Morning came, and I woke up to find the tip of a spear in my face. A Barkskin was pointing it at me, while another one stood by him and had an axe above Anna's head. Marion was nowhere to be seen.

"Come." The Treedweller said in a deep voice.

I sat up and shook Anna, trying to wake her up. It was too goddamn early in the morning for this lazy girl.

"Come." The Treedweller said again, this time aided by his spear to get his message perfectly across. Although I was terrified, I had to get Anna up and dressed. I could not think straight, and in my panic, I lifted Anna's blanket for a second or two. Their eyes went wide, and the faces went orange. The two Barkskins quickly turned around.

"Be quick. We wait outside," they said and went outside.

I managed to wake Anna up and helped her get dressed. She did not ask why she woke up bottomless, but she did get my worried look. There wasn't much I could do. Marion must have packed everything; there was nothing left I could use to wash my girl's face or brush her hair or anything. Not even the tinkle tinkle piss-pot for the lady. I silently cursed myself for having left all my gears back there with Slinky. This was not a good way to start a morning.

We were brought down to the clearing, where the Comte's men were being brought in from wherever they had spent the night. The clearing was surrounded by Treedwellers spotting spears and arrows and axes; very imposing. We were told to sit down and... were served fruits and nuts and hot tea? I looked around. The villagers were among the Treedwellers, watching us with worried faces. 'What the heck is going on?'

"Another sunny yet crispy morning," Sieur Henry greeted us from several paces away. He was sitting with other knights, drinking teas. I was a bit baffled by how they just sat there, taking it easy.

"Sieur, what is happening?"

"I am not sure. Let us wait and see."

'Is she the one behind all this?' Anna asked and pointed at Marion, who was standing next to her grandfather, cheeks flustered, lips pouting and arms crossed. She seemed very pissed.

"Looks like she isn't thrilled with the situation," I commented. I was worried I couldn't eat. I settled with the tea to calm myself down and gave my fruits and nuts to Anna, which made her delighted, which in return made me shake my head. Sometimes she could be very complicated, but sometimes she was too simple.

The last group to be brought in was the Comte and Victor and a few more men. The Comte didn't seem to be fazed at all, and I had the impression this was not the first time he had woken up to find a sharp object in his face. Victor, the Vicomte, though, was shaking badly. Now that was a man of my kind.

"Eat. Drink. And listen," the Treedweller spoke loudly in his deep yet brittle voice. Marco, the Comte, sat down and gingerly stuffed a handful of nuts into his mouth. He did not say anything, but his eyes were bright. The old man was curious. The grandfather Barkskin continued.

"My sweet apple wishes to go. With you. Marion, not a child. I cannot dissuade her," he shook his head sadly. All eyes fell on Marion, and she blushed, yet still remained pissed.

The Comte swallowed down nuts in his mouth and drank a large gulp of the steaming tea. He stood up.

"If that has led to this... unpleasant treatment of your guests, then I propose a simpler solution. What if I, the humble leader of this group of men, told your Marion, the mademoiselle in question, that she cannot come with us?"

"Oh, I'm coming with you regardless what you say," Marion spoke up in a sharp tone. It made the villagers cower, which did not go unnoticed by the Comte.

"May I ask; why?"

"There is a..." Marion paused in search of words, "an overwhelming presence of unknown among you," her blindfolded head was facing me as she spoke, "I need to find out if it poses harm to the people of the land."

"The blinding light and the blaring trumpets you told us yesterday?" the Comte asked. He turned and searched among his men. Looking for me. He found me and pointed at me.

"You had asked for him yesterday, called him a reborn. But, mademoiselle, he's just a harmless common lad."

"You say so, but I wish to be certain. For now, what is certain is that I am coming with you."

Her papi sighed and hung his head low.

"Then I presume," the Comte gestured around, "since she cannot be dissuaded from leaving, you plan to persuade us, by force, to stay?"

The Treedweller raised his head again. He seemed reluctant.

"Marion can go. If humen strong. Protect Marion, keep her safe. If humen weak, Marion not safe. Humen stay. Marion stay."

The Comte ran the sequence of words in his head, putting them into a coherent sentence.

"We have crushed Baron Hugo's army. Is that not strong enough for your liking?"

"Humen kill Utaroque, you strong."

There was a collective gasp among the Treedwellers. Even Marion had her jaw dropped. She grabbed her granddad's elbow and protested in their language. What the heck was Utaroque?

"Pray, do tell us, please," The Comte spoke patiently, "what is this Utaroque you speak of?"

Marion took a few steps forward and answered in her grandfather's stead. She seemed somewhat pale.

"Utaroque is a beast. A gigantic bear."

Then the villagers of Forez gasped in unison.

"The Grande Arctos?!" they were saying, exchanging glances with horror on their faces. It was evident that their Grande Arctos and the Treedwellers' Utaroque were the same one beast, a gigantic bear.

"A bear?" The Comte shrugged. He turned his head around to face the Vicomte, who shrugged back in return. "Fine, we go hunt this bear then."

###

We returned to the edge of the forest to get our gears. Marion came with us, but none of the Treedwellers tagged along, which I found very strange; we could just up and walk away, with Marion on tow whether we liked it or not. The Treedwellers wouldn’t be there to stop us. Or her.

“Forget about Utaroque, let’s just go. At once,” she urged.

“I gave my word. We hunt this Utaroque,” the Comte insisted. It seemed the old man was getting excited. His eagerness had spread among the men; they were chatting excitedly, getting ready to head back and go further deep into the forest, where Utaroque was supposed to reside.

Marion, on the other hand, had lost the colors on her face. She kept saying the Comte had made a mistake taking her papi’s challenge.

“The Grande Arctos is not an ordinary bear!”

According to her, Utaroque, also known as the Grande Arctos, was mad. So mad he would not listen or talk to Marion… whatever that meant. Apparently, the late Seigneur of Forez had tried numerous times to kill the Grande Arctos that was terrorizing the villages near the forest. The men who were sent after the bear had never returned. The Treedwellers, not only Marion’s tribe but the others as well, also failed to get Utaroque under control. The bear was, simply put, a menace to everyone.

The Comte put both his hands on the waist and stood tall before Marion.

“Mademoiselle, are you telling me even your kins cannot deal with this bear? Your kins, the Treedwellers, to whom I have entrusted the safety of my folks?”

“That is…” Marion stuttered, “true, but do not be alarmed. Utaroque rarely comes out this far to my papi’s dwelling.”

“Rarely does not necessarily mean never.

Marion shut up and bit her lips. The Comte looked around his men, meeting eyes one by one.

“All the more reason why we should go kill this bear,” he turned to face Marion again, “after all, the folks are your people, too. You are their witch of the land, mademoiselle.”

Marion shook her head and grumbled.

“You do not know what you are walking into.”

“Now, what do we know about a bear? Has anyone hunted one before?” The Comte asked his men. So, he had never hunted one, I figured.

“We did go hunt boars this spring with Your Lordship, milord,” one of the archers answered, which led to the men cheering and excitedly chatting about the hunting trip. Even the Comte smiled, reminiscing.

“Yes, It was a good trip. But boars are, if I am not mistaken, member of the swine family, not bears,” He turned his head towards Sieur Henry and raised an eyebrow.

“No, milord,” Henry shook his head and answered sheepishly, “I am afraid I have never seen, let alone hunted a bear. I hunt rabbits and pheasants mostly.”

Marion grunted and threw her hands in defeat. She crossed her arms and leaned back on a tree, pouting, but she remained silent.

“Hmm,” the Comte moved his eyes. His gaze was just about to pass Anna, not even bothering to ask. For some reason, I wanted to brag, although Anna and I had never hunted a bear either. I quickly stepped up, which got the Comte’s attention and arrested his gaze from moving away.

“Wolves and harpies, milord. And the usual herbivores.”

There was a brief silence. The Comte raised his gray eyebrows even higher.

“Harpies?”

With a gloating face, Anna tapped on her bow. I was pleased to see the men were impressed.

“And the wolves?” the Comte asked.

“Barehanded at first, milord, bows, and spears afterward,” I answered in her stead and stopped Anna from stripping. Yes, she wanted to show off her scars, but that would have been highly inappropriate. Besides, she was young, and her flesh had ever since grown anew; the scars had faded and were barely visible unless one knew what to look for.

“Barehanded?” lots of eyebrows were raised.

“Yes, milord. I must confess at the time we were the ones being hunted.”

We were interrupted by Marion scoffing.

“So, nobody has actually seen a bear, let alone hunted one?”

We all looked at each other. Well, it seemed Marion had made a very good point.

“Ahem,” Victor the Vicomte cleared his throat, “I have read a bit about bears, though.”

Bears were, according to Victor, fierce predators, generally of brown color. They grew almost as big as a large rock, and when standing on the hind feet, they were as tall as an adult Treedweller. Their clawed paws were as big and deadly as a spiked mace, one swipe of which would easily knock a strong man dead. They would either maul you in the head and crush your skull, or go for your anus, if not for the soft belly, and tear you apart alive.

“Well, you aren’t wrong, but…” Marion trailed off.

In the end, we settled on the tried and tested flush and drive method. Marion would guide us to the spot where Utaroque was known to frequent, and after that, the footmen of Armas would go around and flush out the bear, driving him towards the knights and the archers. We dropped swords and axes and maces, and instead took up spears as the Comte did not want any of his men getting that close to the beast. But Anna insisted on bringing her longsword, easy for her to say, for it was I who would have to carry that thing into the forest. Once again, leaving the horses and carts behind, we entered the forest.