Chasing Sparks

Chapter 13.3

Eventually, when Wren had finished eating, he simply said, “I’m sorry.” Before taking a deep breath and getting round to what he really wanted to talk about, “I’m heading east looking for a Caver called Finion. I don’t suppose you’ve heard of him?”

Quizi didn’t respond and the only indication Wren got that she had actually heard him was the barely perceptible shake of her head a good ten seconds later.

Wren had been prepared to tell the rest of his story but something held him back now. Whether it was the tension in the air or her seeming disinterest or something else, he wasn’t sure, but for whatever the reason, Wren just simply added, “I just wanted you to know, that’s all.”

“The East is very big. Finnun is very small,” Quizi replied.

Wren nodded. This had already occurred to him and if he was honest, he was hoping for something a little more insightful.

But Quizi hadn’t finished, “We should go north over the mountains, find one of the Barbarian clans. They know this land best. Maybe they know this Finnun.”

“Finion,” Wren said. “His name is pronounced Finion.”

Quizi nodded, as if what Wren had just said was irrelevant. Which Wren had to concede it probably was.

He sighed inwardly and then gave some thought to what she was suggesting. He felt uneasy at her idea at best. Everything he had heard or read about Barbarians was based on the premise: it was better to avoid them wherever possible. The word Barbarian was chosen with good reason.

So he wasn’t stoked by Quizi’s plan but he really had nothing better. His current idea of wandering east and hoping to bump into Finion was probably worse. Besides, Wren thought, Quizi was one of them.

“Is your clan north of here?”

“No. A long way back west. The Hun and Choo are north of here,” Quizi didn't expand any further.

That little uneasy feeling became a little more uneasy. Barbarians didn’t like most people, but that was particularly true of other Barbarians.

Quizi continued, “The winter is coming. The mountains will be difficult to cross. If we head north now, we can make it across before the snow gets too deep.”

Wren felt his warm cape and remembered the Runner’s words, ‘you’ll need it where you are going’ and he had kind of guessed already that he would be crossing the mountains at some point. Why not now?

“OK. Let’s go north,” Wren said, planting his stick in the ground, as if to finalise the decision.

Quizi simply nodded before adding, “We’ll need a bear then."

Yes, a bear, of course, Wren thought. We will need a bear. Obviously. Everyone travelling north across the mountains needs a bear.

...

The next morning they turned off their current path and started heading north. The forest was not so dense any more and they were able to pick their way through the brush fairly easily.

The first set of bear tracks they found led them to a mother bear caring for two cubs. Wren was pleased to see Quizi immediately motioned for them to leave and move on. Leaving orphaned cubs to fend for themselves over winter was not part of the plan. Barbarians were not without compassion it seemed.

The next bear they came across was a monstrous brown bear. It was literally the biggest bear Wren had ever seen and he wondered why this one couldn’t be the one with the cubs.

However, once Quizi had spotted it, it soon became clear to Wren that he was surplus to requirements. So he just stood behind a tree and watched.

Quizi was digging a hole with her hands fifty paces windward of the bear. She had also taken Wren’s pointy stick with her and was now laying it down next to the small hole. Wren didn’t know why. He supposed it might be some kind of trap but a pointy stick lying flat on the ground with a small hole around the butt wasn’t the most sophisticated of traps.

Still he was no expert on killing wild animals, thinking back to his fight with the mountain lion. He smiled ruefully to himself, he wouldn’t want to try and strangle the bear standing over there to death.

Quizi finally seemed happy with the stick and hole and walked nonchalantly out into the open. Wren never stopped being impressed by the curious little Barbarian. She genuinely showed no fear approaching the huge bear, her attention completely focussed on the animal.

On seeing Quizi, the bear likewise focussed its attention entirely on the Barbarian and was decidedly less impressed at being disturbed. Without warning, it opened its big maw and roared. It then rose up on its hind legs and started bounding towards Quizi. It moved surprisingly fast for such a bulky animal but Quizi was already running back the way she’d come, keeping seven or eight paces ahead of the bear.

She moved gracefully and easily over the ground, skipping lightly over bushes and fallen trees, leading the bear back towards the trap.

As she arrived at the stick and hole, she stopped and croached, gripping both hands on the shaft of the spear. Just as the bear was about to bound into her, she raised the point of the stick, securing the base in the hole. The bear with its considerable momentum ran straight into the raised stick, the point hitting the beast squarely in the chest with the base forced back into the hole.

The thick staff bowed ominously, but Quizi had sharpened the stick to a lethal point and it was the bear’s chest that gave way first, the sharp point piercing the bear’s thick hide and entering its chest.

With lightning reflexes Quizi released the stick, and rolled to the side out of the way of the slashing paws. The bear roared a booming blood curdling cry before slumping to the forest floor. Quizi quickly jumped onto the bear’s back, slitting its throat.

It was over so quickly. If Wren was impressed by Quizi before, he was doubly impressed now. She had brought down a bear, single handedly, as if this was just another daily chore. No different to the rabbits and squirrels she brought back to the fire.

Quizi started skinning the bear, so Wren felt it was probably safe to come out of hiding now and walked over to help.

“Good spear,” he said by way of conversation.

“No. It nearly broke.”

...

By nightfall, Wren had a new warm bearskin top. It was basically a square with a hole in the middle to put your head through but he could tie it close to his body on both sides with some leather cords. It seemed a very simple design but definitely warm.

Quizi had fashioned something similar for herself just a little smaller. She had also used the smaller areas of fur to make some hand and leg warmers, too. Nothing had been wasted. Fully outfitted in the bear skins, Wren thought the two of them looked like proper little Barbarians. Albeit the smallest and skinniest Barbarians of all time.