Floresta's Chronicle of Tales

2. The White Grimbear & The Red Wolf

In Aidugeon, a beautiful mountain range awaits you, where dangers reside in caves and caverns or perhaps even in one of the dwarf tribes that reside in it.
One of the dwarf tribes has settled in two places on the mountain range where you can visit Aidugeon's inner cities.
The Jiklosron (pronunciation: Jieklosron) built the cities of Kegeddur and Bogdur from the mountains with blood, sweat and tears.
They did this by carving out the cities with hammers, picks and chisels.With a system of stairs and tunnels, they improved and deepened the cities until they had enough space for their people.
Kegeddur and Bogdur are very well known for their large festivals and seasonal celebrations where different peoples, from far and wide, come to sell goods and wares.
Besides these festivals and seasonal celebrations, they also give a big market four times a year, each time marked by a new season.
A seller passing through begins his journey to Bogdur to do his shopping at such a seasonal market.
The boat sways quietly over the waves of the sea as the mountain range is already far overhead and the quays of Bogdur begin to come into view.
Indarea puts a hand in a neck of his white three-headed grimacing Ardenaï as the waves lash quietly against the boat.

One of Ardenaï's heads looks at him with a hint of fear as the sound of seagulls gets louder and louder.
"It's always annoying when those seagulls open their mouths to make noise," Indarea sighs as he starts petting the neck.
The ears of Ardenaï's third head begin to make small movements to signal that he is not quite in comfort yet.
Another head makes a low growl as the boat sails past one of the quays.
The boat slows down, allowing Indarea to easily jump out of the boat to secure it to the quay.
Once everything is properly secured, he grabs Ardenaï by the handle of the harness worn by the white Grimbear.
Ardenaï lets out a low growl from his middle mouth as he takes a cautious step on the quay, his other front paw he quickly puts on the quay to stay balanced.
Indarea begins to lean backwards as he begins to hang onto the bear, to keep him balanced as he tries to climb up the quay.
Climbing up the quay with such a big bear is more difficult than he had thought.

The growling of the uncomfortable Grim Bear can be heard in the forests, which surround the mountains of Aidugeon.
The leaves of the trees leave a shadow pattern on the red fur of a two-headed wolf, ready to pounce on a large elegant ibex.
The ibex is just tickling behind its ear when the Grimbear's growls can be heard louder through the woods, startling the buck and causing it to jump away.
The wolf starts running after the beast, trying to catch it yet, only it is unfortunate that the buck outsmarts the wolf.
Just when he wants to jump, his prey manages to change course, causing the wolf to hit the ground hard with its snouts and roll over on its back.
The growl is still audible in the still air: the wolf even feels the growl vibrating in the ground.
Carefully, the red wolf puts his paws under his body and gets up from the forest floor to investigate what or even who has stripped him of his breakfast.
It takes a while for the wolf to find where the growling is coming from.
The scent of the sea wafts into his noses as he carefully slips out of the forest.
Before passing the last trees, he makes himself smaller and pricks up his ears.
The growling is hushed, as if the bear he heard has been put out of its misery from the pain it had felt.
With cautious strides, the two-headed red wolf walks on through the tall grass, towards the dune rising in front of it.
With his two noses, he makes sure to get sand over his beautiful flaming fur, to get more camouflage.
He rolls through it one more time just to be sure before continuing across the dune again with his ears perked.
Once above, he slowly looks over the edge, then his eyes enlarge.
With his four eyes, the red wolf takes in a very large bear again.
Only this is not a normal bear he sometimes encounters in the forests of Aidugeon: This bear has three heads instead of one and its fur is all snow-white.
The loud growling can be heard again as the bear opens its jaws, a man emerges from behind him and puts a hand on the bear's neck to pet it.
From behind the dune, the wolf watches everything, with a growing fear in his throat.
The bear pauses as it is petted and turns one of its heads towards the man, making one of the heads appear to be looking towards the wolf's hiding place.
Quickly, the wolf scurries away behind the dune and runs down the slope towards the line of trees from which he had come out earlier.
Having heard the growling earlier, he thought it would just be a normal bear.
This new creature must be from the Lost Islands, because he has never seen anything like it before in his ten lives in lol Floresta.
Even from the distance, he could see the large muscles under the bear's fur, which scared him even more.
And then there are the three heads, each with a large mouth that could easily bite its throats.
With a shiver running through his body, the wolf ran through the forest again, looking for breakfast to satisfy his hunger.
He walks deeper into the forest when he finds a stray young ibex just a few metres away.
Immediately, he hides himself under a bramble bush as he watches the ibex.
The ibex looks around confused, as if it knows it is being watched by a hunter.
Cautiously, the ibex walks past the bramble, still looking around confused and anxious.
Before he knows it, he is pressed against the forest floor by the red wolf, starting to meander in the hope that one of his kind will still hear him.
The buck tries to resist, floundering helplessly under the wolf's heavy weight.
"There's no one to hear you, kid," growls the red wolf as it closes one of its jaws around the buck's neck and bites it hard.
With a creaking sound, the steenbok stops floundering.
"Finally I can satisfy my hunger after the long, sleepless night I had to go through," the wolf mutters to himself as he begins to munch on the good parts of the buck.
The wolf is so focused on his prey that the sound of growling in the distance does not reach him.
When a heavy paw vibrates the ground, he looks up startled, his two heads searching for the possible origin.
"Surely he didn't follow me," he growls to himself before refocusing on his breakfast.
The trembling ground continues to vibrate as he also now hears the sound of tree and bush branches passing by the body of a living being.
Heavy footsteps shake the trees and bushes, causing forest fruits to fall from the branches.
Soft growls and heavy breaths become increasingly evident as the creature gets closer to the wolf and its prey.
With its heads low, the wolf looks around vigilantly.
Its heads alternate at a time with a bite to keep an eye on its surroundings.
Soon the rustling of leaves can be heard and a large figure emerges from the darkness of the forest.
The wolf bites the neck of the buck with one mouth while its other head draws a grimace.
The bear with three heads runs through the bushes without any difficulty: One of its heads seems to have a puzzled look in its eyes when it sees the wolf, as if it had not expected the wolf in a forest so close to a mountain range.
Its second head seems to salivate when its eyes fall on the dead buck, as if it has never seen such a tasty morsel before, and it already begins to make a sound of hunger, a sound the wolf cannot place.
The bear's third head seems very frustrated and anxious at the same time about the wolf grimacing at him.
Carefully, the wolf walks backwards with his prey, his eyes still fixed on the snow-white bear when he feels the branches of a bush behind him poking against his two tails.
"Don't think you'll take my prey from me, big lug," growled the head grimacing as the wolf tried to sneak through the bush. "My food is not shared, especially someone bigger than me."
"But I'm not here for that," growls the bear as it takes a big step toward the wolf.
The wolf bats his eyes at the head the buck is wearing.
What else would the bear be standing in front of him for?
And how is it that he can understand him?
The bear tries to read and properly assess the wolf's head expressions, it could be seen in the eyes of the three heads.
The wolf still drags the buck closer to him with one of his heads, while his other head keeps a closer eye on the bear.
He does not like how he is being watched by six eyes.
Across his spine, he feels a shiver as the bear takes a step closer.
His other head makes a grimace and begins to growl.
"What did you come to me for," he asks. "Most of the animals of this forest are afraid of me. Why should I believe that you don't want to harm me?"
"Why should I be afraid of you when I'm bigger," the bear asks back. "I have never seen another creature that has multiple heads like me."
"It's not something I'm proud of," cries the wolf with a growl. "My own kind ostracized me, partly because I have two heads as well as two tails. It's not that I wanted to be born that way."
"Then isn't it normal for your kind to have multiple heads? That's kind of strange."