With no hesitation, Alex jumped again, this time landing on the shoulders of godat-ta.
The bear screamed its rage and snapped its head left and right trying to reach him. Alex dug the fingers of his left hand into the fur on godat-ta’s left shoulder. He thought he was far enough back with his grip to avoid the snapping jaws.
He was wrong.
Godat-ta strained his neck and snapped. At the last second, Alex saw what was happening and pulled the hand back. That saved most of his fingers.
Godat-ta’s jaws closed on the thumb and index finger, snapping them off in a spray of blood.
Alex loosed his own war cry, pulled Senta-eh’s sword from his belt, and plunged it deep into the back of godat-ta’s neck.
The violent snapping of the bear’s head turned into a hurricane of twisting and rocking. An unearthly shriek unlike anything Alex had ever heard tore through the air.
And then, they were falling.
Godat-ta released his grip on the tree and fell backwards. Alex tried to scramble away, but there was not time.
The bear landed on its back with Alex trapped beneath it. The impact of the fall shook the ground.
Alex saw only darkness for a time as he passed out.
When he came to, he realized that godat-ta had not moved. Almost as important, he could not move either.
The incredible weight of godat-ta was crushing him. He couldn’t draw a breath and couldn’t budge. Alex heard labored breathing to his right and managed to turn his head to see Monda-ak crawling toward him. He couldn’t manage to stand and he was bleeding badly, but he reached Alex, put the scruff of his shirt between his teeth and pulled. And pulled.
And nothing happened.
Monda-ak whined, hurt and helpless.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. We did the hard part. Now we’ve just got to live to tell the story.”
Lifting the bear off him was out of the question. He felt his strength ebbing, but closed his eyes, gathered his focus, and managed to free his right hand. Beneath the weight of the bear, his left hand—or what remained of it—throbbed out waves of nauseating pain to the rhythm of his heartbeat.
Alex twisted his body from side to side, finding a small pocket where he could move.
He found he could move. It was so excruciatingly slow that someone watching would not have been able to see his progress, but bit by bit, he freed himself.
When he freed his left arm, he glanced down at his mangled hand, and winced, then put it out of his mind. With one last surge of effort, he pulled himself the rest of the way out. He collapsed against Monda-ak, panting.
“Don’t die on me now, we’ll get both of us fixed up.”
Alex managed to get to his knees and examined the dog’s wounds. They were bad—deep gashes over his left shoulder, another deep slice down the side of his face—but he thought they wouldn’t be fatal. At least, he thought they wouldn’t be fatal if he could get him help.
“You stay here. One more thing, then I’ll be right back.”
He stumbled to his feet and weaved toward Lanta-eh. When he had gone twenty paces, he turned and saw the mountain of bear beside Monda-ak. He shook his head, unable to believe he had killed such a monster.
When he limped to Lanta-eh, she paled at the sight of him. She found the strength to tear a few pieces of fabric from her shirt and made Alex kneel in front of her. With tears streaming down her face, she gently wrapped his hand, trying to stop the bleeding.
Alex stood, said, “We paid a price to get you to the top of that hill. We’re not going to stop now.”
Alex bent, ignoring the intensity of the pain that came from a dozen different places, and picked her up.
“Monda-ak, I will be right back.”
He placed one leaden foot in front of the other. It took him many times longer than a normal day, and he had to stop and rest three times, but he reached the crystal rocks.
He placed Lanta-eh gently inside, then leaned against the rock for support. When he caught his breath, he helped her arrange herself. He moved her so that her back rested against the wall, then helped her cross her legs into the traditional pose.
“I will be back for you. I have to go back to get help for Monda-ak. When I return, we are taking you away from this place.”
He turned and limped away, but Lanta-eh called weakly after him. He turned and saw that her tears were gone and she was smiling at him.
“Manta-ak, you have truly been my hero.”
He raised a hand in acknowledgment, but was too far gone to say anything.
As quickly as he was able, he went to his horse, retrieved his water bag, and went back to Monda-ak. He washed the wounds of the dirt, then dribbled the water on the ground in front of him, where he could lick a bit of it up.
Alex nuzzled against the mighty neck, said, “You are the best friend I could have ever had. Don’t you leave me now.”
He stumbled to his horse and found he couldn’t get up on it. His legs simply didn’t have enough spring. He led the horse a few paces, until he saw a fallen tree. He climbed on the tree, then onto the horse’s back.
Alex leaned forward and closed his eyes, trusting the horse to know the way back to Winten-ah.
Chapter Thirty-SixGood-bye
Alex did his best to retain consciousness, but truth be told, he slipped in and out on the ride home. When he reached the first guard post, the guard called, “Gunta, Manta-ak.”
That was the moment that Alex
