Chapter 70: 070 The Next Meeting

We travelled for several hours until we reached the outskirts of the settlement. Sugarlick came to a stop as soon as she heard something and George pulled over beside us.

“I thing we need to walk from here.” I said as I hopped out of the cart and helped unhook it from Sugarlick. “I'm not getting a read on anything; but, that usually happens when out here in the wilderness. Even when I'm in the thick of it, it's hard to predict what's going to happen.”

“That makes it sound like you know what's going to happen most of the time.” Nat said as she and everyone else climbed out of the carts.

I chuckled and stored the cart, then helped George. “A lot of times it's easy to predict. Close encounters, battles from the start, passive resistance, silent defiance, completely ignore us, or total acceptance. The only difference here is that with the various beast strains, all of them could happen when you meet a new one, even if they are the same species as you've met before.”

“Jesus.” Nat said as I stored their cart. “How can you assume all of that is going to happen?”

“How can you not?” I asked back and she shook her head. “Trust me. After a while, you'll notice the signs.”

“Usually a very large sign as it charges at you.” The Freemartin said and pointed. “Like that.”

We all turned to look and off in the distance was a large... something.

“It looks like it's just outside the Search spell.” I said and cast it again. “Okay, I got it on my map. Wow, it's really moving.” I reached out and rubbed the Freemartin's neck. “Thank you for spotting it.”

The Freemartin let out a soft bleat of pleasure.

“Do we armor up?” Angel asked.

“It might not help.” I said and walked out into the middle of the road to stand in front of whatever was coming. “It won't hurt to cover our faces, though.” I said and equipped my armor.

Everyone covered their faces as whatever it was came closer.

George took in a huge sniff through his nose. “It's Ursidae.”

“Oh, boy.” I said and activated my armor's enchantments.

“OWWW!” Lionel yelled and grabbed his head with both hands as he turned away from me. “That fucking hurt!”

“Stop trying to read me, then.” I said without looking. The giant brown bear was coming at me like a freight train. “I really, really hope this is a female bear.”

“A bear?” Nat asked. “Why don't you make yourself bigger, yell, or run?”

“Did you see any bears in the city?” I asked.

“No, but...”

“You'll see why in a minute.” I said. “Here it comes.”

“RRRROOOOOAAAAARRRR!” The bear yelled in a distinctly male voice.

“Dammit.” I said and equipped my sword. “I didn't want to kill him.”

“Then don't!” Angel said.

“He has no choice.” George said. “Dominance fights are usually first blood and end friendly. Enemy fights are always to the death.”

“That's stupid.” Nat said. “Why can't we just...”

The giant bear, that was ten feet high while running on all fours, zoomed past me as we exchanged blows. I was lucky and had dodged at the last second and swung my sword. It happened in the blink of an eye and Lionel hadn't seen it at all. I landed on my feet from the dodge and slid ten feet away. The headless body of the bear stumbled and flipped over dozens of times before skidding to a stop a hundred feet away.

Nat and Angel stared at me and my bloody sword.

“Goddamn, that hurt.” I said and dropped to a knee. The bear's massive paw and eight inch claws that could rip through steel, had hooked my chest plate and left deep furrows and an indent in the shape of the paw. “I don't suppose anyone has the armor repair skill?”

Nat ran over to me. “Jesus!” She said and looked at the caved in area of my chest. “Store it and let Lionel heal you.”

I stored my armor and took in a deep breath. “No, that's okay.” I said and she helped me stand. “Just give me a minute.”

Nat put her hand on my chest and let me rest my arm over her shoulders. “Your regeneration must be maxed for you to recover so fast.”

I nodded. “I really need... to try and teach you... the better identify spell.” I said as my breath came back. “I really like that armor.”

“It didn't do much.” Angel observed.

“It saved my life.” I said and stood up straight as my health refilled. “He tried to punch through me.”

“Why?” Nat asked.

“Because he can.” George said. “It's why bears are not welcome in populated areas. They are usually solitary and confrontational to any threat. The females only have one or two cubs and they are both vicious and deadly.”

“Why did you say you wanted it to be a female?” Angel asked me.

“She only protects her cubs. I would pledge to leave them alone, protect them while in her territory, and offer food to help her.”

“She would accept it gratefully.” George said. “A male...”

“...just wants a good fight, no matter who it is.” I said and looked at Nat under my arm. “Thanks for helping me.”

“Hey, I'm the perfect height for this.” Nat joked and pat my arm.

I chuckled and nodded, gave her a one arm hug, then let her go and walked over to the bear. “George, what do you think? Twenty, twenty-two feet if he was standing?”

George neighed agreement. “He's a normal sized one.”

I nodded and stored both the body and the head without looting it. “I wonder if they have a leader.”

“He won't be hard to find if you keep the head out.”

I took the head out and some rope. After a few minutes of making knots and loops, I had a good macrame bag and put the head into it.

“You are not going to wear that, are you?” Lionel asked.

“I have to.” I said and hung it over my shoulder. “We'll keep getting attacked, otherwise.”

Lionel shook his head and Angel looked conflicted.

“Until I can hammer out my chest plate, I won't be wearing my full set of armor for a while.” I said.

“You didn't get a hammer and anvil at the city by the wall?” Nat asked with a teasing note in her voice.

I chuckled and waved for everyone to start walking. “I didn't think I would find a Level 88 bear with all of his stat points in strength and movement skills.”

“If there is a head bear, he will be stronger.” George warned.

“I hope we can just talk to him.” I said. “Bears can live a long time, can't they?”

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George pointedly looked at the thing over my shoulder and huffed.

“Ah, never mind.” I said and he and the other beast infected laughed.

We walked on and it took a while, nearly a mile, before we saw another bear. He let out a growl and stood up on his hind legs to his fully twenty feet of height. He didn't move towards us or say anything. None of us said anything to him and kept walking.

“How big is the bear territory if they live so far apart?” Nat asked, curious.

“It depends on the size of this gathering.” George said. “If they agree to stay within the main bear's influence? Perhaps hundreds of miles.”

“We are so fucked.” Lionel cursed under his breath.

*

“Bernard! BERNARD!” A black bear yelled as he ran across the 'buffer' area between bear grazing areas and stopped a respectable fifty feet away and ducked his head to the twenty five foot tall panda bear that was their leader. “An intruder has killed a scout.”

Bernard gave the black bear a disbelieving look for a moment, then grunted. “Has anyone else been attacked?”

“No, and the intruder doesn't look damaged.” The black bear said.

“So, he either killed first or survived the probing attack and then killed.” Bernard said. “Ursula!”

“Yes, my husband?” Another panda bear asked as she stood up from their hiding spot.

“Bring the cubs.” Bernard said. “They will see what happens to intruders if this does not go well.”

Ursula trembled a little, then she bent down and picked up her tiny cubs. “I do not agree with this. They are just cubs.”

“I will allow one sneak attack on me if they are in danger.”

Ursula let a growl out and her eyes went to her husband's face. Her last sneak attack had left large scars on his face and everyone that saw them knew that she had made them. She nodded agreement and the two of them moved away from their chosen living area and made their way to the road.

The black bear took off running to let everyone know that Bernard would be handling it personally.

*

“Is it just me, or are there a few more bears than the word 'solitary' would account for?” Angel asked as she saw several bears that kept pace with them in the forest nearby.

“I think we're nearing the middle of their settlement.” I said and did my best to keep the bear's head clearly visible. The last thing I wanted was to have them think we hadn't earned the right to be there.

We walked on for several more miles, then we all saw the gathering of bears around a large clearing. The road we were on passed right through the middle of it and it looked like the remains of a well used battle arena. I stayed calm, even when Lionel cursed under his breath. He knew the old and dried blood stains were not a good sign.

My Search spell told me that there were just over fifty bears, with four of them off to the right in the tall grass. I came to a stop in the very middle of the clearing and held a hand up to stop the others behind me.

“I offer no ill will.” I said and took the head of the bear off of my shoulder and held it up. “This bear ran at me and didn't speak, except to roar.” I made my chest plate appear and held it up as well. “Proof that we exchanged blows fairly.”

One of the bears in the tall grass stood up and I winced when Angel let out a half-shout and half-squeal of delight.

Of course she would adore panda bears. I thought and didn't sigh. It didn't bother me that I didn't get a flash of Divine Sight, since I knew that whatever happened here, it didn't change the course of anything. That didn't mean it wasn't extremely dangerous, though. My death might not change what happens, so I had to be careful.

When I didn't immediately attack, the other bear stood up and Angel made the same sound.

“Shhh!” Nat said and covered Angel's mouth.

Panda cubs! I thought in surprise at the two beings in the female's arms. They brought panda cubs to meet us!

The first panda walked over to me and I saw that he was about twenty five feet tall, which towered over me at quadruple my modest six feet of height.

“I offer his body, if your people desire it.” I said and made it appear. “It's not looted.”

The bear let out a bit of a grumble. “Not the head?”

“I need that to pass through your lands safely. If you want it when we leave, have someone accompany us until then.”

“You would hand it over?” The female asked, surprised.

“Like I said, no ill will.” I repeated. “I would like to know the age of your oldest resident, if that's possible.”

“Why?” The big panda bear asked me.

“To talk about things that happened decades ago.” I said, truthfully. “I've been looking all over for elders to talk to.”

The bear motioned to my chest plate and I handed it over. He sniffed it, darted his tongue out and licked it, then grunted. “It's genuine. You really did fight and didn't fake it.”

“I'm glad you can tell.” I said, relief in my voice as he handed my chest plate back. “You wouldn't have an armorer or blacksmith, do you?”

The panda bear grunted, turned to the bears and grumbled something. One of them, a big black bear, dropped to all fours and ran over to us. He grabbed the body and stood up, flung it over his shoulder, and walked away in another direction. The panda grunted something else and another bear, this one a honey color, dropped to all fours and ran over to us. When he stood up to eighteen feet, I saw subtle armor plates scattered over him.

“His family are not fighters. He will show you what you want.” The panda bear said.

“Thank you.” I said and bowed without taking my eyes off of him.

“You may stay a day for work and another for talk.” The panda said. “If you do not leave then, you will never leave.”

I nodded my head in understanding. The big panda bear turned away and walked towards the female.

“Ummm... excuse me!” Angel said and the big bear turned back.

“Angel!” Nat tried to cover her mouth again and wasn't successful.

“Please, sir! May I see the babies? Maybe hug them and play with them?” Angel asked and various forms of groans, neighs, meowed hisses, a short bleat, and my own sigh answered her.

“ANGEL!” Nat said and shook the crazy woman. “They. Are. Bears!”

“I don't care! Look at them! They're SOOOO cute and cuddly!” Angel said loudly.

I saw the female panda bear smile and her two cubs wiggled a little to try and get down.

“You take your life in your hands.” The male panda said. “If they are harmed, you will die right after.”

“I promise to protect them with everything I have, for as long as I am near them!” Angel pledged.

So, she was listening to what I said earlier. I thought.

The male panda waved at the female and she bent down and let the cubs go.

Angel was laughing at the bottom of a panda cub pile a second later.

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