None of the other hunters had the qi to spare for Camouflage, so they hid themselves in bushes and behind trees. When they were ready, Mumu signaled Borba (with a hawk’s cry) to lure in the King of the Forest.

I gripped Bearbane tight and waited for the action to start, but Borba was too engrossed in dodging the bear’s attacks. Mumu had to signal him twice more before he changed direction and zigzagged toward us.

Borba looked terrible--his clothes in tatters and his skin as red as a boiled lobster. Bits of white bone poked from his chest, and his eyes were wide. In terror? In euphoria? I couldn’t tell. But he kept moving through it all, and brought the King to where the hunters laid in wait.

And yet, the bear was waiting for us too. For me, in particular.

He must’ve known an ambush was coming. The moment I struck, Bearbane sinking into his flesh, electricity poured into me through the spear. The muscles in my hands and arms became rigid, as the heaviness I associated with the lightning protection potion bubbled under the onslaught.

The world narrowed. All I could see were my hands connected to the spear and the spear in the bear’s side. There was movement to my left: Banan’s thrust in slow motion, but it was secondary to the war raging within me--the lightning forcing its way inside.

The bear rocked as the dolbecs slammed into him, but my hands wouldn’t (couldn’t) let go. I was carried along with him. He dodged Mumu and Kuros’s attacks, and that rammed my spear’s haft into my abdomen. It made for another contact point for the electricity, and my belly fizzed like it was full of cola. The feeling spread as the potion’s effects wore away.

The bear’s lightning rushed into me, but lightning called to lightning. The bear’s qi was met by my own. The two smashed together, mingled, and repelled. A storm raged, and Yuki and I desperately fought to bend the energies downward--away from my heart and brain--into my legs and, through them, into the earth.

The moment only lasted five or six seconds, but by the end I felt ragged and wrung out. I was still alive though. My heart hadn’t stopped.

I looked up to see Mumu’s left cheek sliced open and blood spilling down her neck. Agath was down, but Moon held his ground above her. Kuros and Banan were running, flat out sprinting away from the fight. It appeared that our final attempt to kill the lightning bear failed.

Borba had lost his spear, and clawed at the King like an animal. The King batted him away, smashing him into a tree, the trunk cracking with the impact.

The King turned on me next. There was a look of dumb surprise on his face to see me upright, and I used the chance to pull my spear free. I thrust to slice him across the face; revenge for Mumu’s injury. I drew back for another strike, but the bear disappeared from view.

I found myself twenty yards away and in the grip of Sun-on-Snow. Where I’d been standing, the King flattened the ground with his body. He’d tried to smash me.

Snow blinked again. Then once more. We moved in the direction opposite of the first aid station. Were we running away? Plan C? My head was muddled, and I tried to shake it clear. I couldn’t leave yet. My team needed me--

The King roared, and the forest behind us lit up with his lightning. I gasped as the remnants of his qi flared within me, hot as a livewire. I clutched at it to force it out of my body, but the qi slipped away. It even eluded Yuki.

Snow blinked twice more before pausing to catch her breath. We were almost a hundred yards away from the fighting.

My breathing was at the edge of hyperventilation, my senses washed out and distant. I fought to regain control of myself, but couldn’t while also struggling with the bear’s qi at the same time. I had to leave the internal fight to Yuki.

I focused on my breathing, and slapped my chest and arms to wake them up. Slowly, the numbness faded and my senses normalized, just in time to see the King leaping through the air in my direction. I was too far to reach in one bound though, and he landed partway with a crash. I didn’t wait for him.

I covered myself in Camouflage and Scentless Hunter and took off at an angle, so that I could circle back to where the other hunters were. As for Snow, I told her to hide and follow me.

The King arced his lightning into the air, and his qi flared inside me again. Yuki wrestled with it to keep my spells from being disrupted. Then the bear leapt, but not to where I’d been, where he might’ve last sensed me. He aimed at my location at that moment, even though I was supposed to be hidden by my spells.

My spells--

They’re working. Yuki’s voice was distorted as they grappled with the foreign qi.

Then it’s the bear’s qi--

He’s using it to track us, Yuki replied. The attempt to force the energy out wasn’t working, so they switched to assimilating it instead.

If the bear could track me, should I continue trying to rejoin the others? Leading the King back might make matters worse for them. From what I saw of him, the rusty splotches on the bear’s body were missing. Borba was out of the fight--unconscious or dead. And the other hunters were likely out of juice.

I hated to think it, but the lodge had failed. There wasn’t anything more they could do to seriously injure the King of the Forest. The only thing left was to maximize the number of survivors.

So it was Plan E after all.

I oriented on the escarpment to the west, dropped my stealth spells, and sprinted at my fastest speed. I burst onto a game trail and followed it for as long as I could before taking to the trees and weaving between them. The ground began to slope up.

Yuki, let Snow know about the change--

Busy here!

My steps faltered when the bear’s qi disrupted the pattern for Dog’s Agility. I tripped and fell on my face. Spitting out leaf litter, I climbed back up and kept running. Trees crashed behind me as the lightning bear gave chase.

I re-spun Dog’s Agility. My arms and legs pumped as quickly as I could move them.

The one good was that the creatures of the forest fled before me. Birds shot into the air. A giant lizard dived into the ground, like a fish into water. Even a false one fled in terror after I stumbled across its hiding place.

The forest blurred in a kaleidoscope of greens and ochres, grays and blues. But there was always the escarpment to the west. That kept me on course until I started to recognize other landmarks. Not far away--to the north--was the safety of Ikfael Glen, but I headed south instead, to Plan E and the Evil Mushroom Meadow.

Ikfael didn’t sign up to hunt the King of the Forest. Yes, she’d likely join the fight if I led him there, but I’d be betraying her trust if I did. I’d rather die first, which was… which was a real possibility.

I felt like pissing my pants, but kept running. I dashed past the fallen red cedar whose bark I once used to braid rope. Not too far to the southwest was the first entrance to the Cave of Origins. I’d cleared it of the boulder the bishkawi alpha used to block it. That was part of Plan C, the run away and hide plan.

Eventually, I recognized the approach to the Evil Mushroom Meadow. My steps slowed. If I remembered right, it was just another twenty yards ahead. Maybe if I circled, the King might land inside without exposing me to the mushroom’s addictive evilness?

I moved around the meadow’s boundary--its ginger-honeyed scent just at the edge of my perception. Even so, my mouth filled with saliva. A longing welled up inside my belly, and I took an unintentional step toward the meadow before catching myself.

I clutched Bearbane, prayed for strength, and kept circling around.

Not far behind, I heard the thump of the bear’s landing. The flare of his qi within me was a needle in my gut, but it was much better than the pain that’d been there before. Yuki was winning the war against it.

I got into position with the meadow in between me and the bear.

There was another thump, this time close. If not in the meadow, then just shy of it. A tree cracked. Then a second. Bushes rustled, followed by silence. I licked my lips and debated taking a peek. I needed to know what was happening. As long as I stayed at the meadow’s edge, it should be okay. Right?

The response to my question was a war cry from within. All your base are belong to us!

Yuki won the battle against the bear’s qi! Their qi was guttered, as close to empty as I’d ever seen it, but I was so proud. And relieved. Now, I could cast Scentless Hunter and have the spell work.

Hit Points 11/12 Mana 4/20 Qi 12/35

I masked myself from sight and scent, and crept closer to the Evil Mushroom Meadow. Carefully parting the leafy branches of a fern, I saw the King of the Forest pacing at the opposite end. In between us sat the mound of the evil mushrooms. Or as they were properly named:

The Golden Slumber, fungus, dusk Talents: In-Toxicating, Blight, Potent, Addictive, Rooted, Masked Rage

Nascent: ???, ???

The scent hit me like a hammer. In spite of my resolve--and the bones littering the meadow--I still longed to run in and taste one. I knew that it would kill me. I knew, but it didn’t help. What did, surprisingly, were two things.

The first was Yuki’s recognition of them seeing a creature similar to themselves. The two were different of course--lichen versus fungi--but the methodology was the same: lure and consume.

The second was the ghosts occupying the meadow--at least a dozen, maybe more. Some were relatively fresh--for example, a skunk with two tails--but some were old enough to lose all definition, no more than amorphous blobs with dim red eyes.

I felt a visceral reaction to both these observations, chilling any desire to get closer. I held back, while the bear paced and looked at the mushrooms in indecision.

Time passed, a mistake on the bear’s part. The longer one’s exposed to temptation, the more likely they’ll fall into it. Willpower is a resource like any other. Rely on it too long, and it’ll run out. And the bear didn’t have Yuki and the ghosts to hold him back.

The bear took a step into the meadow, and then another. He was so huge--that’s all it took for him to be within clawing distance of the mushroom mound. His nose snuffled. It wouldn’t (maybe couldn’t) stop. Saliva dripped from his mouth in a stream.

His body was covered in gashes. He must be exhausted. And yet, he fought. He scowled at the mound and made angry chuffing sounds, spittle blowing. Electricity sparked along his fur--crackling between the ballista bolts and arrows embedded in his fur.

He lifted himself to standing in a massive threat display and roared, lightning arcing into the air and ground. None of the streamers hit the mushrooms though. It seems he knew what they could do. I vividly recalled how burning a mushroom desiccated a dragon’s poop and the area around it.

The bear roared, and the trees and the bushes and the earth shook. So powerful, I felt his bellow reverberate through my body. The forest afterward was utterly silent. Which made what came next stand out even more: the bear huffed. In disdain. In derision.

The King dropped down unto four legs. His breathing was heavy, his movements slow, but his eyes were clear. Then he began to laugh, a kind of hacking sound I’d never heard from a bear before.

The hope in my heart died. The King had resisted the temptation, and the plan for Mushroom Assured Destruction failed. It wouldn’t even work if I entered the meadow. Maybe earlier the combined lure of Yuki and the mushrooms would’ve been enough, but it was too late now.

Never had I wanted for a fireball spell so much in my life. Even a flame arrow or a firebolt would do. I had Spark, but the odds of it igniting the mushrooms was negligible. Really, all that was left was to safely escape while under cover of my stealth spells.

I wracked my brain for an alternative to running away.

Lure him to a different dangerous spot? That was unlikely to work--all the forest creatures were afraid of him, and I’d seen him jump from the top of the escarpment to land safely below.

Have Yuki invade? Fighting off the King’s remnant qi was enough to exhaust the uekisheile.

Attack from ambush? I’d get one good strike in, but then I’d be in danger of his qi invading me again. I’d also be alone, without anyone to distract him from gobbling me up while I was incapacitated. I mean, I could blink away, but then I’d have to deal with the resulting internal bleeding. And I’d still need to run away after.

I paused as the kernel of an idea formed from the jumbled thoughts about the Blink spell and internal bleeding. Plan F began to take shape. This one would be a true last resort though, because if it didn’t work, I’d be dead meat.

Theoretically, it should work. There was no reason why it wouldn’t.

What do you think, Yuki?

It’s risky, but we really want to eat this bear. We’ve been afraid of him for too long.

I felt them consider the problem. In the meantime, the King nosed among the meadow’s animal remains, almost as if to flaunt his continued presence.

If we wait to recover our magical energies, Yuki said, we’ll be better able to deal with the aftermath. There’s enough water in the canteen for one more healing spell. Also, Snow is closing in on our position. Always nice to have a way out.

The King flared his lightning, but there was no response from within me. The qi he’d been using to mark my location was gone, eaten by Yuki. The King chuffed in annoyance, but the moment passed as soon as he looked at the mushroom mound. Then he yawned hugely, lay down as if to take a nap, and snickered. He closed his eyes. His ears continued to swivel though, and his breathing didn’t change. He pretended to sleep.

Did he expect an ambush and this was part of a plan to counter-ambush? A way to diss the evil mushrooms? To recover his own magical energies? All three or something else entirely? I didn’t know, and I didn’t care. The more time he gave me, the better my odds were of surviving.

I carefully shut down Camouflage to conserve qi, but kept Scentless Hunter running to make sure the King couldn’t sniff out Yuki. I also kept my eyes open and watchful as I worked with Yuki to recover our magical energies as quickly as possible.

My eyes widened in surprise after thirty minutes. Across the meadow, the bear began to snore. I eased forward to double check, and yes, his breathing had slowed. His ears were still, and there was a deadness, an utter exhaustion, on his face. His injuries were many after all, and the earlier battle sapped much of his qi. (Thank you, Borba.)

Plan F may not be necessary. A heartshot with Bearbane and Spiral Pierce might be enough. I considered the ground between us, and judged that it was manageable--I’d be able to stalk closer without waking him.

Wait a little longer, Yuki said.

It wasn’t like Yuki was wrong. I knew that waiting would only make me stronger, but at the same time, the longer I waited, the greater the risk something would happen to wake the bear. This was a golden opportunity.

Go slow to go fast, I told myself.

Hit Points 11/12 Mana 6/20 Qi 6/35

I held back and nervously waited until Yuki let me know that Snow had arrived. Then I waited some more until my counters ticked up to:

Hit Points 11/12 Mana 8/20 Qi 8/35

Ready? I asked.

Ready, Yuki said.

Snow felt tired-but-willing. A brief check told me that she was in a tree downwind of the bear.

I slipped into the meadow and followed a path that avoided the worst of the ground clutter. The only noise came from when I moved through the unavoidable areas of long grass and wildflowers. I inched forward and tested every step, moving slowly to minimize the sound of brushing against the greenery.

A couple of the ghosts approached me to investigate, but I ignored them and focused on my movements, not letting myself get distracted. My heart felt like it was going to jump out of my chest from a potent mixture of fear and excitement.

The sleeping King towered over me. I paused to wipe my hands dry and get a firmer grip on Bearbane. Then I took a deep, slow, silent breath and shifted my feet into position. I checked with Spear Arts-Sensei to make sure I was holding the spear, and visualized where the bear’s heart should be. I’d need to angle the attack up and under to avoid the shoulder.

I brought the Anesthetic rune to mind and was just about to cast it when the bushes rustled behind me. Quick as a thought, Yuki relayed Snow’s sight--a bishkawi had stumbled into the meadow.

The bishkawi was drawn to the golden slumber, but froze upon seeing the giant bear. I turned to look, and it must’ve been a strange tableau, the two of us staring at each other in the shadow of the King of the Forest. The moment held for a couple of seconds, and then the bishkawi carefully backed away. Making sure it didn’t brush the bushes again, it left the meadow.

I licked my lips, my mind racing, but the meadow was quiet. There were no other interruptions. Not until I once again faced the bear, and a chittering howl arose in the distance. With a snort, the King opened his eyes and turned to spot me right away.

A wave of adrenaline washed through me. Time slowed, and...

Yuki--

--Plan F!

While the bear blinked sleep from his eyes, Yuki slammed the connectors for the body power emulator into my meridians. My qi spun wildly in a complicated dance. My body shook. The world tore apart. The animal in me wanted to flee, to run screaming into the forest, but the hunter took hold. He cut through the fear and chose to fight.

I flashed forward.

And materialized with the bear’s snout partially inside my abdomen. Not far, not deep, but it was a disturbing sight none-the-less to see my body violated like that. I tore my gaze away and saw my spear firmly lodged within the bear’s skull. I’d blinked it directly inside his brain.

The bear trembled. His maw opened, and that was enough to dislodge me, my flesh tearing. I fell to the ground and backed away. Yuki worked feverishly to stem the bleeding. My guts threatened to spill out, but I held them in place.

Snow grabbed a hold and blinked us to the meadow’s edge.

“No,” I said, wheezing. The shock of her Blink tore through me. I’d never felt such pain before. Something about her blink was making my injuries worse.

I reached for my canteen, but it wasn’t at my side. A frenzied search saw it embedded in the bear’s snout, along with bits of metal, cloth, and flesh. Whatever water the canteen once contained was gone. I tried to think but my thoughts were getting fuzzier and fuzzier.

The closest stream was too far to reach by crawling, and Snow blinking me there would kill me just as surely. I felt my strength draining away.

Hit Points 2/12 Mana 4/20 Qi 4/35 Conditions Occupied (Evolving), Bleeding IV, Shock

I was dying, but at least I’d killed the King. The bear's massive body trembled one last time, and went still.

“Yuki, you have to find a way to detach and move into Snow.”

No. We’ll have her go get Ifkael for help. We just have to hold out. Let’s use the last of our mana and qi to reinforce your body.

My intestines were spongy; not an observation I ever wanted to make. Blood spilled out despite my hands covering my belly. I didn’t think I’d last a minute longer, even with my body enhanced.

“It’s okay. I’ve already died once. It’s a piece of cake. But you’ll have to tell Ikfael about what happened. The kids too. Take care of them for me, okay?”

Foolish Ollie/Eight. When have you ever given up before? Yuki desperately spread their qi throughout my body to help stabilize it. They materialized their tendrils like bandages over the worst of the bleeding.

I grinned, but it turned into a blood splattering cough. “True. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to try.”

Which was a complete lie. The pain was terrible--like I’d been torn in two--but as much as it would be nice to join Helen, there were people in this world who needed me.

My focus was shot and my grip on my qi and mana was sketchy, but I flooded my abdomen with energy and began to meditate to recover more. My thoughts slowed. My vision slowly darkened. A chill set in that wouldn’t go away. I was getting colder and colder. The spirits gathered around, and they looked so much brighter and clearer than they had before.

I heard a voice say, “Not now, love. You’ve still got things to do.”

Then another voice: “Little Pot? Little Pot! Gods, he’s injured! Quick--”

Everything went dark.