The sun was shining brilliantly across the farm, as Rachael was getting ready to go out. She was wearing the traditional riding gear brown breeches, a cream t-shirt, high boots and a riding jacket. She was just fitting on her helmet when the owner of the farm came to see her off. “Beautiful day for a ride isn’t it?” Morris asked smiling. Rachael turned to face him and answered “It is very, that you for letting me out today” With that she fixed the last strap in place and walked towards the horses.
“It is not a problem; you have come along way from the girl that cried when I first set her on a horse.” He laughed then, a happy, carefree laugh. It made Rachael smile as she remembered all the times before coming here and riding around the lakes.
When they reached the stables, Morris held the gate open for Rachael to pass through. He then followed her to the horse pen, in it there were five horses ready to go but he knew the one Rachael would choose. Rachael walked over to Raven, a white stallion of sixteen hands. It was a joke that he was called Raven as he was pure white as opposed to the standard jet black of a real raven. Rachael loved him, he was the horse that she had first learned to ride on and she choose him any time she came to the farm.
Morris threw her a sugar cube to give to Raven; Rachael caught it deftly and offered it in an open hand to the horse. It looked at her and licked it off her hand into his mouth. She then put her foot into the right stirrup and jumped up onto the horse’s back. She led Raven out of the pen and Morris locked it again. They walked side by side talking about where she would be heading and at the edge of the farm Morris wished her good luck and turned to head back to his home.
Rachael spoke softly to Raven ‘Want to run and get those legs stretched?’ She asked, and as if answering Raven snorted and nodded its head forward. Rachael then dug her heels into the stirrups and Raven started to run. As he got faster and faster Rachael was filled with a joy that only this experience could bring her. The sun was shining on her face and the wind coursed through her hair and Raven’s mane.
She slowed and led Raven down the track through the forest towards the lake, as they passed through the trees she heard birds singing and saw rabbits and squirrels run about, living their lives happily. The sun was shining through the canopy of the leaves, sending streaks of light down to the floor beneath. This was a brilliant sight that would take your breath away. Raven was enjoying himself also, he loved watching the small mammals run about beneath him and listen to the songs only the birds here could sing.
Time passed slowly around them as they reached the lake. There Rachael dismounted and tied Raven to the post she had created years before. She left Raven to graze and rest as she walked to the waters edge. Here the sun reflected on the surface of the water and she could see fish swimming freely beneath. The lake was surrounded by trees, almost like a magical ring that was secreted away at the heart of the forest. The birds continued to sing and it sounded like she was standing in a hall surrounded by choir singers, singing in unison, voices rising and falling in perfect harmony. The songs the birds sang sank to her very soul and lightened it, she feel like one with the world around her while standing here in this spot. Nothing ever bothered her here, the problems she had in her daily life dissolved as if taken by the lake and dispersed in it.
Raven started to snort and whine and so Rachael turned. When she made eye contact he turned his head out towards her left, peering into the forest there she saw a patch of brambles and it… She peered closer and started to walk towards it. In it she saw a fawn, trapped and cut. She ran over to it and kneeled. It was quite far in and she knew she would have to go in to save it. She went on her hands and knees and crawled slowly towards the fawn, by this time it had stopped trying to flee and stared at her. She spoke to it softly telling it to remain calm and that everything would be alright. The brambles started to catch and dig into her clothes as she moved nearer to the fawn, still it was out of her reach and she continued towards it. For every small movement towards the fawn the brambles dug into and cut her more deeply and painfully but she would not back away, through the pain and the blood flowing freely through off her, she reached the fawn, She pulled the brambles out of its side with her hands and held it close to her with one hand as she backed out of the brambles.
When she got out she checked the fawn wounds, its side and back legs were badly cut but it should be fine once they heal. She on the other hand was cut all over her back, sides, arms and legs. The pain was blinding her as she walked towards Raven, who sensing the pain she was in started to get agitated. She untied Raven from the post and walked towards him to mount him. He leaned forward allowing her to climb onto his back easily, without her digging her heels he started to run. Each time his feet hit the ground sending a bolt of pain through her. Still when they were running through the forest she was happy, the day was still beautiful and the fawn was licking the blood off her hands.
When they approached the farm, Morris saw them and stepped out to meet them, but when he saw Rachael hunched forward and bleeding opened the gates for Raven and ran inside to fetch his wife and medical kit. When he and his wife came out again they saw Raven walking towards the house with Rachael still clinging to his back. When he saw the fawn in Rachael’s hands, he dropped the medical kit and handed his wife the fawn while he helped Rachael off the horse and into the house. He looked back and had to leave Raven in the yard alone.
When they got into the house, Morris set Rachael onto the spare bed and proceeded to bandage and wash her wounds, while he was doing so Rachael asked about the fawn. Morris said that it was fine and his wife was taking care of it.
In the other room, Morris’ wife Ann was washing down the cuts on the fawn’s legs and back. She then bandaged them up as the fawn fell asleep, exhausted from its ordeal; she then carried it into the other room with Morris and Rachael and set it down beside her. Rachael stroked the fawn for a while and talked to it before she herself went to sleep. Seeing this Morris and Ann left to close the gates and put Raven back into his pen.
A week later, with Rachael and the fawn nearly fully recovered, Rachael was getting ready to take the fawn back to its real home again. They had become great friends and she would play with it everyday as its legs were healing. Now it could run again and jump about and her cuts were fading rapidly.
Morris again led her and Raven out to the edge of the farm but this time the fawn walked beside them happily as if it had forgotten about the incident the week before. Morris then lifted the fawn up into Rachael’s lap when she was about to let Raven run. With this the fawn settled itself comfortably on her lap and stared out to the forest ahead, waiting to be back with its family.
Rachael dug her heels and Raven started to run, run towards the forest in another beautiful and sunny day. The birds sang around them and the fawn tried to join in, singing its own deer song. This made Rachael laugh but at the same time saddened her that this was her last day with the fawn.
When the got to the lake, Rachael jumped off Raven and tied him to the post once again, she then helped the fawn down to the ground, which went to the lake’s edge to take a drink of the water. The ripples that caused went along the whole lake making the sun glint off the surface in an array of colours. She then walked up to its side and crouched beside it, stroking its soft body.
To her left she heard a bleat, and she and the fawn both looked up. There beside the bramble bush she crawled into the week before was two deer, one male and one female. They started to walk cautiously towards her and the fawn. The fawn took a few steps towards the deer coming their way, then looked back to Rachael. The look in the fawn’s eyes told her that the deer were the fawn’s parents. She told the fawn to go on and started to cry, realizing this could be the last time she saw it. The fawn walked over to its parents and its mother licked the back of its neck and they turned and walked away, the big male turned again and bowed its head as if thanking Rachael for saving his child’s life. This filled Rachael with thrilled emotion and she sat there remembering the day she saved the fawn’s life.
