Sunflower bolted. Ellie screamed. Marietta grabbed her arm to drag her along. They had to get out of there. Sunflower would only be able to hold the bear off for so long.

Ellie wrestled her arm away. "I'm not leaving her!" She rummaged through her bag. Her knife wouldn't do anything against a bear. She settled for the empty wine bottle.

"You're not fighting that thing."

The bear made its way around the trees that obscured it. Its brown fur bristled around its neck. Both it and Sunflower stopped to glare at each other once more.

"Sunflower needs us."

"She's saving us. Ellie, don't be stupid." Marietta was tempted to smack the bottle out of Ellie's hands. "Anyone could've heard your scream. We've got to go."

"No!" Ellie had had her since she was a puppy. "I'm going to help her. You run away if you want to."

Going back to Stockbrunn without Ellie... Marietta might as well be dead, too. Maybe she could play a good little pig and talk her way back into her old home, convince them to take her back and that she won't say a word. A good, obedient mute.

Sunflower charged for the bear.

...And disappeared.

She disappeared right into the forest floor, having stepped onto a hunter's trap. What should've been a pile of dirt and leaves had given way to a hole. Sunflower yowled. The bear padded its way over to the edge.

Ellie reached her arm back and snapped it forward. She hurled the wine bottle at the creature. It shattered over its head and shoulders, a shower of glass and blood.

The roar this time was louder than the last.

Marietta ran. She didn't look back at Ellie, the bear, the hole, none of that. She just kept running in her shoes that weren't meant for running and her clothes that weren't meant for dying in, no, no, no.

Today wasn't supposed to be the day for all this. She was supposed to accompany Ellie to meet her woods dweller friend, and then be treated to a delicious meal. An apple, some jerky, some porridge. That was it. That was all that was supposed to happen. She'd never signed up for a dance with death.

Her lungs burned. Sweat drenched her blouse.

Another explosion of broken glass.

She squealed, hitting a jut in the soil she hadn't expected. She tumbled head over heels, but didn't let that deter her. Marietta scrambled to a stand and kept going.

Did the glass mean that Ellie was fighting it? Or did it mean that it had gotten her already and she'd thrown the glass with her last breath? Marietta shook her head to rid herself of those thoughts. She needed to get back on the path.

A rumbling growl.

Marietta turned, and made eye contact with the beast. Everything about its face said that that was the end for her. That was it. Goodbye. No more second try at life.

She squeezed her eyes shut, keeping them that way as she heard something make a heavy impact.

Metal on flesh.

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A/N: This is an interactive fantasy serial. Voting takes place on Thursdays through Sundays on the story's main site. The most up-to-date chapters can also be found there, but uploading will happen in parts on RRL as well.

The next post will be Chapter 4.4.

Chapter 9 is live on the site now. Voting on the latest chapter will end on Sunday at 11:59 PM EST.