Disclaimer: I don't own any work of Phillip Pullman's or the rights to his works in any way.
Chapter 2: Wild Stories
Jack stands with his sword at the ready, waiting for the bear to make the first move. Ten-thousand thoughts rush through his mind all on the single purpose of escaping with his life. Through all of his focus on the great bear before him, the wing beats of the cliff-ghasts have become very audible and their cackles resound through the trees like water around rocks.
Scarlett, knowing that he didn't hear the oncoming group, had to bite Jack's leg to snap him out of his trance-like focus. She has had to do this more than once in their lifetime and he was starting to develop a scar.
Wincing in pain, Jack came-to only to hear the very distinctive wing beats over his head as the cliff-ghasts arrived to capture their prey.
A particularly ugly one begins to dive when a vial crashes into the side of its skull and bursts into flame. The cliff-ghast screams in pain as it falls to the ground on torn and bleeding wings caused by the broken glass. The ghast lies on the ground convulsing as the fire eats away at its muscle fibers and makes his senses erupt with a fierce torture that is yet to be matched. After a prolonged minute of screaming, thrashing, and the spray of blood those actions have caused, the thing lay still, the meat on his bones contracting until the ghast looked like a burning lump of bad meat.
Jack stood, watching in a sickened state of excitement as all of this took place. His photographic memory kicking in on habit, he started to dissect what must have been in that vial. Was it a mixture of phosphorus and water contained in an air tight crystal container? Or was it something else?
Scarlett, sensing what was happening bit him again the leg to snap him out of it. It worked, as always, and he shot her that look he always gave her. An expression of annoyance, pain, and thankfulness all at once, she was right as always, keep your head in the fight.
The ghasts were even more on edge now that one of their kin has been killed and a few others hit with a drop of the incinerating liquid, trying to put themselves out.
Another dives from a tree to take the head off the boy only to meet five and a half feet of sharpened steel run through the length of his body, cutting it down the middle. It collapses in a sea of its own blood making sickening gurgling sounds as all of its organs systematically start to fail in the open air.
Jack is by no means an inexperienced fighter. Growing up as a renegade has taught him how to fight beyond even his own measure. His mind can keep track of every movement of every participant in the fray at the same time. And to edge more into his favor, his sword is very sharp and easily used by his hands.
So it began a series of cries, the spray of blood, and the fury in the air. The ghasts make their killing blows strikes only to be parried and countered. The boy and his demon fighting alongside the great bear warrior.
Xatella had no issues fighting such frail creatures. Her massive paws the size of a man's torso, always finding its mark on the heads of the cliff-ghasts, shattering them upon contact. The claws tearing into the soft tissue of her target's brain. This is what she lives for, this is why she fights. The thrill of taking a life, the gamble of pitting her life against her enemy's. She tears through the ghasts like paper, breaking bones and tasting their blood as it falls off her face into her mouth, reveling in the massacre.
So they fought, side by side yet unaware they were doing so. They still considered each other with hostility, but each lives by the forever rule of the enemy of my enemy. They bash, cut, scream, and kill until none are left.
In his haste, and she in hers, Jack and Xatella turn around in a flash and lock together, sword and claw. Normally, a bear would have no trouble overpowering such a creature as a human, but deep in his eyes burned a blood lust so fierce that it made her very soul shudder where it lay. And there they stood eyes locked, wills un-budging. Knowing that this would last until their strength faded, Xatella backs down from the young warrior.
"You fight well for a human so young."
"The same could be said for you maam." Jack has always been a fairly kind person and always treated people with as much respect as they showed him. A bear was certainly no exception.
"What name do you go by, young one?" Xatella was dismantling her armor and laying it back up against a tree.
"My name is Jack, Jack Harwen, and this is Scarlett."
Hack had laid down his sword as a sign of peace and Scarlett became a little more relaxed.
"Well then Jack Harwen, as a sign of good will and custom, I invite you to a meal, as you have fought bravely and we are victorious in battle."
"I would be greatly honored."
Jack knew better than to refuse the hospitality of a bear. Not many people can boast being able to fight alongside a bear, let alone being able to feast with one. Even if said feast was nothing but a loaf of old bread and a few pieces of salted meat, the principle still stands.
They talked of many things. To each other they told their life stories. Xatella had grown up in the kingdom of Svalbard, following orders and pursuing her dream of fighting in battle, just the average story in the life of a bear.
Jack however wove a tale of immense proportions that captivated the bear's whole attention. Jack had grown up on the back alleys of Oxford in the world they both knew very well. His parents passed away, murdered for heresy at the hands of the church. He grew up as a renegade with no one but Scarlett at his side. They grew up together in a harsh world, stealing what they needed and never looking back.
As Jack's story grew broader, he explained that he found a window into another world a group of children told him was called Cittagazze and watched as those same children were chased off by a group of witches protecting two other children. One of them was badly wounded leaving a dark scar across the grass where he ran. In the aftermath he went to follow the two of them to see what kind of trouble he could get himself into. He then explained that he became lost and did his usual act of following his instincts.
"What do you plan to do now?" Xatella was very intrigued by this boy, such a life of hardship and strife. This was truly the most resilient being she had ever laid eyes upon.
"I heard that a man named Asriel is putting together an army against the Authority. Just figured I might see what I can get myself into."
Xatella admired this boy's spirit and his affiliation for war. She took full stock of the boy and knew without a doubt that this human's greatest weapon was his mind, not his sword. She also took into consideration the symbolism of his demon. A canine usually means that a person is submissive and ready to serve. But a fox however, meant that he was crafty and a good liar. She would have to be careful around him; there are more than one people in the world who wouldn't mind the glory of a bear's pelt.
Xatella exclaims that she too is going to aid her king alongside Asriel and agrees to be Jack's escort. And so, with a new alliance formed, they sleep with the smell of rotting flesh all around them as the stench fills the forest beckoning the scavengers to feast.
Jack's mind, never stopping, starts to think of all the achievements he has accomplished in his life. This meeting with Xatella was by far the greatest one to date. However, bears have always been known to side with the highest bidder. He would have to keep a watchful eye on her if he wanted to accomplish his task.
To kill the being who took his future away from him, to kill the Authority.
End Chapter 2