A Touch of Magic

Chapter One

     I wake again to the smell of decaying flesh. I'm not certain if it's from the banquet last night or it's just lingering in the air.
     I rise up and begrudgingly shake off the bear fur keeping me warm. My feet hit the stone floor as I leave my bed. I don't have to decide what to wear because I only have one garment - a brown leather bodysuit and leather shoes.
     I know that breakfast won't be provided, so I don my bow and arrow and head towards the woods.
Before I can exit, an orc stops me.
     "Let me through!" I demand.  Orc is a difficult language to understand, but within my years of staying at this castle, I've come to understand it.
     "Where do you think you're going? Do you have permission to leave the castle?"
     Damn orcs. Revolting creatures. Not a pure bone in their body.
     "I'm just going to catch me some breakfast if that's alright with you."
     He grunts but lets me pass. I figure I'll catch a deer or something substantial like that. I've had far too many squirrels lately. A mother deer has wandered away from her baby to find better grass. The fawn rests and waits for her. I prepare my arrow, placing it just so. It looks so helpless, I almost feel bad for killing it.
     As I go to release the arrow, another brushes my shoulder, barely missing me. The fawn is spooked and runs towards its mother.
Damn it, it seems I've got some competition. I swing around to face my enemy, but instead, my eyes fall on a huntress, pulling off her green velvet hood to reveal her long golden locks.
     A red tailed hawk is perched on her shoulder. Her golden dress blows with the wind. Her eyes are the color of chocolate, matching my own.
     "You were really going to deprive a mother of her only child?"
     Her words pierce me. She speaks as if she knows this deer personally. She turns to the mother, who is shielding her fawn.
     "It's alright. This man won't bother you anymore."
     As if they understand her words, both deer take off into the woods.
     "Thanks for that. I wasn't hungry anyway!"
     I turn to leave before I'm hit in the head with an apple. The woman laughs at me like I'm a fool.
     "There, breakfast!" she giggles.  "Next time, leave my friends alone."
     I can't help but laugh at this.  "Those two deer are your friends?"
     "Indeed. They come by my cottage every morning."
     "How do you know that was her only child?"
     She smiles.  "She told me."
     She strokes the hawk's feathers gently.
     "You've got a friend there."
     I am already wondering how she managed to tame a hawk.
     "His name is Glade."
     "Did he tell you that, too?"
     She laughs at me.  "You can't understand them, can you?"
     Was she mocking me now?
     "Oh, and you can!"
     She simply nods.
     "What's your name?"
     "Evergreen. What's yours?"
     "Brikwood."
     She smiles, and I smile back. She appears to be studying me.
     "I'd better be going now.  I turn to leave.  "Thank you again for breakfast."
     She smiles as I walk away. What a strange girl.