland, Greenland, or now in Vi''nland!”
“Would you care to prove that?”
“What do you mean? You think he has anything to fear from any contenders?”
“My mother has several mares that''ll be going into heat soon. We should have a horse fight sometime, and then we''ll see if what you say about Dy''refaksr is true!” said
“him
Si''gsteler
“He''s definitely been around here.” Ulvrin'' said. He dismounted and sniffed a tree. “Recently.”
“Is that man sniffing a tree?” U''scna''bew asked He''lgi,
“Yes.” He''lgi nodded, “Yes, he is.”
“Why?”
He''lgi shrugged; “Finns do that sometimes.”
“Sa''mir
“If you say so.” Said U''scna''bew,
“Says the man who holds conversations with his dreams.” said with amusement.
U''scna''bew ignored him and said, “Let''s get started digging this hole. We don''t use this trap very often. We''ve got better methods for hunting caribou, but for a bear, it should work.”
Orc-men with shovels got to work digging a pit deep enough to trap the bear. It took all morning and part of the afternoon. When it was done, they lined the inside with sharpened stakes. Meanwhile, Si''gvejg killed the goat, skinned him, and mounted him on a double-tipped spear, which she drove into the ground in the centre of the pit. The spear was long enough that the goat was above ground level. Finally, they evacuated the pit and covered it with branches, leaves, and grass so only the goat was visible above the foliage before retreating into the trees upwind. Some of the orc-men took the horses away some distance while the rest settled in and waited.
It took a long time for anything to happen. Some of them mimicked the sound of a dying animal. They had to chase off some foxes at one point, but nothing else of note took place until around sunset.
As they lay in wait, Si''gvejg had hid next to Ulvrin''.
“I must tell you,” She said, “that I feel the bear will be upon us soon. And I must tell you, I''ve had a bad feeling about your fate in this encounter.”
“I''ve had a bad feeling since I left my house back in Norway.” Ulvrin'' sighed and looked eastward; “You Norwegians may be a seafaring people, but my people live in the forests and mountains. We weren''t meant to cross the ocean.”
“Hang back and don''t come close to the bear. Ylgrin'' won''t think any less of you.”
“Ylgrin'' didn''t want me coming. She''s incapable of imagining anything but the worst. She''d be happy if I didn''t put myself in danger.”
“Then you know what you have to do. I know it''s not... manly.” she put a hand on his shoulder, “But you shouldn''t place yourself in danger tonight.”
“Yeah. I know what I have to do.” Ulvrin'' nodded. Si''gvejg smiled. “I have to do everything in my power to kill our quarry. I can''t let the others down.”
Si''gvejg''s smile disappeared and she nodded resignedly. “Then make it count.”
They were beginning to consider quitting for the night when the sun began dipping below the horizon, but that''s when they saw him come shambling out of the trees. He was huge and had the shortest face and longest legs of any bear any of them had ever seen. He went up to the edge of the pit, stopped, and started sniffing suspiciously the foliage that covered it.
“My friend did say they''re smart.” U''scna''bew whispered;
“What''s he saying?” Asked Bj?rnar, who didn''t speak the pidgin,
“He says the bear is smart.” replied
“I can see that.” Bj?rnar turned to Si''gvejg; “Isn''t there something you can do? Give him a nudge or something?”
“Yes, but I can''t predict what he''ll do next.” She whispered
“Isn''t it your job to predict what happens next?”
“I can tell you a thousand things he might do, but at this point I can''t say with any certainty what he will do.”
“Focus his attention on the goat,”
Si''gvejg closed her eyes and held a hand out toward the bear.
“Bj?rnar whispered to
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“Bj?rnar. He charged out of the trees and went right while
Bj?rnar''s. The orc-men at the end of each line ran forward and stabbed him in the shoulders and sides, but he roared and swatted the spears away. One of the orc-men didn''t get away fast enough and the bear crushed him underfoot as he made a break for the treeline.
It seemed he might get away, but a wolf—Ulvrin''—leapt underneath the bear and locked his throat in his jaws. The hunting dogs leapt on him too so the bear had to stop and try to shake them off. One was snapping at his leg, so he hit the bitch with a paw and sent her flying into a tree. Ulvrin'' had his throat in a vice-grip and was shaking his head violently but his body was dragging on the ground, so the bear crushed Ulvrin''''s lower body under a paw. Ulvrin'' let go and yelped, and the bear snapped his jaws shut on Ulvrin''''s face. There were two more hounds on his back, so the bear stood and shook them off.
As this was happening, the hunters ran around him and made a spear-wall between him and the treeline. Several archers shot at him when he stood, and one arrow sunk deep into his chest: he grunted and dropped again. He looked hurt, but he still had fight in him.
Si''gvejg stood behind the spear-wall, looked him in the eyes, and stretched out her hand. The bear whimpered and backed away from the spears while they edged closer. The pained look on his face grew worse the longer Si''gvejg held his gaze, but as he continued backing up his paw touched the edge of the pit and he snapped out of it. He looked around at the spear-wall as if seeing them for the first time. Roaring, he swatted wildly at the speartips. Some cut his paws and some were thrust into his forelegs so he started bleeding profusely, but he snapped many of the shafts and the disarmed orc-men started running all directions. While others fled, Bj?rnar went forward and stabbed the bear in the neck.
Si''gvejg shouted and raised her staff. The bear looked at her; she stretched a hand toward him and clenched her fingers tightly. He roared longer and louder than before and stood up; Bj?rnar pulled his spear back before he lost his grip on it. Bj?rnar thrust his spear into the bear''s belly and shoved with all his might. A pathetic sigh escaped the bear''s lips as he tumbled backward into the stakes waiting in the pit.
“Stop!” he cried, “Stop it immediately! You''ll make Bear Chief angry, and then he might send another bear after you!”
“
“
“
“I don''t disagree with the need to put the bear down. I disagree with dancing in its corpse.”
“God of the bears? I serve Fr?yr, what do I care about some moist bear-god?” He and his huskatnar laughed at that, then he added, “Hey, since he''s the god of my namesake, maybe he thinks I''m his long-lost son and he''ll forgive me!” They laughed louder at that, “If he met Fr?yr though, he''d definitely be on the bottom.” They laughed loudest at that.
“What did he say?” U''scna''bew asked,
U''scna''bew maintained his composure, but his fists were clenching and unclenching. “Let me have the head. It should be left here to appease Bear Chief, and maybe he won''t be angry.”
“Tell him I claim the head as my prize for my part in taking the beast down!” U''scna''bew said,
“He''s not going to let you take it.”
“Tell him anyway!”
“No.” Bj?rnar replied without looking at him,
“II
“II''m
“You wouldn''t have gotten a chance at a killing blow if I hadn''t shot him next to the heart!”
“I said, little half-man,” the orc cracked his knuckles and rolled his huge shoulders. “there''ll be no further discussion!”
“It''s late. You''re tired. It''s time for us all to have some rest.”
Bj?rnar had a dazed look in his eyes.
“Yeah.” He nodded. “Yeah.” He laid down at the foot of a tree and went to sleep.
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