Page 66 of The Unseen Hour

I scooted up the creature’s back until I was seated in the nook between its shoulder blades. Before the larger bear could reach us I leaned down and punched the head of the creature beneath me with my fist.

“Hello in there!” I yelled.

The beast roared, tossing its head and nearly clocking me in the nose. I grasped the fur of the creature’s shoulders as it reared back again and then stomped into the ground.

All three great bears started shouldering one another, pushing and snarling. I was certain I was about to roll off and fall beneath a flurry of waving claws when I heard Orion in the distance.

“This way!” The call was followed by the sound of someone crashing through the undergrowth of the forest.

All three bears turned and barreled through the woods after him.

I knew Orion had no chance of outrunning the beasts but didn’t see him ahead.

The treeline thinned, and my grip on the great bear grew tighter. In front of the lumbering creature was what appeared to be a sheer drop-off into a deep canyon. I could hear water rushing somewhere below.

We were headed directly for the edge, with no signs of stopping.

CHAPTER 30

“Both gods save us!” I gasped.

Admittedly, I hadn’t had much of a plan after leaping onto the bear, but I’d envisioned a less deadly exit than a sheer drop.

My hope had been to distract and lure the bears away from Orion, find an opportunity to grab a low-hanging branch, and disappear into the trees while the creatures lumbered on.

Clearly, I’d miscalculated.

I craned my neck around while bouncing on the creature’s back. The other two bears were right behind us, but mine was the quickest, and the distance between them was growing. The creature slowed slightly as we neared the cliff, turning his head right to snarl. I looked that way just in time to see a rock hit the bear’s side.

“Right here! You want me!” Orion yelled as he stepped out from behind a large boulder, waving his arm, his right leg dragging behind him as he came forward.

His eyes found mine. I knew my own were wide and terrified.

“Jump when I tell you!” he called.

“What?”

The great bear stopped and threw back its head with a roar. I struggled to grasp the fur in my sweating palms.

Orion was yelling back at the beast, imitating its roar.

I heard a whistle—something flying through the air—and felt the bear jerk back when the object made contact with its front.

“Now! Jump!”

Trembling, I squeezed my eyes shut, released the bear’s fur and flung myself off the creature’s back. I hit the dirt with force but managed to tuck and roll as small pebbles embedded themselves into my legs, bruising my knees and shins despite my sturdy trousers. I scrambled away from the still-roaring bear, toward Orion’s outstretched arms.

“This way!” he urged as he grabbed my hand and yanked me back toward the rocks.

The bear I had been riding was thrashing and twisting, Orion’s dagger protruding from its large neck. It was either luck or direct intervention of the gods when it stumbled into the path of the other two creatures, who had spotted us and were now racing toward us.

There was a tangle of fur and claws, and as the injured beast extricated itself, it took a few lumbering steps back on its hind legs.

Then it stumbled over the cliff edge.

My eyes wanted to follow the falling bear, but Orion took advantage of the distraction and tugged again at my arm. “We’re going upwind, where they can’t find us as easily.”

With his injury, he was moving slowly. I wanted to suggest stopping so I could take a look at it; there was entirely too much blood soaking his leg. Then another ear-splitting roar sounded, reminding me that if we didn’t get away from the remaining bears, there would be no point in worrying about an injured limb.