Ari

The human Josiah went to work, his metal arms could be heard clanging on rocks on the cliff face. He smelled of death and of new god. She hadn’t gotten used to the smell, but she could handle it for now.

Ari didn’t know what she was doing. She had a fierce feeling of duty to her valley to drop her babes and father down the mountain to be carrion. But her yearning for ‘that something else’ was far greater. Her father was far too important to the history of the forest to be lost in a cave. She didn’t know what ‘that something else’ was. Until she met Josiah. He had shown her.

He had put Oso out of his misery. He had given him dignity in his last moments. He had brought honor to his death. It was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen a human do. All she had ever known of humanity had been fire and blood. It was a lesson her father Kari engrained into her.

It pained her to see his remains. An un-honorable death to an honorable bear. She remembered when he was struck down by that human, the human with moons for eyes, she would never forget its face. It slid its sword into him with ease. He retreated to the cave and died in the coming days. His howling could be heard all across the valley. He deserved an honorable death.

It was a very bad day for Mathan Valley. That day Ari vowed to kill all humans she could. Except, of course, this was no longer true. Josiah didn’t deserve to be killed when his usefulness was over. She huffed and paced about while delving into her mind.

A human in her domain, many humans technically. She saw them all come in from the river. She hadn’t left this side of the valley since the battle.

She sniffed, not now, this was not a good time. She turned to look down the rockface. Three Schnell Clan members approached her.

Schnell 1: “More humans, they do not let up”.

Ari: “No. I’ll take care of the humans. They are my problem”.

The three black bears looked at each other. The three could obviously hear the metal clangs from just up the hill.

Schnell 2: “One is nearby. No doubt harvesting stone”. He got up and went to approach the noise.

Ari: “No! I take care of the humans this time”. She moved a vine to block his path. He looked at her with shock.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Schnell 1: “Humans Ari. They are here again. They do not rest. Are you not sworn to protect Mathan?”.

Ari: “They only wish to clear the bodies of their dead brethren. We will lose more Schnell if we confront them. I am monitoring them. We do not need more dead Schnell”.

Schnell 3: “Any in our clan would gladly die to rid a single human from the valley”.

She moved closer to Ari.

Schnell 3: “Why do you betray our valley. Schnell died in battle beside you last night. Does their death not mean anything to you”.

Ari: “They mean everything to me. That’s why the humans are here. They bring honor to our dead”. She held her ground and stood on her hind legs.

Ari: “I am monitoring the humans. They will bring us no harm”.

Schnell 3: “You forget your place cousin. This was Schnell territory long before your father unified our clans”.

Schnell 1: “You wouldn’t claim these humans to be peaceful if they were in Mathan Clan territory”.

Schnell 2: “You disgrace our clan and our dead”.

The three bears growled and approached Ari closer.

Ari: “They are to leave soon. We cannot spill more bear blood”.

Schnell 1: “You are not making sense cousin”. They approached closer.

Ari lashed out her whips and cracked them in front of the black bears.

Ari: “Leave now or face my wrath!”.

Schnell 3: “Droen will hear of this”.

The three left in a quick turn. Ari could outrun them, but she didn’t need more dead kin for a simple squabble. She didn’t need this. She had to find a way to show her people these humans had no intentions to harm them.

The human explained it much easier to her than she could to her people. The two could exchange thoughts and emotions. It was similar to exchanging smells and hormones, but more personal, more real.

She looked up at the cave. Droen. She was not looking forward to telling him about the cubs. He took it harder than her when their last cubs were taken. At least then they were old enough to enjoy the valley. These babes didn’t even take a breath.

She roared in frustration. What was she doing? How could she trust the human so easily? They brought nothing but death and decay to Mathan Valley.

Ari approached the clanging noise above. She had to show her people she hadn’t become weak. Josiah had to die.

She approached the cliff he worked atop. He was standing on a misplaced stone he dragged over, reaching to the top of a rock outcropping that faced the edge of the cliff. His metal arm covering was chipping away at the stone.

She felt lightheaded. It was him, Kari. Her father’s face was there chiseled into the rock. She could even see the scar he had on his nose. It looked like a replica. She huffed. She whimpered.

Josiah looked over his shoulder and smiled. He had recreated his face perfectly. He had absorbed the visage of Kari from her when they last communicated.

At that moment she knew.

She could see her father look to the horizon. His head was pointed to overlook the entire valley. His valley. The valley he united. He was able to see the world he created.

Ari knew he was happy to see his valley.

Ari knew she would defend these humans. She would kill anyone, human or bear, that wanted to stop her father from looking over his valley.

She would kill them all.