Everflame

King Eveneye sat next to his son and looked at him pensively. He did not know how old his son was, but he was beginning to grow as l
arge as some of the humans the king had seen outside of his kingdom. Eveneye was King of Bears, and as he gazed down at the human boy he called son, his mind wandered back to that fateful night, before he were king. He wondered, as he always did, if he had made the right decision.

• • •

The night was humid and fireflies danced between the pines as Eveneye fished with Whiteclaw, both of them standing in a stream. The Kingdom of Bears slept peacefully in their caves, a couple of miles away from the stream. It was not common for bears to fish at night in the land of Ephanlarea, at least, not for most bears. Eveneye and Whiteclaw were among the exceptions. Both bears were full-grown and large; they were not brothers by birth, but still very close to each other. The two were often mistaken as siblings, given that they were such good friends and that they looked so much like each other. They were of the same build and had the same black fur. The only difference to someone that did not know them well, was that the fur on Whiteclaw’s front, right paw was colored white, hence his name. Both of the bears held jobs in the Kingdom as prominent members of the King’s advisors. The two friends had the same likes and dislikes, even the same hobbies. They counted fishing as their favorite. In fact, they were the best fishers in the Kingdom.

It was very difficult to fish at night, yet the lack of competition produced the most bountiful catches. The difficulty in night fishing was that you could not see what was happening in the water. Due to this, hearing, touch and instinct were the primary tools of making a catch.

Eveneye stood in the stream, feeling the water pass through his fur, eyes closed, and listening to the rush of the water. Whiteclaw stood in the very same fashion, six feet to the right of Eveneye. Together they were a fish-catching team, creating a gate in the stream that the fish must pass through. Their reflexes were unparalleled. The blink of an eye might miss a catch. They were flawless in their execution, standing like meditating statues, attune to everything around them. A wolf howled in the distance. A squirrel ran through some brush. The water rushed. Whiteclaw’s arm darted to the left and came up with the first catch of the night. He threw it to the shore. Neither bear made a sound. The water rushed. There was a movement on the surface of the water. Eveneye darted to his left and came up with his first catch. He threw it ashore, returned to position, and the fishing continued. They went along this way until they had caught twenty fish apiece.

“I’m hungry,” stated Whiteclaw.

“Yes. Let’s be done,” returned Eveneye.

They waded out of the water and began to gather their catch into
sacks they had brought with them. Some of the fish never made it into the sacks, as the bears snatched a few of the larger fish and devoured them. Whiteclaw smacked his lips with pleasure and grunted in satisfaction. The moon was pale in the sky and dark clouds were beginning to move across it. A rustling was heard throughout the forest as the wind suddenly picked up.

“Rain comes,” said Eveneye.

“Yes,” said Whiteclaw.

They fastened the
sacks around their necks and began to make their way back home. Again, a wolf howled in the distance, closer though. Twigs and branches snapped under the bears’ paws and the wind whipped through their fur. It became harder and harder to see where they were going as the moonlight became obscured by rainclouds. Fortunately, Eveneye and Whiteclaw could have walked the path home with their eyes closed.

The two bears had encountered far worse than rain and darkness in these woods. When they were younger, they had been caught in the woods during a blizzard and were forced to take shelt
er as it passed. They had made their shelter from fallen trees, and huddled underneath them for fifteen hours before the storm had finally passed. When they had emerged again, they recognized nothing of the forest and it had taken them almost two days to find their way home. There had also been a time when human hunters had ambushed the two bears on their trail home. Eveneye and Whiteclaw were fully-grown bears and they had dispatched the humans rather quickly, but not before suffering wounds from the humans’ spears. They could spend a night telling tales of their forays into the forest and often did.

The woods were dense and had a
thick layer of underbrush, not found in all forests. The canopy was high and wide; it was a very old forest. It was said, in the lore of the bear, that the elder bears did not choose this forest to build their kingdom, but that the forest chose them to be its protectors. This was passed down as birthright to all bears. Respect the forest; protect the forest. It was mother to them all.

Lightning flashed, thunder rumbled and it began to rain. Whiteclaw grumbled and Eveneye chuckled.

“What’s the matter? We were already wet from the stream.”

“That was by choice,” replied Whiteclaw.

Both bears laughed heartily as lightning flashed across the night sky. Eveneye stopped laughing and perked his ears.

“Do you hear that?”

“Hear what? The rain?”

“No, it sounds like a human child, crying.”

Both bears began turning their heads from side to side, trying to hear better. Contact with humans was a rarity for the bears, but it had happened enough to adult bears that they would be able to recognize the sobs of a human child. This was, in fact, the third time Eveneye had heard a child cry. The first time had been during a rite of passage that young, male bears impose upon each other. The adults disapprove of it, yet it still continues, mostly without their knowledge. During the tenth year of a male bear’s life, he is expected to wake the humans in a nearby village by running through the village, roaring and causing general havoc. Eveneye had done nothing horrible during his own rampage. Yet he had still heard the cries of many children, scared at seeing a large bear charging through their village. The second time had been when he had stumbled upon a family of humans camping in the forest. Again, the crying of the child had only come from the fear of seeing him.

The cries Eveneye heard now seemed different, but he could not place how. After a moment of listening, both bears agreed that the sound was coming just west of their location.

“Should we investigate?” asked Eveneye.

“Why? We will only put ourselves in a bad situation when we encounter the adults that the child is with,” said Whiteclaw in
credulously.

“I don’t hear other humans. It sounds as if the child is alone.”

“What do you imagine yourself doing, Eveneye? Consoling the child? Coddling it until its parents return and try to attack you? They’ll be a bit braver than usual if they see you around their child.”

Just then, the crying became more intense and sounds of growling could be heard from the same direction.
Wolves,
thought Eveneye.

“I’m going,” he said. Eveneye dropped his fish and ran off in the direction of the sobs.

“You fool!” barked Whiteclaw, dropping his fish as well, and then running after Eveneye.

Eveneye moved as fast as he could through the forest, though it was difficult in the dark and rain. He didn’t know why he felt so compelled to come to the child’s aid. He had never done anything like this in his life, though something inside of him told him to move on. Something inside of him knew it would be wrong to ignore the cries of the child. The rain beat against Eveneye’s face and mud caked his paws, his breathing grew heavy and his muscles began to ache. The cries were getting louder and louder, tearing against his consciousness. It kept him driving forward. He must save the child. Terrible visions of what he might find flashed through Eveneye’s mind. The cries intensified, intermingling with the growls of the wolves and the
sound of rain. Eveneye felt that he were in a nightmare he would never escape from, running toward a goal he would never reach, chilled by the rain and the screaming of a child.

Just as the bear felt he might never reach the child in time, he broke into a small clearing and found the child tied to the trunk of a tree, surrounded by a pack of five hungry wolves. The wolves were black against the darkness. All that could be seen of them were their yellow teeth, floating in the abyss of the forest. Eveneye could only just make them out. Lightning illuminated their bodies as it broke across the sky and then it was gone, leaving just the sickly
, yellow teeth. Their movements seemed slow and fluid, like a snake closing in on unsuspecting prey, confident, in control. Eveneye watched the wolves closing in on the toddler, saliva hanging from their jaws. The child was screaming and seemed to be caked in what looked like blood. Eveneye did the only thing that he could. He attacked.

H
e was upon the pack before they knew he was there. Eveneye rose into the air, roaring with fury, and then came crashing down with his massive paws upon the first black beast, crushing its skull. The wolves were stunned and Eveneye took the opportunity to attack again. He lunged toward the closest wolf, catching its neck in his maw. The bear rose on his hind legs and shook the wolf, trapped between his jaws, biting down as hard as he could. The wolf’s neck snapped and Eveneye dropped its filthy corpse to the forest floor.

The remaining wolves had again gained their composure
, and now it was Eveneye’s turn to be caught unaware. The wolves pounced, seemingly at once, and sunk their yellow teeth into the bear’s hide. Eveneye spun and one of the wolves was shaken loose from its hold. Momentarily forgetting the other teeth sunk into his flesh, Eveneye swiped at the dislodged wolf, sending it crashing into a tree at the edge of the clearing. Searing pain returned Eveneye’s attention to the two wolves, still tearing at him. He tried to shake them off, but it was no use. The wolves had gained strong holds in areas that were difficult for Eveneye to reach. One wolf was directly on top of his back, with its teeth sunk in his neck, and the other was on the right side of the bear, just below his ribs. He tried a few swipes but could not hit the wolves with enough strength to dislodge them. Then an idea struck him. Eveneye tilted his body to the right and then jumped into the air, allowing all of his weight to come down upon the wolf at his ribs. He felt the body of the wolf crush under his weight, and the hold it had on him relinquished as the life left its body.

Eveneye then tried to roll, to contend with the remaining wolf on his neck, but a massive force barreled into him, pinning him on his stomach. The wolf that he had knocked away earlier had come back at him and was now at his neck, in the same manner as the other wolf. Pain seared through the body of the bear and blood gushed through his fur. Eveneye was losing his energy and he feared that this might be his final battle. He roared and tried to shake the wolves off
, one more time, but his efforts were futile. The weight of two wolves on his neck was too much, and he had lost a lot of blood. The black beasts sat upon the bear as vultures upon a corpse. Their savage teeth now stained with the blood of a would-be hero.

I’ve failed,
thought Eveneye as the screams of the child echoed in his mind.
It’s over.

Suddenly,
he heard a yelp and the fangs were gone from his neck. Eveneye rolled over and stared as his friend, Whiteclaw, stood with one of the wolves, lifeless under him and the other just a few paces from him, snarling. Eveneye thought that this wolf was the largest he had ever seen. The wolf’s teeth seemed to pulse as they dripped with Eveneye’s blood. For the first time, Eveneye could see the wolf’s eyes and they were afire. The wolf did not know fear. Its only purpose was to kill.

Whiteclaw stood on his hind legs and roared. As he did, the wolf darted at him, jumping for his throat. With one swift move, Whiteclaw knocked the wolf out of the air, pinning it to the ground with one mighty paw. The bear clamped onto the wolf’s head wi
th his jaws and tore the beast’s head clean from its body. The battle had ended.

Eveneye slowly rose and walked over to where Whiteclaw stood.

“Thank you, my brother. I owe you my life.”

Whiteclaw looked at Eveneye and nodded his head. He then looked back over his shoulder at the small boy who was tied to the tree. The boy was no longer crying and it didn’t seem as if he were moving at all.

Eveneye turned and walked over to the boy. He could now see that it was, indeed, blood that covered the front of the child. The bear looked over the child and could see no wound. The boy was breathing slowly. Eveneye stood, perplexed for a moment, and then bent close to the boy and licked at the blood.

“Boar’s blood,” he said. “It’s not the child’s blood.”

“So?” asked Whiteclaw, now standing next to Eveneye.

“So,” answered Eveneye, “t
hat means someone tied this child to this tree and put boar’s blood on it to attract the wolves.”

The two bears stood next to each other, speechless at the atrocity before them. Whiteclaw was the first to speak and his voice was laced with a compassion that Eveneye had never heard from him.

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