Silvertip Mountain I don’t see how he can ever finish, if he doesn’t begin

we will wait here for you. val hoped more than anything the last thing he held in his mind's eye would not be arielle and aventus' forms, hovering above the mouth of the cave.

he held this image tight as he felt his way along the dark. arielle, give me the strength to believe in myself, val chanted in silent half-beats. aventus, give me the strength to withstand the bear. and of merrick -- give me the strength to define the bear.

down the black-throated tunnel he went. the air was dank and musty. small creatures scurried away as he brushed past hanging roots.

the muffled grunting of a bear ahead slowed his steps but not his heart. now his heart took off like a startled horse, thud-thud-thudding untethered;

that great shape blotting his murky vision as it pulled from the cavern walls -- small, piggish eyes inspecting him with dull interest.

he thought of raleska's crumpled form. oh, fuck, val quailed, remembering how disintegrated and limp she had been as shardik delivered her body to sapphique. aventus, arielle, merrick all left him as that poignant memory rose like a rapier against his spine, cutting any sense of bravery from him.

the bear's long muzzle sniffed, stirring the stale air as it brushed against val's crawling skin. he felt it drag down along his shoulders, to his flank, and finally his hips. any moment now he would be struck down; his eyes closed shut in fear, his skin alive with a thousand poised and startled neurons transmitting fear, mortal fear --

then came the shuffling of feet away, down the corridor where he had come.down past the mouth of the cave with a mighty stretch, down past arielle and aventus -- into the sunlight and the thin early spring air, where it sleepily blinked against the freshly assaulting brightness and strolled on into the deepening forest.

val collapsed in shaky breaths, clutching soil between tremoring paws.