Page 48 of Obsidian Prince

The man swatted absent-mindedly at the annoyance, catching his panting breath.

She tickled his ear again. If she dropped down next to him, his startled reaction might give away his position to the giant bear-kin.

Finally, he looked up.

Liliana held her finger to her lips for silence.

His face showed surprise at a comical level, but Liliana didn’t dare laugh. He was so flabbergasted to see her sitting in the one tree in a big forest that he chose to hide behind, he momentarily forgot his fear of the bear.

Liliana climbed down a silk line quietly, now that she knew her presence wouldn’t startle the young soldier into giving their position away.

She held up a note she’d written on her new phone so he could see. “You can defeat the bear in full badger form, but not in demi-badger form. I will help.”

He looked at her for a moment as if judging her sanity, then tapped his wrist phone. He showed her what he’d typed. “Not a chance.”

Liliana tapped the screen, running her fingers under two words. “Badger form.”

Lieutenant Runningwolf indicated a space between his two outstretched hands, about three feet long, and pointed at himself. Then pointed in the general direction of the bear and put his hands up as high as he could reach.

Liliana already knew that badgers were far smaller than bears, especially gigantic bears like that one. She rolled her eyes, just her first eyes. The others couldn’t make that expression.

She tapped the screen again, then tapped her forehead between her open fourth eyes.

The soldier looked at her fourth eyes, large and pupilless with pale, opalescent colors swirling slowly. He looked at the sky for a moment in an expression that clearly said, “Why me?” without words. Then, he started unbuttoning his shirt.

The bear seemed to sense them somehow, despite the silence of their exchange. He started snuffling his way in their direction.

John Runningwolf undressed faster. He shot Liliana a look, with tight, angry lips and glary eyes that eloquently said Liliana better be right about this, or assuming he survived, he was going to make her pay.

Liliana gave him a gesture she’d seen Pete use, thumb up, to indicate everything would all be fine.

The badger-kin’s eyes narrowed in suspicion.

The grin she gave him felt frozen and forced, but she maintained the “Everything will all be fine,” hand gesture. She had seen this battle earlier with her fourth eyes. Everything would definitely not all be fine.

Lieutenant John Runningwolf didn’t look like he believed her gesture of reassurance. This was sensible, but there wasn’t a lot of choice as the bear-kin got closer. He pulled off his boots and pants, dropped to all fours and changed. His body sprouted long, bristly brown fur on the sides. His nose stretched into an upturned point as a long white stripe painted itself up his forehead. Arms became stubby legs that ended in long claws. The already short soldier shrank to a creature less than a foot tall and just as wide with round furry ears.

His badger form was actually kind of cute. Liliana might be socially inept, but she would never speak that thought aloud.

As the brown badger rushed out of concealment toward the giant bear, Liliana hoped John Runningwolf would eventually forgive her.

The badger circled the tree to get behind the big bear.

The bear’s first indication that he wasn’t alone were badger fangs sinking into his hind leg.

The bear roared. It tried to fling off the clinging irritant, but the badger’s jaws locked hard on bear meat. The massive bear stood on its hind legs and shifted.

Huge bear paws grew fingers as big around as Liliana’s wrists. The bear’s muzzle shortened and legs lengthened. Shoulders, still covered in a shaggy brown pelt, broadened as the monster’s three meters of height gained another full meter. The werebear became nearly as big as the stone giant Lilly and John Runningwolf fought together. It roared with rage and pain.

Now that the monster had hands, he reached down to grab the badger attached to his heel.

Runningwolf let go before the bear could grab him. He dodged back away from the clawed paw hands as big as his body. Long badger fangs snapped at the pursuing fingers, keeping the bearman’s hands warily at bay.

But badgers weren’t built for running speed. He didn’t even try to escape the werebear’s long strides. The demi-bear swatted at him, but the nimble badger dodged.

Lieutenant Runningwolf did the only thing he could. He dug at the ground with his claws making a slight depression and flattened his already flat body into it making himself flush with the ground.

When the bearman kicked at him, long badger claws clung to the ground, refusing to be budged. The more the bear tried to hit him, the deeper the badger’s claws dug into the ground, and the harder he hung on to roots, rocks, or just plain dirt.

---