Hunting Freedom

The woods came to life with the chorus of exotic birds and the ecosystem flowing in between my fingers as I lifted my bow to the gazing turkey. I lock my purple determined eyes on the staring turkey and slowly pull out an arrow from my bag. Carefully aligning it on my wooden carved bow, I pull back the string and breathe with anticipation. "Aim" I mutter under my breath as I release. The arrow escapes my hold and strikes the turkey straight and clean, blood pouring out the specimen as I approach the corpse. I smile down at the fresh kill and begin to feel proud. It meant more food for the village and more pay from the local butcher. Thank Fairytale for the new bow Rickey gave me, I thought. Rickey Coltrins, the local blacksmith's son, was always a close friend of mine who helped me through many things that I sometimes think I never thank him enough about.

I secure the expertly-crafted bow behind my back and carry the delectable dinner in my arms as I head back to Fairytale, a village filled with mystical creatures, happenings unimaginable, information beyond the average human's capacity, and beauties that cannot be captured by the naked eye. I emerge from the thick evergreen trees and stare out at the vast settlement containing bustling amounts of people and the sounds of laughter and chatter. I was soon greeted by dozens of tiny giggling children climbing up the tiny mound of earth to reach me. They soon swarmed around me like a hive of bees to investigate my finds. They always enjoyed my company and stories, and their company never bothered me. The awe-struck faces on those little girls and boys always filled my heart with pride and excitement, and the way they intently listened to my wisdom made me feel important and worthy of all ears. Of course, like the routine goes, I head towards the butcher to receive my pay of 360 coins. I thank the bulky muscular man for his gift and shove the coins into my right leather jacket pocket.

As the day went by, the bright sun of the afternoon melted away by the shades of darkness and hues of purples and blues. I paced across unlit paths back to my home, and look over to my left at the blacksmith's workshop. I stop momentarily to search for the familiar face of Rickey. I find him putting away the supplies from another day's work and catch him looking at me. I wave delightfully and smile at him. He waves back and beams brightly, although I can tell he's overcome with fatigue. I quickly run over the window, realizing that the blacksmith isn't anywhere in sight.

"Hey Rickey! How was work?" I greet cheerfully. He looks up as soon as he places a box of what seemed to be screws on a giant log desk and walks over to the window to see me. "Hey Diana. It was alright; just did some stuff for the blacksmith. He broke his desk on purpose and told me to rebuild it exactly as it was before. Kind of frustrating, but I think I got it pretty much identical," he answers and looks over at the log desk with the box of screws on top of it. "It looks nice, Rickey! He'll be very proud of it when he sees it, I'm sure," I say positively. I notice his face soften as he looks at his work, and he nods without looking back at me. After a while, he clears his throat and turns to me, remembering I was still here. "How was work for you, Diana?" I laugh and shrug. "Pretty much the norm, except I caught a speckled turkey and a buck while I was hunting. The children were so fascinated with the turkey." He smiles at me. "I really want to go hunting with you, but I just haven't found the time to be honest. Once my apprenticeship is over, I will be going out much more often," he says sarcastically. We both laugh at the thought. He's been at this job for 2 and a half years, but to us it felt like a decade. At least he was doing something he loved to do.

"Well I had better get going. It's getting late and I don't want to get caught in the dark…" I sigh heavily. He nods and looks at me with some worry. He knew I was frightfully afraid of the dark, so he didn't bother asking me to stay longer. We waved goodbye, and I continued running down the path until I reached my home. It was a mahogany two-story shack that stood tall and beautiful on a large mound with the forest as its neighbor, surrounding half of the hill with tall canopy trees. I climb up the mossy stone stairs up to my comfortable home. I swing open the door and unzip my black hunting boots at the door. Once they are removed from my feet, I collapse on the large couch.

I sat in the large living room of my house with the walls covered in vines and tree branches I collected from the forest to decorate my home, a large deep brick fireplace on the wall facing the door that the blacksmith put together for me when I moved into Fairytale, and other wooden antiques and furniture scattered around the room. It was a comfortable living area, and it was one of my favorite rooms in the house. As I relax in my sofa and enjoy the lovely atmosphere of the room, the door bell chimed and interrupted my peace of mind. I sighed heavily, run my right hand through my hair, and slowly rise from the comfortable couch. I didn't want to get up at all, but I couldn't let whatever was at my door pester me as I was relaxing. My hand leaves my side as I reached for the handle of the door, but I pause. Who would come to my door so late at night? After thinking about that, I quickly run into my kitchen, which was attached to my living room, and grab a butter knife. It was a silly thing to grab, but anything was better than nothing.

Keep quiet, keep quiet,

I repeated to myself as I crouched into a corner near the door. Whatever or whoever was at the door, I couldn't risk my life and take a chance. But what if Rickey was at the door? I never thought about that as I grabbed the butter knife. I was only thinking about a psycho of some kind being at my door, not a friend or angel ego appeared on my right shoulder and hugged itself intensely. "Please open the door, Diana! What if Rickey is checking up on you?" she said sweetly. A growl came from the devil ego on my left shoulder and rolled her eyes. "Are you nuts angel face? If she opens that door, Diana might get ambushed and BOOM! Dead!".They continued to bicker and fight, begging for me to choose their opinions to solve the situation. I chose to hide the butter knife behind my back and slowly rose from my crouched position to answer the door and go with my decision. The devil ego wailed angrily as the angel ego danced with joy that her opinion was accepted, but I ignored both of their opinions. I was going to do something completely different. Grabbing the handle, I opened the door.

The door swung behind me and all I was greeted with was the chilly air of the night and the presence of no one waiting for me. "What?" my devil and angel ego said in unison. I look down at the wood deck and notice whoever rang the doorbell dropped something. It was a pearly white envelope with a blue seal on the front, and a blue ribbon on the back. I crouched down and clutched the letter, inspecting it carefully. I picked myself up and turned around, closing the door behind me with my right leg as I walked away. The letter had no return address, nothing but the bright blue seal and the ocean blue ribbon. However, I did not recognize the seal the more I looked at it, but after a while I assumed it was the shape of a horse head or some kind of animal head. Grabbing the tiny ribbon, I untie the fabric and break the seal of the clean white envelope. There was a single piece of paper folded and secured in the tiny package. It was creased and folded perfectly, as if someone took careful time into making this letter presentable and perfect.

I walked over to my couch and opened the folded paper as I sank down into the sofa. My angel and devil ego appeared back on my shoulders as I examined the letter written in too perfect handwriting and deep blue ink.

Dear Ms. Diana,

It has come to my attention that your village is the perfect harboring community that my population needs for their personal needs and requirements. Also, our population was the first to claim these woods that surround your establishment, and we want to make it clear that we are permanently claiming them. We kindly request that you no longer enter the forest for any purposes whatsoever, or our Aikin Army will take care of you, your family, and anyone who does not follow these requirements personally and discretely. We thank you for your understanding and give kind regards. I have asked these of you calmly and kindly, but it you ignore our requests, we will harshly deal with you and your entire village. Please keep that in mind.

Kind regards,

Balthazar

The letter was extremely confusing and made me outraged. Who was this Aikin Army and Balthazar? How could they claim the forests that neighbor our village? I never see them using its resources. I've never even heard of them whatsoever. And what was all this talk about dealing with us "personally" it we did not cooperate? They threatened to take care of "me, my family, and anyone who did not follow the requirements" personally and discretely. I ball my fists in anger and confusion. He had absolutely no right to do something so inhumane to our village and my family. Whoever this Balthazar guy was, I wasn't going to let him control my decisions and ruin my career and everything I worked for.

If anything happened to the village, I would protect it with my life. I ripped the letter in shreds and threw the remains across the room. This whole threat was getting to me. I yawn from fatigue and sleepiness and look over out the window. The sky was pitch black with only a round pale moon in the middle surrounded by tiny twinkling dots. I slowly rise from my position and briskly walk to my bedroom, which was connected to the living room on the other side of the kitchen. Once I walk through the mahogany door of my bedroom, I take in the scenery. My bedroom was deep red and creamy white with an assortment of antiques I fell upon while on my adventures through the forest or that were given to me from friends and family. A lace fishnet hung from the ceiling and covered my king-size cushiony purple and red bed filled with pillows and layers of blankets for chilly nights. Bookshelves were filled to its' capacity with books and guides I either bought myself or received from others. Many of them I have never found the time to read, but some I have read numerous times on my spare time. Most of the books in the shelves were romantic genres or suspenseful mysteries, but I had a couple of adventure series'.

I sighed heavily after a while of standing there and staring at my room and walked to my bed. I belly-flopped into the covers and pillows and didn't even bother pulling the covers over me or changing out of my clothes. I was way too tired to do anything, and the letter didn't do much for me whatsoever. Closing my eyes, I fell into a deep slumber. I dreamed of a world where villagers kept hidden. Cries came from dark corners, and the sounds of slices and the pain of a sword rang through the air. I opened my eyes to find myself tied to a cross covered in blood stains and deep slashes from a severe beating. To my right is Rickey, worn from a beating of his own. His eyes were weary and he looked to be in deep pain. I stared at him sympathetically and winced at a sudden sting coming from a cut across my abdomen.

Balthazar stood idle and observed the destruction, the pain, and the suffering that I had promised to protect with my life. He took a sip of what seemed to be wine and gave an evil cackle, something I've never heard in my life. The sounds pierced my ear drums, and I began to cower in fear and excruciating pain, but never made a sound. My bright red hair, once long and beautiful, but now cut unevenly from the blows, fell over my tear-streaked and dirt-covered face as I wept silently to myself. Villagers standing by in the trees hiding from the army look at my with desperate eyes of confusion and terror. "You could've warned us" Rickey said wearily, staring at me weep as he struggled to free himself from the pain of his scars. You could have warned them, Diana. I began to hear screams in my head and faces swarmed through my thoughts with looks of accusation and anger at my pitiful body. Beads of sweat rolled down my face, and I could feel myself heat up in frustration and embarrassment. Suddenly, a pair of strong hands grabs my bare shoulders and begins to wrestle me. The voices continue, growing louder and louder until one particular voice overpowers the cries. "Diana! Diana! Wake up!" the voice says. My eyes shoot wide open and I gasp for air. I'm back in my bed, staring up at Rickey's worried face. I blink uncontrollably in confusion. What just happened?

"Are you alright, Diana? You were sweating really bad, and you were screaming and crying. The whole town heard you, so I ran as fast as I could to check if you were okay," he questioned me. I raise one eyebrow at him to show that I was unaware of what he was asking me. Had I really been screaming in my sleep? That dream though… it was so frightening and seemed so real. I could feel the pain and hear the screams. I slowly sit up as he releases my shoulders. I'm still panting from the dream as I try to gather my thoughts back together. "I think I'm okay…" I say slowly after a while. He looks at me as if he thinks I'm lying and grabs my hand to help me stand up.

"I'm really worried about you, Diana. I've never seen you like this before," Rickey sighed. I look up at him and try to hide my fear. He was absolutely right. I've never acted like this before. I had to calm down. I walk around him to my closet and begin to look through my clothes when I remembered he was in the room as well.

"Are you going to stand there and watch me dress or..?" I turn around and question playfully. Rickey's eyes widened and he turned swiftly away, slightly blushing and walked off into the living room. After inspecting my closet, I pick out my light white t-shirt and a pair of camouflage short shorts. I pull off my tight leather clothes I never took off last night that were now soaked in sweat from the heat of the covers and the fear of the dream. After removing the drenched clothes, I pull on the soft white t-shirt to cool me off and the camouflage shorts. I then grab my long red hair and double checked to see it wasn't cut like in the dream. Once I was sure that my hair was fine, I pulled it back into a high ponytail, leaving some hair on my elf ears. After looking into the mirror to check my appearance, I stroll out into the living room and see Rickey streaking on the camouflage ink across his defined cheeks. It looked like he was having some trouble with the paint. "Is this stuff really necessary for hunting?" he groaned in disgust.

"Well of course. It makes the hunting mojo more effective." I tease and smirk at him. He looks down and smiles back at me, his face smeared with an unsuccessful coat of camouflage ink. I snicker at his failure and grab the ink from the table. "What?" he asks as I continue to laugh at him. "You messed up the ink big time," I giggle. Grabbing a napkin, I wipe off the smears he made before and make new neater ones on his soft skin. I catch him staring at me as I work, and I stare back at him. He eyes dart to the other way at that split second and his cheeks begin to glow red. Once I was done, he returns to a straight standing position and looks down at me again. I smile up at him and turn the other way to the door to get our weapons with him following behind me. I snatch the bow off the rack nailed on the wall by the door and grab my arrows. Rickey picks up his cross bow off the ground and brings his sack of arrows that he made before he got here. I guess he assumed we would go hunting today and came prepared. Thank goodness for that, because I didn't want to supply him with arrows the whole time. He turns the knob and steps out of the way so I can walk out first. I smile and nod at him as I step out of the house. He steps from behind the door and follows me, closing the door behind him as he walks.

The woods came to life with the chatter of the birds and the sounds of leaves crunching under an animal's feet. The trees hung over Rickey and I, blocking out the bright summer sun, and yet tiny amounts of sunshine poked through the trees and gave warmth to all who went under them. As we crept down the path looking for prey, my mind trailed off to the letter I received last night. Will they be patrolling the forest now that they've made such a threat? I pause in my step and feel Rickey bump into my back. "Hey what was that for-" I quickly shushed him and continued to listen. He whispered softly, "What's going on?" I suddenly realized what I had heard. I heard voices and stomps coming down the path. I snatched the collar of his shirt and pulled him into underbrush with me to hide from the suspicious sounds. I put a finger on his surprisingly soft lips and listened intently for someone to arrive. After a minute or two, two enlarged pig demons appeared, talking loudly. Suddenly, my devil ego appeared on my right shoulder. "Look who brought the bacon home," she said in an annoyed voice. My angel ego emerged from the angelic fog of her arrival and glared at the devil ego. "Very funny, Devil!" I rolled my eyes at them and listened for anything the pork chops had to say.

"Where did those stupid Woodwind elves go? I swear I heard her…" The blue demon pig growled in an annoyed tone. The red demon glared at the other. "You probably took us the wrong way, you tone deaf pork chop!" he spat angrily.

"Well wherever she went, she probably outran us by now. We're pretty slow, you know. Perhaps we should have brought our running shoes…" the blue one said thoughtfully. The red one rolled his eyes and grabbed his arm. They began to stomp back in the direction they came, and once they were out of earshot, I dragged Rickey out of the underbrush and brushed the twigs and leaves off my clothes.

"What in the world would they want with us? We didn't do anything wrong, did we?" Rickey asked me with confusion clouding his eyes. I look down at the ground, and he realizes that I have been hiding something just by looking into my eyes. "Dee… what's going on?" he questions suspiciously. I look up at him with guilt in my eyes, and eventually tell him the situation. He listens carefully, never taking his eyes off of me, and when I'm finished with my piece, he looks bewildered trying to take all this information in.

"Dee, I just… can't believe this. Why would they want to do something like that?" Rickey said slowly, still trying to process the information. "We should warn the village and attack first! The woods are our only resource for food, and you of all people would know that". We continued to walk down the path until we say the Roaring Falls. He grabbed my hand and helped me onto a damp rock and we sat together and began to think.

"I don't think so, Rickey. That's not very battle wise. I don't know how strong their army is, or their battle methods. It's impossible to predict we will have a chance against them if we don't know how they fight or their experience." I sigh, rejecting his idea. He sighs momentarily after me, still thinking of what we could possibly do. Then he looks up as if he came up with an idea. "We should tell the village, but not attack. We need to plan and investigate their army. If we do that, than we can get a better understanding of their methods and how we can approach this war." I look over at him and admire him. That was actually a really good strategy. We would just need to figure out a way to get into their community without causing too much attention, gather the information we needed, and come back to the community and come up with a battle method.

"That's a really good idea, Rickey. Let's just find a way into their community without being seen, get what we need, and make the battle method." I said, accepting his idea. I jump off the rock and wrap my arms around his torso. He looks a bit stunned, but I could tell he felt some sense of pride for me accepting his idea, a thing I normally didn't do, because I always found a better way to solve a situation.

"Diana..." Rickey said softly as we stood there by the waterfall embracing. The feeling was warm and secure. I didn't feel any slight fear as we held each other. It was a wonderful emotion. Suddenly, my devil ego appeared on my right shoulder, along with my angel ego. "What are you doing? He's not worth your body warmth, Diana! Let him go!" my devil ego said harshly. My angel ego looked offended and spoke in an annoyed tone. "Why would you say something so naive? They are just absolutely perfect for each other. What they need to do now is kiss and love will be born," she swooned. The devil ego rolled her eyes and looked disgusted at the whole love idea. I ignored them and look up at Rickey. His face is calmer, and his eyes appear to show some emotion I cannot detect. Perhaps it was pride? "He obviously loves you, Diana!" the angel ego said, as if the emotion was a slap in the face. My devil ego nodded, finally agreeing to something my angel ego said.

"Rickey? Are you alright?" I asked in a concerned tone. His eyes widen as if the question has shocked him. "Y-yeah… I'm fine, Diana," he said positively, as if nothing was wrong. I raise one eyebrow at him, and begin to feel something deep down in my stomach. Was it butterflies? I've never felt such a nervous, fluttery feeling. Perhaps this was love. "Well? What are you waiting for? Kiss him already, Diana!" My angel ego said, scolding me for waiting too long.

I fluttered my eyes and begin to think about what I should do next. Yet even though my head was telling me to say something, my heart was saying something different. I leaned in closer to his face and notice his eyes soften and his emotion ease as I reach for his lips. Then suddenly, he looks up and sees something in the trees. He stops moving, and his face hardens into fear. I stop moving as well and get confused. Was this regular? "Diana. They're here. They're watching us," he said slowly, as if to not draw attention to the hogs we encountered before. I swiftly turn around and see the two pairs of bright gleaming familiar eyes staring uncontrollably at us. My eyes widen in fear as they emerge from the shadows of the trees. "Well now. Look who we found," the blue one said with evil humor to the red one, who laughed at his joke.

"I wonder if they're afraid," the red one bellowed. I looked him with a disgusted face and challenged his assumption. "We're not the least bit afraid of you pork chops," I growled. The blue hog looked me with confusion. He must have not thought I was a confident elf. I could feel Rickey tremble as I placed his hand on his chest. "Calm down, Rickey. They can sense your fear," I whisper to him softly. He stops shivering and looks down at me trying to appear as calm as possible. "Don't try pretending to be brave, you daft elf," the blue hog threatened. I turn my head to the blue hog and shoot an evil glare at his puny eyes. I remove my hand from Rickey's chest and slowly step to the two hogs, still holding my glare. They stare at me with confusion as I approach them, and don't know how to react. By the time they find out what I'm about to do, it is already too late. I punch the blue hog straight across his face, making blood pour out his nose and spit fly everywhere. Then I reach for an arrow and shoot the red hog deep in the abdomen. They both fall to the ground, and I kick them both to the side to ensure they won't reach me.

I turn around to face Rickey and his shocked expression. He looked to be completely stunned by my actions. "What is it?" I question simply. I can tell he's trying to find words to say, but nothing is coming out of his mouth. I raise one eyebrow at him, waiting for a response, but once I realize I'm not going to receive one, I walk up to him. His mouth closes as I come within reach of him. What I do right then is something neither him nor I expected. I grab his head and pull it to my face. Our lips smash together, and that is when the passion begins. I can feel his hot breath on my lips as we kiss, and the feeling is indescribable and absolute perfection. It was hard to believe I did something so impractical and surprising, but the moment was too bliss to argue with. It wasn't like I didn't enjoy the kiss, but it was certainly overwhelming and completely new. Once we broke our lips apart, I open my eyes to find him staring gently at me, as if he enjoyed the kiss as well. I try to think of something to do or say, and can't think of anything. He simply smiles down at me and stands back up straight. "Come on. We should get going to the Chief's house. It might not be too far away from another experience with more Wart Hogs." He takes my hand and leads me down the mound of earth and into the forest. As we travel back to town together, holding hands like we normally do together just as a friendly thing, I no longer felt that way about him. It was as if I wanted more out of him. I no longer felt like a friend to him. The longing for a romantic view of me from him was what I was expecting from him after that kiss. However, despite these feelings consuming my thoughts, I kept the silence continuing as we traveled. It still makes me wonder why I never said anything.