Bear and I III
Chapter 5
"Okay! Let's see if we can get enough of this exposed today so we can figure out what it is we've found. See if you can finish what you started while I get as high as I can on these symbols. Then we have to see if we can make sense of them." Rick set his ladder in place and climbed up with his tools. Max returned to clawing away the ice that was actually rather thick but stood no chance against his claws.
It was lunch by the time Rick had put his ladder back in his black hole. He no longer needed it. He had gotten as far up as he was ever going to get without some help that he didn't have.
Now they were both sitting there with no tent up at all and all there was now was Rick's little tent with a fire in front, cooking his lunch while Max chewed on his.
"Definitely not a door since all you found was rock. Impossibly smooth rock but still rock. Someone most definitely made this thing. Maybe several someones and before you think, yes, I'm thinking wizards." Rick listened to Max growl out his hatred of wizards.
"You know…" Rick got up and took some of his food with him to munch on and walked over to the symbols. "I seem to remember this man when I was little and he was talking with my parents. Naturally I wasn't paying enough attention back then, I was just a little kid." Oh the things he had missed when he was little that he could use now.
"Water under the bridge. But I think I recall something about portals. Instantaneous travel from one portal to another. Only this one doesn't look like it's working." Rick tapped the smooth rock Max had exposed. Max had done a good job but it was only about three feet high.
"So what do these things mean?" Rick put the last of his lunch in his mouth, walked over to the symbols and ran his hands over them, and traced them with his fingers. Rick looked at Max who was now beside him and sniffing at the wall. No, he probably didn't know what they said either and he didn't dare mention the word wizard again. He had used that word enough already.
"We either figure this out or we leave." Rick went back to his tent, turned it back into a cloak, and folded it up and put it away. That just left his backpack and his weapons lying on the ground while he began to study the symbols to try and figure this out.
+x+ [-O-] +x+
Max was lying there watching his best friend walk from one side to the other side and back again. Only to go right back to the other side and then hurry back to that side. He puffed out a snort at him thinking his friend was losing it only to have him wave his hand at him. "I think I might have it! I think, maybe, possibly. Come see." Rick waved for Max to get up and join him.
Max really wasn't interested but if it made him happy…. So he got up and joined him.
"I'm not sure what this section says, but this looks like a moon cycle. See, full moon to no moon, or new moon if you prefer. Now I don't know what this stuff says either BUT!" Rick hustled to the other side and Max followed, still not interested. "This side has the same moon cycle BUT see these symbols here?" Rick ran his hands over to them. "What do they look like to you?" Rick didn't look at Max but kept looking at the symbols.
Max snorted and gave a low growl. "Lunch!? You think they look like lunch? Are you still hungry or something? They look like swans. …Oh, lunch." Rick got it now. Swans were birds and Max as a Dire Bear was more than willing to eat pretty much anything.
Rick turned around and looked out at what was below him and beyond. "Just what are swans doing up here? There are no lakes for miles. Hell, even that little stream didn't amount to a whole lot. But that's what they look like to me and since you see lunch they look like swans to you, too.
"Sooo, does that mean we need a swan to open this thing? If that's the case we wasted our time since there's no way there's a swan anywhere near here for maybe hundreds of miles. Or does that mean this will take us to swans? If we can get it to work." Rick turned around and looked at this thing again.
"Now for the million gold piece question. Do we want to go see swans if that's how this works? I just wanted to get to the other side of the mountain. But Bharrai wants me over or on a mountain. So back to Is it this mountain or another mountain?
"You know a nice scroll would be helpful!" Rick told the sky and waited but didn't get anything in return. "Figures." Rick returned to looking at these symbols.
"The last few nights the moon has been getting smaller so tonight should be a new moon, meaning no moon. Except it can't be as simple as that. If all you needed was a new moon anyone could use this thing. There has to be something more to it." Rick looked at Max who was just sitting there staring at him.
"So we wait. Maybe we've uncovered enough that the moon or no moon will show us something. If this doesn't work we can put the tent back up and leave in the morning." It was all Rick had to work with. He had put time and effort into this place and he needed to get something out of it. At least give it a try.
+x+ [-O-] +x+
Rick had his backpack on his back and all of his weapons were in place. If this didn't work and he didn't chicken out, he was ready to move as he stood there watching the sun going down. Once it was totally gone he was going to watch the new wall he had found.
It was dark and as he watched it got darker and darker till he was sure the sun was gone. By now if there was a moon it should be up. So he turned and looked at his wall. Except he saw nothing. So he walked over to the symbols again and ran his fingers over them once more. "Did I miss something?" Rick looked up at what he couldn't reach and wondered if there was something up there he couldn't see.
"I don't know what these are but this should work. So why isn't it working!" Rick stepped back and looked at all of it. Then he turned to see if he had his days wrong. If there was even a hint of a moon he had his days wrong.
"Come on! I have everything right as best I can. I'm no wizard and I'm not a swan. …BHARRAI! PLEASE! I promise we'll go through. Even if I don't know what's on the other side." With his luck they would both end up on another plane of existence.
Suddenly the wall Max had exposed crackled with lightning for a few seconds before it settled down to a solid blue with an occasional shot of lightning.
"Thank you. Ready, buddy? We're going through. A whole new adventure awaits." Rick took hold of some bear hair, bent way down low so that he would fit through, and tested it first. He wasn't going to fit. So now he was on his hands and knees.
"Let's go." Rick started crawling and watched Max simply walk right next to him.
Rick grunted and Max yelped as a shot of lightning shot past them and clipped them.
Now they saw nothing but lights flashing all over till suddenly it was all gone. That was when everything changed. Now they were drowning! There was water everywhere!
Rick could barely see Max who was kicking his legs madly and looked to be going up. But Rick wasn't going up. He was too heavy. It forced him to take off his backpack and tried dragging it behind him as he kicked and stroked toward the surface.
Rick was starting to think he wasn't going to make it. He was running out of air and out of energy. Then suddenly he hit the surface and sucked in air along with a little water and started coughing and choking and spitting out water.
Finally next to him he spotted Max dog paddling to the shore and was already out in front of him. Rick, though, had hold of his backpack and was doing his best to kick while trying to reach the shore.
Both of them worked their way through some water plants till they finally reached land. They crawled inland, just enough that they could drop and rest.
"Okay, that sucked," Rick panted and heard Max snort out his agreement.
It took Rick a few minutes to look around. "It's green and I see blue skies. Is that…bamboo?" It kinda looked like bamboo. "It's warm."
Rick felt better save for being wet and sat up to look around. "Nice lake."
He finally stood up, put his backpack back on his back, and this time really looked around. "Mountains in the distance everywhere. All the way around. So where are we?"
Suddenly a new sound had both of their attentions. Turning to look they both saw two swans whistling, flapping their wings, and literally walking on water to get away from them.
"We've been spotted." Rick took his bow off and nocked an arrow. Swans were just animals but if he saw animals running for their lives he would be concerned and would go find out why.
What was coming? Were they good people or evil people IF they were even people at all. For all he knew this was Troll land even if it didn't look like it.
+x+ [-O-] +x+
Rick was walking and Max still wolf size was right next to him. So far he hadn't really seen much. Then he saw fields that had been plowed and looked like farmland. "Someone lives here."
They kept walking till suddenly he spotted movement but it wasn't really what he was expecting. Suddenly two lovely women barely wearing almost nothing at all came running into view. Both of them held weapons in hand. If he had to guess he would guess scimitars.
They were nice weapons and in trained hands could be very dangerous. That was when Max decided to change back into his full size Dire Bear form and that had those two hitting the brakes, unsure just what to do next.
Their Swanmay sisters hadn't said anything about a gigantic bear that actually had these little spines poking out in various places like armor.
"WAIT! WAIT! We're friendly. I promise we're friendly." Rick even held up his bow and slowly put his arrow away. And then he slowly and carefully put his bow back over his shoulder and back. "I promise. Max, show them that you're friendly."
Instead the Dire Bear roared nice and loud that showed he was anything but friendly. "That's your idea of being friendly?" Rick looked at him not sure just what he was thinking.
Then just like that two more very scantily clad women showed up. One had another scimitar while the other had a bow with an arrow nocked and ready.
It was the one with the bow that had his attention. She was drop dead gorgeous. Her top barely covered her breasts that were the perfect size and not overly large. Her midriff was exposed and she was wearing some of the shortest shorts he'd ever seen. That in turn only showed off her seriously long legs and she had these flats that were laced up her calf almost to her knee.
She was disarmingly gorgeous and beyond drop dead sexy wearing that. She leveled her bow straight at him but looked confused. Who she should shoot first? She clearly only had the one arrow and no sword. However, the other three did.
Rick held out his hands to these four, especially the beautiful one. "We're peaceful, I swear it."
"Who are you?" Kate questioned and decided he was the one she was going to shoot if she had to. Which would be a pity since he was so incredibly handsome and while he was covered completely he did look to have a really nice body.
"My name is Rick. Richard Castle. This is Max, my very best friend since he was just a little cub. I'm a Ranger and Sentinel of Bharrai. I have sworn my life to respect nature and fight evil that desires to destroy or damage nature," Rick quickly tried to explain. He couldn't fathom that four beautiful women that wore so damn little could be evil.
"I've never heard of a Sentinel of Bharrai. Prove it," Kate called to him.
"Prove it she says," Rick grumbled softly. How was he supposed to prove it unless given a chance to fight evil? "All right, just don't shoot me. I have no desire to attack anyone so beautiful."
"Hold your ground, buddy, and don't move," Rick told Max.
Lanie's grin widened. "He called you beautiful."
"Shut up, Lanie." Kate wasn't sure she was interested. Besides she wasn't yet sure he was safe.
An instant later Rick looked just like the massive thing next to him. "HOLY CRAP!" Lanie exclaimed and the other two whispered while Kate stood there staring in shock.
"The Great Bear of Elysium. Bharrai is the God I worship. She works with others to protect all of nature," Rick explained while in bear form.
"He talks, Kate," Lanie noted since even they could talk while in swan form.
"Kate." Rick tried to smile while not showing too many teeth. He at least had a name for the most beautiful and sexy woman he had ever seen in his life. While he had spent most of his life in the wild, he had been in a town or city in his time and she was still the most beautiful creature he had ever seen.
Rick took a big step to get closer. "DON'T!" Kate raised her bow yet again and watched him freeze in place.
"What can I do to show that I'm not a threat to you? And the others," he quickly added.
"I think he likes you, Kate," Lanie teased her.
"Shut up, Lanie." She needed to make sure he wasn't a threat. That they weren't a threat. "Change back and drop your weapons," Kate called out.
Rick meant to moan but he growled in this form instead and quickly shifted back. He put his bow on the ground followed by his belt that held his scabbard. He pulled the dagger out of his boot and then the other dagger out of the other boot and took one step back.
"Happy?" Rick asked her.
"What is he?" Kate used her bow and arrow to motion to Max.
"Dire Bear. I found him hiding near his murdered mother. He was just a baby and needed his mother's milk but hunters had killed her and skinned her. He was scared. I raised him. He's my very best friend. I bought a few magic items and paid to have spells permanently placed on him to help protect him. We do everything together.
"He looks scary and can be if he wants to be. Show them you're nice, buddy." Rick tried again and listened to Max bellow an even louder roar than last time.
"That's your idea of being friendly? Now apologize to the beautiful lady and say you're sorry for scaring her."
"I'm not scared," Kate insisted even if she was. That thing had paws almost as big as she was and teeth that were even bigger. She was betting it could kill all four of them and go on to kill everyone else.
"Apologize to the beautiful lady," Rick told him again.
Kate felt Lanie poke her in her side after being called beautiful again. "Lanie!?"
"He isn't calling any of us beautiful, just you," Lanie whispered to her.
Max snorted and huffed out a burst of air. "That's better. See, he apologizes." Rick waved his hand at Max.
"How did you get here?" They had used the caves and this thing was way too big for the only other entrance.
"I found a portal and uncovered it. Well, most of it. It had moons and swans on it so I took a chance and asked my God for a little help and here we are."
"Go back," Kate ordered. Yes, he was handsome and yes, he thought she was beautiful. No one in her life had told her she was beautiful. But protecting this place was her job.
Rick shrugged. "Yeah, well, I can't. I think the other end of the portal, meaning your portal, is at the bottom of the lake. We were lucky we made it to the surface. It might not even be open now."
"Fine," Kate groaned. "Gather up his weapons," she told the others.
"You get his weapons. I'm not going anywhere near that thing." Lanie meant Max. Granted he hadn't moved but he was HUGE and he had really big teeth.
"Really?" Kate looked at Lanie. "Fine, follow us." Kate lowered her bow and turned her back and walked toward them. She watched the other three run ahead, leaving her all alone with these two.
Rick quickly gathered up his weapons and ran to catch up to her. "Kate, is it?" Rick walked next to her and knew Max was right behind him.
"Yes," Kate said and kept walking.
"You don't like me much." Rick didn't understand why the cold shoulder. He nor Max had really done much of anything.
"I'm the leader here. It's my job to protect everyone and you've presented me with a problem. If you can get here so can others now. Our isolation is in danger and I need to figure out how to resolve that," Kate said.
"So you do like me." Rick felt better about that now. Especially since while she walked her luscious breasts just kept bouncing under what little she was wearing.
"I never said that," Kate fired back.
"You'll get used to me. So a valley surrounded by mountains. Very private. Only women?" He hadn't seen a single male yet.
"A few of us are mated but most of us are not. Very few men ever make it this far."
"I see." Rick walked next to her in silence till finally the village came into view. "Yurts, very nice. Very stable, easy to construct, and very safe. They look a little spread out. Hard to protect everyone like that."
"We don't have any enemies. And we didn't see the need," Kate responded. "Some of us like our privacy."
As they got closer they both saw a welcoming committee that was really curious. This place didn't get many outsiders. Especially one that was a massive wild animal.
+x+ [-O-] +x+
In only minutes Max was actually lying down and had eight very scantily clad women scratching him and petting him nearly everywhere; he was in heaven. Rick was his best buddy but this was heaven.
"He seems to be peaceful." Kate had Rick standing next to her as both of them watched Max close his eyes as the women just keep petting him.
"I've never seen him act like this before." Rick smiled at her. "But then we've never been around so many beautiful women like yourself."
"Will you stop that!" She wasn't used to being complimented by a man. She also wasn't used to having a handsome male stand next to her. When she moved a little she noticed that her nipples were hard and rubbing against her top.
"You don't believe you're beautiful?" Rick didn't see how that was possible.
"Like I said we don't have many men around here and they all have mates," Kate reminded him.
"So which one is your yurt?" Rick inquired.
"You're not sleeping in my yurt." Kate wasn't going to put up with that no matter how handsome he was.
"Not to worry. I have my own tent with me. I just want to set it up close to yours so I can protect you. I know you said you don't have many visitors but I don't know when that portal will close so I need to protect the leader of this place. Especially one that's so beautiful." Rick figured she wasn't going to allow that so he had an alternative.
"Oh. …It's that one." Kate pointed at hers and watched him quickly walk to it. She felt her pulse actually increase. If he went inside she was going to be both angry and excited. She had said no so what was he doing?
But he didn't enter her yurt and suddenly she felt hurt and didn't know why.
Yet he reached for something and set it on the ground. As she watched it got bigger and bigger and then it literally vanished. Intrigued, she walked over to him as he watched her.
Rick saw Kate come to join him and he was going to die soon if she didn't start wearing something else. Especially something that stopped letting her tits bounce like that.
"What is this?" Kate reached for where she thought it was and her hand ran into something. It felt a little rough and as she touched it it moved a little and she could see that.
"It's a tent. Do you want to see inside? There's not much in there but it's nice enough." Rick opened the tent flap for her, let her enter, and followed her inside.
Kate looked around and saw that there truly was nothing inside. Literally nothing. However, as she walked around she felt something. "What's that?" She could tell that her nipples had gotten even a little harder and it was actually a little cooler inside than outside.
"The tent is climate controlled. No matter how cold, hot, humid, or dry it is outside the temperature inside never changes. It also blends in with its surroundings, making it hidden. Not totally invisible but hidden so it makes it difficult to spot. It provides a little security.
"No light at night escapes if the tent flaps are tied closed. It keeps you safe in unknown places."
Kate was impressed. "You can't do something about the interior?" It was bland and she didn't much like it.
"Sadly no. I suppose your yurt is far more pretty." He was betting it more closely reflected her personality.
Kate debated with herself for a minute. "All right, I'll show you. Follow me." Kate went outside and over to her yurt. She went inside and waited for him to enter. She kept it nice and neat and even her bed was made each day.
"WOW!" Rick was proven right. This was definitely her yurt.