Running in the Bear Empire 69: End

First: Running in the Bear Empire

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Deline skidded around a corner that was far too slick, looked down at the ground and realized that she was slipping on blood. Her stomach turned. There were two Claws on the ground, people she knew, and another one she didn’t know. One of them was still breathing.

“Catikee?”

“I’ll see what can done. Go.”

They finished the sprint to the nursery to find the doors barricaded, a spiky curtain-rod and two swords poking out at them from between pieces of furniture. On the ground, another stranger was down.

“Well done,” Deline breathed. “Lerthin?”

“Lady Dedenarrion? Lady, is it—”

“Are the children safe?”

“I am not a child,” Aucheria’s youngest informed her. He was on the other end of that sword, it looked like.

“No. Are the children safe?”

“Yeah. Scared, angry, want their own swords — they’re safe. We’re all safe.”

“Lerthin, Mother Bear blessss you.” She blinked. “Father Snake blessss you.” There was still the shadow of the Snake in her. “The emperor and Aucheria are safe. I’m safe, as far as I can tell. We did what we could in the governors’ rooms. I’ve got to— Oh, blessings of the guardians.”

She slumped against the wall as Pakkon, her Fang of the Snake lieutenant came around the corner with seven other Claws.

“It’s a single-claw coup attempt,” she told him, just as he tugged out the necklace from his shirt and gestured at those with him. Every single one of them had at least two claws or fangs or talons or horns.

“Aucheria told me. Gacherre went up-compound, Floren went down compound. We’ve lost some good Claws.”

“And some tainted ones. I need four people to go get the prisoners in the governors’ compound. Has anyone found —” She met her lieutenant’s eyes. If he knew about the two-claws, if he’d spoken to Aucheria, he’d spoken to Mesaruxenne.

“The Emperor and Aucheria are going with a guard after her themselves. He is — reasonably — personally offended. Dedenarrion— Chief among us Deline, you need to verify all of our loyalties. You know you do. Aucheria has the potion ready to go.”

She hissed. “Every Claw.” She knew it, but that didn’t mean she had to agree with it or to like it. Not with that potion. “Every person serving in the Compound.”

“Every Governors’ staff,” Carrone put in. “It’s going to be years of housecleaning.” He looked, she thought, interested. “And tracking people down.”

“And here you thought you’d be bored,” she teased. “Come on, then. Let’s get started with the clean-up.”

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12 thoughts on “Running in the Bear Empire 69: End

    • Seriously! This ended super-abruptly. Yes, the most immediate aspect of the coup attempt has been stopped, piles of points for Lerthin and the other two defending the kids, but … there is a whole lot of who and how and where and what and followup not covered. This plot and its conspirators. Whether (how) it ties into the information Deline was trying to let loose — and what that information was. The prisoners they took in the coup, and the prisoners they took while trying to get home. Too many loose end!

  1. End?!?!?

    As in… End of the assault on the royal family? or as in End of “Running in the Bear Empire”?

    If the former…Whew!!!!! I can take a breath again!

    If the latter…

      • Nope. Not tidy at all. This would be an acceptable pausing point in an “oops, it got too big for one paperback, the next book will be out as soon as the editor is done with it” duology. It is not a good end point for a stand-alone novel. You have successfully established that Deline and Carrone are a solid working team with a goal. Now they have work to do, together.

      • Apart from other loose ends that have been mentioned: Deline and Carrone both have big questions about how they will adjust to their changed circumstances.

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