First: Running in the Bear Empire
Previous: Rainclouds in the Bear Empire
Next: Arrows in the Bear Empire

Deline hadn’t had time or the right environment to make her protective shield very big; she had spent the energy she had on making it strong instead.  The line of force, a wobbling red-orange from inside, gave them just enough room to lie down, if they lay very close to each other. Standing up wouldn’t work, except in the one spot where the half-wall went all the way up to the ceiling joists; she had used the walls as two of her delimiters.

“What….”  Carrone ducked as the first hail hit the outside of the half-house and bounced off of their shelter.  “What?” he repeated. “What is this devil-begotten place that you call home, woman? The sky is throwing ice at us!  And we – we are in-” He looked around. “It’s a magical tent, isn’t it? That’s all it is.” Continue reading →

First: Running in the Bear Empire
Previous: Magic in the Bear Empire
Next: Weather in the Bear Empire

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That night, they camped under the dubious shelter of a quick lean-to in the middle of a dense stand of pine trees.  The weather cooperated in precipitation, if not in temperature, and Deline woke to find herself pressed against Carrone for warmth.

They were quiet as they walked, working out all of the kinks and sore spots from sleeping on the ground, and when a trader passed them, he left them well alone.  Deline imagined they must look like they were in a horribly foul mood, dangerous people you didn’t want to get too close to.

The gendarme who came upon them several hours later clearly wasn’t worried about that. He glowered at them and asked them questions about a recent robbery nearby and several other issues – thankfully, none of which they’d been involved in. Continue reading →

First: Running in the Bear Empire
Previous: Waiting in the Bear Empire

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“This is why Halor hates the Empire. You know that, don’t you?  It’s probably why Dekleg hates the Empire, too.” Carrone wasn’t looking at Deline.  She didn’t blame him.

“Probably,” she agreed.  She walked alongside him, pacing him.  As long as she kept walking, he would probably keep walking too.  “It’s also why the Empire has issues with Halor and Dekleg – and a few others I could name.  It’s mutual.” She smirked tiredly. She’d heard those arguments more times than she cared to remember.

“You used… what’s the difference, anyway?”

“Sorcery uses spirits and, ah, spirit-like beings to get done what it must.  Magery uses a combination of the natural forces of the world and scholarly understanding.  Sorcery requires moving around living things – souls, spirits, sometimes creatures. Magery usually only requires natural elements – usually stones and sands, sometimes plants.” Continue reading →

First: Running in the Bear Empire
Previous: Sneaking Through the Bear Empire

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“Shhh,” he murmured, and sat down next to her.  He moved his hands for a moment in military sign she didn’t recognize, and then, with a frustrated expression, drew in the dust on the ground.

She could read Deklegi script just fine: one man, hunter or farmer.

Not a threat – but right now they wanted nobody to know they had been there, much less to be able to give a reasonable description of their appearance.  She nodded and lay flat on the ground, concentrating on being as quiet as she could be. Next to her, Carrone did the same.

In the silence, she could hear the occasional twig snap as the man below them moved along.  He had the quiet step of someone used to the terrain, but she had the ears of someone who was being hunted and had been many times before.  From Carrone’s expression, his ears were nearly as good.

The man was tracking something – she hadn’t left tracks, had she?  It was too late to fix that, if she had. If he came up here… Continue reading →

First: Running in the Bear Empire
Previous: Poaching in the Bear Empire

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Deline woke to find herself pressed up against Carrone and his arm draped over her in turn.  She moved slowly, trying not to wake him. She needed to get her thoughts together and form a plan.  “Head off into nowhere” was more like a flight in terror than an actual battle plan, and it would take her longer and longer to get home.  

That would, of course, probably make Carrone happy.  Out here, he could still pretend everything was more or less the same – except the part where he was bound to her and they were being hunted by bounty hunters that had been his associates.  

Come to think of it, that wasn’t much the same at all, was it?  She glanced over at him. She knew nothing about him, except that he had tried to kill her – twice – and failed – twice and then saved her life from another bounty hunter.   Continue reading →