We did see a bear, but it took one look at us and slipped off into the trees. “Not our target,” Ebba said.

“Okay, how can we identify it, or is it going to just attack us?” Kanesha asked.

“The one we’re looking for has black tips to the ears and a lighter “mantle” over the shoulders.”

The bear we’d seen had been pretty big. Maybe not twenty feet tall, but big enough. A grizzly.

But that much at least I’d been expecting. I touched my sword and moved onwards.

“Now we’re in its territory,” Ebba explained. “So, look sharp.”

“Where’s the lair? Up on the cliffs?” I thought I could see some caves up there. A bear smart enough to hunt dwarves and smart enough to know where not to be.

Kanesha, of course, had brought rope. But I might not need it.

Then the bear was suddenly in front of us. I narrowed my eyes. Not a Loki bear, no. Just a bear, no more magical than anything else here, but where had she come from? I drew my sword, but the bear seemed to realize how many of us there were and turned to flee.

“It’ll be going for its lair. Not taking on six of us.”

“Smarter than the average bear,” I agreed. Which got a giggle from Kanesha.

“Is that some Midgardian…”

“It’s a story reference.” I figured the dwarves would understand that.

“Ah.”

“A series of stories about a trickster bear,” I added.

“Which we have.”

I shook my head. “The bear in the stories wasn’t evil. He didn’t eat people. Well, he’d steal your lunch.”

The dwarf laughed. “Any bear will do that given the chance.”

So, the bears weren’t that different here. The bear was scaling the cliffs, and I could see the difficulty. “I assume there’s no trail leading above the lair?”

Ebba shook her head. “No, or…”

“We’re not going to get ropes up there, but…” I studied the cliff. The bear had ducked into the cave, aware that arrows might follow it up there.

Smoking it out might be challenging. But there were pine trees a bit further down. “Kanesha…”

“Nice green pine branches.”

I nodded. “Right.”

“You’ll be struggling to light them in this,” said one of the men.

“No,” I said, clearly, glancing at him. The first time he’d spoken. He hadn’t even given his name. “I won’t.”

They were about to get a bit of a demonstration, I thought, but I couldn’t see another good solution.