The bear stared back at Nya and Pat. They didn't move. It didn't move. No one moved a muscle except for the birds in the trees who escaped with their wings in seconds.
Why hadn't it eaten them yet? We're just standing here, thought Nya. Actually it'd probably be a good idea to leave.
"Back away slowly," Nya whispered, taking one step back. Pat followed her. Two steps. Three... The bear growled. The stopped. Pat swore under his breath.
The bear growled again. Then it turned and began to walk away from them back into the trees. Nya sighed with relief. Maybe it had just had some brunch and wasn't hungry.
But the bear looked back at them and growled, as if, well, as if trying to get them to follow. Nya looked at Pat.
"Do you think we should follow the crazy bear?" she said, glancing at it's giant growling form. Pat voiced what she was thinking.
"It'll probably tear us to shreds if we don't. What choice do we have. Come on, it might be trying to help us." Pat walked cautiously towards the bear, who, once seeing that they were following, began to make it's path through the trees again.
Help them? It was a giant bear. But it wasn't an Umbra, and it was true, what else could they do? Nya hastened to catch up with Pat. At least she had a friend with her this time.
~
They had been walking for what seemed like miles. Nya's legs were sore, and the sun was hot overhead. Her stomach was growling. It must be around midday, according to the sky.
Pat looked pretty worked out too, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand. The bear looked like a bear, forever the same pace, never seeming to tire. Nya wished she was a bear.
"How much...longer...do you think...the bear's gonna...walk for?" asked Pat between breaths. A break would be nice, thought Nya. But the bear turned around and growled, even jerking it's head forward in a little 'follow me or else' motion.
Pat put his hands up in surrender. "Hey I was just asking. No offence or anything, Mr Beary." The bear huffed.
"Come on, can't we just have a little break?" Nya didn't know why she was talking to the bear. But surprisingly the bear stopped, looked at her strangely, shrugged (could bears even do that?) and sat down, beginning to groom itself.
She turned to Pat about to comment on the bear's weird behaviour, but Pat was looking at her strangely too, his mouth hanging wide open.
"What?" Nya said.
"You, you just growled. At the bear." Pat pointed back and forth between her and the bear like an idiot.
"No I didn't, I just asked if we can have a break. You okay?" Maybe the heat was getting to his head.
"No, you growled at it. You spoke to the bear. I'm not kidding." Pat spoke with such shock and seriousness that Nya almost believed him. Almost. She couldn't speak to bears. That's just stupid. But she was curious. Nya the Bear Whisperer didn't have the best ring to it but it was something.
She watched the bear lick it's black furry paws and spoke to it. "What's your name?" Nya listened carefully to her voice found that it was coming out in growls. What the? She was even more surprised when the bear answered in a low gravelly bear kind of voice.
"Finally! I've been waiting the whole walk for you to ask! Do you know there's these things called manners? Humans tend to use them to each other, and barely then, but oh no, us animals get forgotten! We're just the beasts of the forest! Oh yes, fear us, avoid us! Don't mind our little lives! We'll just stay here while our forest home gets burnt alive by evil! Don't expect us to know enough to help! It's Beringar by the way, but you can just call me Berny." The bear began to licking it's back.
Woah. Nya was not expecting bears to have so much to rant about. Berny finished grooming and looked up as innocently as a bear could look. "Any more questions?"
Pat just stared in shock at all the growling that was going on.
"Well I guess you were right. I can speak bear!" Nya grinned at him. Finally, something fantastically magical she could do!
"The correct name is Ursaish, but yes, you can speak 'bear'," grumbled Berny, and adding under his breath, "Such vulgar language children use these days, what has this world come to?"
"What's he on about?" asked Pat, still staring.
"He's just ranting. His name's Berny," said Nya, smiling happily.
"Berny? His name is Berny? You've got to be kidding me," Pat put his head in his hands. Berny stood up looking amused.
"Well, now we've got that established, let's keep moving shall we? Come along, children, we have places to go!
"Oh and by the way," he whispered to Nya, "it's going to be a bit of a pain to keep translating to your friend there. Trick of the trade, pretty simple, just growl his name in Ursaish." Berny winked and trotted off at a reasonably fast pace.
"Come on Pat," growled Nya as she hurried to keep up, "We've got places to go!"
Pat stared at her back in disbelief. His friend could talk to bears. His friend could speak bear language. Nothing will surprise him after this, he told himself. Nothing.
~
"So, Berny, where exactly are we going?" said Pat.
They had only been walking for a few minutes before Pat asked the question that had been burning through Nya's mind. She had almost forgotten she could ask their bear guide. Pat obviously hadn't.
"None of your bearsness," said Berny.
"Actually it sort of is..." said Nya, "we're following you through a forest for miles and miles so... can you tell us where we're going?"
"Children these days, I tell you," the bear muttered, "We're going to the cave of course."
Nya waited for Berny to explain. He didn't.
"What cave?"
Berny stopping the middle of a stride, turned around and stared at Nya like she had forgotten the most obvious piece of information, like what her name was.
"What cave? What cave? Child, the cave! The cave that is the only reason why Lar hasn't fallen into ruins yet! The cave that is a prison to the most dangerous spirits in the world! The cave that holds so many secrets you couldn't count them on 50 people's fingers and toes! The cave where many have gone and never returned. The cave where shadows roam."
Berny looked Nya right in the eyes, his as black as space, like a black hole you could fall through at any moment and be turned into spaghetti.
"The cave where the Umbra are kept and escaping from. The cave where you and your friend will face the shadows and save Lar."
Berny turned dramatically and kept walking. Nya and Pat stood rooted to the spot, mouths agape. He was taking them to the Shadow Cave? To save Lar? Had he got a knock the head?
They quickly followed him, wanting to interrogate him with more questions. But they couldn't spot the giant bear ahead. They turned though some trees, sure he had gone that way.
Suddenly they stepped out into a clearing. The trees surrounded the small, stone carved cave entrance in a perfect circle. Berny appeared beside them, making Nya jump.
"This is where your fate lies, human children. Go where others have not gone, deep into the earth, where monsters are caught. If you don't, well," Berny did his funny bear shrug again, "there's a lot of wood to burn in a forest."
___________________________________________________
Yoyo!
Hope you are liking the story! I think it's going to be pretty short (10 chapters if I can stretch it alot) because I'm not that good at updating and want to get into some sort of action.
Woo only 8 more weeks till freedom! (I'm trying to be optimistic here)
Please comment and vote and all that stuff!
- FranVader
P.S.
BELIEVE! I know it's sounds like a cat poster, but it's true.