Shardik

to get a sight of it from above. We did not see it again all that day. We camped high up, in the best shelter we could find; and very cold it was.

'The next morning, just as it was getting light, I woke to hear strange noises – breaking sticks, a sack dragged, a pot rolling on its side. It was not like fighting, but more like some drunken fellow stumbling about to find his bed. I was lying in a little cleft like a passage, out of the wind, and I got up and went outside to see what was amiss.

'What was amiss was the bear. The Beklan lout on guard had fallen asleep, the fire had burned low and no one had seen the bear come shambling into the camp. He was going through our rations, such as they were, and helping himself. He had got hold of a bag of dried tendriona and was dragging it about. The village fellows were all lying flat, and still as stones. As I watched, he patted one of them with his paw, as much as to tell him not to be afraid. I thought, 'If I can get up on some high spot, where he can't reach me, I can wait until he is clear of the camp and then put an arrow in him': for I was not going to wound him in the camp, among men who had had no- warning. I slipped back for my bow and climbed up the side of the little cleft where I had been sleeping. I came out on top of the rock and there was our fine friend just below me, with his head buried in the bag, munching away and wagging his tail like a lamb at the ewe. I could have leaned down and touched his back. He heard me, pulled his head out and stood up on his hind legs: and then – you may believe this or not, Kelderek, just as you please -he looked me in the face and bowed to me, with his front paws folded together. Then he dropped on all fours and trotted away.

'While I was staring after him, up comes Zilkron and two of his servants, all set to follow. I put them off with some excuse or other – a lame one it must have been, for Zilkron shrugged his shoulders without a word and I saw his men catch each other's eye. I left them to make what they cared out of it. I was like you, Kelderek -and like every man in Ortelga, I dare say. Now that I had come face to face with a bear, I was not going to kill him and I was not going to let Zilkron kill him either. But I did not know what to do, for I could not say, 'Now let us all turn round and go home.'

'My father, after he had heard Zilkron's story, asked me privately whether I had been afraid. I tried to tell him something of what I felt, but he had never actually encountered a bear and merely looked perplexed.

'That day I bribed the leader of the villagers to guide us in such a way that it would look as though we were after the bear, but actually to take us where we were unlikely to find it. It was nothing to him -he merely grinned and took the price. By nightfall we had seen nothing more and I fell asleep wondering what I should do next

'I was woken by Zilkron. A full moon was setting and frost was glittering on the rocks. His face was full of triumph – and mockery too, I fancied. He whispered, 'He's here again, my lad!' He was holding his big, painted bow with the green silk tassels and handgrip of polished jet. As soon as he was sure I was awake, he left me. I got up and stumbled after him. The villagers were huddled behind a rock but my father and Zilkron's two servants were standing out in the open.

'The bear was certainly coming. He was coming like a fellow on his way to the fair – trotting along and licking his lips. He'd seen our fire and smelt the food. I thought, 'He has never come across men until yesterday. He does not know we mean to kill him.' The fire was burning bright enough but he did not seem afraid of it. He came clambering over a little pile of rocks and began nosing round the foot. I suppose the cooks had left some food there.

'Zilkron laid a hand on my shoulder and I could feel his gold rings against my collar-bone. 'Don't be afraid,' he said. 'Don't be afraid, my lad. I'll have three arrows in him before he has time even to think of charging.' He went closer. I followed him and the bear turned and saw us.

'One of Zilkron's men – an old fellow who had looked after him since he was a child – called out 'No nearer, my lord.' Zilkron flapped his hand behind him without looking back and then drew his bow.

'At that moment the bear stood up once more on his hind legs and looked straight at me, his head inclined and his front paws one over the other, and gave two little grunts, 'Ahl Ahl' As Zilkron loosed the string I struck his arm. The arrow split a branch in the fire and the sparks flew up in a shower.

'Zilkron turned on me very quietly, as though he had been half-expecting something of the sort. 'You stupid little coward,' he said, 'get back over there.' I stepped in front of him and walked towards the bear – my bear, who was begging a man of Ortelga to save him from this golden oaf.

' 'Get out of the way!' shouted Zilkron. I looked round to answer him and in that instant the bear was down upon me. I felt a heavy blow on my left shoulder and then he had wrapped me about and was clutching me against him, gnawing and biting at my face. The wetness and sweetness of his breath was the last thing I felt.

'When I came to myself, it was three days later and we were back in the hill village. Zilkron had left us, for my father had heard him call me coward and they had quarrelled bitterly. We stayed there two months. My father used to sit by my bed and talk, and hold my hand, and tell old tales, and then fall silent, the tears standing in his eyes as he looked at what was left of his splendid son.'

Bel-ka-Trazet gave a short laugh. 'He took it hard. He'd learned less of life than I, now I'm his age. But that's no matter. Why do you think I sent my servants back from Quiso and came here unattended? I will tell you, Kelderek, and mark me well. As you are a man of Ortelga, so you cannot help feeling the power of the bear. And every man in Ortelga will feel it, unless we see to it – you and I – that things go otherwise. If we cannot, then in one way or another all Ortelga will be set awry and smashed, just as my face and body have been smashed. The bear is a folly, a madness, treacherous, unpredictable, a storm to wreck and drown you when you think yourself in calm water. Believe me, Kelderek, never trust the bear. He'll promise you the power of God and betray you to ruin and misery.'

Bel-ka-Trazet stopped and looked up sharply. From beyond the top of the bank a heavy, stumbling tread shook the branches of the mclikon so that a perfect cascade of berries tumbled into the pool. Then, immediately above them, there appeared against the brilliant stars a huge, hunched shape. Kelderek, springing to his feet, found himself looking up into the bleared and peering eyes of Shardik.

12 The Baron's Departure

Without getting up or taking his eyes from the bear, Bel-ka-Trazet groped in the water behind him, picked up a stone and tossed it into the darkness beyond the bank. As it fell the bear turned its head and the Baron stepped quickly into the pool, wading under the cascade and into the narrow space between the curtain of falling water and the bank behind. Kelderek remained where he was as the bear once more looked down at him. Its eyes were dull and there was a trembling, now in the front legs and now in the head itself. Suddenly the creature's massive shoulders convulsed. In a low, sharp voice, Bel-ka-Trazet said, 'Kelderek, come back here!'

Once more the hunter found himself without fear, sharing, with spontaneous insight at which he had no time to wonder, the bear's own perceptions. They, he knew, were dulled with pain. Feeling that pain, he felt also the impulse to wander blindly away, to seek relief in restlessness and movement. To strike, to kill would have been a still greater relief, but the pain had induced an insuperable feebleness and confusion. He realized now that the bear had not seen him. It was peering, not at him but at the slope of the bank and hesitating, in its weakness, to descend it As he still stood motionless, it sank slowly down until he could feel upon his face the moisture of its breath. Again Bel-ka-Trazet called, 'Kelderek!'

The bear was sliding, toppling forward. Its fall was like the collapse of a bridge in a flood. As though through the creature's own dimmed eyes, Kelderek saw the ground at the foot of the bank rising to meet him and lurched aside from the suddenly-perceived figure of a man – himself. FIc was standing in the water as Shardik, with a commotion like that of shipwreck, clawed, fell and rolled to the edge of the pool. He watched him as a child watches grown men fighting – intensely, shockingly aware, yet at the same time unafraid for himself. At length the bear lay still. Its eyes were closed and one of the wounds along its flank had begun to bleed, slow and thick as cream, upon the grass.

It was growing light and Kelderek could hear from behind him the first raucous cries in the awakening forest. Without a word-Bel-ka-Trazet stepped through the waterfall, drew his knife and dropped on one knee in front of the motionless bulk. The bear's 86 head was sunk on its chest, so that the long jaw covered the slack of the throat. The Baron was moving to one side for his blow when Kelderek stepped forward and twisted the knife out of his hand.