Ironhold, Trial One (Ironhold #1)

CHAPTER TWO

I hurry towards the bear, hoping that I will be able to do something to help, fearing that I might not be able to, and that I am doing something foolish just by trying. Yet I feel as though I have no choice. I must do this. I can’t just leave people to be hurt. I have been raised to help people, to heal people. I must at least try here.

Around me, as I move through the village, I can hear people locking their doors. Several are running in the other direction, so that I feel like a fish swimming upstream. One man knocks into me, almost tumbling me from my feet, but I keep going.

Am I doing the right thing? Fear runs through me. What am I doing, hurrying towards a bear? I can imagine the injuries that such a beast might be able to inflict all too easily. I have seen enough wounds inflicted by different creatures to know how bad it can be. I imagine those injuries on myself. I imagine the pain of teeth and claws rending my flesh. It is almost enough to make me turn around and run for cover with the others, but I know that if I do that and someone dies, I will blame myself.

I want to help. At the very least, I can try to drag the injured to safety and help them with their wounds. If a healer isn't for this, then what are we for?

I rush to the central square of the village, really just an open space of windswept grass between the houses. As I round the corner of one of them, I see the bear for the first time.

It is massive, with deep brown fur that is currently tinged red by blood on its chest. Its muzzle is bloodied as well, and it huffs as it stalks around the square, looking this way and that, as if trying to decide who it should attack next. Already, the body of a soldier is on the ground beneath it, his iron and leather armor broken apart by claws. Iron did as much as magic to make Aetheria great, but it seems it cannot stand against the might of nature’s fury.

I see a couple more of the soldiers at one side of the square, their spears leveled, as if ready to receive the charge of an enemy formation. Their iron helmets disguise their features, so I cannot see the fear on their faces, but I know it must be there. One has blue flames flickering on the tip of his spear in a minor display of magic that presumably only helps a little. They are guarding a small group of villagers who could not get to safety.

No, I realize, they are not guarding the villagers. Instead, they are guarding a portly, balding man wearing sandals and a grey toga of office. He must be the official from Aetheria. Currently, he is cowering back with the rest, and his presence among the villagers means that his soldiers must protect them from the bear as well. The question is how long they can do so. If the creature tries to charge in earnest, their spears might not be enough to save everyone.

I see a wounded man trying to crawl to safety. He is too close to the bear, and I know that it is only a matter of time before it decides to finish him. It doesn't look as though the soldiers are going to try to help him, and everyone else is just staring in shock and fear. If I don't help him, he's going to die.

I hurry forward, hoping that I can get to him and drag him clear without the bear noticing. It is a vain hope, because as soon as I approach, the creature turns towards me, huge form rippling with strength and violence.

My first instinct is to run. My fear demands that I must, that I cannot do anything else. But I know that if I do so, the bear will easily outrun me and bring me down. More than that, I would be abandoning the man I have hurried forward to try to save. I can’t do that, despite my fears.

The bear roars at me then, rearing up, far taller than I am when on its hind legs. I am close enough to see every fleck of blood on its maw, see the glint of light on massive incisors. I can feel the anger there at humans with pointy things trying to hurt it, feel the fear that it has wandered into a place where there are so many of them.

I realize that, without meaning to do it, I have reached out to communicate with the creature without words.

“It’s all right,” I murmur. “You don’t need to be afraid.”

I know it can’t understand the words, but it can feel the intent behind them. It knows that I don’t mean it any harm, and that is enough to make it pause. But it is still standing there, swaying over me as if it might come crashing down with teeth and claws at any moment. It won’t do so out of fear or anger, but there is still a much bigger need behind it.

The creature is hungry . I can feel how harsh things have been for it out in the wilds beyond the village. There was once good hunting there, but the humans wearing iron and using magic have come and taken everything. It has driven the bear to seek food elsewhere, wherever it can. I see an image of it trying to catch fish on the shore, then wandering down the shoreline, heading inexorably to Seatide.

The bear is hungry, and if I don’t find a way to assuage that hunger, it will try to feast on us .

“You want food?” I say. I back away from the bear, gesturing for it to follow me. It doesn’t know the gesture, but it knows what I want it to do. I lead it away from the others, down through the village. I head for one shack in particular, backing my way to it until I can hammer on the door.

There is no answer from inside, not at first, so I hammer my fist into it again.

“Go away!” a voice calls from inside. Benkan’s voice.

“Benkan, it’s me,” I call back.

“Lyra? You should run home, there’s a bear!”

“I know,” I call to him through the door. “Open up.”

My fear returns. What if Benkan doesn’t open the door? How long will the bear wait before it decides that I’m not going to help, and that it’s better off just eating me? I can only communicate with creatures, not control them.

I don't know how long I have, but I doubt it will be long. I can only stand there and wait, hoping that Benkan will open the door.

As soon as he does, I put my hands against the door to make sure he won't just close it again. That proves to be a good call because he sees the bear behind me and makes a sound of fear, getting ready to dart back into his house.

“The bear!” he says, as if I might not have noticed it. “The bear!”

“I'm here for that fish you owe us,” I say, as if we’re just having a normal conversation. As if there isn’t a giant bear watching us both.

“The fish?” Benkan says. He’s still staring at the bear.

“Now, Benkan,” I reply. “It's important"

He looks at me, then at the bear, some degree of understanding finally coming into his eyes. “Yes, of course.”

He disappears into his shack for a moment, coming back with a large, silvery form of salmon. I doubt very much that this was the fish he was planning to give me and my mother, but he seems to understand that the bear isn't going to settle for anything less than the best he has. I take the fish and then toss it a little way away for the bear to catch.

It hurries over to it like a well-trained dog, snatching up the salmon and then looking back at me. I can feel its gratitude.

“Go,” I whisper. “Go before there's more trouble. They'll kill you if you stay.”

It seems to understand, hurrying away through the houses, heading back along the shore. Relief floods through me as it goes, quickly followed by worry for those it has already injured. I hurry back to the main square. People are trying to help the wounded man.

“Is it gone?” one calls out to me.

I nod. “It was starving. It's gone for now.”

“Thank you, Lyra. You saved us.”

Suddenly, I'm surrounded by a crowd of people. They all know about me, about my tendency to talk to the animals. In a small village it's hard to keep anything to myself. Now they've seen what I can do, and they are grateful.

The Aetherian official pushes his way through the crowd, accompanied by the soldiers, so nobody dares to push back.

“How did you do that?” he asks.

I shrug. “I've just always had a way with animals.”

“It's more than that,” he says. “To get a beast like that to do what you want, you would need…” he trails off. “But I'm being ungrateful. It seems you saved me.”

I wasn't doing it for him, but rather for the injured man and for all the people of the village.

“Of course, when it comes to the question of how you did it-” he begins.

My mother's voice cuts him off. “Forget all that. Lyra, I need your help with the wounded. Come here and help me get this one inside.”

I go to her. I hadn't realized she'd come outside. She looks worried for me and angry as I help her to lift the wounded man, carrying him back in the direction of our hovel.

“You should see to the soldier first,” the official insists.

“Your soldier is dead,” my mother replies. “There is nothing I can do for him. But there's still a chance to save this one. Come on, Lyra, we need to get moving.”

We hurry back in the direction of our home, carrying the wounded man between us. My mother looks back at me as we do so.

“What were you thinking?” she demands. “You could have been killed.”

“But I wasn't and, if I hadn’t done anything, other people might have died.” What kind of healer would I be if I allowed people to die so I could be safe?

“And now that man has seen what you can do,” my mother says. “Do you know how much danger that puts you in? They aren’t just looking for money. They look for talents. And those with any connection to beasts… they will take you away, Lyra.”

I frown. Surely my mother is overstating that? “They can't just take people.”

“Of course they can,” she insists. “Quick, we need to get inside.”

We hurry back to our hovel, and my mother shuts the door behind us, locking it as firmly as if the bear were still out there. Together, we move the man who has been wounded onto the table. His wounds look bad. I'm not sure if we'll be able to save him.

“I'll go get needle and thread,” I say.

Even as I do it, a fist hammers on the door. The voice that follows is that of the official from before. He seems to have recovered his wits enough to come after me.

“Open this door! Open up in the name of the emperor!”