Dwellers of the New World Chapter Eight ( Pt 2 ) Fear of the Dark!

All was not well as the travellers stopped to rest, creatures of the night seemed to be stalking. Unable to actually see much Jay dismounted his horse, aware that they should build a fire, sooner rather than later.

Even the horses seemed nervous of the night sounds. Finding his flints, Jay began to strike, many times his flint nearly had a spark, but because of the urgency, it seemed to take an eternity, but finally a spark came.

Ben and Varden gathered some dry wood, which was plentiful at this time of the year, but without light, they needed to be careful where they trod.

“Look,” said Varden, pointing towards some trees.

“What is it?” replied Ben.

“There's movement in the fog...I can't see it, but I can feel it, call it second sight, but there's danger out there.”

Ben picked up one of his spears and ventured forward, telling Varden to stay where he was.

Nervously, Ben crept through the fog. Not being able to see anything, made the going hard.

Suddenly from out of the fog, a huge bear appeared, it stood up on its hind legs, glaring at Ben, teeth showing, growling, its eyes ablaze with hunger, for the tasty meal the bear saw before it.

The only thing Ben knew to do, was stand his ground, he had never been in such a frightening situation as this before, but he knew to run would be a mistake. He remembered his father's words many years ago, “when confronted with danger son...never...never show fear.” But now at this moment, Ben was more afraid than he'd ever been before.

Suddenly from behind the bear, came a figure shouting and screaming through the darkness. It was Jay on his horse. He threw a spear at the bears neck, the bear quickly turned away from Ben, angry and annoyed at being speared, trying desperately to remove the weapon, but without success, as it had caught him in the back of the neck.

Ben stayed where he was, still too afraid to move. The bear became confused, not knowing whether to stay with the food before it, or give chase to the man on the horse. Turning this way and that, its wound beginning to bleed, the bear cried out in pain, its cries could be heard through the fog.

Finally the bear gave chase to the rider, more annoyed than hungry. Ben finally feeling it was safe enough to escape, made his way back to Varden, who was still standing waiting for his return.

“You were lucky.” said the boy, feeling relieved.

“You bet!” replied Ben. “Thank goodness Jay moved quickly. Let's hope my friend has seen the bear off. We need to get this fire going quickly.” Ben felt shivers run through his body.

“I wonder how far your friend will lead the bear away, before returning?” asked Varden. “You know that's why I sleep in trees, when alone, it's a lot safer.”

“But you know bears can climb Varden, you've been very lucky so far.” Ben knew very well how clever bears could be.

“Yes I know,” said Varden, “but they are more likely to feed on the ground than to climb trees.”

Soon the fire was blazing, but they would still need to collect enough wood to keep it going through the night, so they continued with their search, hoping the bear wouldn't return.

As they began to skin the rabbits, Jay appeared. Ben was so relieved to see his brother-in-law safe and sound. “How can I ever thank you Jay? You saved my life. I saw mine flash before me, that bear had eyes that were so piercing, all I could think of, was that I would be his next meal.”

“I led him a fair old way.” Replied Jay, as he dismounted. “The horses will need to stay close to us tonight. We'll tie them to that tree there.” He said pointing to a tree almost next to the fire.

“I think we really need to get this food cooked and eaten. I will stay on guard for half the night.” Ben couldn't sleep now, even if he wanted to, he trembled from the shock, his heart was still racing from the encounter.

Leaning up against the tree with the horses, Ben turned to Varden. “We will talk tomorrow when its safer and we can see better...for now you must get some sleep.”

Jay and Varden settled down for the night. Feelings of what tomorrow would bring, went through Varden's head, now he was no longer alone, though he was very glad of a sleeping wrap for warmth and the food had given him a new inner strength back. He would be ready for what ever tomorrow brought with it.

Dwellers of the New World Chapter Eight ( Pt 3 ) Making Plans | ABCtales