The whispering forest

Chapter 2: The Hunt

We saddled up and headed into the forest. It was the kind of day that made everything look brighter, and I followed Ace into a clearing. when my father told me to give him the command. "Ace," I said, and he looked up at me in anticipation. "Hunt," I said; it was a simple word that would bring us food and clothes. He took off at a sprint, with us following closely behind. He stopped at the edge of the creek. A herd of deer was on the other side. My father looked at me. "If you find an opening, take it," he said, so I drew out an arrow and notched it in my bow, and I waited. When I spotted an elderly buck who had a limp, I waited for him to get closer to the water. When he looked up at us, I released the arrow, which flew true and hit him right in the heart. I heard James whistle from my left. "They sure don't call you an arrow for no reason," Alfred said.

Arrow is a nickname the town has called me since I was 10 because my arrows always hit their target no matter what. We picked our way carefully through the creek and made it to the buck. We put him over Jules's back and used rope to secure him in place. "Okay, one down and one to go," I said, looking at James and Alfred. "Ace hunt," I said, and he took off just as quickly as before. I squeezed my thighs. Charlie moved into a canter as we flew through the forest. I was following behind my father when he stopped rather abruptly. There, in front of him, was a downed tree. "Well, this is interesting," I thought to myself. "Call him back, Ash," my father said in a quiet tone. "Ace, come!" I called, and he came flying over the tree and ran right to my side. My father shifted his gaze from me to the tree and then back. He was calculating something. "You think you can jump it?" he asked me. I looked at the tree and then back at Charlie, and as if he knew what I was thinking, he turned his head towards me and had a look in his eye that said, "Let's do it." "Yes, sir," I said while backing Charlie up so we could get enough momentum to jump it. I breathed in and squeezed my thighs, We took off at a canter and headed right for the tree. I closed my eyes as we left the ground and landed on the soft dirt on the other side.

I let out the breath I was holding, opened my eyes, and let out a cry of excitement when we had done it. "We did it," I called to the other side. "That's fantastic; we'll send James with you, and Alfred and I will stay here and wait for you," my father said. I moved out of the way and waited for James; it wasn't long before he made it up and over the tree. "Are you ready?" I asked him. He nodded at me. I waited a little longer for him to catch his breath. "Ace, Hunt." He took off like a rocket, and we followed after him. He stopped at the edge of a clearing. "Do you want to take the shot this time, James?" "No thanks, you're better at it than me." I pulled out my arrow, notched it in my bow, and waited for the right deer. Then I saw something different than usual. It was a white wolf at the edge of my vision. I turned my head to look at it, but it was gone as quickly as I saw it. I looked back at the clearing and saw an old doe who looked sickly. I pulled my arrow back and then released it just as fast; it flew true and struck her in the heart. We made our way over to her, and it was at this point that I realized a mistake in the plan. We didn't have Jules with us; how were we supposed to get the deer back? I thought quietly to myself. "Can Star carry two people?" I asked James. "Better the both of us than the deer on her back," he said with a smirk on his face. "What's with the smirk?" "Nothing". He had a cocky look on his face. I rolled my eyes and tied the deer onto Charlie's back.

I hopped onto Star's back and looped my arms around James's waist. We headed back to the tree; this is where things get interesting. "I'll pull Charlie up next to me and tie the reins to the saddle horn." Once I did that, I looked him in the eyes. "Stay here with Ace until I whistle for you, okay, Charlie?" He snorted in response. "Okay, James, let's do this." He backed up Star, and before I knew it, we flew up and over the tree. I laughed when we landed on the other side; my stomach was feeling light from jumping the tree. My father smiled at us with a relieved look on his face, which instantly turned into worry when he realized that Charlie and Ace weren't with us. But before he could say anything, I whistled, and both Charlie and Ace came over to the tree together. We moved the doe onto Jules's back, and I hopped on Charlie when I saw it again, the white wolf. I went to turn my head, but just like last time, nothing was there. Weird. I scanned the tree line but didn't see anything. We headed back towards the village, where James and old man Alfred were living on the outskirts. When we got there, we cleaned our hunt and divided it evenly between us; they took the doe's hide and let us take the buck's hide. After that, we headed home.