Knight

I found a fairly fresh track at the edge of a dense and rocky forest. The tracks led into thick woods populated by ancient pines reaching, straining towards the heavens. They all but blocked out the day’s sunlight and refused to let any new vegetation grow beneath their shadowy limbs. As a result, it left the dark and gloomy forest floor free from brush, only grey moss and mushrooms were permitted to grow within. Standing at the forest’s edge, I felt a momentary stab of superstitious fear. The place had the foreboding look of a Brothers Grimm Fairy Tale. If I dared enter the murk, I would no doubt find a trail of breadcrumbs, only they wouldn’t lead me to safety. Instead, I would be led, caught, and crammed into a witch’s oven. Shaking off my childish premonitions, I followed the tracks into the dark woods. I should have heeded my instincts. What I should have done was turn around. Even though I had a fair amount of tracking experience with my father, I found my abilities severely taxed that day. The forest floor was heavily blanketed with soft pine needles, making tracking nigh impossible. It also had the unfavourable effect of deadening any noise my quarry might make. I was beginning to feel like the prey, instead of the hunter. The short hairs on the back of my neck began to stand on end. Thankfully, Knight didn’t need to visually follow our prey. With a sense of smell many times greater than man, he had no trouble leading the hunt, staying twenty feet in front of me the whole time. While nervous goose bumps chased each other up and down my arms, I kept my powerful rifle loaded, and at the ready. We were passing through a section that at some point a long time ago, had felt the wrath of a tornado touch down. There were large pines all around, lying upon the ground, and upon each other, looking like a God’s game of pickup sticks. I placed my rifle on the forest floor and bent down to tighten up the laces on my hiking boots. That was when I felt it! Some long buried cave dwellers instinct for survival began to scream into my ear. Danger, Danger! Unfortunately the warning came too late. Slowly, cautiously, I stood up and lifted my rifle with me. Scanning the forest around me, I tried to spot the source of my prehistoric unease.