Samar Dev struggled to breathe. She had never before seen such an enormous bear. If it reared, it would tower over even Karsa Orlong. She watched that uplifted head, the flattened nose testing the air. The creature, she realized, clearly relied more on smell than on sight.
If it attacked, things would happen. . fast. Two swords flashing into its lunge, a deafening bellow, talons scything to sweep away the two puny attackers — and then it would come straight for her. She could see that, was certain of it. The bear had come for her.
The nostrils flared, dripping.
And then, with a snuffling snort, the beast drew back, out of the firelight. A crunch of stones, and the ground trembled as the animal lumbered away.
Karsa and Traveller moved their hands away from their weapons, and then both eased back down, resuming their positions facing the fire.
The Toblakai warrior found a stick and dropped it into the flames. Sparks whirled skyward, bright with liberation, only to wink out. His expression looked thoughtful.
Samar Dev glanced down at her trembling hands, and then slipped them beneath the woollen blanket she had wrapped about herself.
‘Strictly speaking,’ said Traveller, ‘not an okral. De nek. .’ He raised his brows. ‘“Short nose”?’
‘How should I know?’ Samar Dev snapped.
His brows lifted higher.
‘I don’t know where those words came from. They just. . arrived.’
‘They were Imass, Samar Dev.’
‘Oh?’
‘
‘I would not,’ said Karsa, ‘wish to be chased by that beast, even on horseback. That animal was built for running its prey down.’
‘But it was not hunting,’ said Traveller.
‘I don’t know what it was doing,’ Karsa conceded with a loose shrug. ‘But I am glad it changed its mind.’
‘From you two,’ Samar said, ‘it would have sensed no fear. That alone would have made it hesitate.’ Her voice was harsh, almost flinging the words out. She was not sure why she was so angry. Perhaps naught but the aftermath of terror — a terror that neither companion had the decency to have shared with her. They made her feel. . diminished.
Traveller was still studying her, and she wanted to snarl at him. When he spoke, his tone was calm. ‘The old gods of war are returning.’
‘War? The god of war? That was Fener, wasn’t it? The Boar.’
‘Fener, Togg, Fanderay, Treach, and,’ he shrugged, ‘De nek Okral — who can say how many once existed. They arose, I would imagine, dependent on the environment of the worshippers — whatever beast was supreme predator, was the most savage-’
‘But none were,’ cut in Karsa Orlong. ‘Supreme. That title belonged to us two-legged hunters, us bright-eyed killers.’
Traveller continued to stare at Samar Dev. ‘The savagery of the beasts reflected the savagery in the souls of the worshippers. In war, this is what was shared. Boar, tigers, wolves, the great bears that knew no fear.’
‘Is this what Fener’s fall has done, then?’ Samar Dev asked. ‘All the hoary, for shy;gotten ones clambering back to fight over the spoils? And what has that to do with that bear, anyway?’
‘That bear,’ said Traveller, ‘was a god.’
Karsa spat into the fire. ‘No wonder I have never before seen such a beast.’
‘They once existed,’ said Traveller. ‘They once ruled these plains, until all that they hunted was taken from them, and so they vanished, as have so many other proud creatures.’
‘The god should have followed them,’ said Karsa. ‘There are too many faces of war as it is.’
Samar Dev grunted. ‘That’s rich coming from you.’
Karsa eyed her over the flames, and then grinned, the crazed tattoos seeming to split wide open on his face. ‘There need be only one.’
‘That is an empty fear, Witch,’ said Karsa Orlong. ‘I will leave not one throne to sit on — I will shatter them all. And if, when I am done, I am the last left standing — in all the world — then I will be satisfied.’
‘What of your people?’
