Rizana

A gush of bitter autumn wind whistled down the slope of the mountainside, dragging its icy fingers through the tops of the yellowing birches that stood steadfast in the foothills. Their white branches bowed and swathes of leaves kicked up and tumbled down, down, down, catching in the underbrush as they went. A whirlwind of red and gold sailed by her, howling.

The wind raked through her coat and stung her eyes, but nevertheless she ran headlong into the full force of the mountain's icy breath. There was a scent on the wind that drove her relentlessly on, and so strong was it that she could taste it in the back of her throat as she dragged in breath after ragged breath. White puffs of air rose from her nostrils and her great, hungry maw, her black lips pulled taut over an imposing rack of ivory teeth, and her long, pink tongue lolling from one side of her jaws. Her chest burned, heart and lungs aflame with effort, and her throat was raw and dry from the icy air, but in spite of it all, she kept on. The trail she had been following was fresh, the smell of her prey heavy in the air around her and on the ground beneath her footfalls, and she knew that if she could make it a bit further, she would be on its heels.

The trail veered suddenly westward, and, scrambling, she changed course to follow it. As she did, a great, thundering bark tore from her chest. She barked once, twice, again and again as she ran, parallel to the mountain now, and with a speed as if there were hellfire on her haunches. The wind carried the sounds of her pursuit down the slope to her partner far below.

Hunting rifle firmly in hand, Isaak fought his way up the incline. It was slow going; much slower than he would have liked. Up above, he could hear the reports of his dog, hot on the trail of their quarry. It had been close to an hour since he had seen her, but he could hear her all the while, the sound of her furious barking tearing the forest apart. She started to the right of him, and there she stayed for a long time before circling around ahead of him, to the left, and straight on again. The trail must be fresh to make her twist and turn so, he thought. Their quarry must have heard her on its heels, ran, and she had given chase. Isaak's heart thundered with excitement and exertion. He scrambled on, gaining, and as he went, he heard her barking grow not only closer, but more ferocious as well. Finally, after some time, he heard something change in her reports. She did not seem to be moving any longer, and she was barking like an animal gone mad. And then, as if to confirm Isaak's suspicion, he heard a roar like thunder roll through the wood. She had cornered their prey.

When Isaak burst from the undergrowth, he was met with a beautiful sight. There in front of him, backed up against a sharp incline, was a North American brown bear—a grizzly, and one of the largest he had ever laid eyes upon. She was in a rage, rearing onto her hind legs, swiping with massive paws fit to shatter, crush, rend; and on top of it all, she was roaring like a demon. In front of her, equal parts fearless and stubborn, was his dog, Rizana. She darted this way and that, cutting off the grizzly's escape. Her dark red coat bristled along the hackles and her muzzle was twisted into a snarl. She barked and growled and lunged, but stayed clear of the bear's punishing claws. Rizana was no fool. For all her bluster, she knew she was no match for a bear, and especially one of this size. All she had to do was hold it, choke its escape routes until Isaak arrived with his rifle. And he had. Though she never took her eyes off her quarry, she heard and sensed him behind her. With stiff, deliberate steps, she circled round one side of the bear, the side not covered by her master's gun, and waited.

The report was deafening. For a moment after, the air was still; not even the whistle of the wind could be heard for the ringing in Rizana's sensitive ears. And then she heard the enraged bellow of the bear. She had to blink before she realized what she was seeing. Blood spurted from the grizzly's face, bubbling up in a wound beneath her eye and pouring down her brown fur. Isaak had aimed between the eyes and missed, and now not only was the bear still alive, but she was furious. She roared again in anger and agony, and Isaak quickly squeezed the trigger once more.

The rifle clicked, and the grizzly charged.

Rizana leaped before she thought. The bear made for her attacker, Rizana's master, and Rizana acted. She threw herself headlong into the path of the grizzly, barking, snarling, her red coat bristling with a boiling fury. She collided with the bear's shoulder, the force of Rizana's full weight against her chest not even enough to make her stumble. Though Rizana bore her fangs as deep as she could into the grizzly's thick fur, it had no effect. She charged on, and with her next footfall, Rizana was shaken loose and flung to the ground.

As she went down, she heard several more hopeless clicks, and then a scream that sundered the air. In moments, Rizana collected her paws beneath her and righted herself, ready to spring again in defense of her partner, but she was too late. When next she saw the bear, she was upon Isaak. Her master lay on the ground, and in both hands he held the metal barrel of the rifle across his chest, bracing against the vicious jaws of the grizzly. He screamed and writhed as she assailed him, saliva and blood spattering his clothes. She closed her jaws around the barrel of the gun, and Isaak grunted with the effort of forcing back her immense weight. He kicked helplessly at her chest, squirming beneath her, trying desperately to get away, but he, too, was not quick enough. Realizing that the rifle would not yield to her, she let it go, and a moment later she was upon Isaak's forearm, ripping and rending with her fangs as he cried out in agony.

A blur of rusty red flashed across his vision. Before he realized what he was seeing, another furious roar split the air, and suddenly his arm was freed. Reflexively he pushed himself backward into what he perceived as safety, and it was then that he saw what had happened: Rizana had charged back into the battle and met the grizzly head-on. This time, she had taken the bear by surprise and launched a vicious assault, burying her fangs in the top of her muzzle. Rizana closed her jaws tight on the sensitive flesh and began to push, pull, rend, intending to inflict as much pain as possible as if to say, “I am the one you want!” And it worked. The grizzly had released Isaak and was now focused only on Rizana.

The bear struck out with her massive paws, but found quickly that she could not reach her attacker. So instead she dipped her head and began to thrash her immense weight about in an attempt to shake her loose. Rizana held tight, knowing that if she could only keep the bear away from her master a bit longer, he would kill her. He always did.

It all happened at once. The grizzly turned her head, swinging Rizana sharply to the right, and at the same time, finally managed to catch her with one devastating blow. Her paw met Rizana's ribs with a crushing force, knocking the breath from her chest and sending her somersaulting over herself along the forest floor. Stunned, she lay there for a moment, her ribs a vice around her lungs, until, finally, her eyes snapped open and she dragged in a single, shallow breath. She knew there was no time to recover. As soon as her eyes had opened again, she was twisting upright, forcing herself back onto her feet. And in the blurry, black corners of her vision, she could see the grizzly coming to meet her.

Rizana found her footing, though her chest still burned and the forest was spinning around her. The howl of the wind had been replaced with a high-pitched droning in her ears that blotted out the footfalls of the charging grizzly. Rizana opened her jaws, lips pulled back in a snarl, and charged to close with her prey, ready to attack head-on as she had before. But just before she could sink her teeth into the tender flesh, the bear did something Rizana did not expect: She struck out with a single, mighty paw, and suddenly Rizana's vision exploded into black. There came a burst of agony, but for some time, she did not know what happened. She saw nothing, heard nothing but the whistling drone in her ears, and felt only white hot pain and the cold ground beneath her crumpled body. Everything went quiet.

Then, as suddenly as it had left her, the world came flooding back. She saw light. It was white at first, blinding, but soon she could see the treetops looming above her. She felt the cool, hard ground at her back and the wind in her fur. She heard the screams of her master and the sounds of the attacking grizzly.

She had to get up. Rizana, with what strength remained in her, righted herself again and slowly, trembling, she rose. There was a crushing pain in her chest, and a seething agony in her face, though she knew not where it came from, only that her vision was blurry and black and that she could no longer open one of her eyes. It mattered not to her. She could still see enough to accomplish what she knew needed to be done. She charged.

This time, when she met her opponent, she came in perpendicular to assault the side of the grizzly's neck. This seemed to take her by surprise, because although Rizana tasted no fresh blood on her tongue, felt no flesh yield beneath her fangs, the bear twisted away from her and roared as if in pain. Then she flung her head in Rizana's direction, maw gaping, but again found that she could not reach her attacker. Emboldened, Rizana continued her assault, biting down with the full force of her jaws, ripping and pulling and battering the flesh until it began to yield. And all the while, the grizzly raged. Her roaring tore the forest apart.

So focused was she on Rizana that Isaak again had time to wriggle his way out from underneath her massive bulk. But Rizana took no notice of his escape; not until the report of his rifle ripped through the droning in her ears. All at once, the grizzly ceased fighting. She abandoned her struggle and sunk uselessly to the ground, her mighty head colliding with Rizana's punished ribs. She yelped and growled and scrambled out from underneath the weight. Her chest heaved. Her head felt light and the world around her spun, the black edges of her vision pulsing as they closed in. Suddenly, her legs went out from under her. Her hind legs went first, scrabbling and sprawling in the golden leaves, and then her front. Slowly, she was swallowed up in silence and blackness.

When she awoke, it was with a start. The scent of bear assailed her nostrils and sent her bolting to her feet in alarm. It was only when her gaze settled on the lifeless body of the grizzly beside her that she remembered what happened. She looked up, and a ways off, she spotted something else lying in the underbrush: Isaak. Ignoring the pain that wracked her body, she went to him, and found him on his stomach, motionless. His arm had been crushed beneath the grizzly's jaws. The sleeve of his coat was in tatters, and the flesh beneath was red and oozing blood. There was more blood on his coat, too; some his, some belonging to the bear. His eyes were closed, and his mouth hung slightly agape, his square jaw pressed hard into the earth. Rizana angled her ears toward him and sniffed.

He was alive, if only barely. For some time, she sat down next to him, whining and nosing his shoulder. He never did respond. Rizana did not know how much time passed, but she knew that it was too long. Isaak had never lain still for so long before. He was still breathing, that much she could sense, but he was in a bad way, and she knew it. Slowly, her muscles spent and stiff, she rose again to her feet and began down the slope of the mountain.

When she came into the hunting camp, alone, bloodied, and barking like mad, it took no time at all for the people there to gather that something was wrong. They wanted to touch her, probe at her, but she would not let them. She barked and growled at those who got too close, and time after time she scampered away toward the forest. Then she would turn around and look at the people that surrounded her, talking to her with their strange voices, making noises she did not recognize, and she would bark a low, pleading bark. And eventually, they obeyed, following where she led them, up into the foothills.

It felt like a long time before she saw Isaak again. She was not sure how long it was, for she was kept inside, but the time passed slowly. Unfamiliar hands prodded at her, cleaned the wounds the bear had laid into her flesh, and bandaged her. It was a long time, too—longer than her wait for Isaak—before she could see in both eyes again.