“There you are!” said Kuthbyuhrn. “I was getting worried.”
I opened my eyes, hanging in the air above my family and friends. Jane was glaring at Frikka, who couldn’t meet her gaze. “You sacrificed my husband for your own?” she demanded.
“It’s best to stay out of the affairs of females,” said Kuthbyuhrn. “Meddling only leads to a bite on the ass.” He sat now, gazing down on our party with alive, interested eyes. “You Isir are so interesting,” he murmured. “So alive!”
“Tell me what the lantvihtir told you.”
“The lantvihtir? Did they speak to me?”
“You told me before that they lied to you to get you to attack us.”
Kuthbyuhrn lifted a massive paw and scratched the fur under his chin. “Let me see,” he muttered. “The fight started when someone stuck me with a spear…”
“No, that’s near the end. You came at us from deeper in the cave right after we passed the pool of water.”
“Are you sure?” Kuthbyuhrn asked, tilting his head to the side. “I’m gentle by nature—always was. I seldom start battles.”
“This time, you did. You told me the lantvihtir lied to you to get you to do it, so your record is intact.”
“Hmmm…” The bear tilted his head and squinted his eyes quizzically “Oh, yes! I remember now. The lantvihtir came rushing into my area of the cave. They said men with spears were coming to kill my mate, and that—”
“Mate?” I asked. “Where is she now?”
He glanced at me and averted his gaze. “Well, I was confused before. My mate died at my side—long ago. We stood shoulder to shoulder, fighting the… Well, whatever they were, we stood against them and died.” He sighed. “She was such a beautiful bear. She’d have liked you. The fierce one with the axe reminds me of her.”
“You mean the one trying to heal me?”
“No, the powerful one who stands shoulder to shoulder with you.”
“My wife…Jane. Yes, she’s fierce about some things.”
“The lantvihtir are very upset with your party,” said the bear with a chuckle in his voice. “If I had been more…awake, I would have recognized it in them and seen through their deception.”
“What do they want?”
“The lantvihtir?” The bear rolled his shoulders. “What they always want, I guess. I’ve never understood them very well. Even less so since I died and could understand their speech.”
“Maybe I should speak with them?”
Kuthbyuhrn rocked back on his hind legs so that his head would be level with mine. “That would be dangerous for you in your present circumstance. No, let me act as your emissary.”
I glanced at my body bleeding onto the floor of the cave. “That might be better, but how can you be sure you will remember what to say?”
“I have a superb memory. For a bear, anyway.”
“I’ve no doubt.”
“And I needn’t go far.” He pointed with his paw. “They are just over there. Can you not see them?”
I stared in the direction he pointed, and I could see vague forms shifting and fluttering. “Maybe, but I can’t tell what they are.”
Kuthbyuhrn shrugged. “What is your purpose here?”
“We are passing through the cave to avoid having to climb the mountains. That’s all.”
“Let me talk to them.”
The bear lumbered into the darkness.
“The bear!” shouted Mothi. “Where’s the bear going?”