Well, no one except the parrot.
Pan flew gracefully into the passage and landed on Hannah’s shoulder. He began preening himself in a manner that could only be described as extremely self-satisfied. The bird was a fiend—a useful, life-saving fiend—but a fiend nonetheless.
When they had gone a few feet down the tunnel, Eoin lifted the youth off his shoulders and set him on the ground. The adolescent gripped his side, his brown eyes wide in his pinched, too-thin face.
“Are you really going to fight and catch Ursus?” the boy asked.
“Stay here, lad,” Eoin said, not trusting the boy with their ruse. “I’ll return in a moment.”
As much as Eoin wanted to immediately flee with Hannah, simply disappearing could retrigger the terror. The only way to avoid disaster was to mock-fight Ursus and then announce his “victory.”
“You’re going with him?” the youngster asked Hannah as she started to follow Eoin.
“Oh, I’m very good at corralling animals.” Hannah winked, and Eoin couldn’t help but marvel at how she kept her humor even in a circumstance like this.
“How do I pretend to battle a bear?” Eoin asked Hannah as soon as they were out of earshot.
Hannah lifted the shoulder not serving as a parrot-perch and let it drop. “Make a lot of noise, I suppose. Pan will also be happy to assist. As I said, he adores mimicry.”
Hannah glanced over at her passenger. “Pan, can you be a dear and roar again?”
Pan happily obliged. Tossing back his lime head with a flourish, he emitted a rather terrifying growl.
This, of course, displeased Ursus, who was already watching their approach with undisguised loathing. The bruin’s snout shot into the air as the beast let out his own battle cry. Pan snarled right back. Ursus slammed against his cage, the noise echoing down the hall.
Hannah nudged Eoin. “Yell. Pretend you’re grappling with Ursus, but make sure it sounds like you’re winning.”
“Take that, bear!” Eoin shouted, and a blush heated his face even though Hannah was the only witness to this utter farce.
Pan flew into the air as he cackled evilly. Swooping near the beast’s caged head, he emitted a taunting roar—almost as good as the bruin’s own.
Ursus lunged, rattling the wrought iron, his back paws thudding on the ground. His trimmed talons scraped against the metal.
“What’sthat?” someone cried from the arena.
“In you go, you great brute!” Eoin shouted like an extremely bad stage actor.
“Has he already caged the bear?”
“I wish I could see the fight!”
“Yes! Why are we all hanging back?”
Hannah tugged on Eoin’s sleeve. “We best run. Ursus has suffered enough. And those blighters out there are liable to force you into the pit again instead of thanking you.”
Eoin heard a shuffling sound. He glanced over to find the adolescent standing in the gloom, his brown eyes solemn and guarded. Eoin had no idea how much the boy had overheard, but he suspected that the boy realized all their lies.
“The bear’s been caught!” the youth cried out loudly as he motioned for Eoin and Hannah to flee. “The bear’s been caught!”
Eoin nodded his thanks, touched that the distrustful youth had come to their aid. Then he stepped back to allow Hannah to pass.
“You set the pace,” Eoin instructed. “Your stride is shorter.”
And Eoin wanted to protect Hannah. Luckily, she didn’t protest. She only nodded curtly and bolted up the rickety stairs. Eoin waited for a few minutes, watching the tunnel to make sure no one was close behind. Then he turned and took two steps at a time. He easily caught up to her, but he could hear the voices coming closer. When they reached the top, Hannah pounded on the door. Eoin leaned over her to slam his own fist against the oak.
There was the scrape of wood knocking against wood, and then the guard’s face appeared. “Done already? It must have been a good but short fight. It’s been awfully noisy today.”
Eoin squeezed around Hannah and used his bulk to shove the door fully open. The sentinel stumbled back, too shocked to protest. Eoin pressed on the oak panel, pinning the man against the wall. Hannah darted through the opening that Eoin had made. As soon as she had a head start, Eoin tore after her.
