he crawled to the summit. Below him, barely within range of his sling, the bear was savaging a pack animal lying on its stomach, its front legs bent underneath. Its head was facing the dry gorge ten paces away.
Nearby lay the body of an Egyptian trader. The light-skinned man was still wearing a bright-green turban. David looked around frantically. Jahra was nowhere in sight. The goats were scrambling over the side of the streambed, seeking higher elevation, while the sheep, in foolish panic, were clustered in the middle of the shallow streambed.
Snorting impatiently, the bear seized the man in its jaws and with a mighty swing tossed him over its head. The limp form almost landed on the pack animal’s bloody entrails. The turban rolled away, unraveling in the dust.
The beast’s cruelty infuriated David. Without taking his eyes off the bear, he pulled out his sling, fitted a stone into the leather pouch, and began twirling his weapon. He felt the cloth wrapped around his slinging hand, but it was too late to do anything about it. Adjusting his stance, he spun the sling faster.
The leather braids hummed next to his ear. It was an awkward angle; the bear was straddling the merchant’s body, its head hunched beneath its bulky shoulders. David let the stone fly. The projectile struck the animal’s spine. Roaring its outrage, it glanced wildly about, then clamped its teeth over the man’s head.
He was fitting it into the pouch when something moved in the dry gully near the donkey’s carcass. It was a hand—then, a dark patch of hair. David stared as Jahra’s forehead and eyes rose over the edge of the gully. He was lying prone, his face discernible through a thatch of high grass along the bank. The bear was unaware as it snuffled over the trader’s body.
David gestured madly for his friend to lower his head. Suddenly, the hulking animal threw its head up, twisting toward David. Its small eyes trained on its assailant on the hill, it stood on its back legs and opened its mouth. The cavernous mouth with its bared yellow teeth looked twice as large as the beast’s head. David waited, but no sound came. Instead, the bear’s body twitched, jerked, then shuddered violently. It was a strange, vaguely human movement, as if it had been grabbed by the nape of its neck and shaken furiously. Dust flew off its thick hide. Its eyes rolled back in its head … and the animal collapsed.
After several long moments, David began inching his way down the hill. Jahra pulled himself up to a crouch and waved him back. Hands upraised, he signaled for David to stay where he was and use his sling if the bear regained consciousness. David hesitated and nodded as the injured boy hobbled toward him, looping around the motionless animal.
When Jahra finally reached him, David threw his arms around his friend and bit his lip to keep from crying. Tears were mixing with the sweat and dust that streaked the side of Jahra’s face. The scar over his temple throbbed.
They jerked around when they heard a hoarse intake of breath from below. The bear was again standing on its back legs, its baleful, piglike eyes seemed to grow wider; they had turned a bright red. A terrible stench of burned, rotten flesh stung the back of David’s throat. He was breathing in the scent of something ancient and perverse.
Strange twitchings and jerkings were rippling along the bear’s body. Its nostrils were distended, and slaver dripped from its jaws. Out of its open maw arose an unearthly wail. The sound tore through David like a metal-tipped whip. Jahra’s injured leg collapsed beneath him, and he dropped to the ground with a moan. David sank next to him, barely able to breathe. He sensed rather than saw the bear charging up the hill toward them.
David turned to his friend. Jahra’s forehead was pressed into the dirt, his whole body shivering. Both arms were stretched out in front of him, hands elevated, the little finger and second finger splayed apart from the