Firefly Light

Chapter 1

Dappled sunlight chased itself across her face as she sped down the game trail. She was in her favorite place, the forest, enjoying a rare moment of solitary freedom. Halls of emerald green, grey and brown lined her path and furnished the shadows through which she ran. The mid summer morning was a warm one with a clear blue sky. Wispy tendrils of mist rose from the forest floor. 

 It had rained the night before, but not heavily, just enough to glisten the leaves and allow them to shed a few stray drops in her direction. She welcomed them, relishing the cool wetness from the trees whenever they found her skin. Appearing to effortlessly glide between the trees, she made almost no noise, avoiding snags and clearing fallen logs with ease and grace.

Gray canvas shoes seemed to barely touch the reddish dirt of the path as she flew on, her long shining black hair flowing in her wake. She ran freely, as fast as she could go, unrestrained by the necessity of slowing to a lesser runner's pace. 

At full speed, no one could escort her, not even Anubis. He would give it his best for a while, but always ran himself to exhaustion.  So she made sure he was deep asleep, feet twitching, dreaming of rabbits, when she got up early and left camp. She ordered the soldiers on watch to chain him to a stake if he tried to follow her scent. 

Zenobia was a different story. The mare could certainly keep pace with her mistress, for an hour perhaps, but Keika wanted to run, not ride. She wanted to be alone in her green temples, reveling in their splendor and free from the haunts of man, at least for a while.

The forest was dense with life, alive with sounds and scents. She could see and sense many of its varied denizens about her. She saw deer, turkeys, squirrels and rabbits, as well as a few foxes and signs of wolves and mountain lions. Despite the fact that no one had hunted in this area for nearly one hundred and thirty years, the game bolted as soon as they detected her. Their instinct was to fear man.  One hundred and thirty years.....and they'll probably still react the same in thirteen hundred years. 

Those automatic reactions were illustrative of the primate's impact on the world. Mankind had certainly proven to be a species to fear and flee. After a time, she slowed her pace and came to a halt at a good-sized stream and walked up the bank for a short distance. Fat brook trout could easily be made out, swimming lazily against the current in the clear cold water. There is a great deal of food in this area that could be harvested for our people.

Because the air near the stream was a bit cooler, she sat down on an embankment under a tree, took off her shoes and short socks and dangled her feet in the water. Brrr, the water was cold, but after the initial shiver, it felt good. As she looked about, she realized how beautiful a spot she had stumbled upon. It was so peaceful and relaxing here she decided to enjoy her breakfast a little early. 

She took off the equipment strapped securely to her back. This consisted of a small equipment rack, including an attached pack, the gold hilted Otani family katana in it's glossy, lacquered sheath, the fine eastern recurve bow awarded to her by Master Mitchell and a quiver holding ten arrows. The items were arranged neatly on the ground beside her, ready to use at a moment's notice. With her feet still in the water, she fell back onto the grassy bank behind her and gazed upwards at the sky through the leafy canopy of the tree, hands behind her head.

Woodland sounds made their way to her finely tuned ears from all directions. Closing her eyes she soaked up the sounds, identifying each in turn. Deer walking past a short distance behind her, squirrels foraging for food or jumping between trees, hawks in the distance and a myriad of songbirds. There were so many sounds, but there was something missing.... she had not heard any crows. They seemed to do better near man's settlements, with their grain and animal fields.