[Osse]

Bear woke with a start. Sweat flowed down from his brows like rain from laden gutters and his eyes were cloudy. His fast-receding dreams had been full of phantom voices and shadows, he was left dazed, as if a mace had smashed into his senses, yet he could not remember any specifics of his dream; it stood like a column on the edge of his perception.

The snores echoing from the floor in the corner opposite Bear confirmed that the old healer was asleep rolled up in many pelts. It was nearing midnight and the near-full moon was peering down on the village. Ruddy light shot through the chimney-hole and threw Bear’s prone form into relief. With a sharp groan, Bear lifted himself off the short bed and regretted his actions immediately.

The throbbing pain that had been all but absent from his injured leg came back with redoubled strength and like a hot poker being thrust repeatedly into the muscle it continued for quite a while. Bear had needed to be stripped from the waist down in order for the wound to be properly treated. Looking down to inspect the wound, he became aware that a sprig of some plant had been stuffed into it. He tugged at the exposed stem and as he did, the throbbing pain became constant, white-hot agony.

He quickly desisted and the pain subsided, once again to be replaced by the general throb. Bear hobbled over to the doorway and peered out into the night. The fire that was usually kept alight had been quenched by one of the misty rains that plagued the hills. Often the hillmen would rise to find the village square muddy and dank, despite the sun riding high. This would prove to be another of those days. Bear stood, half-naked and gazed out at the sleet, heedless of the droplets forming on his hair, heedless of any watchers. Already the pain had settled in his leg.

Bear began to feel ready for anything-his anger had not subsided; if anything, it had intensified. Kestrel peered from the dark doorway of her hut and seeing her brother-in-law’s half naked form quickly flitted back into the shadows.