Over the course of the next week Balin’s ink induced headaches faded away, but Bernhard didn’t let Balin just wander around aimlessly during that time. Despite being his slave, Bernhard explained that Balin would work mostly as a bodyguard for him. Despite Bernhard being more than capable to dispatch anyone who would dare to threaten him, there were clear benefits for him to have a guardian around him. Firstly, Bernhard regularly went out to dispatch monsters that threatened other people and having an experienced warrior on his side would improve his chances to make it out alive. After all Bernhard was powerful but not invincible or dumb. The second use of Balin was that Bernhard did start to enjoy the younger man’s company and being a naturally social person, he got lonely fast. The third and by far most important use of Balin would be that at higher social gatherings it is considered impressive to come with extra protection. After all, anyone who would be worth killing has to be an important person. But no matter the situation Balin would have to be dressed for the occasion. Therefore, Bernhard took Balin clothes shopping. From elegant clothing over to battle dresses of any conceivable situation, Balin had to be ready. At first Bernhard was afraid of having to teach Balin the etiquette expected from a servant on his level but Balin’s years of squire training have included the use of all the tools of his trade. From the sword over to the fork, Balin had learned those, saving Bernhard a lot of patience and time. When not organizing Balin’s equipment the duo spent a lot of time training either in Bernhards garden or being teaching Balin the few things that he should be aware of in the future. Like certain hand movements that allowed Bernhard to non-verbally communicate with him. For both the former of those things were more fun. Despite the big difference in raw skill between the two it was always challenging to fight each other. Bernhard outmatched Balin in skill, but Balin’s unnatural body parts made a lot of Bernhard’s common tactics unviable. The day after Balin got new travel gear Bernhard approached him after their sparring session.

“Balin, I have accepted a request to kill a big monster. Prepare your things! We are leaving at dawn. Also pack something presentable. I have been invited by my father to a family meetup. We will go there on way back and stay until the meetup is over. That is all. You are free to do as you please for the rest of the day!”

Balin did as his master ordered. So, that when the time of departure came, he would be ready. Bernhard preferred travelling with carriages over riding his own horse and therefore he rented on for the trip, driver included. This was also convenient since this time they had to carry more than just their combat equipment. Most of the travel to the village was uneventful. When reaching the village, they were welcomed by the major of the village at his home. The major was a sturdy man in his late forties, with a bald spot that nearly split his hair into two sides. He gave the duo a rough description of what they were dealing with.

“We have multiple places where it left scratch marks and left other imprints, also it has been spotted twice. While the descriptions were vague in both cases, we were able to determine two things. Firstly, it was bearlike but bigger than a normal one. Also, it had long legs. The legs were size almost like the ones of a horse. It has attacked our livestock and even a traveling merchant who was brining supplies to us. That is how we got the eye witnesses. The merchant survived and when investigating the scene later one of our miners swore to have seen it running into the shadow of the forest. We can’t have that thing running around much longer. We must prepare for winter and if it keeps killing our livestock and scaring away merchants, we will have serious trouble.”

“Sounds like a runnerbear. We can deal with it. Right Balin?”

“I am not too familiar with those. We didn’t have to deal with one of those since before I was born. Although I have read up a little on them as part of my training, I wouldn’t say that I am a master at killing them. But my will doesn’t matter, I’ll do as you say.”

“That’s the right attitude. I’ll explain to you later how we are going to deal with it. Thanks for the information mister major. We’ll take care of it.”

The duo left the man and Bernhard explained Balin what they were going to do about the beast. Bernhard was inspecting some livestock while he explained his plan.

“Runnerbears are a lot like normal bears but there are a few key differences. Firstly, their legs, they are a lot longer than the normal ones. This makes them a lot faster and some say that they have even more stamina than the normal ones. Secondly, they are smaller. They weigh about two thirds of a normal one. And the most important difference between them when trying to hunt them is that they are a lot more social than most other bear types. And wait a second!”

Bernhard has found an old sheep. Despite it smelling horribly, Bernhard signaled the owner that he wanted to buy this creature. After a short verbal exchange the shaped put a small nose around the animal’s neck and handed that one to Bernhard. It took Bernhard to remember what he wanted to say earlier, but he remembered it and continued.

“As I said they are more social. Which is why they rarely travel alone. In my experience they stay with their mate for life and tend to have two kids at once. After a year those kids leave the parents in search for territory. They then stay together until they find a suitable mate, which is when they then leave their sibling and the cycle restarts. And having to fight two bears at once is not something a normal man can do. But lucky for us. Neither of us is normal. So, we should be able to kill them. Got that all?”

“Yes, got it. So, are we going to use this sheep as bait?”

“Exactly. Normally runnerbears don’t attack humans or come too close in our territory. But they like to hibernate throughout the winter, warming each other as they sleep. So, they must eat a lot to get through the winter and if they don’t find enough it can happen that in fall, they might take the risk and attack people. So, if we perfume our little stinker here, we should attract one of them. Then he will drag Stinky to his hideout where we will find the second one. From there we will have to kill both at once.”

“Why can’t we lure one away and then kill the second? It would be safer.”

“Runnerbears get really loud and scream when they die. This will alarm the second one and chase him away. Then he will be more cautious, and we won’t find him again before something terrible might happen.”

“Like what?”

“There have been records of the bears wanting to take revenge if they were a pair that mated and then they could attack civilians.”

With the help of the shepherd that Bernhard bought the sheep of they found a small clearing in the nearby woods. It was about a kilometer away from one of the bear attacks and gave the duo a good place to hide and prepare the bait. With each other’s help they covered themselves in mud so that their smell wouldn’t alarm the beast so easily of their presence, next they rubbed Stinky in with some aromatic herbs that supposedly would help attract the runnerbear and increase its appetite for the small little sheep. Lastly, they bound Stinky onto a tree, ensuring that it won’t be able to escape, before the predator could make an entrance. The two hunters were lightly armed, with two armlong spears and a knife each. Afterall they couldn’t hide well if they were to carry anything bigger and at least one of the short spears could be thrown as a projectile out of a sneak attack each. The duo then hid in the bushes, covered in dirt, hiding and waiting for the beast to come. From his long knight training Balin had the patience to do hunting like this drilled into him, so he wasn’t very bothered by the long waiting times required. Still they had to wait some long and lonely hours. Bernhard even specifically ordered Balin to stay quiet for the duration of the wait and to only communicate with some very specific hand movements, for when they spot the beast and must follow it. At first the duo was very enthusiastic. After all, despite its dangers, the idea of hunting a big monster is inherently exiting. But the mandatory silence became boring fast, and Balin did start to think back to how he ended up in this situation. Which is how he came to think back at the last time he laid in hiding to ambush someone or something. It was when he tried to kill Bernhard, the very same man that lies near him in another bush to hunt the same creature. It felt like a long time ago, despite it happening less than two months ago. The sun has already passed over the duo’s head and was about to set when Balin spotted a large moving brown rock moving into the clearing from the left. He turned his head towards his master and after catching each other’s view they both nodded, confirming that the other has spotted the runnerbear. It held it’s head up high, clearly sniffing out the various scents lingering around cautiously. It was clear that it had a feeling that something was up with the sole sheep in the middle of nowhere. After about a minute and a half it seemed to have come to the conclusion that nothing dangerous was around, that or the poor sheep seemed to smell so good that he decided that it was worth the risk and he attacked the sheep from against the soft breeze, so that Stinky couldn’t even smell it, before it was already too close. The bigger animal easily smacked its prey over with its front paw and killed it afterwards with it’s dangerous bite. Balin didn’t know if the sheep died from the blood loss caused by the bite, or if it suffocated from the strangling position of the bite. In the end it didn’t matter since the result stayed the same, the sheep died. The bear tried to pull his prey away but the rope that bound the sheep to the tree stopped it. It took the bear a moment, but it quickly figured out a solution to its problem by biting and tearing it into two. Now unbound the runnerbear dragged his prey into a different location than where it came from. Occasionally leaving behind some drops of blood from the carcass that he was dragging and not much else that the untrained eye could recognize without help. Balin now observed Bernhard, waiting for his order and about half a minute later he opened his hand and palm out, signalizing that it was ok to come out of hiding.

“Ok, this might be a little problem.”

Wisped Bernhard.

“Why, have you seen something important?”

“I have seen a lot of important things, but first what did you catch onto?”

“It smelled a lot around before actually attacking and it knew how to deal with the rope quickly, I think this isn’t it’s first time dealing with humans. Other than that, not much.”

“For your first time hunting one of these things this isn’t bad but there are more things to read from this short interaction. Like the fact that this seems to be a female, which means that we aren’t dealing with a fully-grown mating pair, but with siblings.”

“Why do you think that?”

“It didn’t have testicleless, which means that it is a female. If it was part of a mating pair it would be pregnant and would stay in the hiding spot for as long as possible, while the male provides her with food to get through the winter. This also implies that they aren’t too old yet. Which improves our odds. Still your guess with their human experience is a good one as well. So, we must follow it carefully. From now on no talking until I say so and stay alert. We only get one shot at this!”

Following the faint trail left behind by the beast the two men slowly came closer to their target. It didn’t take long until they got to spot it again. Keeping their distance, the duo followed the beast. While it sometimes made an unexpected movement, the bear didn’t spot the hunters following it. As Bernhard speculated it dragged its prey straight to its hiding spot. Which consistent of multiple trees and bushes, which were dragged together to create a rudimentary hole or cavern. As the bear approached the construct its sibling came out of the hole to have a share of the bounty. The bear leaving the cave was a male. While the two beasts were happily munching on their prey Bernhard uncharacteristically shivered in clear anticipation for the fight coming. Bernhard aimed his spear and Balin quickly did the same. And almost at the same time they threw their spear onto the nearer of the two bears from behind. Bernhard hit her onto her right shoulder and Balin hit her hind leg on the same side, but unlike Bernhards spear it didn’t drill deep enough to stick. Still it left a deep wound. The bear screamed in pain as the two hunters ran at her screaming with their weapons drawn. The female was turning around to face the attackers and the male came to his sisters’ side to help her. But just as the two bears faced the enemy Balin threw a handful of mud at the females’ face. Blinding it temporarily while Bernhard actively ran to the side of the female where her brother wasn’t. The male ran to Balin but halted his attack when Balin threatened it with his remaining spear. The female was trying to regain sight by rubbing the mud of her face while Bernhard stabbed her from the side. Bernhard pushed hard and was able to dig his weapon deeper into the crying beasts’ side, when the male stood up onto his hind legs and with resolve swiped at Balin, who protected his face with his arms. Still the hit was hard enough to knock the lighter fighter of his feet and onto his back. The female tried to chase Bernhard away with an attempted sweep of her uninjured paw, but since her target was on her other side, she couldn’t reach him, and Bernhard pulled his spear back out of bears side. Only to hop a bit further back to regain his footing. The male bear in the meantime landed back onto his front feet and tried to bite Balin, but Balin reacting in a split second, was able to shove his unnatural arm to where the bear tried to bite, so that his forearm was being bit. The bear bit hard, but Balin’s arm was harder. The beast pulled his head, trying to rip Balins arm of but it wouldn’t work. So, with his free natural hand, Balin pulled his reserve knife out of his belt and stabbed into his foes neck. The Beast was wounded but Ballin missed the trachea, making the attack not immediately fatal. The bite became weaker and Balin was able to push the monster of after a kick onto the chest. The deeply wounded female tried to escape but Bernhard’s almost supernatural speed and her wounds made escape almost impossible. So, Bernhard almost immediately caught up with her again and jumped onto her back, clawing onto her like a kid onto its parent. She tried to shake Bernhard of but his grip onto her was too strong and he was able to wrestle her onto the ground, by moving the spear that was still stuck to her side. Cutting muscles that connected her long legs to her body in the process. The male in the meantime completely let go of Balin to help his sister in need. Sitting back up Balin saw something he didn’t expect to see. A third bear was running to the battlefield, straight to Bernhard. Balin knew that even Bernhard would struggle with three bears at the same time. He had to catch the attention of at least one of them. So, Balin threw his remaining spear at the bear that just let go of him, hitting it on the back and slowing it down. But Balin didn’t leave it at that. He started running himself. He almost tripped on the slightly wet ground, but he was able to reach the new bear and tackled it. Due to the weight differences Balin couldn’t knock it over but did what he was trying to do. He gained its attention. Bernhard in the meantime was finally able to wrestle the bear to the ground and climbed onto her now exposed stomach. Unlike Balin he still had his spear and with one last attack he was able to stab the bear through its chest. This time he hit the beast’s heart. Finally killing it. The bear that Balin left behind was now in a confused rage. He saw that the two others were having problems and didn’t know what to do. In the end he decided that his sister was lost, so he ran up to Balin and the third bear, which was still trying to shake Balin of, and with his mighty paw slashed Balin’s back. The hit was heavy enough to rip open Balin’s hunting clothes and into his skin, while still hitting hard enough that two ribs of Balin broke. Despite the pain Balin kept his grip on the new bear. Lucky for him Bernhard has left the dying bears body and attacked the bear that just hurt his slave, giving him a chance to move upward to the bears neck and with his unnatural hand he started strangling it, through its thick fur and skin. The bear that’s being strangled tried to push Balin away with his long legs, but Balin was too far sideways for that to work. Bernhard was fixated on his own prey. Lucky for him that bear was already heavily wounded from it’s fights with Balin making to easy for Bernhard to stab it multiple times across its body until Bernhards spear broke, leaving its tip deep inside the beasts’ body. This was too much for the creature. It finally gave in leaving the third bear alone in its struggle to free itself from Balin’s deadly grip. Struggling to breathe the last bear stood upright, trying to shake the smaller fighter off. But Balin’s unnatural arm was just too strong. Balin was flailed through the air but still didn’t let go. His arm would never let go unless Balin wanted it too. The bears struggle resistance became weaker with every second where it couldn’t breathe, until it fell to the ground. While it was still alive it has lost consciousness. So Balin didn’t let go. He was obsessed with killing the creature. It took minutes until Bernhard tapped Balin’s shoulder, bringing him back.

“You can let go, it’s dead.”

Balin looked at his hands. The bear struggled so hard, that it scraped open its throat against Balins hand, bleeding all over it.

“Are the other two?”

“Yes, I got them.”

“Why where there three bears? You said they usually were in pairs.”

“I don’t know. If I had to guess, I’d say that they were siblings, triplets most likely. They didn’t have split up to find mating partners yet and stayed together. This might be why they attacked humans. They couldn’t find enough food to get all three through the winter.”

“That so?”

Bernhard’s adrenalin level was starting to decrease, and he started laughing.

“What’s so funny?”

“This has to been the first time I’ve seen someone strangle a bear to death. I know they were runnerbears and therefore smaller than most of their kind, but still. That was an achievement.”

Balin started to smile from the sheer ridiculousness of their victory as well.

“Coming from the guy, who stabbed two to death in less than a few minutes.”

“Yeah, that’s kind of absurd as well.”

Bernhard had to gasp for air.

“But in all seriousness, I’ve seen you take a pretty bad hit to the back. Are you ok?”

“I’m fine, you know how my body works. Still hurts but I’ll get over it.”

“Take of your shirt and show it to me!”

Balin did as was ordered and revealed his backside. It looked brutal, there were pieces of meat almost cut of from his back and along multiple deep wounds Balins unusual regeneration started to do its work by replacing his flesh with the unnatural earth like substance. Bernhard fumbled in one of his pockets around and pulled out a small tube.

“I know you will heal but this should help with the pain.”

Bernhard rubbed the ointment onto the back. When the cold substance touched Balins skin he shivered for a second.

“Where did you get that from?”

“A friend of mine is a witch focused on pharmacy. She gave me buckets full of that stuff as a thank you for hunting down some rare herbs during a hunting trip with my family. Why are you asking?”

“Out of curiosity. She hot?”

“She’s almost sixty now. Why, is that your kink of something? Banging old witches?”

“Nah, its just it reminds me of Madame Mine, she was a witch in her forties. But I assume a lifetime of healthy potions and herbs made her age nicely and…”

Balin suddenly got quiet.

“Sorry, does the memory hurt?”

“Yes, but that’s not it. She had an adoptive daughter, Rose. She wasn’t born in the Rivervalley and I haven’t seen her for weeks before the monsters came.”

“Do you think that maybe she?”

“Can we please look for her? It doesn’t have to be a focus, but maybe we could ask if a pharmacist or a witch have taken a female apprentice in that age range. If that’s alright with you.”

“Sounds good. I promised to help you look for possible survivors and I will uphold that promise. But first, you are going to get to meet my family.”