Crusaders Part 11

Twelve years ago

The boy ran into the forest to look for his sister of age five. She had followed a stray dog into the forest and Mother is worried. Now the boy is only ten but he is built like his father and has the courage of a bear. He ventured in without a consideration for the dangers he might faced. His main concern was his sister, and that of his care comes before anything else.

"Mary! Mary! Speak to me. Where are you?" The boy may be of that tender age but his sense of skills in the hunt is on he has been taught since five. He used to follow his father into the woods and he would be the fetcher of the trapped animals. But of late, his father is now serving in some army fighting some frontier war leaving him to care for the family. He had ventured into the forest to hunt but not with a musket but a short blade around his waist belt. He traps them small animals now more than to pursue a deer or a bear. The later he would run more from than to attempt any confrontation. That has been their life; a series of avoiding confrontation with the outsiders and choosing to live in the deep forest. They survived on the wild roots and plants with the supplement of meat by their catch in the traps or hunts.

This was not their life before as the boy can remember when he was younger at the age of three, it was a lavish house with servants. But one night, his parents took him to leave for the dark forest and they never emerged from it again. Now he does not understand why his father choose to fight another man's war when he has banished himself to the forest.

But that is not the concern today, as he was more concerned that his sister could had wandered deep into the forest as there are tales of beasts that east the hunters. He prayed to God that she is safe and nearby, but his instinct tells him to move there to search while its still light. He moved as fast as he could, jumping over the roots of the large trees and ducking the low branches. Then he heard the howl which he knows is that of pain. In the forest, when such a howl is heard its either of man or beast. If its the later, its best to put it out of the misery or it would hunt the man as we are the slowest and clumsy among all the animals in the forest.

"Mary!" But the reply he got was a growl.

He crouched down and crawled to the source of the sound. He slowly part the bushes to laid his eyes on the injured beast. Its a huge beast and all covered in fur but it has a head that resemble a wolf and yet its not a wolf. Its injured in the chest and there is a wooden stake in it right thigh. Its trying to pull it out but it won't budge at all. The boy slowly got up to his feet and withdraw his blade. He knows he has to do something, as this beast is not of the forest and may kill again. The last he assumed based on the tales his father had told him of the wild beast that resembled man who has fur on them are man-killers. The boy went up to the beast who now pulled away further to avoid him.

He fears me but why. I am just a boy and he is twice my size.

"The beast knows you. He does not want to see you here." I turned to face the man who spoke of those words. He is old native man dressed in buckskin and carries a short staff with some feathers on it. "He fears you would know the truth, but then again he needs you to save him as you are his destined savior."

"Who are you?" He seen these people before when they come by the house but they do not come in or harass us. They may stop at our well and take a drink or change a pelt for a live chicken. Most time Mother deals with them but she goes out armed with her dagger and pistols cocked to fire. Father, if he is around, would stand guard behind her with his musket and saber.

"I am 'The one who travels' and many lands I have traveled. I seen many things and learned many more. The one you see as a beast may not be one but right now that is not important. You must assist in removing the stake from it leg and also the arrowhead on its back. Then we would talk." The old man point to the beast who is still writhing in pain but avoiding the boy's stare.

The boy senses no fear than but to move forth until he was at the beast's feet. He slowly moved his hand holding the dagger to the thigh that was injured. The beast does not moved but its snarling at the young boy. The boy's hand reached the wooden stake and he used it to prod at the wooden stake causing the beast to howl in pain. By then, the boy has moved his body over the beast legs and sat on the knee of the injured leg. The wooden stake was impaled from the front and the sharper end is at the rear. It may had cut into the flesh but not the bone. The boy knows not of how to remove the stake but he knows how to pull out on from the ground. He dropped his blade and reached out with both hands on the stake. He pulled with all his strength on the stake and the beast howled in a loud call that could be equal of that to a man's call for mercy.

The boy threw the wooden stake he had just pulled out while the beast has fallen into an unconscious state.

"The arrowhead in his back needs your blade."

The boy turned to the native and asked him; "why do you not do it? You are a man but I am a boy."

"Yours is the destiny and mine is the witness. Do it now while it sleeps." The boy hesitated and then reached for his blade. He was in mind to kill the beast as what his father has told him before. "If you kill it, you would regret it for the rest of your lifetime. Do as I say."

"You helped me to push it over. I cannot move this load alone." The boy told the old native who have now come forth to assist him. The boy took his blade to part the fur at the wound entry. He saw the broken off arrowhead that has struck in the beast back. He took the blade to pry open the wound and reached for the arrow head. The piece came off and the wound is bleeding.

"Now this is my work. Step aside, brave one." The old native took over to administrate on the bleeding while the boy sat back. Then he remembers why he is in the forest.

"My sister?" The boy stood up and was to run again through the forest but the native old man spoke up.

"Your sister is back at home. Go back and await your father soon." The native old man ignored the boy when the boy took to his heels to run home. The old man was right as she did come home and she was not in the forest, but nearby in the stream area.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------