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It was unusual that Tree would take so long to scout out the area ahead. SilverFox’s only recourse was to believe that something had gone wrong. What happened to him he did not know? He knew very well now that he could not go in the direction that his friend had gone and had to decide quickly, for his men’s sake, where they would go next.
“Listen up! We cannot stay here and we cannot go in the direction that Tree went to scout out ahead. Leave the road, we must. It is the only way that we can reach my father safely and deliver the message that is the only thing that will save our kingdom from our enemies.”
“But, Tree? What are we going to do about him? He is our best scout and has assisted our kingdom for many centuries,”
Interrupted the captain that was now posing as his acolyte.
SilverFox paused for a moment,
“If something or someone has done something to him then we are powerless to help him. The enemy is most likely heading down to our position right now, so we do not have much time left. I am in command and I do not want anyone to argue with me. Let’s go. Now!”
That last word came out louder and sounded angrier than he had wished to express to his men. He knew that if they did not move quickly that they would all be dead soon and felt like a coward and if not in the company of his men, he would have went to save Tree from his fate. A fate that was his fault and his fault alone. SilverFox knew that he was sending Tree into danger, a danger that made the hairs on his entire body stand up and nothing he did or could do would make them lie flat again.
After more mumbled complaints from his men, they finally agreed that Tree was on his own. They walked into the forest pulling their horses behind them. An eerie sound of some horrifying beast was heard from the position they were at only moments before now. Panic drove his men. The frenzy of it startled and spooked the horses.
SilverFox stopped momentarily to calm his horse and to switch the real letter with the phony message that was contained deep within his saddlebags. Just as he placed the message in his robe’s inner pocket, his horse bolted and disappeared deep into the forest. His hurried men seemed to forget him and jumped up onto their horses and went charging after his horse. They too disappeared deep into the forest.
*
He ran through the forest ignoring the pain that he suffered from all of the whipping branches and twigs that kept smacking him in the face and tearing at his robe. SilverFox ran until his legs burned and then ran some more. His men’s tracks could be seen through the mud as they had overturned the earth in their escape.
They had veered off to the left and were nowhere to be seen. He hoped that his comrades had made it safely to where his father was stationed, but it was not long before a volley of arrows fell like raindrops around his position. There was no time to move, but move he did. He heard many arrows sink deep into the base of the trees surrounding his position.
Many more arrows were heard whistling passed him and sinking deep into the muddy earth in his general vicinity. Raindrops are easy to dodge in a forest, but arrows flew through the air with such speed and had a balanced weight to them. Ripping through branches and leaves and sticking in the ground or the trunk of a tree was where most arrows would go, but a few would hit their target.
Out of a hundred or more arrows one was all that was needed for each target that it was intended for. One arrow stung SilverFox like a bumblebee. He did not realize it until he had went to swat the bee with his hand only to have the pain shoot up into his brain. Looking at his hand made him realize that he was bleeding.
The purplish colour of his blood told him that his enemies put some sort of poison on the arrow that was jutting out from his chest with the arrow head protruding from his back. It pained him and for the first time in his life he was afraid to die. He had never thought that he would have died this way.
This arrow had to be removed and SilverFox knew this fairly well. Only, it would not be easy to remove the arrow. Trauma of the wound and the effort of removing the arrow could kill him. First, he had to find some place that he would not be bombarded with arrows or at least a less likely place than where he was now. He decided that he would run across the field and down the hill, which was about a hundred yards or more from where he stood at this moment.
Indecision and shock made him slow to act. He had to act now. The first step into his run across the field sent him into a panicked run. His feet made sucking sounds as he slipped and slid across the muddy field. SilverFox’s feet danced erratically just like they would if he had been running at full speed on ice. They crossed each other and almost tripped him more than once.
Directing his feet became a chore and he used all of his strength and agility to maintain the obscure footing that he had, let alone a solid footing. Agonizingly he made his way towards the edge of the clearing, but just before he got into the forest an arrow zipped through his left calf sending him into a cartwheel.
He went head long into the forest almost losing consciousness as the arrow in his left leg caught on a set of trees. His calf muscle was on fire from when the arrow had pierced it and was torn aggressively from it. He could not run or even walk on it, he could only continue falling. SilverFox was surprised to see and smell many dead of both enemy and ally alike askew all over the hillside that he was half tumbling down and half hopping down.
Everything, except for the pain, seemed to be going fine and he hoped that he would not run into another tree as he went downward. Stopping himself would be the hard part, living long enough to find someone to take the poison out of his system would be even harder. He paid more attention to the dead or almost dead people on the ground than he did to his surroundings. A fare amount of time into his descent he looked up or at least tried to look up.
*
Seeing something or someone coming up the hill made him look up again, but it was too late for both of them. He became entangled with whoever it was and his descent became faster. Bumping across rocks, stones and other unknown hard substances was the least of his worries.
The arrow through his chest snapped, he felt his leg with the torn calf twist around the persons leg that he was entangled with. His leg snapped and the pain caused him to pass out.