Jagged walls capped with white rose from the earth. They seemed an insurmountable obstacle, there to halt her forward progress. Nevertheless, her pace would not waver.
With a stilted gait the bear-dog made it trough the tightly-packed snow, dark pelt starred by snowflakes. With a single mind she headed for the stone peaks she did not yet know cradled a valley. Not once did she question her direction. All would come to fit in its place, such was eventuality.
There it was, another sign. Hunter of the valley, dark like she, approaching across the snowy expanse. Still her speed did not decrease. They would pass by one another or meet and converse. Which it would be, she would not influence. Only afterwards will she try to divine what the encounter meant.
The wolf spoke, and his words were mystery. The traveler halted.
Maned head turned to him (for the anatomy of her face did not allow the bear-dog to watch him from the periphery) and she took in the sight of him, the swathe of rust and cream upon his nape and back, the huntsman's build and size of him. He dwarfed her. This fit him. Same words spoken by a lesser creature would not have held as much strength.
"What is the name of this god?" Her voice was deep and guttural, masculine.
sprry for the wait!! DD: i haven't written anything in too long so my writing is rusty
There was power in the syllables of a name, rawness that begged to be tamed and turned to greater purpose. Absence of these holy vowels and consonants meant either insignificance - or power so vast it escaped all attempts to be harnessed.
Bear. Yes, the mighty beast from which her own name was derived. This held meaning. She ached to divine it.
From the blackness which hid her eyes, she marveled at the single golden coin lodged in the wolf's skull. Wisps of a myth tickled at the edges of her memory.
Nine days and nine nights spent hanging from a tree, the sharpness of a spear trough meat, an eye traded for knowledge...
"Bernadette." Came her name. It was her plain, worldly name, not the hidden one. With genuine curiosity, which had her head tilting slightly, she inquired.
"What is yours, bear-priest? And Ursus, where can it be found?"