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Chapter 19

It was a full week – and a month's worth of chopped firewood – before Rossa could bring herself to enter the forest again. Plenty of people who remembered her from when she was small had come to reassure her about the bears in the woods. They'd all advised her to bring a bag of apples with her if she went into the forest again, for all the local bears would completely ignore her for a bag of apples.

When she tried to explain what she'd seen, no one believed her. The bear had only looked so big because she was frightened, they'd said. They preferred fruit to meat, though they occasionally ate carrion if they were starving at the end of a long winter. It must have been a very light brown, not white…

And so it went, on and on, until even Rossa was inclined to misbelieve her own senses.

But she knew she had seen the white monster bear kill a stag. The deer herd had panicked at the sight of it, too, so they'd known how dangerous it was.

Therefore, she had little choice but to venture into the forest, kill the monster, and bring back its body as proof. Then, she might persuade someone in the village to turn the beast's hide into a warm winter cloak that she intended to wear everywhere.

Even Father would have to take notice if she killed a monster. After all, wasn't that what his job entailed?

Today, she carried her bow and a new quiver of arrows – the old one was lost in the forest somewhere – twice as many daggers as before, and she'd found a leather breastplate with a matching helm in the armoury that seemed about her size. Likely they'd belonged to the squire of a crusading knight, centuries ago, but they were hers now. Sure, she could conjure a magical shield, but it didn't hurt to have a little mundane protection, too. Especially when she'd seen how easily the bear had broken the buck's neck.

She sent out a finding spell, the sort of thing Swanhild excelled at, and was not surprised to find the bear near the same clearing.

Of course he was.

There'd been no new snowfall, so what was left sat in patches beside the muddy trail, sometimes humped so high she'd wondered if what she saw was the bear, lying in wait.

But she didn't see him at all.

When she reached the clearing, she debated whether to walk right in, or climb a tree again. Then she cursed herself for a simpleton and scaled the nearest tree. She hoped her father never heard of her moment of stupidity. She was lucky it hadn't cost her her life.

Today, the clearing was empty, much as it had been a week ago. Though there should be some sign of what had happened. The buck's body, or at least what remained of it. Yet…there was nothing, not even any visible blood.

Her quiver sat in the tree she'd watched from before, leaning against the tree trunk like it was waiting for her. Cursing softly under her breath, Rossa wove her way through the branches to it. Better to have two quivers of arrows than one, especially when she still hadn't spotted the bear. She scanned the clearing, then turned to peer between the trees behind her, as well. Every snowdrift might be the bear hiding, plotting an ambush.

She snorted softly. Bears did not plot ambushes. They were creatures of instinct, without the kind of foresight and planning a man might possess. All a bear thought about was food and fighting and…ah, mating. She felt the heat rise in her cheeks. There were men back in Mirroten just like that, including her young nephew, Bruno.

Something moved in the snow. No…sparkled, as it caught the sunlight, filtering through the leaves, before the shaft of light vanished, then returned again.

Rossa moved closer, shifting from tree to tree until she stood over the object. It appeared to be a large brooch, with a dark stone that glittered red in the sun. It looked like one of the treasures Father brought home for Mother, when he came home from a mission. Except Rossa knew every item in Mother's jewellery chest, and this wasn't one of them.

She dropped from the tree to the ground, and reached for the brooch. The moment her fingers closed around it, the ground dropped out from under her. Rossa opened her mouth to scream, but then her head collided with something, and the world went dark.