The bear man came after Lillian, but she had a head start. Despite his size, he was obviously hurting from the fall and slower than the fleet-footed girl who’d run hundreds of races with the Welches’ dogs, spent months learning how to repair a farm, and worked so hard for Mother Manan that her strength and stamina were at their peak.
His legs were longer, but she was more agile. For every two steps the bear man took, she took three, and slowly but surely she drew farther ahead of him. The forest grew near, but Joen was still close behind her. She couldn’t keep this speed up forever. Maybe Joen could. And then he’d catch up and drag her back to LaOursville.
“Help, help!” she cried out, hoping T.H. might hear her.
She didn’t know if he was around. It was so much earlier than they’d planned for her escape. And she didn’t think the fox could do much if it came to a fight with the bear man. She glanced back. Joen was still coming. Was he closer?
She sped up. Pain stitched her side as she pushed herself to keep running. She was past the berry bushes now and under the first few outlying trees. Ahead of her, the path cut through the cliff. Another glance back showed Joen still in pursuit.
“Help!” she called again.
She was surprised when she got an answer from a completely unexpected quarter. A strange thrumming sound made her glance back again to see a cloud of birds descending on the bear man. Mostly small ones—robins and sparrows and wrens—but there were even a few crows and jays in the unruly flock. Joen had to slow down, batting his hands around his head.
Lillian ducked under a branch that she was about to run into. She steered herself back onto the path and turned to look once more as she heard an unholy screeching.
Along with the birds, cats of every shape and color had come out of the grass and were launching themselves at the bear man. Joen stumbled to a halt. He dropped to his knees, pulling cats off. But for every one he pulled off, two more were scratching and clawing at him while the birds buffeted his face and pecked at his nose.
Lillian stopped to look at the astonishing sight. She leaned against a tree, gasping for air. What had gotten into the birds and cats? They didn’t even all get along in the first place. So why had they suddenly joined forces to attack Joen?
Then she remembered all those weeks of putting out saucers of milk for the cats and throwing extra feed to the wild birds. Perhaps this was their way of saying thank you kindly.
Lillian grinned. Maybe the cows would be coming along next, or an apple tree man was stirring in his woody home, getting ready to give Joen a good bang on the head.
“What are you waiting for?” a familiar voice asked.
She turned to see T.H. stepping out of the underbrush.
“On my way to finding out why you needed help.”
“I’m okay now,” she said. Then she motioned with her chin to where Joen was still trying to fend off her rescuers. “Have you ever seen such a thing?” she added.
“No. And if you ever want to see anything again, you’d be smart to keep moving. Cats and birds can’t hold a bear man forever. We’ll want a good head start before he comes tracking us through the forest.”
He was right. Lillian pushed herself away from the tree.
“Thank you, thank you!” she called back to her rescuers.
She set off at a jog up the trail, T.H. trotting at her side. They slipped through the cleft in the rocks and then they were in the forest proper, tall trees rearing up all around the path.
“Why was the big lug chasing you?” he asked after they’d put some distance behind them.
“I had to run away before they locked me up in a cellar. They found a spider in my room and said I was a spy for the spider woman, which is what they call Aunt Nancy up on the rez. And Mother Manan was mad that I wouldn’t tell her about my dream, or what it meant.”
She glanced back down the path. There was still no sign of Joen.
“Do you really think he’ll follow me?” she asked.
“Depends how mad you made him.”
“Really mad.”
“Then I think he’ll track us for as long as it takes to find us, and he’ll probably have a gang of his friends in tow.”
Lillian knew T.H. was right. Joen had been set on bullying her, and he was too stubborn to give up. He’d do whatever it took to bring her back, holding to his task like a hillside of kudzu, as Aunt would say.
But Lillian was more determined than she’d ever been to make things right again. She needed to get back to Old Mother Possum.
“How can we lose him?” she asked.
“Oh, I know a trick or two about avoiding folks dogging my trail,” T.H. said. “The big question is, will he be tracking us with his nose or his eyes?”
“I don’t understand.”
“Will he be a bear or a man?” T.H. clarified.
Lillian tensed. Bad enough to have that big man chasing after them, but if he could also be a bear… well, she didn’t know how they’d get away from him.
“How good are you at climbing trees?” the fox asked her.
“The first time we met I was up in a tree, but I don’t suppose you’d remember that.”
“Nope. Now let’s put some miles behind us.”
“Why did you want to know if I can climb?”
“Man or bear, he’s going to be looking for sign or following your scent on the trail,” the fox said. “But if you take to the trees like a squirrel and stay up there, he’s not going to find either. We just need to find the right place.”
Before long, T.H. found what he was looking for. He had Lillian wade into the stream that ran alongside the path until she came to a large, low-hanging bough. With the stones slippery underfoot, it took her a couple of tries to jump up and get enough grip on the branch to pull herself out of the water. The bough dipped under her weight, almost putting her back in the stream, but she was able to hoist herself around and scramble up its length.