The Rising Sun

The Duke was now hunting. Among the many sacred rituals of Men, hunting was perhaps the most apreciated by the nobility. It wasn't just for entertainment as it actually kept the Duke's forces in shape in case a war might strike the city-state. Thus many lords chose to hunt as an alternative to fight and keep peace among their vassals. Now in the field, which was a vast forest and extense plains, the Duke, along with a squad of knights, his son the heir to the duchedom, and his son's squire, searched for the most praised game of all the hunting: the Deer. There were many animals provded for hunting, but foxes and rabbits lacked in meat and bears were just to big and risky, thus the deer was a formidable enemy at the hunting game.

Duke Faballe and his knighs got separated from his son and the squire Samuel, thus making hunting a match wich Joseph Faballe was not intending to lose. Joseph scouted the forest, with his squire doing so in the angles Joseph couldn't see. He was completely dresses for his haunter's duty: tall leather boots, thick cotton trunks and underpants, a wool woven shirt and a black cape with a hood. He could have passed by a mere serf had it not been for his black stallion, the greatest of horses, which he won in a duel against a horse breeder north of Tuscany. On the other hand, his squire was just as defenseless as a peasant could be, except for his maple bow and long steel sword.

It was just midday and the sun rose over their heads in the cloudless skies, lighting up the whole forest and giving the perfect conditions for the game. A mild breese ran upon the plains and the grass danced rythmically with the passing winds. It was then that joseph spotted the ellusive deer a few meters to the north.

It was a full-fledged adult. His horns spanned a meter and a hald and he was as tall as Joseph, perhaps taller than his stallion. His thick thyes tensed with every step it took and his enormous neck turned frantically, searching for predators.

Alongside his black stallion, two haunting dogs waited for the signal, the order to kill. One dog was black and huge, and the other one was a replic of the first one, but a few sizes smaller, it was clear that the huge dog was the parent of the second. The dogs waited and gnarled impatiently. The squire loaded a maple-wood arrow with a sharp steel tip onto his two-meter bow. The arrow would have had a flat tip would it have been used against armour, so as to break through the iron, but when haunting, the arrow was meant to pierce the skin and go as far as to the organs and posibbly lease the deer.

Yet, the squire didn't shoot. A squire should never shoot before his lord and Samuel stared nervouslly at Joseph. He knew that if he didn't beat his father this time, there'd be no dinner tonight, as a self imposed punishment for Joseph and his men. Joseph hadn't even gotten a grip of hiw bow.

-My lord, the deer is grazing, he hasn't become aware, we should shoot now.
-Oh, he is aware. Look at his ears, they are thrust behind, he is listening at his surroundings, I bet he can hear you and I talking and the dogs gnarling.
-Sorry signore, it wasn't my intention to sound condescendent.
-You didn't.

Joseph carefully dismounted the stallion and trotted in front of the deer. A fallen trunk was just in the middle of him and his prey, but that trunk could cost him his game. The horse would surely have to jump, and by the time it landed the deer would have gotten away. Josep had to be really carefull and try not to startle the deer.

Samuel unloaded the arrow and sighed. He knew his lord would want a face to face encounter with the deer and wouldn't shoot it from behind, nor take chances hiding behind a fallen tree. This called for perhaps another hour of persecution. He placed his arrow in a quiver hanging by the horses ribcage, high enough for him to be able to quickly grab one, load and shoot in less than five seconds. Master archers were able to do this even faster.

Any movement now would be crucial, every sound, breath, heart beat, anything could make the deer escape. Samuel held his breath as he approached Joseph and the dogs light steps simulated a ghost's walk. Then when the party was in front of the deer and the animal stared at them with his enormous black eyes, the seconds seemed days, and the silence was deafenning. A breath, a heart beat, a broken branch.

The dear reacted to the broken branch's sound and ran away, one leg after the other one, and jumping with his hinds. Joseph slapped his forehead and didn't even look at the fallen tree's branch that Samuel had stepped on. The squire's cheeks were red with shame but they both held silence. Joseph didn't want to embarass Samuel any more than he knew his squire was.

Lord and squire, plunged in a ferocious cavalcade raced after the stud. One tree, four trees, ten trees passed at Joseph's eyes, but the deer kept his pace and position in front of him. He knew the deer wouldn't run on to the plain, it would be a too easy mark, so he was calculating all the different directions it could take.

With a hand gesture he indicated Samuel to take the right, while he strode left,and the dogs kept running straight forward to the deer, which nervously gazed right and left, looking for his predators' hideout and attack plan. A few moments later he saw two horses approach from northeast and northwest, and knew he'd had to fight or die.

He planted his front hooves down hard on the ground, and lowered his head. A full strike of his horns could easilly kill the smaller horse and mortally wound the stallion, but it would need the right timing. The horses suddenly stopped. The dogs caught up to him and he struck the big one, right in the snout. The old dog cried a pitifull sound, as if the blow had taken all of him.

-Laelaps!- cried Joseph, the old dog was lying at a tree's base, while Sirius, the other dog, was biting the stud's neck, avenging his father's slaing. The deer frantically moved left and right, in an attempt to send his attacker flying in the air. In his panic, he couldn't see Joseph load a steel arrow, point, and shoot. The arrow crossed his neck side to side, with the steel tip breaking the neck vein and opening a cascade of blood that bathed Sirius until all his black fur shone with a crimson sprite. The deer still gave a tremendous fight, rampaging on to the horses and knocking Samuel off his seat. Joseph shot another arrow straight to the front right leg and the deer fell, still fighting the dog off, but Sirius ripped of some of his neck and the deer's head snapped sideways.

-Are you all right Samuel?- asked Joseph, giving his squire a hand to help him stand.
-Yes sire, I'm fine, many thanks.
-Seems the game has ended.
-It seems so master.

Both men sighed, reliefed by the end of the battle, but Sirius licked his father's snout, believeing he was yet alive in some kind of way. A few minutes later Laelaps was buried beneath that grat oak tree, and with Samuel's kitchen knife they carved Laelaps in the old bark. They patted Sirius and grinned at the game which costed Joseph his best dog's life.

-Wait, we are far away from the castle, how are we going to take it home?, it's just to heavy.- asked Samuel

-Damn...