Chapter 9
When morning came, Ishild got out of bed and stretches. She then shivers as it was cold in her room. She was about to dress in warm furs when the warning bell's ringing echoed throughout the village.
"Now what?" Ishild asks herself and hurries out of the hut. The people were gathering by someone's hut and Ishild struggles to get up to the front.
"Look!" a woman shrieks and points to something that was dangling on the front door. Ishild looks at it closely and realizes that it was a paw that may have been belonged to a baby bear.
"What in Heaven's name is going on?!" the woman's husband shouts and comforts his wife. Ishild looks down and sees that someone or something had erased their footprints in the snow.
"The Devil is taunting us! He is playing cruel tricks with us!" someone calls out and the people begin to cry out at once.
"Enough!" Ishild shouts over the crowd and everyone looks at her. "Now, just calm down, and look here. Someone erased their prints. Now I think we are dealing with someone, one of our own who is playing cruel tricks on us," Ishild adds and the villagers began to chant among themselves.
"What I heard from the chief, a bear came to this village one night. Now, I have reason to believe that it was a mother bear looking for her cub. See how small this paw is?" Ishild asks and the villagers look at the paw.
"It is easy to kill a cub than a full grown bear," a man said to the crowd.
"But who would kill a bear cub?" another man asks.
"As Ishild said, one of us must be doing these terrible things," a woman replies and the villagers begin to talk among themselves.
Ishild had no idea, she wanted to go and meet Meinrad before the day was out. "I believe the chief would be wise enough to inform you in what you should do," she said and several of the villagers march towards the chief's big hut.
Ishild returns to her hut and takes her quiver full of arrows and her bow. She saddles Willahelm and he gallops towards the forest as the winter sun shines ever so bright.
She finds Meinrad and the dwarfs by the river as they were hunting for any animals coming for a drink. "Ishild!" Runa calls out. Meinrad looks up to see Ishild and gives a slight bow.
"Meinrad, I have something to ask you," she said to him.
"Ask me," he replies.
"Have you ever seen anything suspicious? Like a person other than me?" Ishild asks him.
Meinrad shakes his head and answers, "The only person I have seen is you. Why do you ask?"
"This morning, a baby bear's paw was found hung outside a family's hut," Ishild replies and the creature snorts. "And some nights ago, a mother bear came to our village. I suspect she was finding her cub," Ishild adds.
"Wait, I have seen the bear," Meinrad said and Ishild's eyes widened. "She was crying and my heart ached inside for some reason. I thought her cub was dead, killed by a man's hand," he adds.
"Well, I believe someone did kill the cub as it is easy to kill a baby bear then a full grown bear," Ishild said.
"Meinrad has killed a bear before," Helmold said to her. Meinrad turns around to face him and snorts at him.
"Where did the mother bear go?" Ishild asks Meinrad. He points across the river and gestures to her to get on his back. "What are you doing?" she asks him, again.
"Please, trust me," he urges her and she climbs on to his back and grabs his horns tight. Then, Meinrad takes a big leap across the river and lands safely on the snowy ground.
"Where did you learn to do that?" Ishild asks, her heart pounding. He just chuckles and lets her off. They turn to face the dwarfs and Willahelm, who were on the other side. "It's all right Willahelm, I will not take long," she calls to her horse.
The two turn and walk towards the direction Meinrad saw the bear. They found the bear's paw prints and they follow them.
Some time later, Ishild spots something on the ground, a knife buried under the snow. It was covered in blood and Ishild shows it to Meinrad. He points to something in the distance.
It took a long time for Ishild to register what it was, but when her mind told her what it was, her heart stopped. "It's the bear," she whispers and Meinrad gestures her to get on his back, again.
Then, they hear the bear roar and Meinrad goes into a run, with Ishild holding on to his horns. The bear was quick and she caught up to them. Ishild takes out an arrow and fires, hitting the bear in the shoulder.
The bear did not stop and instead, bites her fangs into Meinrad's arm. He wails in pain, but continues running. Before the bear bit into Meinrad, again, Ishild kicks her in the nose and that slows her down.
Then, Ishild realizes that she was holding the blood-covered knife and it hit her, it was the baby bear's blood and its mother was smelling her cub. "Hold on!" Meinrad shouts to Ishild as they saw the river.
Meinrad takes a giant leap, but that caused Ishild to lose her grip on the knife and it falls into the river. They landed on the other side and the bear stops in her tracks. She roars at them, but it sounded more like crying.
Ishild looks into the water, but she knew that the knife was gone. "Damn!" she says to herself, but then sees Meinrad's injured arm. "Does it hurt?" she asks him.
"Only a little, I don't think it's serious," he answers and Ishild tares off his sleeve. She then applies some snow to the wounds and Meinrad winces. When the bleeding stopped, Ishild tares off some of her own sleeve and wraps up his arm.
"Why are you being so...so..." Meinrad tries to think of a word.
"My mother said I must always show compassion to others," Ishild answers and rubs his hairy arm.
"Thank you," Meinrad said and then, the dwarfs and Willahelm arrive.
"What happened?" Runa asks, but then sees the bear disappearing into the woods on the other side. They gather themselves and head back in the direction of Ishild's village.
They stop when they reached the edge of the forest and the day was almost half-way done.
"Meinrad, I want to thank you for saving my life, again," Ishild said to him.
He shows his arm that she wrapped up, "And I thank you for this," he replies and adds, "I know why the mother bear was chasing us."
"So do I, someone killed her cub with that knife and its blood was on it," Ishild said and Meinrad notices the missing knife.
"What happened to it?" he asks and Ishild explains what had happened when they escaped from the bear. "I'm sorry, it's particularly my fault," he said.
"Don't blame yourself too much," Ishild replies.
"Do you think we'll find this person who is responsible for all this mess?" Hartwig asks the two.
"If he is residing in my village, then yes we will find him," Ishild answers and gets on Willahelm.
"Be careful Ishild," Meinrad warns her and she nods. Willahelm then goes into a trot and the horse and rider return to the village.
"Oh Meinrad, you like her," Helmold teases the gentle giant. Meinrad snorts at him, but does not yell at him.
"It's true Helmold, Ishild is the only human being that has shown me compassion and kindness," Meinrad replies and Helmold looks at him in surprise.
"Why don't you tell her how you feel?" Runa asks.
"What if...what if she rejects me?" Meinrad asks in return.
"I don't think so, as you said, she has shown you compassion and kindness," Runa replies, but Meinrad does not say a word.
They then turn around and walk into the forest, just as the wind began to blow and made the trees sway.
From the author: Well, seems that Meinrad has a lot on his mind, but will he admit his feelings to Ishild? We'll just have to wait and see.
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